Motif · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

The clock

The countdown in the corner of every crawler's vision: 'Time to Level Collapse', five days on the first floor, read out by the system at the head of chapters and by Carl whenever he has to choose. On the second floor a second timer appears beneath it, counting down to the closing of the safe rooms an hour before collapse, and Carl waits for the level timer to reach six hours before he takes the stairs.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 1 — The Ghosts of Earth
• Chapter 20 — Ruby
• Chapter 27 — Phase two rules
• Chapter 30 — Four drugs
• Chapter 38 — Monroe County
• Chapter 52 — Two of five
• Chapter 57 — Samantha's secret

Progression

'Time to Level Collapse: 21 Days' over 'Time until Phase Two: 14 Days', with the rule that an unfilled squad 'will be filled randomly' when the second runs out (ch. 1). Phase two is read down — eight days, one hour (ch. 20); 40 hours, and the teleport 'When the timer hits 12:01 AM on December 24th, regardless of where you are or what you're doing' (ch. 27); Six hours (ch. 30) — then the floor's: 6 days, 22 hours (ch. 38), 4 Days and 17 Hours (ch. 52), 4 days, 12 hours (ch. 57). The Amayon quest timer, set at ten minutes (ch. 66), stops 'with just two seconds left' when Paz Lo slays the goddess Ysalte, not because of anything Carl did (ch. 69); then Amayon's ascension gets a thirty-minute timer of its own: 'When that timer reaches zero, the heavens above you will open, and all living things and items and structures will be sucked upward into the portal' (ch. 72).