The Lighthouse at the Edge of the Universe By Ella Lim
Instruments: 1d6, French Deck, Coin
Game Description
You play as a lighthouse keeper far away from everyone, at the edge of the universe where the world turns into fragments and nothing. The game is meant to be peaceful and meditative. It's also rules light and gives the player the freedom to choose the weather, how many activities per night, and any additional notes they wish to take. The game also includes instructions to print out a paper lighthouse you can place over your phone's light.
Game Content Warnings
These are content warnings that are from the game prompts and are present in all playthroughs.Playthrough Content Warnings
These are content warnings specific to this playthrough only.
Word Count: 1454 Played: June 10-17, 2022
A/N: I played for one entry a day, choosing one task per day, but it can be played all at once with as many tasks per day as preferred.
Day 1
Initial Observations
Date: June 10, 3:37 AM
Weather
A Pelting Rain
Feeling: Anxious
Notes: It's been a long time since the last rain. I don’t know how much more the roof of my home can stand it. I’ve been putting off repairs. I shoulda fixed it yesterday.
Lighting the Light
Coin: Tails Failure
Coin: Tails Failure
Coin: Heads, Card: Spades Failure
Coin: Tails Failure
Coin: Heads Card: Diamonds Success
Notes: The damn thing just won’t stay lit in the rain. It took me five tries to get it to stick but it’s moving now. If it didn’t require so much fuel I don’t know why I wouldn’t ever turn it off.
The Night is Strange and will require Maintenance
Logbook
Roll: 2, Something has come Undone
Card: Jack of Clubs Things do not go in your favor
The rains knocked over the powerline leading to the house. I had to turn off the generator lest it start a fire on the island. I’ll be without power until the rest of the storm passes, but I’ve seen the edge of it. I’ll be able to fix everything on the morrow. It will be a cold night tonight but I’ve hung up my wet stockings and put my boots by the fire. It's times like these when I start to miss her.
Day 2
Initial Observations
Date: June 11, 9:47 PM
Weather
A light Rain
Feeling: Tired
Notes: Weather isn’t as bad as it was yesterday but I can still feel it in my old bones.
Lighting the Light:
Coin: Tails Failure
Coin: Tails Failure
Coin: Heads Card: Diamonds Success!
Notes: Took a little longer to light. I’m not sure if it’s my hands or the weather. I don’t remember everything being this hard before.
This Night is… Uncertain. There will be an Event.
Logbook
Card: 3 of Clubs
Black: A tiny inconvenience
3: A total blackout.
I didn’t fix the power right yesterday. Everything went out again this time and the fog from the rain or space, or the universe itself covered everything. For a moment even the stars were gone. I know things will all go out eventually. Not during my time. Not during my predecessor’s time. And not for a long time after that. But I felt a chill in my bones that was colder than any rain could make just knowing everything’s got to come to an end. When I’m eventually buried with her I hope our bones stay intertwined until then.
Day 3
Initial Observations
Date: June 13, 12:18 AM
Weather
A Solar Wind. You can hear it whispering? What does it say?
Feeling: Pained/Uncomfortable
Notes: I sang the song she used to sing to block out the voices. My voice has grown hoarse over the years and I’m afraid one of these days I won’t be able to block them out. And o’re the edge I’ll go, following after their false promises.
Lighting the Light:
Coin: Heads Card: Spade Failure
Coin : Tails Failure
Coin: Heads Card: Hearts Success
Notes: I remember when she used to light each night on the first try.
This Night is… unsettling. I might Observe something.
Logbook
Roll: 3 Something in the sky
Card: Diamonds
I remember those old legends. Back before we took to the stars and we lived alone in the cradle of life. They said the place was overrun by demons, creatures born of nightmares and mists. They say you could see the faces in the sky and on the winds.
The aurora was beautiful tonight but the chill on my spine kept telling me it was staring back.
Day 4
Initial Observations
Date: June 13, 10:06 PM
Weather
An eerie quiet.
Feeling: Anxious
Notes: I can’t stop thinking about those lights. I keep thinking I’m seeing them out of the corner of my eye but when I turn there’s nothing.
Lighting the Light:
Coin: Tails Failure
Coin: Heads Card: Heart Success
Notes: I got it on the second try tonight. Things must be looking up.
This Night is… cold. Something will require Maintenance.
Logbook
Roll: 4, Something Misplaced
Card: Something unexpected when you complete the task.
Something happened again. Same as that time when we were young. All the paint on the house and on the lighthouse itself is gone, as if time itself misplaced it. It’s not as simple as when all the patterns on the walls and our clothes left.
I had to attach the paint to a hose so I could go over the entire lighthouse. I somehow managed to finish it today. Back to regulation colors and a stark contrast against the void. But I blinked, and for a moment it was all the aurora lights shining back at me--staring back at me. She would have called me an old fool and I would have laughed.
Day 5
Initial Observations
Date: June 14, 10:04 PM
Weather
Strange Lights in the sky as if it were day
Feeling: Angry
Notes: What the hell is all of this? The hell is going on? I’ve seen the lights before, but nothing like this. It’s a goddamn nightmare out here.
Lighting the Light:
Coin: Heads Card: Diamonds
Notes: The light stayed on this time. Not that anyone would need it since it’s too damn bright.
This Night is… wild. Something will require Maintenance.
Logbook
Roll: 5 Something Creaky, wonky, squeaky
Card: Clubs, Things do not work in your favor
Nothing seems to be going right in this old place. The bridge will give out soon. The old one that leads from the lighthouse to the house-house island. The damn thing is squeaking more than normal. I don’t dare touch the thing other than to put more oil on it, but that didn’t seem to do the trick this time.
I put in a ticket for repairs, but seeing how far out we are. I don’t know when they’ll get here. A week? A month? A Year? If I let the lighthouse go out then they’ll be here sooner, I know it. But that will cost me everything. I can’t leave this place. Not before my time. Not without her.
Day 6
Initial Observations
Date: June 15, 11:11 PM
Weather
Calm, eerie quiet
Feeling: anxious
Notes: Everything seems to be in order, but I can’t help feeling this is the calm before a storm. I’ve got nothing by my old bones to tell me so.
Lighting the Light:
Coin: Tails Failure
Coin: Tails Failure
Coin: Heads Card: Clubs Failure
Coin: Heads Card: Hearts Success
Notes: I’m shaking. I don’t know why I feel so nervous. There’s nothing here but the match won’t strike. Something is coming.
This Night is… unsettling. There’s something to Observe.
Logbook
The night is clear and dark. The stars are all in alignment and I can see no ships. It's cold out here. It’s lonely out here. I stopped by her grave tonight. There was one lone flower growing out of the seeds I planted. It’s wilting and it looks like the bugs have been eating it. I plucked it and stuck it in a vase on my bedside. I’ll have to plant some more and hope they’ll grow this time.
Day 7
Initial Observations
Date: June 17, 12:11 AM
Weather
Snow, or Space Dust falling around the islands
Feeling: Happy
Notes: It's a little chilly, but it’s nights like these that make this hard existence worth it.
Lighting the Light:
Coin: Heads Cards: Spades
Coin: Heads Cards: Spades
Coin: Heads Cards: Hearts
Notes: I keep thinking to myself that I used to be able to light it in one go. All those years I would get it right on the first time. I think I’ve been lying to myself. I don’t think it’s ever been easy. I’ve been too hard on myself because I want to be better, so I deluded myself into thinking that I was, at one time before all of this, as good as I wanted to be. But I never was. I’ve always had trouble lighting this damn light, but at the end of the day. It’s lit. I always light it. Stumbling’s never meant a failure.
This Night is… calm. There’s always something to Observe.
Logbook
Wherever she is, if there’s an afterlife, if there’s a new life, or even if there’s nothing at all, we’ll still have that time together. There was a meteor shower tonight and I sat next to her grave to watch. It was like the time we first met when we were both so young and afraid. The world’s not so scary out here at the edge and I know there’ll be more flowers out there in the universe.