Storyline Tilium Part 1

Storyline Tilium

The main character of Tilium is Leon, a pensioned older man at the age of 60. He worked hard his entire life and is sitting out his retirement in a huge apartment in the big, dirty city. He has been alone his entire life, because he pursued money and status rather then pursuing happiness.

He has slowly started realizing this after he retired and "enjoyed" his welth, with no one to share it with. This realization took his thoughts back to why he took the decisions to pursue money and leave his hometown. And while he thought things over he realises that he left behind what was truly dear to him; his friends and family, and the town he used to love so much. Back then he was truly happy.

He remembers he got a postcard from a lady friend 15 years ago. It contained a picture of his brother, himself, the lady friend and two other friends from when he left. On the back there was a message from her;


Dear Leon,


It has been such a long time since we last seen you. I hope all is going well for you and that things worked out for you as they planned. All is well here in (village name).
Kevin is always up to the usual stuff, inventing some crazy air-thingy. He calles it "the castle in the sky". I hope he will finish it soon because he's been building it for well over two years now, and he can't stop talking about it!
Anyway, I want you to know that we really miss you here and that we hope you will come by anytime soon to say hello and stay for a while.


Greetings,
(lady friend)

He sighs and slaps himself in the face, because back then when he got the card he didn't want to go back, because he felt that going back was like taking a step back in quality of the life he was living at that moment.

The card was stored in a music box he kept in his closet, and he pulled out the music box and opened it to hear it play. (theme song of the game is introduced). This really gets him thinking.

He feels utterly ashamed about the thoughts of life he had back then, and decides that he is going to redeem himself by going back to his hometown after all.
A single moment later he is packed and ready to go. He leaves his apartment and heads to the train station, where the only train departing to (unknown village) leaves today. And here will be no other for a long while…

World 0: The city

Arriving at the train station he hears the train’s horn and rushes to the platform. The train already started moving and he runs as fast as he can! But he realizes the suitcase he’s got with him slows him down too much. Without hesitation he throws all his cloths and suits away and runs like the wind! He runs and jumps just like when he was young, and just in time to make the final jump on board of the train.

“ On board of the train, he looks back at his suitcase with all the suits on the floor… He smiles…”

The arrival (world 1: Hillside)

Arriving at his hometown, Leon sees the tree at the top of the hill. Behind it is the village. He walks up to the tree and his face just keeps on growing because he knows his friends and family are behind that hill. He sniffs up the fresh air that he used to do. The air smells like summer and fresh flowers, and looking around him you can see the track that leads to the tree. Flowers grow next to it, and you can hear the early birds sing. Looking at the tree, you can see the sun rising up from behind it.
Leon keeps on walking up and when he reaches the top of the hill and stands next to the tree. He sees his hometown…

The smile on his face turns into shock when he looks over the village. It looks decayed and deserted. Crops are dead, his house which lies at the foot of the hill has holes in the roof, and ravens are flying all around fighting over the few things that are left to eat.

He simply can’t believe what he is seeing. His once beautiful town turned into a ruin. He asks himself “what can I do?!”. He sits down in front of the tree leaning against it and tries to recover from what he just saw. He keeps on thinking over and over what he can do, because this place is the only thing good that he has left in his life. He came back to make commence and now he can’t. He anxiously says; “But I must do something!?!”
Leon looks up to the beautiful blue sky and the sun that is shining on him. And looking even further up he sees the leaves of the tree and its colorful leaves. “This can’t be the end of my town?!” he says to himself. “If this tree is still growing, and the sun is still shining through the sky, there must be life here! I can make this town whole again! I know how to make things grow (one of three mechanics of the game). And I know how to build a house so I can make this place like it used to be. I must…

Leon stands up and starts walking downhill towards his home, towards rebuilding his town to what it used to be.

(to be continued…)