SO HOW DOES TIME WORK IN IN CIRCULI??
JK IT DOESN'T
Time, or what is perceived to be as time, works in the most inconvenient and ridiculous way possible in the World of In Circuli. It's not linear, and it's not a 'big ball of wibbly wobbly time-y wimey... stuff' like in Dr. Who, but rather a mix of both--(extremely) "organized chaos," basically.
There are multiple layers of time which fold together to create existence--like a giant foldable pop-up book of the universe. These timelines coexist alongside one another simultaneously at the same time--with the exact same people, civilizations, events, etc. As more time progresses in each timeline, the 'thread' (or 'order' as referred to by the Gods) begins to decay and events become more scattered. This creates more timelines, which then branch off into infinite alternate universes...
WHICH THEN DIE OFF. These originating timelines all end concurrently, usually marked by a big event that effects both the holy and mortal spheres. (seldom are these events apocalypses, however) The resulting weaker, less-stable timelines (those marked by spiritual/political unity) disappear as well--in fact, the amount of 'knowledge' a timeline has determines it's success. This phenomenon ends a period that the Gods call a 'cycle' that indefinitely repeats, giving the timeline a circular shape.
These timelines, however, only exist for the mortal spheres of Opus Antiquus and Opus Modernum--in the Holy spheres of The Divine Thread, Seventh Seal, and Holy Hours, beings of divinity (Gods, Keepers, the Architects, Angels, Demons, Spirits, etc.) perceive time in a very different manner, best explained by this diagram:
Rather than determining existence by units of measurement like mortals, the (obviously immortal) Divine mark time by major events in both spheres of existence. For them, time doesn't flow together: it's more segmented (hence the geometric shape)--one thing happens, brand new period, followed by another event. These event markers all overlap and affect one another, but like mortals too, lead towards the same thing: The End.
The Grand Timeline determines the overall state of the universe. It is essentially an average of all the timelines, both Holy and mortal, and holds existence together. 'Spirituality' and general prosperity of every single universe are determined by the Grand Timeline. However, one outlier alone from any origin timeline can throw the entire Grand Timeline off-track, which is why the Gods are initially so concerned (Acts I and II!) about keeping order in the World.
They do eventually fuck up big though, causing The Collapse that separates the Opus Antiquus and Opus Modernum timelines. In the beginning, the rims from The Collapse and inward didn't exist, and the only mortal timeline was Antiquus. Following The Collapse, the inner rims were created. Though both Opus timelines exist simultaneously, the main World exists within Modernum--Antiquus becomes a spirit or 'ghost world' in a sense. It's also worth mentioning that time gets increasingly abstract the closer it is in the circle to the Grand Timeline.
Timelines separated from The Collapse are inaccessible by most of the Divine.
At the center is The End. Previously when clusters of timelines ended, they are then recycled and they go through the same cycle of development-civilization-apocalypse. But, following The Collapse, timelines simply go to 'The End' when they die off. While new ones are also being created, the old ones are never able to return--thus creating this new panic of WE ABSOLUTELY CANNOT MESS UP THE GRAND TIMELINE IF WE DO WE'RE FUCKED FOR ETERNITY.
More than anything else, the World perceives Time as this living entity that's constantly dying and being reborn--changing and shifting--but always keeping repetitious patterns and habits. Everything is either directly or indirectly connected to one another, things happen in cycles, events are constantly followed, like rituals.
