The note had told Phovos to wait in this back room, near the rear entrance of the local police station. She’d been getting a lot of notes lately, to the point that she’d decided to do some rather strange things. All the notes warned her of impending doom, of pain and death and destruction. Clearly a godly force was leading her somewhere.
But Phovos wasn’t the one to just act. While following the notes’ orders, Phovos had passed on a lot of her work duties to other people. She hadn’t told anyone the truth, just claimed that she’d needed a holiday. And everyone believed her. Which was a huge weight off her back.
The police station had been pretty busy, but no one had really noticed her coming in. She’d pop by occasionally anyway as part of her duties, generally to discuss security for events and things like that. This was not suspicious in any way for Phovos. But how busy the station was, that was surprising. In particular there was a middle-aged Rethavok getting incredibly angry and upset about a missing spouse and a couple of Vrekan tourists who seemed hopelessly lost and confused. Both somewhat common, especially as Rethan spouses who weren’t happy always seemed to just leave in the middle of the night.
The room Phovos had to wait in was a large room, meant for, well, larger beings. Palaestra was built with a variety of different sizes in mind, and since there was a fairly large Thraki population here, some rooms were made with them in mind.
Phovos opened the large door, only to find the room was empty. She checked her watch. 09:45. She was fifteen minutes early. Sixteen actually. For some reason, the note had specified her to be there at 10:01. Why? Phovos didn’t know. She closed the door behind her and sat down in one of the two chairs available.
So she decided to sit there patiently. Phovos positioned herself in the corner of the room, so she could see both the single, shitty window and the door. She knew better than to let others sneak up on her. After all, little things like that were part of how Phovos had managed to stay alive for so long.
Time passed. Slower than Phovos expected. She watched the seconds tick down on her watch.
At exactly 10:01, a Thraki appeared. Teleporting into the room. Phovos both expected and didn’t expect that to happen, but her surprise was quickly overcome with wonder. This Thraki was beautiful.
No, they weren’t a Thraki. They were something more. A Dragon. A Whenvern.
“Horah…” Phovos muttered under her breath. She immediately stood up and bowed in the deity’s presence.
“Oh, stop that, little one!” the Whenvern smiled. “You may call me Kairos. May I call you Phovos?”
“Yes…” Phovos hesitated. “What do you want from me?”
Kairos smiled some more. Perfect, pristine, silver teeth sticking out from his jaws. Shimmering scales of silver and blue lined his body, decorated by glistening metallic spines. This being was beautiful, perfect even. Making Phovos feel emotions she didn’t really understand.
“I want your help.”
“My… help?”
“Yes.”
“But…” Phovos shook her head and refocused herself. “You’re the God of Time. I’m a lowly mortal. Why would you need my help?”
“Because my brother, the deity you call Arkay, is missing. Trapped inside a prison in which I cannot set foot. At the same time, my sisters are taking advantage of his disappearance to wage war against each other. Right now, this is all very well contained, but that will not last forever.”
“Missing?”
“Well, in a way. I know exactly where he is. But I cannot get to him. Death and entropy carry on as normal, but Arkadin’s other normal duties are currently not being done. Leaving those duties unattended puts the universe at risk. Normally I would appeal to the other deities and have him freed, but everyone has decided to ignore this poor Time Dragon. So I need mortals. Because gods never expect mortals.”
“Why me though?” Phovos had decided to just let Kairos talk, and ask questions only as needed.
“Because you are amazing!” Kairos was smiling more now. “A thousand year old Ksithan capable of handling herself and others. Of course there will be compensation for your time spent working for me. Plenty of riches and wish fulfilment. It will be a profitable adventure for you.”
Phovos sighed. “And what if…”
“If you refuse?” Kairos lowered his voice. “I genuinely can only see a handful futures where you refuse. They… don’t have great endings… But!” The Time Drake immediately perked up. “You’ve taken the time off. You long for something different. You like adventure! And with a little of my magic, the chances of you dying are very low!”
The Raptor shrugged. “Well, you are right. Who am I to deny such an offer from a god anyway?”
“Exactly!” Kairos grinned, extending his winged, clawed, perfect hand. “Come on now. Let’s go and recruit a couple more people!”
Phovos hesitated, then took the Whenvern’s hand.
“This is going to be exciting!” Kairos beamed as everything turned blue around them, the two beings teleporting off in a flash of light.