“Hold me, Stasis.”
Stasis blinked, unsure what to do. Above him was essentially the entirety of the universe that he had, well, grown up in. He was once a little slice of nothingness and entropy, and this universe had given him… not life, but meaning, at the very least.
“Stasis.”
Another blink. He couldn’t really describe what Kinisis looked like from that angle. A physical form? Not really. She was always a small cycle. Never grew that much. The problem was, Stasis didn’t know how to hold Kinisis in this form. He’d so rarely seen her like this. In her entirety. He was an anthropomorphic shadow of a being, the size of a galaxy. She was beyond explanation. A living representation of an entire universe.
Something flickered by. It was Kairos. He was so tiny, like a little insect.
“You should hold her.”
Those words were very unlike Kairos. Normally he hated any interaction between Stasis and Kinisis. Mostly because he knew he was inferior to them both.
“I do not know how to hold her…” Stasis finally admitted.
Whether Kinisis was amused or angered by his comment, Stasis didn’t know. A dark, star-filled wisp wrapped around Stasis, holding him tightly. Kinisis was only just visible. Everything else was pitch black. No stars. No galaxies. No other universes. Nothing.
“I understand, Stasis.” Despite her size, her voice was but a whisper. A thought in Stasis’s head. “I just want you here. You too, Kairos.”
If Kairos smiled, there was no way of knowing. He was too small. Chances are, Kinisis couldn’t even see him. Not that it mattered, Kinisis was focused on something else. A purple and green speck that shouldn’t have been there.
“It’s coming.”
Stasis raised his trusty staff and pointed it at the speck. His staff powered up with raw heat, which it fired at a tremendous speed. Stasis never liked breaking his own rules about the speed of light, but he had to, in order for the blast of energy to have any effect at that distance. Small specks of orange and white could be seen exploding against the speck of green and purple.
“You think that did anything, Stasis?” Kairos asked.
“Maybe. You should go back. Get ready,” Stasis changed the subject, charging and firing his staff again.
“I want to be here with you both,” the Time Dragon sighed as he fluttered around Stasis. “If you two are to fight this, then I should too.”
“No. Kinisis said no. If things go badly, I need you to prepare an exit.”
“But-” Kairos stutted. “I can’t just… leave you both. Not so soon.”
“You may not have a choice.” Stasis once again fired his staff. Both the purple and green speck and the explosions were getting bigger. It was getting closer. He could feel Kinisis’s wispy limb wrap tighter around him.
Kairos watched the speck become a lump, then faded away, disappearing back inside the universe to do what he had to do. Despite their feuds, their anger and hatred, Kairos knew he had to do as he was told now.
In the darkness, the purple and green could be seen taking form. A mockery of Kinisis herself. But larger. Much larger.
“He did it…” Kinisis muttered.
“Who?” Stasis couldn’t help but ask.
“He said he would. Consume every last fragment.”
Stasis gripped his staff tightly, cooling it down. The best way to defeat any Corruption was to cool it down and destroy it that way. It had worked in the past. Every threat big and small, Stasis had been able to at the very least ward it off. This time was different. Kinisis was genuinely scared, and that made Stasis worried. And that worry probably made Kairos worried too.
“Who?” Stasis asked again. “This Corruption?”
Kinisis squeezed Stasis tightly, then let go of him. Out of the blackness of the void around her, she created an axe of energy. Around her body, plates of sheer heat began to form, her armour against the Corruption.
“Kinisis, please, tell me what you are hiding.”
The Cycle sighed as she pulled herself together, ready for battle.
“This Corruption destroyed the universe that birthed me. It has come to try and finish the job…”