“Kinisis, are you well?”
Stasis stood in the doorway as he watched Kinisis take swigs out of a large mug. She was sat at a small table. By her side was a bed, where a Veth was sleeping.
“No. Go away.”
Something landed behind Stasis. It was Kairos, just as concerned about Kinisis as Stasis was. He asked exactly the same question Stasis did.
“Kinisis, are you well?”
“Fuck off.”
Stasis smiled at Kairos. Kairos shrugged, then tapped Stasis on the shoulder, asking if they could speak in private. Stasis nodded, and the pair of them stepped outside.
“She is like this since yesterday’s events, yes?”
“Yes.”
The Whenvern sighed, then stared at the sky. Veth were wandering around with wheelbarrows, digging up piles of dirt and transporting them to the large holes left by the Corruption. Many of them had stumps for their left hands, their severed limbs slowly growing back. In their dedication to protecting Kinisis, they had cut off their own hands in order to stop the Corruption from taking them over.
“Maybe it is a good idea that we help the Veth…” Kairos muttered.
“No. Leave them to their jobs,” Stasis replied. “I offered my assistance earlier and they simply growled at me. They are upset, tired and angry, just like their master.”
Above them, the last traces of purple and green were still fading away, leaving the skies of Kinigi an odd shade of pink. Stasis had tested the traces, they were mostly harmless, but the appearance of the corrupted clouds had caused panic among mortal races. They would all soon forget, and the smartest among them would note it as a cosmic blip of interest. But the thought that the mortal races might have understood just how close they were to destruction bothered the Whenvern.
“Stasis, do we hate each other?”
Stasis stared at Kairos.
“What.”
“Do we hate each other? We continue our religions crusades or do we have a moment of peace?”
The Personification of Entropy didn’t answer. He looked behind him, where Kinisis was still sitting. She was upset. She was holding back tears.
“She feels ashamed,” Kairos sighed as he interrupted Stasis’s trail of thought. He’d clearly been looking at Kinisis as well. It was instinctual to them both. While they could continue on without Kinisis, she gave them both meaning.
“Why do you think that?”
“She…” Kairos gulped. He hated using the past tense. For a being who always moved forward, looking back was hard. “She nearly lost. It nearly destroyed her. And while it had her, it abused her. She is in pain.”
“It will pass. She always forgets these things. The last time this happened, she was over it in a week.”
“The last time, that Corruption only wanted food. And we did more to help.”
Stasis rubbed his face. He too wasn’t feeling particularly happy. He had been completely unable to do his job of protecting Kinisis from these attacks. One good swipe and he was out for the count, he hadn’t even realised what had happened until Kairos had found him.
“You could have thrown me out, Kairos. You had the opportunity, why did you not take it?”
The Whenvern flapped his enormous wings. “That is not sporting of me. It also makes Kinisis sadder. She likes you. Probably more than she likes me. Well…”
“Before I screwed up and nearly got her consumed by an incredibly aggressive Corruption… I know…” Stasis grunted, then sat down. He was now rather angry at himself, despite having spent the last few hours trying to tell himself that all this wasn’t his fault. Weirdly though, Kairos sat down next to him, putting a winged claw on his shoulder.
“We all make mistakes. I think we have peace. For a while. Make Kinisis happy for some time. She is the important one, not us.”
Stasis thought for a moment, then smiled. “You are right, Kairos. Let us be at peace for a moment. Let our followers do things on their own. In the mean time, we should focus on other things…”
“Like better ways to protect Kinisis and this universe?”
Kairos smiled at Stasis, who gave him a funny look in return. But his odd expression slowly turned into a smile of his own.
“I… suppose we could do that. Maybe get to know each other a bit better. Perhaps we could… even become… friends…”