“So you want me to IGNORE a time anomaly?”
It had taken the Twelve Anew a little too long to get the courage to have this meeting with both Epani and Kairos. Kairos had been aggressive for a while, and he clearly still was today, growling at the demands that the younger deities were asking of him.
“Uh… yes…” Elkay muttered. “Just this time anomaly the ball is creating, and the one outside the universe that is luring you to go down there in some sort of trap. All other time anomalies that are a minimum of 100km away from the Episkeft, you may repair as normal, but we’re not allowing anyone, mortal or deity alike, to go near the Episkeft. Apparently the object feeds off Time Drake energies or something, and we can’t afford to risk you getting hurt.”
Kairos eyed Elkay. Elkay was well aware that Kairos hated him. Most of that anger was because Elkay didn’t show Kairos the respect that Kairos believed he deserved and instead worshipped the long gone Silent Blade, but some of that anger was simply because he was a powerful person called Elkay. Elkay never understood that bit.
“Can we not just remove the object remotely?”
Aster shook his head, steering the conversation away from Elkay. Elkay was the god of knowledge, he was a very smart person, but Kairos didn’t appreciate that. The god of diplomacy was better at keeping things calm.
“We’ve attempted to remove the object multiple times in multiple fashions. Since it is creating a time anomaly of its own, it keeps on reappearing in the same spot. While the object is creating the time anomaly and feeding off it, it will eventually stop getting… uh… nutrients from its own anomaly, start starving itself and leave on its own volition. You… or theoretically Epani or Dalosisaar even… actually, anyone going close to it will feed into the time anomaly and thus feed the Episkeft, meaning it will stay for longer.”
“I see…” Kairos thought to himself for a moment. “Still, I haven’t heard of such a creature before. Where did you get this information from?”
Aster didn’t have an answer for that. He glanced back at Elkay, who swallowed nervously.
“Well?”
Elkay’s eyes flickered across the room, before settling on Epani. Epani nodded her head gently.
“Well… Before… before Arkay left completely… he… he left a way for me to communicate with the beings Sini took with her. Well… he gave me a very, very limited way to contact Kayel, the guy who would have been the Shadow after me. Where Kayel is now, he doesn’t know much, but he can ask people who do know things. He spoke to a person called Galyn, who was aware of what the object is. This Galyn person told Kayel, who told me, that the object is called an Episkeft, that it feeds on time anomalies and that… that many of them appeared when Galyn’s own universe came to an end, to feed on the time anomalies caused by a Time Drake gone mad.”
Kairos snarled. “You spoke to Galyn?”
Elkay hesitated, then shook his head. “No. I have only ever spoken to Kayel and a young exo-universal Lanex called Akah. Kayel relays the information to me and that’s it…”
“Hang on!” Aesop interrupted. “You KNOW this Galyn person! Am I right, Kairos? You know who the person Elkay got this information from! Someone from outside the universe!”
“Also… you somewhat attacked me for having my singular outside contact…” Elkay muttered. “A little hypocritical that you know of this person.”
Epani turned to Kairos. “As far as I recall, Galyn was not a bad person.”
“Galyn was the stupid Decayon who helped guard Kinisis’s stupid oasis. He had connections to her, and not in a good way!” Kairos hissed.
“Galyn allowed me entrance to that stupid oasis so I could kill Kinisis the first time!” Epani tutted. “Those Decayons were misled, but they ultimately allowed Sini and I to build this universe.”
“That stupid creature-”
Epani raised her hand, forcing Kairos to quieten down. She glanced at the lower deities, then frowned. “We need to discuss this in private. They do not need to hear this.”
“Fine.”
Kairos growled, then relented. Epani created a shimmering portal, led Kairos through it, then disappeared herself, leaving the room in awkward silence.
The Twelve Anew all looked at each other, not sure how to react. After a while, someone spoke, and it wasn’t who anyone expected.
“Why is Kyr Kairos jealous of this Galyn person?” Litvir asked. “Also, there was a universe before this one?”
“There are many, many universes out there…” Elkay frowned. “Apparently infinite universes. According to my discussions with Arkay in the past, he said that Epani, Kairos and Sini built this universe on the corpse of a dead universe, and resurrected Arkay to assist them in their work. The Ksithan beliefs in the battle between the Death Wolf, the Demon Rat and the Void Deer is a reference to what happened in this previous universe.”
“I take it though, since Kairos and Epani don’t know what the white ball is, that this Galyn person was a deity in a vastly different universe?” Valksia suggested.
“And this Galyn now lives outside universes and does things out there?” Kohra added. “After all, we do know things happen out there, and there’s things aside from Voidborns and Corruption. Akusasiiri and I have managed to pick up and track all sorts of strange signals out there. Nothing is stopping those signals coming from other universes.”
“Something like that, yeah…” Elkay frowned some more. “Dalosisaar, you’ve been quiet, you got any thoughts?”
Dalosisaar was clearly thinking to himself. After an awkward moment of silence, he grunted.
“I have a lot of thoughts. The most important thought being Litvir’s first question. WHY is Kairos jealous of this other-universal deity?”
“Oh, so you trust my information?” Elkay asked.
“I do, yes, because, honestly, we have no other information to go on. Right now, we have two jobs we need to do. We need to keep everyone away from the white ball, and we need to work out why Kairos is acting the way he is. And, unfortunately, Litvir, Nanik, that means you two are going to have to spend some time with the upper deities.”
“But… but Kyr Kairos does not like me…”
Nanik patted Litvir on the side. “It’ll be okay! We work together! Say we are doing protecting and stuff! Since the big white ball wants to affect Kairos, we stay with him and protect him! While we get the information.”
Dalosisaar nodded. “Exactly. Litvir, you’re the deity of protection, and right now, Kairos needs protecting. Both from the ball and from himself. Plus, I want to keep you away from the white ball for a bit, so you are not affected by the anomaly again.”
“Alright…” Litvir relented. They weren’t happy, but they knew better than to argue.
“Good. As for the rest of us, the plan is simple. Kohra, I want you to immediately set up a remote monitoring system for the Episkeft. Murum’Va, Syksis, since you two live closer to the southern border and are friendlier with the locals, I want you both to speak to everyone nearby and set up a 10000km no-fly zone across the area, and you will do regular patrols.
“Aesop, for now, you’ll be doing northern boundary patrols, and I’ll help out where I can. Aster, Maresia, your jobs are to speak to everyone that Murum’Va and Syksis can’t reach, and generally get the information out that no one’s allowed at the southern pole of the universe. Akusasiiri, you are to assist Kohra in his work, but I also want you to help Aesop with the early detection systems up north when you have a chance.
“Valksia, I want you to help Elkay, and also investigate ways that we can perhaps move the ball away from the universe in general. For now, we’re treating it like it’s Corruption. There HAS to be a way to make it move away on its own, without us touching it. But at the same time, I need you to keep an eye on Epani too. Litvir and Nanik will be busy with Kairos, but Epani also needs a little protection. If you can check in on her occasionally, that’d be great.
“Are we all clear on this?”
The Twelve Anew all nodded.
“Alright!” Dalosisaar perked up. “Thank you all for your time, let’s get to work.”