“So, little ones, any updates?”
Dalosisaar glanced across the room. Not all of the Twelve Anew were present today, and those who were, some of them seemed a little annoyed. And, oddly, they were willing to show that annoyance while the Allmaker was present.
“I don’t have updates, just questions!” Syksis tutted. “Where the heck is Litvir, and why do you keep on giving them time off? Also, I’ve barely seen Elkay. And have we sorted out our shit with Kairos yet?”
Epani didn’t seem too upset at Syksis’s outburst. “I am working on Kairos. But Kairos is also the reason why I keep on giving Litvir time off. Because Kairos is taking his anger out on Litvir. Kairos is bothering me greatly and cannot seem to understand that Litvir and Nanik are there for his protection, and he keeps on attacking them. Which was the main reason I wanted to talk to the rest of you, but I wanted to see if we had any other updates first.”
“On, like, anything in particular? Or just the big white ball?” Kohra asked.
“Anything. I want to hear what you have all been doing.”
Kohra started smiling. “I passed my last exam and my final project and am getting my BSc soon. Thinking of working on a Masters afterwards but I’m not sure yet. I have time to think about that.”
“Oh! Congratulations!” Maresia waved across the table. “You gonna have a party to celebrate?”
“Not sure yet. We kinda got more important things going on. Like the big white ball. Because I’ve been doing all the long distance data gathering you’ve asked, and the ball remains MOSTLY unchanged. It’s expanded by about 2cm but that’s it, it’s still within the lead case you made and it’s still just sitting there.”
Murum’Va grunted, adding her own thoughts. “We have kept all beings away from it. Apart from Kairos, who came close once, within 200km. But I caught up with him and told him to leave. Kairos did not like that but I insisted and he left.”
Syksis nodded in agreement. “Murum’Va’s been really good at keeping everyone away. Admittedly, the big flaming signs saying “TURN AROUND NOW!” also help, but yeah, we have kept everyone away. And we have been checking in with Dalosisaar, for the time-based medical reasons you suggested.”
Epani turned to Dalosisaar. “Are your fellow deities unaffected by the time anomalies?”
“From what I can tell, everyone is fine apart from Murum’Va, who has had a little more exposure than I’d like, and I want to have her swap places with Aesop at some point, and Litvir and Nanik. But I think those two are only a little off because they’ve been spending time by Kairos’s side…” Dalosisaar suddenly trailed off. “I, uh, have a theory that… that Kairos keeps on attacking Litvir because of some sort of time-based anomaly. We’ve kept Kairos away from the Episkeft but that doesn’t mean that Kairos wasn’t already… infected with something. And that something has lured the Episkeft here.”
“You… you think Kairos is affected by a time anomaly himself?”
Dalosisaar frowned. “Yes. Because why would a creature that feeds on time anomalies come to a little universe like ours, and, worse, keep on coming back to it, unless it knew it could get a filling meal?”
“Probably means that bastard isn’t going to leave until it gets fed…” Aesop tutted. “And in all honesty? I don’t know why we haven’t just fucking nuked it.”
Aster rolled his eyes. “Aesop, I literally crushed it into a golf ball and yeeted it out of the universe, and it came back, exactly the same. I don’t think any ballistic or explosive weaponry we use will affect it.”
“Still worth trying. Pretty sure that, if the stupid ball is smart enough to come here to find a meal, it’s smart enough to leave if we hurt it enough.”
“Well… I will put that idea on the back burner…” Epani sighed. “My larger fear is that we break apart the Episkeft and spread its influence further. And now I am rather concerned, because Dalosisaar’s comment makes sense. Kairos’s actions are repeating, and not in a natural way. Considering that he attacked Nanik yet again and Litvir stepped in to defend Nanik yet again, that makes sense.”
“Alright, new fucking suggestion, we stop having Nanik and Litvir guard Kairos!” Aesop suddenly snapped. “How many fucking times are we going to let that asshole dragon hurt people?”
“Why… why do you suddenly care?” Valksia asked. “You normally-”
“Nanik is a good girl and Litvir is a very good kid. I don’t give a fuck about Kairos, he’s a cunt, but, as strange as it sounds, coming from a Torr, I do care about you fucktards. Especially Litvir, since that idiot would happily throw themselves in front of a flaming meteor to protect any of us. Plus, speaking of protecting shit, we need to protect the universe, and, right now, Kairos is making things REALLY FUCKING DIFFICULT.”
Epani inspected Aesop, then took a deep breath. “So, Aesop, do you have any suggestions?”
“Plenty!” Aesop hissed. “We stick Kairos in a box, give him a bunch of toys and maybe a few women Thraki to keep him distracted, we have you and Dalosisaar take over fixing time anomalies and close off the entire bottom of the universe. Then we do as much long distance pain to that stupid-ass ball until it fucks off and leaves.”
Everyone stared at Aesop, but Aesop could tell, quite a few of the Twelve Anew agreed with him in some way.
“Hm…” Epani didn’t seem too upset. “In all honesty? Your suggestions have… some merit. I will… do some calculations and testing, then come back to them. In the mean time though, Aesop, Dalosisaar is right, I need you to swap with Murum’Va, to minimise her closeness to the Episkeft. Valksia, I also want you to swap with Syksis for a bit. When Litvir has healed up from their bite wounds, they will go back to doing patrols up north.”
“What about Kairos though?” Dalosisaar asked.
“I think, since Nanik and Litvir are not getting anywhere, Dalossiaar, I want you to stay near Kairos and keep an eye on him.”
“Ugh…” Dalosisaar didn’t pretend to hide his uneasiness. “Fine… Are we done now?”
Epani nodded. “We are, yes. Thank you, my darlings. I appreciate your care and patience. We will get through this, I swear.”
Aesop just shrugged. “We’ll be fine. It’s just Kairos who’s being a cunt.”
“Indeed…”
With a frown, Epani got up, then vanished. The lesser deities all glanced at each other, then decided to get back to work.