Kairos perched on the roof of the crystal tower that he had been residing in for the last couple of days. This was not his true home. No, Kairos had been made to live in one of his mother’s many palaces, while Kinisis and Kenon kept an eye on him and constantly asked him questions. Right now though, the Whenvern had found a small slither of piece and quiet and intended to keep it to himself.
Of course, there was always someone around to interrupt that peace and quiet. But Kairos’s current visitor was definitely a nice one.
“You really don’t seem right…”
Arkadin had a sad look on his long, armoured face. Recent events had meant that the Thantophor, the Lord of Decay, was on high alert, covering for Kairos while he was down. He wasn’t doing that much really, just dealing with a few temporal anomalies caused by Kairos’s illness, but being alert meant that Arkadin was wearing a lot more of that weird, organic armour of his.
“I died, little brother…” Kairos muttered, tucking in his wings. Arkadin floated nearby, not sure what he could do to comfort the Whenvern. After a moment’s thought, he put his hand on Kairos’s shoulder and smiled.
“Well, if it makes you feel better, most mortals will, at some point in their existence, die very briefly. I mean, depending on the species, a mortal might temporarily die and be resuscitated or come back naturally up to 25 times in the course of one life time. One life time being anywhere between 10 and 100 years.”
The Whenvern stared at the little yellow death god, his eyes filled with both anger and a hint of fear.
“That… does not make me feel better in the slightest!” Kairos huffed. “I died! Everything stopped! The universe nearly ended! Because… because… I don’t know why… I don’t know what happened to make me… Arkay, little brother, am I going insane or something?”
Arkadin shrugged. “You might be in shock. I wouldn’t know though. I’m no Medic.”
Kairos sneered to himself, then reached forward with one wing, grabbing Arkadin and pulling him close, forcing the Thantophor into a hug.
“You’re really, really not right…” Arkadin grumbled as he tried to wriggle free. Eventually, Kairos loosened his grip, and Arkay pushed away, but he remained close to Kairos, not wanting to leave him alone in his time of need. “Is there something you want to talk about?”
“Yes, but you wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe, but you could try to help me understand…”
The Whenvern stretched out his wings, flapping them briefly before tucking them away again.
“I haven’t mentioned this to Kinisis and Kenon because…” Kairos closed his eyes, sighing. “I don’t know how they would react… But I think what happened to me wasn’t chance or an accident or an illness…”
“Why?” Arkadin asked, trying to hide how insanely concerned he suddenly was.
“Because…” This time, Kairos stuttered. “Okay, you understand infinity, right?”
“Not really, but go on.”
“How long was I dead for?”
Arkadin thought back. “About 7.45 seconds. That was when you were completely actually dead. I took over Time in the last 3.45 seconds, and when you were alive again. Before then, there was about 29 seconds where you weren’t really dead but you were close. After that, I guess everything went back to normal.”
“Seven seconds is a long time… Even four seconds… too long…”
“I guess?” Arkadin shrugged. “Did something… happen in those brief seconds that I’m not aware of?”
Kairos opened his eyes, staring directly at the Thantophor. “Little brother, for those 4 seconds, there was no time what so ever. Time became a singularity. Because there was no me to hold things together, time became both zero and infinity…”
Again, Kairos reached forward and pulled Arkadin close. But he did so gently, somewhat secretively this time.
“Arkay, something happened in those 4 seconds. I just don’t know what. And that bothers me greatly.”
“Do you… want me to find out for you?”
“Please…”
The Whenvern let go, then climbed back into the tower, locking himself away. With a confused shrug or two, Arkadin thought about what had just happened, then began to formulate a plan. It was just a simple request, right?