He was supposed to be dead. The God of Vengeance had fallen to the Crazed Lord of Time. And the deranged Time Drake had simply toyed with the young deity, forcing him to constantly relive the moment when he couldn’t save his family. After the 350th re-enactment though, when the Lord of Time had realised that the child god had accepted his failings and the re-enactments were no longer torture for the stupid uplifted mortal. They had just gone numb to the suffering. They were still struggling, still trying to break free, but they weren’t really fighting as much any more.
That was fine. The Lord of Time was bored of this creature now. A pitiful, useless child made as a distraction by Her. They didn’t even have any real use within this universe. She had made him… well, for a laugh. Something to amuse Her. But the Lord of Time had hated that, he had hated Her, and that was why he was destroying everything She had made.
With a growl, the Lord of Time grabbed the young deity by the neck, and dragged them to the edge of the universe. As he did so, he swatted away some of those stupid white ball things that had been breaking in lately. A few more would probably come in as the Lord of Time made his next move, which was to cut a wide hole in the universe’s edge. Once that hole was made, the Lord of Time held the God of Vengeance in the centre of said hole. The edges of the hole though were razor sharp, and the God of Vengeance was well aware that the Lord of Time was going to use those edges to rip them to shreds.
“Any last words, you little swine? You useless sack of flesh? You pitiful excuse for a living being?”
The Lord of Time spoke in an almost monotone way, despite his anger. The child deity didn’t answer, and instead tried clawing at the Lord of Time’s hand, to no real effect. The Lord of Time was nullifying the cretin’s powers, nullifying almost their entire being, everything except their ability to die. He didn’t want the child to die. He knew She was watching the Lord of Time and his actions from Her hidden sanctuary. He knew She was aware he would do this to Her at some point in the near future.
“I often wonder why She asked me and the Lord of the Void to not kill you alongside your family. You are a useless being. You are not even a decent deity. A god of vengeance, of all things? You were a primitive ruler on a primitive planet living among primitive life. You barely even saw the stars. Not until we killed everything you cared about and She had Her way with you.”
The young god was no longer clawing or trying to escape. They had realised what the Time Lord was saying to them.
“Ah, so you do realise how you were used. How you are nothing. Perhaps now you will speak?”
Hesitation. Realisation. Hopelessness. A being that had lost their forced purpose now remained still in the Lord of Time’s claws.
“Hm. Perhaps I was a little cruel to you. After all, I also did Her bidding. You were always just a nobody. A speck dragged into Her evil desires. I am not going to give you a final word. Not in this universe. I am going to in fact spare you from my plans for this hellhole. Maybe another Lady of Creation will find you and make you suffer further, but I am done with you, and She never cared.”
With a snap of his fingers, the Lord of Time wrapped the young god’s body up in toxic, prickly vines, poisoning them, immobilising them, freezing them. He then propelled the former deity out of the universe, into the dark void.
Smiling, the Lord of Time swatted away one of those stupid white balls that had wandered close, then went back to work, dismantling the universe that he had once cheerfully served and now painfully despised.
…
Galyn sat up straight, throwing a blanket off himself and looking around, feeling… concerned. He’d been asleep. He did occasionally sleep, because he was a former mortal and he did routinely need to reset his brain. Admittedly, neither Vikalos nor Itaviir needed to sleep, but they liked the idea of just shutting one’s eyes and just shutting off for a bit. It wasn’t normal sleep though, like Galyn needed, Vikalos in particular just closed his eyes and would spend an hour or two daydreaming rather than actually sleeping.
That was why, as Galyn sat up, he felt a warm, fuzzy arm around his back.
“Whatever you just dreamed seemed bloody awful, but you are awake and safe now, and your dreams are just dreams.”
Galyn rubbed his face, suddenly aware that he was both awake and he had woken up from a bad dream, leaving him with an oddly cold sweat.
“I have not had dreams like that before.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Vikalos asked as he pulled Galyn back into bed. Ever since they’d gotten married, Vikalos would routinely invite himself into either Galyn’s or Itaviir’s bed, often without asking.
“Not in particular, I just find it unusual that I was dreaming about my last few hours within a universe. Those are memories that I thought I had long buried. But that dream was particularly horrible and vivid.”
Vikalos thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I suppose we did consume a kilo of breaded cheddar cheese sticks before bed.”
“I thought that was a myth.”
“I think it depends on one’s biology?” Vikalos shrugged some more. “But we did eat a LOT before going to bed and you also had a lot to drink, so perhaps that is the reason. Either way, like all the telepaths around here say, dreams are just a way of clearing out your brain. They can’t hurt you.”
Galyn took a deep breath, then settled back down. “You are absolutely right, my dear. I guess I should try and go back to sleep.”
Vikalos wrapped Galyn up in a warm hug. “You do that. I’ll be right here, protecting you.”