“You seem glum.”
Phovos couldn’t help but sigh as she pushed food across her plate. She should have been having an amazing time, eating at a very fancy restaurant with a very fancy Ksithan on a very fancy date, but she felt miserable and didn’t know why. This bothered Phovos greatly, because her date was Kairos, the Dragon God of Time.
“I’m sorry, I’m just… I have a lot on my mind. I’m a very busy Ksithan and I kinda don’t ever switch off.”
“Understandable!” Kairos smiled. He was currently shapeshifted into a very pretty, pale blue Ksithan, and he was definitely drawing the attention of the other people in the restaurant. “I mean, you are a Voidborn being, you’re not wired the same way everyone else is.”
Phovos blinked, then looked up at Kairos. He was a very tall Ksithan. “I assume by that, you mean that I’m immortal, that I have Akairon Healing, yes?”
Kairos forked a piece of fish into his mouth and chewed slowly. He looked Phovos up and down, leaned forward. “Well, yes, but… Hm…”
“What?” Phovos felt somewhat concerned now. “Is there… something I don’t know?”
“I thought Arkay told you?” Kairos shrugged. “I’ll be honest, I did do some… research both before I considered both you and this date, and that involved speaking to my fellow deities. Then again, it’s possible that Arkay didn’t know the whole story. He often doesn’t. Epani doesn’t let him.”
“He explained that I was, uh, conceived while the Allbirther was dead, so she somewhat forgot I existed, and I’m technically undead because of it…” Phovos sighed, then went back to her food.
They had both ordered a platter of grilled fish and seafood, and Kairos had quickly consumed most of his, but Phovos wasn’t particularly hungry. Which was weird, because she was normally always hungry. In fact, outside of being a former warlord, a ferocious warrior and a fan of brutal violence, the Raptor was also well known for being a bottomless pit, capable of out-eating Rethavok, a race of massive, permanently hungry armoured brutes.
Maybe Phovos was just nervous.
“Oh. I guess Arkay didn’t know everything then. Doesn’t surprise me…” Kairos wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Do you want to know the real truth? You can say no, if you want. It’s… not nice. Honestly, I was rather dumbfounded when Epani told me the truth. And to think that neither Arkay nor Sini had any idea the entire time.”
Yes, it was definitely nervousness. Phovos was almost scared now. And to think that things had been going somewhat smoothly up until now.
“So… Arkay lied to me?”
“No, of course not. He’s too nice and honest to lie. He just didn’t know. Wasn’t really a way for him to know, since he only discovered you when you were a teenager. Question is, do you want to know everything?”
Phovos nodded. It was an uneasy nod, but she did want to know.
“Alright. First off, a question. Do you remember being born?”
“Uh…” Phovos closed her eyes, trying to think. “No? Most Ksithans, most people I assume, don’t remember! I just get… flashes. It was… over a thousand years ago. I just remember everything being cold and utterly dark. Black. Blacker than black.”
“Makes sense. Did your mother remember?”
“No, not at all. She said I was a… troublesome birth. That she needed to be put under for a caesarian operation. She woke up after the surgery and I was in an incubator or something because I was oddly cold and ill.”
“Hm…” Kairos trailed off, taking another bite of fish. He chewed slowly, trying to decide how to phase his thoughts. “You were born in a Lanex hospital, yes? Your mother was travelling on foot via the various Portalian territories, trying to get to Vriskera, after escaping a Ksithan incursion, yes?”
“Apparently…” Phovos took a large glug of her drink, sighed, then downed the rest of it. She called over a waiter and ordered three glasses of cola. Kairos ordered a bottle of beer as well, and the pair of them waited until the new drinks arrived. “You know a lot about me.”
“You’re a public figure with a bloody history. I’m the God of Time. I know things. And whatever I don’t know, I can ask my fellow deities.”
“Fair, I guess…” Phovos tutted as she sipped her new drink. “You’ve made me concerned and curious and… uncomfortable, I guess. You might as well tell me what the Ice Wolf couldn’t.”
Kairos leaned forward once more. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Alright then. So, to start things off, I need to explain two things: firstly, this universe has rules. Rules set by Epani when we created this universe. One of those rules is that any divine beings that are not Epani, Sini, Arkay or myself that set foot within this universe lose their divinity. Another rule is that Voidborns, beings born outside of universes, are not allowed within this universe, and if they do come into the universe, they are made into mortal beings. You with me so far?”
Phovos nodded.
“Good. Now, occasionally, Epani likes to test her own rules. When she discovered that you had been conceived, she wanted to try an experiment. When your mother went into labour, she was put under, then taken to the edge of the universe by some of Epani’s loyalist Lanex and Torr servants, before being moved outside of the universe by Epani herself. You were born outside the universe, thus technically making you Voidborn. While you are not actually a Voidborn, as far as I am aware, Voidborn beings just kinda spontaneously spring into existence, you do have some… additional traits, which you have probably discovered yourself over the years, outside of being hard to kill.”
“That… that is… terrifying…” Phovos’s gaze fell downwards.
“It is…” Kairos frowned. “But the good news is that, maybe, if you somehow get killed, there’s a chance that you’ll, uh, respawn.”
“What?”
“Voidborn beings respawn unless killed in a certain way, or if their respawn area is destroyed or obstructed. So if you were killed, instead of just, well, dying, you might find yourself reappearing at the edge of the universe, where you were born.”
“Huh…” Phovos fell silent, then returned to her food, not really sure what to say.
Kairos eyed Phovos, then sighed to himself. He was currently feeling a bit bad, which was not a normal feeling for the proud, often uncaring Time Drake.
“I’m sorry for giving you the burden of new knowledge.”
Phovos glanced up at the Whenvern, then shrugged. “I suppose it explains a few things. Like how I can survive in space the way a Lanex can, with just a supply of oxygen. And my stupidly slow heartbeat. And my infertility.”
“Yes, it does explain a lot. Although the infertility is probably more because of Sini than Epani. Since Sini, uh, forgot about you, you can’t reproduce. Because I’m certain that powerful Voidborns can have kids, if they find the right partner.”
“I assume, being the God of Time, you can’t have kids either?” Phovos asked.
Kairos grunted. “I can have kids, I actually have had kids in the past, but I’m not allowed to have kids inside this universe.”
“You… had kids?”
“Yes, four kids. But it was over 15 billion years and two different universes ago, and I don’t know what happened to them.”
“That…” Phovos found herself stuttering again. “That makes no sense. There were universes before this one, and you were a Time Dragon in them?”
“Indeed. There’s a whole multiverse out there, and new universes are being born all the time. That being said, most universes don’t make it past the first one million years, let alone getting to the point where they have multiple sapient, space-faring races. This universe is definitely the best universe I’ve been a part of. And I’d like to spend a good part of this universe with you.”
“You… you would?”
Kairos nodded. “You are a curious being. I like you.”
“I, uh, like you too…” Phovos hesitated. “Can we… do a second date? One with less… horrific new info about my birth?”
“Of course!” The Whenvern was smiling a little too much. “Now, do you fancy some dessert?”
Phovos smiled back. “Yeah, I would…”