“Has he been hanging around menacingly the whole time?”
Aster was a regular visitor to the Library Near the Centre of the Universe, as he would regularly use its sources to study up for any complicated meetings and tasks he had to do. He’d also occasionally ask Elkay questions, since, most of the time, Elkay was working at the library. But lately, Elkay had been at the library for a long while now, and Aster, being the god of diplomacy, was here to see what was going on.
“He has, yes…”
Elkay was currently in his dark office, going over a vast amount of… something. Sheets of paper were everywhere. All along the desk, all over the walls, there were even sheets stuck to the ceiling.
“And he’s still pestering you about this stupid prophecy of his?”
“Yep. I fucking hate it. It’s 90% of what I’ve worked on lately. I could be doing so much other piss but I’m doing this fucking thing.”
Aster glanced around the office, trying to find a place to sit down, but he quickly gave up and decided to stand by the desk, in the one area not covered in paper.
“I don’t get why he’s suddenly so interested in this now…” Aster muttered. “I mean, he’s been alive for a looooooooooong time. And you, you’ve been a deity for… an almost insignificant time in comparison. And isn’t Elkay a super common name?” Aster suddenly paused. “And also… why… why Elkay? Why not Arkay? As in, the Skyan name for the god of death and decay? The Allender would make more sense in Kairos’s prophecy than… you.”
Elkay frowned. “That’s the thing. I’m honestly wondering if Kairos has been worrying about my poor Silent Blade the entire time, but, well, that makes no sense, because Arkay is long gone. Like, the time scales don’t add up. Why is Kairos worrying about this prophecy now? Literally two universes later, when the beings that could actually kill him are gone?”
Aster shifted his weight a little. “Alright, question, could you actually kill Kairos?”
Elkay paused, then blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Could you actually kill him? Kairos is scared that you’ll kill him, but if you can’t actually kill him, he has nothing to be afraid of.”
“Well… that… that is a really good point. Being literally time itself, I don’t think I can really do much aside from briefly hurting Kairos. Even if us Twelve Anew worked together, I think the worst we could do was put him into a coma, and even then, he’d recover. The only things capable of killing him, according to both him and Epani, is either something exo-universal, specifically a Corruption, an entity like Arkay, or a Life Goddess.”
“A Life Goddess like Epani?” Aster asked.
“Yeah.”
“And… are there entities like Arkay?”
“As far as I’m aware? No, Arkay was a unique deity made in a specific way by a Life Goddess… And apparently Corruptions are… basically cancerous, monstrous Life Goddesses… I suppose it’s all a roundabout way of saying that Kairos thinks he’ll be killed by a Life Goddess.”
“I mean…” Elkay flicked through some sheets of paper. “That… that makes sense… Kairos said this prophecy was given to him by “beings beyond description”. Life Goddesses could theoretically be “beings beyond description” because they are stupidly powerful beings.”
“Maybe the whole prophecy isn’t even real.”
Elkay grunted, but suddenly paused. “I… I just had a thought.”
“Oh?”
“What if… Alright, you were there too when Kairos described the whole mess, right?”
Aster nodded. “Yes.”
“Kairos said he was pulled out of a dying universe by this Kinisis person. This Kinisis person was also connected to the entity that caused the attack at the Great Arenas, and the event at the old earth bone things a few years back. Kinisis also… it is a being beyond description… I… I… I don’t know where I am going with this…”
Aster shrugged, then leaned on the desk, being careful not to knock anything around. “It’s fine, Elkay. You’ve been working non-stop for days Maybe if you take a break or something, you can gather your thoughts better and come to some sort of solution. In the mean time, I think… I think you need some time away. Have yourself a party or something and invite a bunch of friends.”
“I’m not a party person. I’m a “go to the library and read” person.”
“Well invite some folks here and have a book party or something!” Aster smiled. “Some people who are not us. You’ve spent your entire time surrounded by gods. Spend time with some mortals. Maybe tie it into that “Tea with Gods” thing you wanted to do with Kohra.”
“Huh…” Elkay smiled a little. “I actually like that idea. There’s a few folks I haven’t spoken to in a while. Maybe I will have a book party. That sounds fun! And you are right, I do need to relax. But I need to request something from you… Actually, it’s more I need to request something from Dalosisaar.”
“Sure, what do you need?” Aster asked. “Is it about Kairos constantly circling?”
“Yeah. I can’t work on this prophecy shit if I’ve got Kairos pestering me every few hours. If you can keep that asshole away from me for a while, then I can do some better work and stuff. And maybe he won’t get pissed at me taking a break.”
Aster nodded in agreement. “I’ll speak to Dalosisaar and, more importantly, Epani. Epani seems to at least listen to us when it comes to our needs, and Kairos also seems to listen to her. In the mean time though, will you take a break, right now? After all, you… haven’t seen daylight in a while.”
Elkay sighed, then tutted, then looked at his watch and realised that Aster was right. “Bloody darkness, I haven’t even been outside.”
“See what I mean?”
“Yeah. Alright, I’ma head out. Aster, do you want to come with me and get cookies?”
“Like, same way normal people go out for coffee?”
“Yeah.”
Aster shrugged. “Sure thing. Then afterwards, I’ll go speak to Dalosisaar and Epani. Get you some space.”
“I appreciate that, dear. Thank you…”