“Muuuuuuuuum!” Kairos whined as he flew towards the realm of Kinigi, the place where Kinisis normally spent her time. He wasn’t feeling well and on his journey there, he’d crashed into a few things, much to the dismay of his siblings.
“Muuuuuuum!”
Kinisis stepped out of her palace, her hands on her hips. “Kairos, how old are you?”
“About… fourteen billion years old…” Kairos sighed as he calmed down. “But still, fourteen billion years is how long I’ve been a TIME god for. Death god stuff? Whole different game. And it’s already driving me mad.”
The Goddess sighed too, then beckoned Kairos inside. Kairos shrunk himself down so he could fit inside the doors, then followed Kinisis, only to shrink down a little more as he’d overestimated his size.
“Were you… in the middle of something?” Kairos suddenly asked. The main hall, which Kairos expected to be a basic hallway, was in fact a dining room, with a massive feast laid out in the middle of it. There were only five chairs around the table, only one of which had been recently occupied.
“I cooked dinner. In the hopes of luring your brother back.”
Kairos blinked. “Arkadin has never come home for dinner though. You’ve always had to invite him here first and then cook dinner.”
“I thought maybe this time it would be different…” Kinisis sighed again as she sat down and put herself a massive serving of everything. “I’m missing my littlest son.”
Kairos sat down as well, but didn’t put any food. Kinisis immediately noticed.
“I miss him too.”
“Is that why you’re not eating?”
The Whenvern hesitated, then shook his head. “No… The problem is that I’m… I’m not cut out to be the Time God and the Death God. I know that one is the result of the other, I know that it’s all intertwined, but I’m not cut out for this, I can’t do it.”
Kinisis didn’t say anything at first. She shovelled some sort of mashed, starchy food into her mouth, then hissed and tutted to herself.
“I’m sorry…” Kairos finally uttered.
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”
“Well, it kinda is.”
“It’s all of our faults because none of us truly appreciated him and we allowed Kenon to hurt him. No wonder he always kept to himself…” Kinisis was still sighing.
“I was more saying it was my fault that I’m a shit death god.”
Kinisis smiled, if only for a second. “Oh… That’s fair. You’re a shit death god. I’ll just… stick the decay stuff on autopilot now, I guess?”
“You can do that?” Kairos asked.
“Yep.”
Kinisis snapped her fingers. Almost instantly, Kairos felt like a massive weight had been lifted off his back. The death cries haunting his mind began to fade away and his old blue and silver colouring began to return to his scales.
“Wow… She CAN do that…” Kairos muttered to himself. “But… why not just do that, like all the time? Just have death run on autopilot or whatever you called it?”
Kinisis shrugged. “Why not just have everything run on autopilot?”
“Could you do that?”
“Yep.”
“Why haven’t you?”
“Because it’s boring!” Kinisis beamed. “Sometimes you need that little personal touch on things. But I have a question for you, Kairos. Why were you struggling with your own conclusions?”
Kairos closed his eyes. A horrible feeling welled up in his stomach. “I was getting hungry.”
“Already?”
“Yes.”
“I should have given the job to Epani.”
“No, you shouldn’t have given it to anyone!” Kairos snapped. “I’m sorry, but you designed or planned or did something so Arkadin could always deal with that destructive pain. I don’t have it! And I don’t think anyone else does either!”
Kinisis smiled. “You’re right.”
“I know I am.”
“You should have something to eat.” Kinisis continued to smile as she placed a plate of food in front of Kairos.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, dear.”
The Whenvern sighed, then tucked in. He’d upset Kinisis too much, he didn’t want to upset her any more. But they both knew that something was genuinely very wrong.
“Promise me you won’t ever run away, right?”
Kairos sighed again. “I promise, Kinisis. I won’t run away…”