Arkay hated this particular Chrono-Palace. The Whenvern had four Chrono-Palaces, four large homes, one in each corner of the universe, situated on the exact Y coordinate of zero, but this one, the Crystal Coliseum, was made entirely out of translucent diamond, meaning you could easily see through most of the walls. And considering that the palace itself floated ominously in empty space, occasionally bobbing up and down on cosmic currents, looking down was not recommended at all.
To make matters worse, to enter the Chrono-Palace, a special passcode had to be sung. Which was fine for the Whenvern, because one of his lower elemental affinities was Sound, Sonics and all things related to vibrations, Arkay was well-known to be particularly tuneless. Thankfully, at least this palace’s entrance code only changed every few months, unlike the code that had to be sung to enter Epani’s castle at the centre of the universe.
“Aao orino ora ao ris oh orino…”
The doors to the Chrono-Palace remained shut. Arkay was pretty sure he’d fucked something up, so he tried again.
“Aao orino ora ao ris oh orino!”
This time, a chiming sound was heard. The doors creaked, then slowly opened up. Arkay didn’t bother announcing his presence, Kairos already knew he was there, and Arkay could see the silvery dragon through the diamond walls. Navigating the palace was a little tricky, but Arkay decided to cheat, travelling through a nearby shadow and reappearing in the main chamber, which was filled with piles of gold and silver coins, shiny trinkets and large, elegantly cut gems. Sure, Arkay could have just teleported straight in, but he didn’t want to piss off the Dragon God of Time.
“My dearest End, what brings you here today?” Kairos’s voice boomed. The Whenvern was a colossal being. In his current, purely draconic form with arms, legs and two sets of folded wings, he stood at 20m tall, and his tail looped around the room multiple times.
Arkay sighed to himself. He was already feeling down, and standing in the presence of his much larger fellow deity was more stressful than it should have been.
“I’ll be honest, Kairos, I need some help.”
“Oh?” Kairos lowered his head down, so he was on level with Arkay. The size difference was huge, the Whenvern could have swallowed the Thantophor whole. “You want help? From me?”
Arkay closed his eyes and sighed. “Yes. I want help. That is what I literally just said.”
Kairos patted a large pile of coins by his side, offering Arkay a place to sit down. Arkay did as he was told, despite how uncomfortable his impromptu seating was.
“So, littlest, what do you need?”
“You call me ‘littlest’ when I’m technically the second oldest deity in this universe.”
“Oh, you are in one of thoooooose moods…” Kairos tutted. “Is the whole having a relationship thing not working out for you? Because it is going very well for me. I forgot how nice it was to be in a monogamous, stable relationship.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s nice to be in a relationship. And things have been working going quite nicely for me. The problem is, I’m…” Arkay hesitated. “I think I am getting future flashes.”
“Future flashes?”
“Yes.”
“As in, glances into the future?”
“Yes.”
Kairos fell silent. “You… are not supposed to be able to see into the future at all. It’s one of Epani’s rules.”
“I know. But I pick up on your powers anyway. It’s worse when you’re distracted. It’s also a good sign of when you’re screwing something, so I know to not interrupt and keep an eye out for any time anomalies. Over the last four days though, I have had the same nightmare non-stop, of some sort of event in the future. I can’t tell if it’s an actual future flash though or a potential timeline that can be avoided, or if it’s just nightmares.”
“Hm…” Kairos trailed off again. “Can you describe the dream to me?”
“Can you, not, like, read my mind or something?”
“I can, but I want you to describe what happens first.”
Arkay frowned. He didn’t like that at all. With a sigh, he started talking. “Everything is mostly dark and gloomy. I’m with Kuta, just walking… somewhere. Not at home. Something attacks us, grabbing us from the darkness, separating us. It’s a shadowy entity, I can’t hear it speaking but it holds us both in darkness, facing each other. It demands that I let it in. I don’t know what that means or even what I do, but I comply with their demand, only for it to… It stabs Kuta. Through the chest. And I feel that Arkidetelian anger rising again…”
“What happens after that?”
“I…” Arkay stuttered. “I… I don’t… I don’t know. That’s when I wake up.”
“Okay… May I look in your mind?” Kairos asked as he altered his position, so Arkay was sitting directly in front of him.
Arkay lowered himself down. “Yeah. I want to know what’s going on.”
The Whenvern grunted. He wrapped his right hand around Arkay, holding him in place, then gently placed one claw on Arkay’s head. Kairos hummed briefly, before falling silent, lost in thought and ignoring Arkay’s grunts of discomfort.
After exactly 4.4 seconds, Kairos released his grip on Arkay, then frowned.
“So it IS a future flash?” Arkay sighed.
“It’s not a flash. It’s a potential future on a still-possible timeline based on our current position in history. Definitely something that can happen should we continue on this path. Luckily, there is some hope to be had, since it’s a potential future, it is possible that, if we make changes now, it can be avoided, and we can also tweak things here and there to dismantle the potential timeline completely.”
Arkay closed his eyes. “I have to go cold again, don’t I?”
Kairos nodded. “Unfortunately, yes.”
The Thantophor hesitated, collecting his thoughts, desperately trying to hide his sadness. It took Arkay far too long to eventually string a sentence together.
“I don’t know why I bothered. Should have just stayed cold. Now I know what I’m missing.”
Kairos put a caring hand on Arkay’s shoulder. “It sucks, yes, but you don’t need to do this forever. Or even, in the grand scheme of things, that long. About a decade. A minimum of eight years, a maximum of seventeen. And I’ll talk to Sini and Epani, make sure you keep the rights and memories you clawed back.”
“It’s still a long time for all my friends. It…” Arkay’s words faded. He glanced up at Kairos. “It’s not fair. I hate it. But I don’t want them to die… I have no choice here. Yet again.”
“I’m sorry, little one.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s my fault for thinking being a death god and having friends and a relationship could work together…” Arkay climbed to his feet, not bothering to hide his emotions or his tears. “Do I have to go cold right away? Or can I go and see Kuta one last time?”
Kairos counted on his fingers briefly, then shrugged. “The sooner you go cold, the better, but as long as you do so in the next 10 hours, you should be fine.”
“Alright… Guess I’d better be quick then… Thanks for, well, confirming this, I guess…”
The Thantophor sniffed and rubbed his eyes, before straightening himself out properly. He glanced back at Kairos, then walked off, disappearing through a nearby shadow. Kairos stared at where Arkay had teleported off, before turning his attention to several darkened coins, coins that had been tarnished by Arkay’s acidic tears.
Kairos frowned. He felt bad. But there was no other option. The potential future Kairos had seen, he needed to avoid it, at all costs. With a tut and a whistle, the Whenvern summoned his godly communicator, then tapped on it five times. He needed to tell Epani and Sini the unfortunate news…