Elkay wasn’t sure why, but he felt oddly nervous as he stepped into the Crystal Palace, one of the Whenvern’s four massive, diamond-coated homes, scattered across the corners of the universe. He had questions, asked by his fellow Twelve Anew, that Elkay himself couldn’t answer. But also questions that Elkay wasn’t quite willing to take to the Allmaker either. Anything regarding the safety of the universe from external threats, Elkay was always told to ask Kairos before asking Epani.
So that was what he was doing. The problem was, Elkay was certain that the Whenvern hated him, and Elkay had no idea why. Maybe it was because Elkay secretly always rejected the Whenvern’s power and was a devoted worshipper of the old Silent Blade.
“Hello?” Elkay knocked politely on the door, waiting for an answer. Oddly, the door was already slightly ajar, and the lights inside were on, but set in a way that there were very few shadows and a lot of ambient light.
There was no answer though. Elkay decided to put on his nice, friendly, old Skyan voice and call out again.
“Hello, Holy Whenvern? Are you there?”
Still no answer. Elkay decided to do something stupid and go inside and have a look around, but not before he sent a message off to several of the Twelve Anew, letting them know what was going on.
As Elkay stepped into the main hall though, he felt even more nervous and uneasy. Mostly because he felt oddly cold, and there weren’t any obvious shadows he could use as a means of escape. He did relax ever so slightly though as he reached a large, sapphire-walled room though, where the Whenvern was resting on a massive pile of coins and assorted treasures. Today, the Whenvern was more like a Thrack than a Thraki. Four limbs plus a pair of wings. Each talon was as long as Elkay’s entire hand.
“What are you doing here?” Kairos immediately snarled.
Sensing the Time Dragon was in a bad mood, Elkay stuck to his nice voice. “Holy Whenvern, I’m sorry to disturb you, but Murum’Va and Litvir keep on picking up the presence of a type of Voidborn we haven’t seen before, that doesn’t match the information we currently have. I wanted to ask if you have any extra data, before I make a request to Epani to allow us to study one of these Voidborns further.”
Kairos eyed Elkay, then got up off his bed of gold. Behind Elkay, a gate appeared, blocking his exit.
“I, uh, see that you take this seriously…” Elkay stuttered. “But I also see I may have come at a bad time… Do you… want me to gather more data myself and make an arrangement for another date? Or perhaps save this for our weekly meeting with the rest of the Twelve Anew?”
More snarls. Kairos stomped over then leaned down, inspecting Elkay. Elkay hesitated, then held out the sheets of paper he was holding, what little information he had. Growling, Kairos snatched the paper away from Elkay and started reading through it all, but he remained worryingly close.
“Are these not the same as the tame silver Voidborn that used to visit?”
Elkay shook his head. “No, Holy Whenvern. The one Aesop chased off was docile and not a threat, and these new ones don’t match its appearance. They are smoother, with four horns and wings.”
“I see…” Kairos fell silent, thinking to himself. “I don’t have any additional information, so I will speak to Epani. She may want to capture one for information, but that will be arranged between myself and the guardian members of the Twelve.”
Elkay curtsied. “Thank you, Lord Kairos. Is there… anything else you wish to know before I head back to my duties?”
Kairos tilted his head to one side, inspecting Elkay some more, before leaning forward and placing his claws on Elkay’s tail, stopping him from leaving.
“I don’t like you.”
“Understandable. Is there a way for me to rectify that?” Elkay asked. “After all, I used to worship your End and not you.”
“Unfortunately, no, there isn’t a chance to rectify this…” Kairos growled, his teeth right in front of Elkay’s face. “Not a reasonable chance, that is. Not unless you die.”
“That… is needlessly harsh… But I don’t understand how my death would fix our, uh, somewhat unknown and one-sided conflict, especially since the Allbirther and the Panelix explicitly stopped me from dying…”
The Whenvern sighed. “I had a chance to break my own Looping Formation and put a stop to my Potential Determined End, and I missed it.”
“I… I don’t follow.”
“Of course you don’t! You can’t see your own end! You aren’t cursed with the knowledge of how you will potentially die! And you aren’t trapped in your own damn looping cycles! I stopped one damn loop, caused by a being called Elkay, then Kinisis caused more to happen! I thought I stopped a second loop by convincing Kinisis to take the little tainted half-blood with her, but that didn’t work either! And this time round? I thought I got rid of the first one by altering things to make the elder child take the hit and I got rid of the other one by making Sini take the little prick with her, only for Epani TO MAKE ANOTHER ONE.”
Elkay blinked. He should have been scared, but he was confused more than anything else. “I… still don’t get it. Are you suggesting that you think you’ll be killed by someone called Elkay, who was deified by one of your fellow goddesses?”
Kairos paused, no longer aggressive but definitely annoyed at how this annoying little Skyan had so cleanly explained one of his deepest fears.
“Basically, yes. I won’t go into the various time loop nonsense that I have witnessed and partially potentially created, because you wouldn’t understand it.”
“But there have been a myriad of Elkays in the past? It’s… like, the fourth most common name for K-Class Skyans after Enkay, Veekay and Teekay…” Elkay hesitated, thinking about what Kairos had just said to him. “Was… was little Shadowstalker of Xeno Dessaron One one of the Elkays you were concerned about?”
“Yes.”
“Who was the other though? And who is Kinisis and the tainted half-blood? And who was this first Elkay that somehow caused a loop?” Elkay knew he shouldn’t have been asking questions, and he knew he was risking the Whenvern getting violent with him, but he couldn’t help but ask. He was the god of knowledge, after all.
Kairos closed his eyes, still somewhat snarling. That snarl though turned into a vague smile. “I suppose, since they were all neutralized… I can tell you. Kinisis was Epani and Sini’s mother, a vastly powerful Life Goddess I was indebted to, who originally turned Arkay into the Thantophor. She had… four daughters though, the first of whom caused the loop, but she was cast out into the void and consumed by Corruption, as far as I’m aware. I don’t actually know what happened to the half-blood, I just know he’s out of sight, out of mind, same way the Shadowstalker is. I’m just thankful most Rethans are stupid and willing to sacrifice themselves, because that alternate path was gladly avoided…”
Elkay was still confused. But that confusion turned to fear as Kairos opened his eyes, pushed Elkay to the ground and pinned him down with his massive talons, then bared his teeth, ready to bite Elkay’s face off.
“Now I’ve told you, I can kill you. For having stolen forbidden knowledge. And conspiring with the external void outside the universe.”
“Oh… You… know about…”
“I do, yes. A good excuse for me to deal with you in a more permanent-”
The Whenvern suddenly howled in pain as he was blinded by a brilliant light and stabbed in the side. Something heavy then kicked the Whenvern over, causing him to stumble and lose his grip on Elkay, while a pair of familiar white wings and white and gold armour pulled Kairos away completely.
Somewhat miraculously, several of the Twelve Anew had arrived just in time to save Elkay’s life.
“Stand down, Sokardoraik!” Murum’Va roared as she, Dalosisaar and Litvir all stood between Elkay and the Whenvern, while Valksia and Aster helped Elkay to his feet.
“How dare you!” Kairos growled back. “This has nothing to do with you!”
“This has everything to do with us!” Murum’Va stood her ground. “You threaten one of the Twelve, the rest of the Twelve stand firm and protect them! If you have a problem with the Evayks, then you sort the problem out like a civilized being! You DO NOT harm them!”
“This behaviour is below you, Holy Kairos!” Dalosisaar added. “You are better than this. And Elkay is the most hard-working out of all of us, I am certain he has done nothing wrong!”
“Oh, you have no idea…” the Whenvern snarled. “You can’t see ahead like I can.”
“Of course not!” Litvir almost chirped. “We are not time dragons! But Kyr Kairos… you are not… infected by the, uh, dark thingy, are you? Because Kyr Dalosisaar is right, you are better than this. You are acting weird. Not like you. You also are not seeing ahead.”
Kairos turned his attention to the child Rethan, then roared and immediately charged at them. Litvir swiftly blinded the Whenvern with a burst of light, then ducked to one side while Murum’Va fired a blast of heat at the enraged dragon. Aster then stepped forward and used his control over gravity to stop the Whenvern from moving at all, rendering him too heavy to move. Aster increased the gravitational pressure, focusing on Kairos’s head and neck, until the Whenvern seemed to pass out.
“Uh… I hope you’re not right about him being Corrupted, Litvir…” Dalosisaar eventually muttered. “Elkay, are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. Thankful though. Thanks for saving me.”
“No worries…” Dalosisaar frowned. “Alright. Aster, Litvir, you both need to stay here and keep Kairos grounded. Murum’Va, I need you to see if there’s been any recent Corruption break-ins, and do a quick border patrol around this quadrant, burn ANYTHING suspicious. Valksia, you need to go and fetch the rest of the Twelve and bring them here to help Aster and Litvir, while I go and speak to Epani and tell her what happened. Elkay, since you somehow triggered this aggression, I want you to go back to your library, look up any relevant information you can find, then send it all to Kohra so he can bring it here. You all got that?”
The other deities all nodded. Litvir made a bright light behind the fallen Whenvern to make a shadow for Elkay to jump through, and Valksia immediately made her way back via the main gate, turning herself into a rain cloud as she did so. Murum;Va grunted, then marched off, muttering something about “her Sotanaht” being better.
“Will you two be alright here, on your own?” Dalosisaar asked as he spread open his wings, ready to fly off.
“We’ll be fine,” Aster replied, but not with much confidence.
“If he wakes up and attacks you both, protect yourselves first, alright?”
“Of course!” Aster patted Litvir on the shoulder. “Litvir’s emotion-sensing should give us an early warning system though.”
“Alright…” Dalosisaar sighed. “I’ll be back as soon as possible. Keep safe.”
“You too.”