No one would have noticed had the Ksithans not heard the beating of colossal wings. Wings far, far larger than anything remotely possible. Wings that cloaked the landscape in shadows. The Whenvern, the Dragon God of Time, was circling the planet, clearly searching for the fallen Thantophor. Currently, the comatose God of Decay was sheltered, buried underneath a forest of freshly planted purple trees, with a small, mixed-race collection of mortals keeping watch. However it was the presence of those mortals that clued the Whenvern in to the Thantophor’s approximate location, and the colossal dragon homed in and landed awkwardly not too far away.
Snarling menacingly, the Time Drake lumbered across the terrain. His body was gigantic, his claws leaving gouges in the earth, his tail swishing through the air and ripping trees from the ground.
“SILENT BROTHER!” the Whenvern roared as he took off into the air again, spewing freezing breaths into the atmosphere, causing the weather to change from clear skies to a snow storm. He realized he was too far away, that he was damaging the planet. “OPEN YOUR MIND, TELL ME HOW TO FREE OUR SISTER!”
Being comatose and utterly unaware of the world around him, the Thantophor remained silent and still. However the mortals all rushed to position. They knew their weapons would do pretty much nothing to the mighty Whenvern, but they had to do something to keep the dragon distracted until reinforcements arrived.
The fact that these mortals dared attack the Whenvern only made Kairos angrier. He soared through the air, dragging the storms with it. Hail rained down, battering the purple forest, ripping through the leaves and revealing yellow armour plating underneath. Before Kairos could tear at the Thantophor’s corpse body and delve into its mind though, he needed to deal with the mortals. They weren’t hurting him, but they were definitely annoying him.
Remaining airborne was Kairos’s best option. The majority of the mortals seemed to be at a settlement by the right side of the comatose Thantophor, and they were firing mounted machine guns at him. Several watch towers located at the Thantophor’s head and left arm were also firing at Kairos, and the ground troops seemed to be firing too, with their gunstaffs. He was an utterly massive target, twice the size of his sleeping sibling, he wasn’t hard to miss. That being said, Kairos didn’t want to kill these mortals. Not only would that be furthering the Thantophor’s desires, but it would draw the ire of the Allbirther as well.
Luckily, Kairos was the Dragon God of Time. While he was unwilling to freeze time completely (doing so would break a lot of things within the universe and could potentially damage it beyond repair), he was happy to slow time down locally. With a spray of icy breath, the mortals on the ground were now acting as if they were swimming in molasses, barely capable of movement. Kairos wouldn’t keep them slowed forever. In fact, if he left them like that for more than a week, they’d all die from an inability to digest food and drink water properly. Kairos only needed a couple of hours though.
It seemed though that Kairos missed a few mortals. A team of five Rethavok located at the Thantophor’s tail were still firing at him. Kairos flew over them, threatening their very being.
“You little traitors betray the Lady of Light for this shadowy scum?”
The Rethavok didn’t answer and continued to fire. So Kairos froze them, the same way he froze the others.
Satisfied, the Whenvern circled several times, then landed on top of the Thantophor, his winged claws wrapping around (and partially crushing) the Death God’s wrists. Arkay’s mind was currently sealed shut by a mixture of corrosive spells, some of which Kairos had created, and he knew that if he drew enough of the Thantophor’s blood, his mind would open up, and his secrets, what few he had left, would be revealed.
The Whenven’s mighty jaws opened up, ready to tear out Arkay’s throat. But before he could strike, something tore at Kairos’s back. Something nearly as large as he was. Something that made no sense.
“REMOVE YOURSELF, FOUL DRAKE!” Thassalin bellowed as he ran his claws down Kairos’s spine, pulling away at silver armour plating. “DO NOT HARM THE SLEEPING THANTOEPHERON!”
Kairos hissed in pain, then took off, forcing the strange, gigantic pink Thraki to back away. “What in the name of my sisters are you?”
Thassalin didn’t answer and instead opened his jaws and released a torrent of flames. The fire trickled up Kairos’s back, but didn’t do much damage. The Whenvern retaliated by breathing his time-slowing breath at Thassalin, only for it to only partially affect the colossal Thraki.
“I AM THE SINIC WYVERN, I SERVE THE CYCLE, NOT A FOUL CHILD TIME DRAGON LIKE YOURSELF!” Thassalin growled. “YOUR ANGER TOWARDS YISINI AND ARKADIN IS ILL-MET, LEAVE NOW, BEFORE YISINI HEARS YOU, AND YOU WILL BE UNHARMED!”
Kairos tutted, then whipped his tail through the air, the spiked barbs tearing at Thassalin’s wing. Clearly this Thraki wasn’t as nimble and powerful as Kairos was at this gigantic size, and he couldn’t keep himself properly airborne. However, Thassalin was insistent on not retreating. He wrapped his own, hideously long tail around Kairos’s leg and dragged him down, forcing both Dragon and Wyvern to crash into the planet’s surface.
Unfortunately for Thassalin though, Kairos landed on top of the Sinic Thraki, and he placed a heavy claw to Thassalin’s throat.
“Hm. You are an old Time Drake, somewhat cut off from the Forward Flow but still ensnared by it. Curious. But not curious enough to stop me from-”
Kairos paused. Something had just torn at his wing. Two things. A Skyavok had shadowjumped onto the Whenvern via the shadows he had cast across the landscape. However, Kairos just flicked his wing, and the Skyavok disappeared, having been thrown off into the distance. But something was still clinging onto Kairos, clawing at his neck.
Suddenly, Kairos felt… weird. First his claw, then his shoulder, then his jaw went numb. There was an unnatural toxin running through his body, where something had… bitten him? There were two small fang marks on Kairos’s hand. Kairos shook his arm, and a white-plated Rethavok fell to the ground, crashing through a tree as it did so.
Either way, the numbing sensation was enough of a distraction for Thassalin to shrink down and disappear into the undergrowth. It also provided enough time for reinforcements to arrive.
A gigantic, purple, serpentine tail wrapped around Kairos’s neck and threw him across the planet and into orbit, where he collided with the planet’s moon. The Allbirther, howled in anguish as she ripped off Kairos’s armour and spat acid across the Whenvern’s wounds, causing them to burn.
“How fucking dare you!” Sini screeched. “You have hurt Arkay enough and you tear through his broken mind as well? Promise-breaker, leave before I MAKE you leave!”
Kairos picked himself up and snarled. His injuries were already healing, but he was definitely in pain. “Epani remains trapped. She must be freed!”
“She will go free when she has completed her damn punishment!”
“We need to release Epani!”
“She will be released! She has to remain cold for as long as Arkay remained cold, and that means Epani must remain sealed away for another week.”
Sini scratched Kairos across the face. Unlike all his previous injuries, this one didn’t instantly heal, and that bothered Kairos greatly. He knew better than to threaten a Life Goddess, so he backed down.
“Fine. I will wait. But if Epani does not go free, then I will tear Arkay’s throat out and bleed him until she’s out of her prison.”
“Epani will go free. Arkay promised. He keeps his promises. Unlike you. You and Epani, you are just as bad as Kinisis was. You are more of a monster than Arkay ever was. Always have been.”
Sini’s words were… sharper than normal. They hurt more than Kairos’s wounds. Unwilling to openly admit defeat, Kairos snarled, then silently took off, disappearing into the void. The Allbirther waited until Kairos was properly gone, then returned to the planet’s surface, to make sure that her poor mortal servants weren’t too badly beaten up.