“What is your problem, Kairos?”
Kairos had requested to be left alone. He had locked himself inside his crystal palace at the north eastern corner of the universe after a disagreement with one of the lesser deities. But Epani was clearly ignoring that request and had bluntly let herself in. She was also currently larger than Kairos was, in her old space whale Panelix form rather than the motherly Allmaker shape she took these days.
“I have lots of problems.”
“Clearly!” Epani hissed. “Problems and anger! Things you are taking out on my damn children!”
Kairos rolled his eyes and looked away. “The little prick deserved it.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
A clawed fin slapped Kairos across the face. Kairos had seen the slap coming, but he hadn’t expected it to hurt.
“You slapping me is no different from-”
“It’s very different!” Epani put herself in Kairos’s face. “You bit a baby because they disagreed with you! I slapped you because you bit a baby!”
“Litvir is not a baby. They’re physically about sixteen years old and should know better than to question me! Why do you care so much about that stupid Rethan anyway? You never cared for, well, any Rethans in the past!”
“Why… why do I care about one of our twelve young deities? Why are you even asking that question, Kairos? I know I USED to be cold and aloof, but I need to play the role of both Starbringer, Lifebringer and Deathbringer now, so I HAVE to care for everyone! I am doing that! I am doing everything I can to keep my universe spinning, because I didn’t do enough when Sini and Arkay were around! And part of that means I need to look after our deities, so they can look after the universe! I am not going to make the same mistake twice?”
“And what mistake is that?”
Epani sighed. “I treated Arkay badly. I realised that he had re-learned what was out there, I tried to take that knowledge away from him and stopped him from having nice things, and he lost his desire to protect us. Had I just allowed him to have his friends and all that, if I had treated him better, then maybe things would have played out differently, and he and Sini would still be here with us. But alas, I didn’t. And now Sini is out there, on her own, forever wanting to look in, to be here with me, but unable to. As long as I make sure I treat the Twelve Anew the way I should have treated Arkay, then we have a chance to protect this universe in the long term. And the least I can do is make sure that Sini’s last experiment, the cute little baby Rethan, is happy and healthy.”
Kairos grunted. “You can’t fix the past.”
“I know I can’t. But I can try and make up for my mistakes, and I can work towards a better future. The Twelve Anew also want to work towards a better future, and, right now, because of the worrisome white ball that feeds on time anomalies at the bottom of the universe, part of our working towards a better future means keeping you safe!”
“I’ll never be safe while Elkay is a deity.”
Epani glanced at Kairos, then rolled her eyes. “I still don’t understand why you believe this insane thing of yours. If anything, all your actions have done is move you closer this eventuality. But you’re a Time Drake. The only things that can genuinely, completely kill you are other Time Drakes, Life Goddesses, Corruptions and Arkay. There are no Time Drakes here, there are no other Life Goddesses except for me here, the Twelve Anew make sure there are no Corruptions that can hurt you and Arkay is gone forever.”
“That thing-”
“Elkay Athanasion is a perfectly fine little deity. But he is a completely standard deity and, even if he is the God of Knowledge, he is well aware that you are required for the universe to keep on spinning, and he has a desire to keep you safe and healthy as much as he can. If anything, the best defence against your own demise is that damn Skyavok!”
Kairos grunted some more. “Are you here just to berate me?”
“Perhaps, if you took a moment to think about your own actions, I wouldn’t have to come here and berate you. Litvir is the God of Protection, Nanik is my little Goddess of Peace, they were both there to keep you safe and happy, the other deities are working to keep everyone safe, and you are being a colossal asshole to everyone…” Epani trailed off, then snarled. “And if I am really honest? I let you get away with a lot of shit. Shit that would have gotten Arkay locked up for a long, long time. I genuinely suggest that you consider bettering yourself.”
“Was that a threat?”
“No, it was a suggestion. A suggestion you really need to hear, because you have been an utter asshole ever since you nearly doomed the universe. I don’t know if it’s guilt or malice or what it is, but if I can come out of that darkness as a better person, so can you.”
Kairos paused. “You… think I am a bad person?”
“No. You’re not a bad person. At least, on the scale of deities? You’re not that bad. But you can be better. We can both be better…” Epani hesitated. “Although it has been over a year now, I think you’re still in shock. You’re still in pain. That is making you lash out. You need help but you’re not willing to admit it.”
“I… I am still… bothered by what happened…”
Epani frowned, then turned back into her more motherly Allmaker form, but she remained larger than Kairos. She put an arm around the old Time Drake. “I understand. I am too. But we cannot lash out at others. We have to work together. To make their sacrifices worth it. And we have to help each other. You can talk to me, Kairos. I will listen, and I will do what I can to make you feel better.”
Kairos grunted, then pulled away, just a little. “I don’t know what will make me feel better.”
“Well, we can take the time to work that out. Will you let me help you? Will you let our twelve little deities help you?”
Kairos sighed some more, then relented. “Yeah. I guess I will…”