They were still walking. They had been walking for hours, and Kairos was sick and tired of it. Was it really hours? Kairos didn’t actually know. Despite being the former god of time, Kairos had lost all sense of direction and just couldn’t tell how long all this had been going on for. If anything, losing track of time was bothering Kairos more than how heavy his body felt as the four of them walked down the muddy path.
“Are we there yet…” Kairos found himself muttering repeatedly.
There was no answer from any of the other beings. Epani looked a little tired and thirsty, Yisini seemed a bit bruised from falling over repeatedly and Arkadin was absolutely fine. Kairos couldn’t understand any of it.
Suddenly, the group came to a halt, with Arkadin exclaiming in some way. Kairos hadn’t been paying attention to anything the youngest of the deities had been saying, he was to preoccupied with how tired and heavy he felt.
“So you can call your friend?”
“Yeah.”
“Which one?”
Kairos tried to concentrate on what the others were talking about. Something about communications and signals and something?
“Isn’t one of your friends really rich?” Yisini asked. “The Vrekan one. The idiot who wrote a book.”
“Oh piss off, Elksia is not an idiot, she’s just excitable! But now that I think about it…” Arkadin paused. “We’re going to need someone with a ship. And that basically narrows it down to Retvik or Tenuk. And Retvik is currently in a recovery lab somewhere on planet Retha, so it has to be Tenuk.”
That name rang a bell in the back of Kairos’s mind. “Uh, guys, did you say… Tenuk?”
Arkadin nodded. “Yeah, why?”
“Who is Tenuk again?” Kairos swallowed awkwardly. “Because I have a horrible twinge in the depths of my brain that I want to murder someone by the name of Tenuk.”
“Makes sense…” Arkadin shrugged. “He is one of the mortals who helped me kick your ass. But yeah, let me see if Tenuk’s available.”
Epani and Yisini both eyed Kairos while their little brother stepped back, fiddling with the communicator he was given. Kairos eyed them both back, somewhat frustrated with how they were treating him.
“What?”
“Are you done being a bitch?” Yisini snapped. “All you’ve done is complain and bitch and all that!”
Kairos sat himself down. His legs were exhausted. “But I’m angry and tired and confused! I don’t know how you lot are coping!”
“By not being bitches!”
“And walking with correct posture…” Epani added. “There is no shame walking on all fours like a Thraki would…”
The Whenvern grunted. “I don’t like walking on all fours. I’m the Whenvern. I am a glorious dragon! I walk on TWO legs!”
“No, dear, you are a Thraki. Thraki walk on four legs!” Yisini beamed, sitting herself down next to Kairos. “You’re mortal now, you need to act like it. A bit like how Arkadin acts all the time.”
“But being a mortal suuuuuck!” Kairos whinged, only to suddenly cringe as something bounced off his snout. The Whenvern glanced around to see who had thrown whatever that was, only to spot Arkadin tutting and still chatting on the phone.
With a sigh, Kairos lowered his voice, leaning in towards Yisini. Wanting in on the conversation, Epani came over and sat next to them as well. “He is enjoying this. He’s having the time of his life and he’s rubbing it in our faces.”
“He is not rubbing it in our faces…” Epani grunted. “He may do later, but his knowledge so far is keeping us afloat.”
Yisini shrugged. “I don’t think so either. We all knew that he liked mortals way more than we do. Doesn’t surprise me that he made arrangements with them… You’re just annoyed that you aren’t bringing anything useful to the table.”
The three deities were interrupted by Arkadin shouting and waving his arms at them.
“Hang tight, guys! Tenuk will be here in three hours to pick us up!”
Kairos stared at Yisini. “What the heck are we going to do for three hours?”
Yisini shrugged some more. “We’ll work it out. Stop worrying and try to relax.”