It had taken a few hours for Kairos to finally locate Arkadin. Considering he found Arkadin at all, that suggested that the Thantophor wasn’t hiding and didn’t mind being found.
Kairos had found him leaning on a balcony, standing in the rain. The building behind him had been filled with Rethavok, slowly getting intoxicated with various alcohols, meaning no one had noticed an extra, bright yellow guest. In the distance, the bangs of various explosives and fireworks were dulled by the low clouds and rumbles of thunder.
Clearly the Thantophor wasn’t too happy, so Kairos approached with caution, pinning himself to the wall next to the balcony rather than hovering in front of it.
“Are you well, Arkadin?”
“Do I look well?”
Kairos looked up and down at Arkadin. He was still radiating little hints of evil-looking energy. He was also soaking wet, having been standing in the rain.
“Not really. But you look like you can be made better…” Kairos decided to talk about something else. Something more enjoyable. “What are they all celebrating?”
“New universal year. Med-year, the 365 day calendar, not the long year. Another year where they all survived and I didn’t kill them all. For some reason, all these species insist on celebrating new years when really they mean nothing at all.”
“Well, they do…” Kairos summoned a pair of cocktail drinks and handed one to Arkadin. They were not at all Rethavok-y in any way, in fact most Rethavok would probably frown at the sparkly, carbonated drink, but the silliness of the drink amused Kairos. “And you kinda just said why. They didn’t die. They may have lost loved ones but they’re still alive. They survived and surviving is worth celebrating. Maybe some of them are starting new year’s resolutions to better themselves.”
“Oh? Like losing weight, making friends or writing 500 words a day? Things they’ll give up on in the first week or so? It’s the same old stuff, year in, year out. It is for us, and having spent a lot of time among mortals, it’s honestly the same for a lot of them as well…” Arkadin eyed the drink, then proceeded to ignore it.
“Not all of them though. Some of them might see some big changes. Heck, we might see some big changes as well…”
Kairos’s last statement caught Arkadin’s attention. “What do you mean by that?”
“We just found out some… weird things. I’m certain that there’s a lot more that we don’t know about. We’re all-powerful beings who discovered that we’d been lied to in regards to our own origins. The family is rather fractured right now.”
“The family was never a family.”
“Exactly.”
Arkadin didn’t say anything else. His eyes drifted off towards the storm. Kairos drank his cocktail, wondering how many beings had died since he and Arkadin had started talking.
“Things will change this year. Some for the better, some for the worst.”
“I doubt it…” Arkadin muttered. “Things always seem to change for the worst.”
Kairos grunted. “Brother…”
“We’re not brothers.”
“We’re still gods together though.”
Arkadin shrugged.
“Anyway,” Kairos continued, “which one of us is the time god who can peer into small amounts of the future?”
“Technically we both are…”
The Whenvern took a deep breath. “Arkadin, you’re being a dick right now.”
Arkadin sighed, then apologised. “Sorry. I’m not feeling good right now.”
“That’s fine, just don’t take it out on me.”
“Sorry… I just fell like this year’s going to be the same old piss, just like the year before.”
Kairos shrugged, then finished off his drink. “Well, being the Whenvern, I’m telling you that things will change. But in the mean time, let’s just sit back and enjoy the rain…”