Kairos waited patiently at the top of the mountain. Below him, Arkadin was checking over the result of a recent battle, noting down the dead and how they died. One side, Arkadin wasn’t sure, had decided to use a gas bomb, but the high winds had caused a blowback, killing pretty much everyone. With no one left alive to maintain the various war machines scattered around, a fire had broken up and snuffed out anything that the poisonous gases hadn’t already killed.
“What a waste…” Arkadin finally muttered. By his calculations, it would take a week for the gases to dissipate completely and for proper decomposing to begin. Hopefully some nice flowers might grow here in a few months time.
“What were they fighting about?” Kairos asked as Arkadin leaped up the mountain, putting his weapons away.
“Don’t know. But to be honest, it was probably because of religion, economics, a change in government or the right to mate. It’s always some bollocks like that.” Arkadin turned to Kairos. “You’ve been waiting a while for me to finish, do you need something?”
Kairos nodded. “I have a question to ask of you. I know we are supposed to leave you alone, but I feel I should ask.”
Arkadin paused, wandering what Kairos meant about him being left alone, then shrugged. Being left alone was a good thing. “Sure. What do you want to ask?”
“I would like to inquire about dating a mortal…”
“You’re not going to ask me to stop them from dying, are you?” Arkadin immediately interrupted. “Because you know I can only do that for so long. Eventually, the mortal body decays too far, past the point of being repaired…”
The Whenvern shook his head. “No, that is not what I wanted to ask. I wanted to ask permission to get in contact with them.”
Arkadin blinked. “You want… permission?”
“The mortal in question is someone you know. Someone who I am not sure how well you know and care about them.”
The Thantophor fell silent. He was going through the names of mortals he knew in his head, trying to pre-empt which one Kairos was talking about. But none of them seemed to fit the bill.
“Uh, who is the person you want to date?”
This time, Kairos fell silent, mostly out of awkwardness and embarrassment.
“Uh… the Raptor…”
“You mean Phovos?”
“Yes.”
Arkadin looked very confused. “You like her?”
“She is a very attractive Ksithan.”
“I didn’t know you liked Ksithans.”
“I like that Ksithan.”
Arkadin was still confused. “Have you been feeling that way for a while?”
“Ever since I got to know her a little better, yes…” Kairos admitted. “I realised she played some electronic games, so I dug out my old super computer, set up a proper monitor and joined her in one of those games as a way to get to know her without seeming rude and intrusive.”
“Also so she doesn’t know you’re a god.”
“Also that.”
After several moments, Arkadin shrugged. “I still don’t know why you’re asking me, go and date her if you like her.”
“You don’t fancy her?”
“No, not really. But I am interested in what game you’re playing.”
The Whenvern hesitated. “That one with the magic ninja things.”
“Ohh. I like that one. You can date Phovos, I don’t care about that. But you owe me a gaming night so we can be magic ninjas together.”
Kairos smiled, then flapped his wings. “Sure! Thank you, brother!”
“Yeah, no worries mate…” Arkadin shrugged as the Whenvern flew off.