“You look glum. Less glum than when you’re in one of your moods but more glum than when you’re not in one of your moods. What’s wrong?”
Arkadin had been sitting on the roof of this Rethan hospital for a few hours now, watching as the injured moved in and the dead moved out. Behind him, the Whenvern had appeared, flapping his massive, shimmering wings. The Rethavok below didn’t notice the gigantic dragon, but they weren’t ones to normally care about godly antics anyway. Plus, Arkadin was pretty sure Kairos had made himself invisible to mortal eyes.
“I didn’t think Kenon and Kinisis would lash out this much.”
“No, me neither.”
Kairos plonked himself down next to Arkadin. Compared to the Thantophor’s solemn mood, Kairos seemed pretty chirpy, almost pleased with himself.
“Are you beating yourself up about it?” Kairos asked.
Arkadin hesitated, before sighing.
“You are, aren’t you?”
“A little. I’m more… upset that Kenon, the god who always expects precision out of us, was so… aggressive about it all… And I’m upset about how I couldn’t talk my friend out of it all.”
The Whenvern shifted his weight awkwardly. “Is he dead?”
“Close to it. He’ll heal but…” Arkadin trailed off. He wasn’t lost in thought, he just didn’t know how to answer. “You, uh, know how… how those who get close to me… they go… a bit weird…”
“Are you talking about those Dessaron folks ended up being weird. How that Elkay fellow found himself going a bit weird. How Phovos ended up being vaguely immortal? Speaking of…” Kairos stopped in his tracks then swiftly moved on. “Like all that?”
“Yeah.”
“So you fucked another one up?”
Akradin grunted. “No, I didn’t do anything to this one. I said to him to not go because something horrible would happen. I told him not to. I tried to get his partner to convince him not to. I tried. But he did it anyway and he got hurt and… well…”
“Something is going to happen to him?”
“Yeah.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know.”
Kairos shrugged, then put his winged arm around Arkadin. “Nothing you can do about it now.”
“Yeah…”
Arkadin fell silent. Kairos shifted about a bit, then decided to talk about what he had intended to talk about. He wished he had known about why Arkadin was here, because he felt bad bringing up his own little thing.
“So…” Kairos decided to take it slow. “You know Phovos?”
“Hm?” Arkadin glanced upwards. “What about her? You… you trying to date her?”
“Yes… well, I am trying to, but I’m taking it slow with her. Really slow. Not making any sudden movements.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Arkadin asked. “Phovos and I are friends but we’ve never considered anything above casual friendship.”
Kairos tutted. “I thought you’d like to know.”
“I don’t… really care.”
“I’m dating your friend.”
“So?”
“I thought you’d be annoyed at me or something. Like, I’m pretty sure you had a thing for Phovos.”
Arkadin shrugged. “Eh, not really. We’re just friends… You… haven’t…”
“I haven’t done anything yet, outside of cuddles and buying her food and drinks.”
“Huh.” The Thantophor shrugged some more. “Eh, whatever. As long as you’re both happy, I don’t care. I have bigger problems to worry about.”
Suddenly, something exploded in the building beneath the two gods. There was no screaming but there were shouts of pain and calls to get help.
“What the fuck was that?”
“One of the bigger problems I have to worry about…” Arkadin sighed as he faded away. “See you later.”