Tenuk hated the Overlord’s Office. A horrible, pitch black place with stupid gold trimmings everywhere, floating in an eternal nothingness. It was where the Personification of Entropy and Vacuum did his business, and Tenuk had been invited to speak to him. He was currently sitting on a black and gold chair, waiting impatiently for Stasis to arrive.
“I should destroy you, you know…” Stasis tutted as he popped out of thin air, then sat down at his desk like nothing happened. “You are a traitorous little being and you do not deserve an audience with anyone, let alone me.”
“Good morning, Overlord Stasis. How are you? That’s good to hear…” Tenuk rolled his eyes. “You were the one to invite me here. You could smite me whenever you want. But you don’t.”
Stasis didn’t respond. Instead, he waved his hand and a servant appeared, bringing with him a tray with a pot of tea, two cups, milk, sugar and some sort of strange snack on a plate. The servant quickly placed them to Stasis’s side then disappeared.
“Why did you invite me here?” Tenuk asked.
Again, Stasis didn’t respond. Instead he poured tea into the two cups, then added milk and sugar to his. “How do you take yours?”
“Uh… Black, three sugars.”
Stasis grunted, made Tenuk some tea then handed it to him. “There are many reasons why I invited you here, Tahnahos Tou Avran. One of those reasons is to remind you that you are my child, and you will never be a part of the Cycle no matter how hard you try.”
“I know that,” Tenuk sighed. “I’ve always known that. Won’t stop me from abandoning corrupt Deitic ways.”
“Oh, like killing your own?” Stasis raised an eyebrow as he sipped his tea.
“Oh, you mean in self defence? Or because I was left with no other options? Tell me, Overlord Stasis, if someone was trying to kill you, would you let them? Of course not.” Tenuk paused, waiting for a reaction of some sort. “Or what if someone captured you and tried to have you raped? You would fight back, yes?”
Stasis growled as he finished his cup of tea and poured himself a second one, this time with five spoons of sugar. “That was…”
“Stupid,” Tenuk smiled. “It was stupid. All this stupid religion stuff is stupid as well.”
“I would not be doing these things if Kinisis and Kairos weren’t so… retarded…” Stasis sighed. “Always, always doing stupid things, that require me bending over backwards to repair and fix. You little things have no clue what I am doing in the background.”
Tenuk shrugged. “I don’t know, but you don’t make it easy to make yourself seem both likeable and a good guy.”
“I cannot believe that you are so naive,” Stasis grunted. “There is no such thing as a good guy. Only endless gradients of grey. The only absolutes are myself and Kinisis.”
“Kairos is not absolute?” Tenuk asked, confused.
“Not in the way we are. I will always exist. A form of Kinisis will always exist. While Kairos governs Time to some extent, Time can continue in localized areas without that infernal Whenvern.”
Tenuk was still confused, but decided to change the subject. “So why did you really invite me here?”
Stasis tutted again, then made an envelope appear from nowhere. He handed it to Tenuk, then hinted for him to open it. Tenuk did as was suggested, only to find horrific images of beaten and bruised Deitics.
“What…”
“Your friend Lua did not heed your advice, little one,” Stasis explained. “He did not even get attacked by the right sort of Veth.”
“Is he alright?” Tenuk panicked. “I told him not to!”
“He is still among the living…” Stasis didn’t seem too concerned about his assistant. “But his injuries have spiked my curiosity. I am well aware that there is a Veth Prime roaming around, and I am fairly certain that this Veth Prime is connected to you.”
“I… I won’t convince him. I can’t convince him…”
“I know you can’t.” Stasis seemed to be smiling slightly. “But I would like you to talk to him. Find a bit more about him. He trusts you. You trust him.”
Tenuk hesitated. “I… I can’t.”
Stasis’s smile grew as he sipped his tea. “If you do, child, perhaps I could… ignore your past sins. Give you a clean slate. Let you live your life without my influence. Maybe, if you are very good, when Kinisis loses interest in you, I won’t immediately destroy you. I do not need to know a lot. Just how different this Veth Prime is. Can you do that for me?”
“I… I don’t have a say in this, do I?”
“Of course not,” Stasis grinned as Tenuk stood up and nervously left. “Go on now. Go do my bidding, like the little trapped Deitic that you are…”