“Yoooohooooo!”
Kairos’s voice should have echoed, but in the endless darkness of the void, it just sort of faded off into nothing.
“Stasis? Are you here?”
Stasis’s home was weird. It was both incredibly small and narrow and infinitely large at the same time. As Kairos flew, occasionally he’d bump into something, like a floating chandelier or some sort of antler-wearing skull ornament. Sometimes he’d bump into what was clearly a floating cage.
“Stasis? I think I will pop by and see how you are doing? I finish at Kinisis’s place and come tovisit you. Are you busy or can we chat?”
Still nothing. Normally the Lord of Nothing would greet Kairos. At the very least, he’d tell the Whenvern to fuck off and leave him alone. Today though, there was just silence.
“STASIS?”
Kairos grunted as he bumped into something else. A familiar cage. One that Stasis would normally keep any traces of Corruption in. He liked to study them before he destroyed them. This cage though, it was broken. And not because Kairos had bumped into it. It was broken already. Something about it seemed really wrong. Almost evil.
“Stasis, I am worrying a little bit here…”
“You… should be…”
There was definitely something wrong. Stasis’s voice sounded bad. Broken. Like something was crawling in his throat.
“Is something happening here, Stasis? Are you okay?”
“No. Get out.”
“Stasis…”
A bolt of lightning flew past Kairos, fading away into the darkness. Kairos hovered around the cage, trying to work out what had happened.
“Stasis, has something happened, do you need help or something? Why is this cage broken? Is something out?”
“GO AWAY!”
Stasis’s voice crackled. Another bolt of lightning shot by, but it wasn’t aimed at Kairos.
“Do you need me to get Kinisis to come here?”
“GO! NOW!”
The Lord of the Void lunged forward, reaching out for Kairos. The Whenvern glided out of the way and flew round behind Stasis, out of his reach. There was a weird, purple ink covering parts of Stasis’s body.
“Stasis, please tell me what the problem is!”
Kairos did his best to try and reason with Stasis, but he continued to roar and try to attack Kairos. Not properly though. It was more Stasis trying to grab and capture him rather than trying to kill him.
“IT IS IN MY MIND…”
“What is in your mind?”
Stasis slowed down. His movements seemed slow and forced, as if he was not quite in control.
“IT.”
“What?”
“THAT THING. HUNGER. CORRUPTION. ESCAPED. IN ME. SEAL IT. CLOSE IT.”
Kairos hesitated, just for a moment. That was why the cage was broken. A drop of Corruption had escaped.
“PLEASE.”
Stasis started lashing out again. Both at Kairos and himself. He twisted round, crashing into the broken cage.
Kairos flew around Stasis and headed towards a speck of light in the distance. That was where Stasis’s private quarters were, where the main access terminals to the Space Between Spaces were located. With an agonized scream, Stasis chased after him, leaping blindly through the darkness.
Luckily, the terminals hadn’t been touched. Clearly Stasis had not been corrupted for long. Even luckier, Stasis had labelled everything, so it was obvious what Kairos had to do.
“Stasis, let us help you.”
“NO. CLOSE IT. CLOSE IT ALL.”
Kairos did as he was told. He slammed his claws into the large red button that read “SEAL ALL”. The button collapsed and a countdown started.
“Thank you…” Stasis groaned as he approached. He had briefly regained control. “Protect Kinisis. Get her Veth. This will not hold for long.”
The Whenvern nodded, then disappeared in a puff of time magic.
Stasis sighed as he stared at where Kairos once was, as the countdown finally ended. After a second, everything was plunged into total darkness.
“I am sorry…”