“Do you think they are dead?” It was the gruff looking man that said this, sitting on one of the bigger stones near the lake. The lake reflected the violet night sky as faintly red motes of light fell down like rain. The man only had a single hand which caressed the rugged beard on his face.

“I think… I think…” It was the frail looking man who tried to answer this question but failed to do so. The passage of time had not been kind to him. He sighed as he looked down, a drop of red sliding down his finger. Aging was merely a formality when you entered the tower but now time itself had washed away the yellow from his hair, the red from his vibrant cheeks, and the bright blue from his eyes. The one strand of hair that swayed slightly in front of his face was now withered like husks of dead branches on a cold afternoon.

“I was not asking you” The man had deemed to only answer this. Instead, he looked straight at the man who knelt by the campfire. “Odin! Aren’t you the all-seeing eye? Tell us then, are they dead?” The word death emphasized as spittle flew out of his mouth. The once mighty forget Hephaestus was nothing more than an old man now looking out for his comrades

“I…can only see the stories of this world Hephaestus. The stories which are told outside the tower are not known to me.” His lone eye showed the vastness of the universe and yet when Hephaestus stared at it, only the embers of fire reflected back at him.

“They will come!” The old wizened man who stood beside the blond said this with conviction and yet his voice did not inspire confidence among any of them. They themselves were not sure whether death was inevitable or not. Merlin had said these words with force in his voice but he had wavered. It was a moment of hesitation which didn’t take a fraction of a second but among Gods, that was eternity.

“Perhaps only he will come?” It was Merlin who said this again as he looked at the downcast expression of his protege

“Are you sure Merlin?” The blond man said desperately clasping Merlin’s hands together. The earring that dangled from his left ear vibrated slightly, swaying in the cold breeze that followed moments after. The rain had stopped by now. For them, it was indicative of things that were yet to come. The moon that illuminated the entire area started cracking. It was oddly beautiful in a way…Crack…Crack…and then a thousand shards in a violet night sky splintered and got sucked in. The shards that still remained were starting to form another moon, this time repaired by golden threads of silk.

The people in the group sighed in relief. They had won…for the moment at least. Happiness was not something the group of people had felt for a long time. It was always an impossible victory after all. A victory that cost them more than anything they could ever gain.

Suddenly a portal opened out of nowhere. It was like a flicker in the universe like someone had taken a hot knife and cut through space itself. Out of the fifty people who had gone with their heads held high, only one returned. It was a sight to see the man stumble down into the ground. He was on his knees now, his sword the only thing that supported his frame. Numerous scars adorned his face, arms, and legs. The most recent scar was on his left eye now. That was not the only injury he had suffered. His flesh was torn and burnt as if someone had doused him with hell flame, perhaps someone actually had…His messy brown hair was caked in dried blood and then he looked up. His green eyes were reflected from the scratched sword. This was the very thing that had taken him to the highest floor of the tower.

The eyes that should have shown grief, that should have shown the absence of hope were hardened, vying for another fight. It was this very resolve that made it possible for him to compete with the Gods, even surpassing them. Even when he knew that victory was futile, his sword never retreated. But a human body could only take so much. His hands lost their grip on the sword and the man fell down. This was not enough to stop him. Even through the pain that he might have been feeling, he tried to get up once again. Weakness could not be shown. Not when the situation was so dire. He tried to get up but the fight had taken the most out of him.

A man stepped forward then, his white robes fluttering in the nonexistent wind. The white of the robes had been washed away by now but still, the man had maintained his regal dignity. Chiron the God of medicine began chanting in an obscure tongue most knew not. The group had been together for a long time and they understood every single phrase that came out of his mouth. This was the spell of life transfer. Very soon, the Chiron who would live for thousands of years would only live for another hundred. But who cared about living when the possibility of death loomed at every corner? The Golden light embraced the man like a loving mother would to a sickly son and it washed away all the injuries that the man had suffered.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

As soon as Chiron was finished, the blonde man ran forward and hugged the man who stared at something in the distance. The man hugged him back too. It was a gesture of love, a gesture of trust. Slowly, ever so slowly, they looked at each other and the man placed a chaste kiss on the former’s mouth.

“It’s going to be alright now…” It was a simple assurance but that seemed to have done the trick. The tense muscles relaxed and the people surrounded him. Angry voices overlapped with those sad ones. They were mourning for their fallen friends and they were angry at the erased for being so…

“The erased will overwhelm us by the next shattered moon” It was Odin who spoke first. Fury of Odin’s voice was not exactly unknown to the group but this time the blood lust was more strengthened by the status of his stories.

“We will avenge Indra then! We will kill them again and again till the pages of their stories are drowned in blood” This time a woman spoke up, she had a broken helm over her head covering her blood red hair. She was one of those who could go toe to toe with an erased and even win. Regret and fury were the emotions that seeped out through both her eyes. It would not be long before her hair would become more bright.

“Damn it to hell and back, Ares promises the destruction of the erased”

“Ay! It shall be so. We shall fight and we shall die. Before we do, we shall take a thousand of them to their graves” The Viking commander shouted as he gathered his comrades

“Death to the erased” came the outcry again, this time from Ares. The excitement was short lived though. Everyone had realized by now the futility of their dreams. There were only a few who could fight the erased by themselves. They would lose fifty of their own to kill a single one of the erased. Someone whispered amongst the crowd

“Everything is lost… Everything”

“Not Everything!” It was Merlin who said these words as he looked at Odin. The eye of Odin swirled in a strange manner now and with a pop, the all seeing father couldn’t see anymore. He said in the same voice as before, “Chronos has a plan…” It was difficult for Odin to speak any longer and yet he persevered. Red blood seeped out from the socket where his eye was supposed to be. It was then that the green robed man with the bald head stepped forward. Everyone watched him with bated breath. He was Chronos, the God of all that was time and in his waist was attached the head of Mimir, the one who knew all the answers.

“Ark… I am going to send you backward in time…That is a chance that this old man can give you. That is a chance I can give to all of you here. I would not be present in that time line…I suppose a fair price to pay but it does give you a chance…Use this chance well” He gestured to everyone present, “Don’t be too hard on them, they would not be the same after all…maybe not everybody would be your friend…but you could try”

The man who had persevered the most, fought with everything he had got, the only human amongst Gods looked up. Tears were evident in his eyes. It was the first time the Gods had ever seen him in that state. Ark, the man who had come out of the ripple nodded his head. He knew their plan and yet still, he was confused

“Why me Chronos? There are better people!”

“You are the last of the humans among us to enter the tower and yet still, here you are with us, fighting alongside the Gods. You have killed the most number of erased…And I cannot send any of the others back in time anyways. It would take a greater price…”

“Shiva killed 50 of them at once…”

“And that act took his life away. Don’t be too hard on yourself Ark, you have accomplished much, Everyone would agree. You shall be the one to save us”

[Returner’s Clockwatch] activated. It was a card made by the all seeing eye of Odin, the knowledge of Mimir and the essence of the God of Time himself. A green halo like that of a clock surrounded the entire area and the hour hand clock pointed towards Ark. A ripple just like the previous one, appeared in front of them. The last kiss from the blonde man was all Ark could feel before he was swept away through the flow of time.

The moon that had been protecting the Gods all along shattered now into a thousand pieces and yet this time, no golden silk came to repair it. The erased had found their location.

[The fool of Chaos], [The one who loses] and many more of the erased descended upon them like a plague. The tower had lost its protectors. The tower finally collapsed after a long overdrawn battle. In this time line, it had fallen, but in another time line, from the ashes of the tower started a new beginning, one that could be felt for all eternity.