Chapter 150 – The Gods

Wrath walked across the heavenly cloudscape, taking a seat in the simple wooden chair at the head of a rustic, wooden table. He let his fingertips slide across the smooth grain of the wooden slats planed from the world tree. A simple tower was carved across the top of the table. It looked as though a child has taken his father’s knife and ruined the family dinner table, the carving was so crude. An unbidden smile traced his lips as his fingers followed the jagged lines of the carving. The carving was so old, these marks might as well have been inset by men in caves drawing paintings on the wall with bone. He missed those days before the Tower. Others forgot, but he would remember.

Wrath let his knuckles rasp against the table before delivering three plodding knocks that rang throughout the heavens, summoning the council. In an eye blink, they were all seated.

Wrath glanced to his left. Shadow, with his midnight hair and cloak of darkness, sat closest. Next was Greed, his ruby-made eyes sparking with curiosity as golden coins flourished and danced between his fingers. Then Evil, nothing more than a hollow ghost wrapped in a ragged, maroon cloak crafted from threads of hatred. Last was Chaos. Gone was her prismatic suit of intoxicating color. For some reason, she had painted herself from head to toe in a chrome polish that reflected the world as it had been, as it would be, and as it was. It gave Wrath a headache just to gaze upon it, and her arrogant smirk let him know that was exactly why she had donned that particular costume.

Together, the left side of the table made up the opposers. The dark to the light. The Antithesis.

Flanking Wrath to his right, only two seats were filled. He frowned. One was expected to be vacant, but one was missing. Fire seemed aware of this fact, as well. The man was an imposing figure, large with broad shoulders and wild hair. He wore an animal-skin kilt draped around his waist, and a tooth both twisted and jagged dangled from his neck. The first flame flickered violently in his eyes, piercing through the empty seat. Fate raised a hand from beneath her flowing gown of golden, shimmering skies, a stark contrast to her starry-night-sky skin, and she placed it on Fire’s shoulder, whispering calming words meant only for him.

Wrath opened his mouth to ask on the whereabouts of Love, but a titanic bolt of lightning struck the middle of the table. No one at the table was surprised, but no one had seen it coming.

The lightning dissipated, revealing a small boy with spiked black hair, striking a pose.

“Yo,” Lightning said, throwing up a double peace sign.

“What’re you doing here?” Fire growled.

Lightning stood up, dusted himself off, and plopped down in the seat reserved for Love.

“What? We were summoned for a meeting, were we not? Sorry I’m late; got lost on the way here,” he said with a taunting smile, kicking his feet on the table and leaning back in the chair. Wrath glanced once more at Shadow, whose face was a mirror image of his son, Lightning, and his taunting smile.

“Lightning,” Wrath finally said. “You honor us with your presence, but only those elected, only those who hold a piece of nine are allowed to—”

Lightning removed a necklace, a piece of nine hanging from it. He spun the necklace lazily around his middle finger, flashing it to the table. “You mean this thing?”

“If I may ask,” Wrath continued, “how do you have that?”

“Well, you see, everyone was very upset with Love when Gideon killed his soulmate. He got voted out.” Lightning exchanged a knowing glance with Chaos, whose face was the perfect picture of innocence as to her guiding hand in that matter.

“You expect us to believe a demigod secured enough votes for a seat?” the cloud of darkness that was Evil hissed from beneath their cloak.

“I know, our votes only count as half, but you gods just can’t keep it in your pants. There are far more demigods than you realize, and those half-votes add up.” Lightning’s smile was confident, secure.

Wrath was honestly a little impressed. That was no small feat. Greed’s reassuring chuckle mirrored his own thoughts.

“A demigod on the council. This truly is the end of times.” Fire sighed, leaning back in his chair and causing it to creak.

“Very well, let us begin. I’ve called this meeting—”

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

For the second time, Wrath was interrupted by a late arrival. All heads turned in shock to confirm who approached.

A tall and slender, stick-like figure strode atop the clouds towards the group, blue sand pouring off them and leaving a trail of time in their wake. The figure had six branch-like arms. The two in the middle were pressed together, seven fingers forming the shape of an inverse triangle. The two upper and lower arms each held their own tesseract, the seven fingers expertly manipulating the impossible cubes. The skin of Chronos was a light, radiant blue. Their face was almost featureless with nothing but six black eyes and two long, slender horns that gracefully curved further upward to an endless point.

Chronos, the aspect of Time, had never once shown up to the table since its inception. With their two free hands, they produced an hourglass of simple wood, sand, and glass, placing it on the table and flipping it over so the sands flowed downwards.

“Three minutes is all I have; would you permit me to speak first?” they asked, voice gentle.

“Please,” Wrath said with some reverence.

Chronos glanced around the table, accepting nods from the remainder of the council.

“First, I shall propose a vote. I would like us to remove humans from the Tower once more. All in favor?”

Wrath, Fire, and Fate all raised their hands. Including Chronos, they had four votes. All eyes fell to the newest member, Lightning, whose smile was smarmy and taunting.

“What’s it worth to ya?” he asked.

“How dare you!” Fire growled. “Soliciting bribes is unbecoming of—”

“Pay up or shut up, caveman,” Lightning interrupted, glancing across the table. “How about you guys?”

No one responded, and Lightning let out an annoyed sigh. “Bunch of cheapskates,” he grumbled. “I would abstain, but that would be a tie, and we would have to do this all over again.”

“Will you hurry up? Chronos has only spared us so much time.” Fate was staring at the hourglass that was rapidly diminishing.

Lightning glanced at it as though he had just noticed it, then he smiled once more. “IIIIIIIIII vooooooooottttttteeeeeeee….” He started, the words coming out of his mouth at a crawl.

Fire flared, his heat oppressive for even the gods, but Lightning responded in kind with bolts of blue that bit at his surroundings.

“Enough,” Wrath commanded, knocking on the table once more and silencing the room.

“I vote no,” Lightning finally said, returning to his kicked back position.

Wrath had been worried about this. Now that Love no longer had his seat on the council, they no longer had the votes. Although, Lightning did seem like a wildcard. The child hated his father, and he was honestly surprised he had voted in Shadow’s favor. He filed that information away for later use and glanced at Chronos, who stood unmoving for the duration of the vote.

“As I suspected,” they said.

Chronos then removed a ring from their finger, presenting it to the council.

“I will do what I can to contain the threats. I find it humorous. The thing we seem best at creating is prisons. How far we have fallen.”

The table sat in silence, staring at the ring presented before them. It slowly disintegrated, turning into grains of sand that disappeared in a gentle breeze.

Wrath exchanged a subtle glance with Fate. The two of them seemed to be the only ones who realized what had just been introduced to the Tower.

“I shall take my leave. Thank you for the ever-precious time you have spared me.” Chronos gave a humble bow as the final few grains of sand fell within the hour glass.

Wrath focused his entire will on the very last grain, stopping it, and time, from moving forward.

The world was silent, unmoving. Chronos turned to look at Wrath, their face betraying nothing.

“To seize my domain in my very presence. I now understand why you hold the seat at the top of the council,” Chronos said.

Wrath could barely pull his focus away from the singular grain of sand and the infinite universes it represented. He glanced at Chronos, sweat pouring from his head.

“I have questions.”

“You have bought yourself the time. Ask.”

“There is a chrono core within the Tower. Why? You understand how many problems that creates.”

“The why is for me to know. The trust is for you to decide. Do you trust me, Wrath?”

“I don’t know,” he growled, the grain of sand slipping a millimeter farther down as his focus waned.

“Allow me to help,” Chronos said, taking back control of time. Wrath felt palpable release as the strain of stopping time dissipated.

“I don’t know, either,” they admitted easily. “I’ve never known. I’m simply doing what I can to keep the clock moving ever forward.”

Wrath nodded at that. That was all any of them were doing.

“And Wrath…” Chronos continued. Wrath looked to the aspect of Time, eyes widening in shock as they spun the clock forward. He watched in awe as the heavens collapsed and withered away. The eight gods that rounded the table grew old, died, turned to bone and dust, and were whisked away to nothing until all that remained were fields of sand. Wrath wanted to fight back, but even he was lost to the sands of time.

“Time belongs to me. You would do well to remember that,” Chronos finished.

The world reverted. Chronos was gone. If the Aspects who sat at the table realized what just happened, no one admitted to it.

“Very well,” Wrath said more to himself, then addressed the table. “Once more, I ask. Will any of you take responsibility for introducing humans to the Tower?”

Silence.

With a sigh, Wrath knocked on the table one final time. “Meeting adjourned.”