...is what we want most

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The Future is Uncertain but the End is always near….

Chronos fled the painful reality of Ananke’s memory. Her truth of betrayal and loss was more than he could face and Chronos wasn’t sure if it was respect for the mortal’s privacy that drove him away or the fear that if he stayed then he would lose what barriers they had left between them. Returning to the present moment was no safer; Ananke was a mortal woman facing off against the wolf-god Fenrir. It was quite likely Chronos was about to experience a very painful death trapped in a fragile female form.

“Why must you kill the child?” Ananke asked the snarling beast in front of her, unarmed and bidding for more time.

Fenrir paced in front of her, the lupine form massive and yet there was enough sense of intelligence to the creature that evident amusement radiated from his dark eyes. The giant monster was entertained by this defiant little fool in front of him and seemed to be in no rush to simply consume her. “Because it amuses me little morsel. The gods themselves fear my fangs, my quick bite has brought the mightiest of them to death. Their time is ending and now my brethren and I are free to set Ragnarok into its final stages.”

Brethren? Ananke asked the Father of Time inside her mind. There are more wolf creatures like this around?

Thankfully no. Fenrir does have sons like him, but I think he is referencing Jörmungandr, the serpent buried in the icy roots of the AllTree.  Chronos replied, the knowledge not native to his mind, but available suddenly, as if Freyja had gifted him with the answers before he could ask the questions. And it burned his pride because Chronos was not accustomed to being used like a pawn on a chessboard.

The vision of Ragnarok was finally making sense to the God of Time, although his host was unaware of the details. It was all in the ice, the base of the AllTree was gripped in stasis. The gods of this Pantheon had prophesized their own ending, and had takes steps to prevent such a thing from ever happening. This Jörmungandr was encased in the ice instead of being free in the world seas as he should be. Chronos retrieved the vision that Ananke had seen and because it was his right as Keeper of Time, he bent the vision open, searching for more details, more answers.

They were standing in the branches of the AllTree, a lone bastion of life amongst a battlefield of devastation and death. The beings fighting before him were clearly not all human, or even humanoid. Chronos focused past the Valkyries, beyond the elements given flesh only to learn the sting and pain of mortal death.

He heard Freyja laughing with a hysterical edge, kneeling over the dead body of a man who resembled her so strongly he could only be her brother. As flames started to consume the dead and living alike in the battlefield, and even the great All Tree, Freyja held a sword to her chest and thrust it in without hesitation. This was where the vision had ended before, but Chronos wasn’t done searching for some truth, some information beyond what he had seen before. It was there to see if he could just tease the details loose. As Freyja bled over the body of her slain brother, Chronos saw what he had sought for. Fenrir was slain by another god, the vision breaking apart but not before the Titan God of Time had seen the Midgard Serpent crest free of the ice. Fenrir would free his sibling and Ragnarok would come.

Ananke felt the split in her attention. Despite the adrenaline and faint sense of fear that demanded she keep her whole focus on the jaws and fangs of Fenrir in front of her, she also shuddered under the delicate touch of a vision playing behind her eyes. Chronos was distracting her and she could not let it show, though it was so hard, so very hard not to let the vision wash over her as well.

“You can set in motion those events without the death of this child though. She is more than just flesh and blood.” Ananke spoke with confidence that was faked but firm.

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