The Death of Time

...Is the thief of memory

Infinity of passion can be contained in one minute, and a lifetime lived in a moment…

Ananke felt the world falling apart quite literally around her and just closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a long and deep breath. She was so tired; her emotional rebirth had burned her from the inside out. Had in fact set the whole world on fire it felt like. Or in closer reality it had broken free an entire Pantheon from their self imposed ice tomb, which left her in the strange situation of clinging to an icy plane that was about to shatter out from under her feet while a small child that was the embodiment of a Pillar of Time wept beside her. It was too much for her to take. Having no other recourse, Chronos gave as much of his own strength as she would be willing to use. It was hard for the Titan God to be so powerless and yet he knew that this moment was not the one where he should take command of their shared form again.

The AllTree shook violently and despite herself, her exhaustion and the drain she felt taking over her whole essence, Ananke grabbed the little girl before she could be tossed from her spot. I’m so tired Chronos. She confessed to the Father of Time in her head, but even with that truth in her mind, she held the girl and refused to let them just die like this. Unaware of where the surge of renewal came from she grasped it like a lifeline and felt Chronos hold her metaphysical hand. She wasn’t alone in this struggle.

“Hold onto me tightly, I’m going to climb us down.” Ananke told the little girl, knowing that Chronos was helping her speak a language the child would understand.

It was awkward to have the little girl cling to Ananke’s back, her small frame barely able to wrap legs around waist or hold arms around shoulders.  This was where experience and equipment were necessary and ‘nake thanked the instincts that had compelled her to shop for the gear in advance. Because she had the means to tie the little girl to her, quickly and rough unfortunately but now there was little chance of the child falling to her death. Even as the ice around them continued to creak and groan, chunks falling away with alarming haste.

We are likely going to fall to a very messy end. Ananke warned the God in her head even as she started to try and quickly scale downwards. The climb up had been a rigorous challenge, a testament to her skill at climbing an unknown path with grace and agility, especially when a savage monster pursued her. Chronos felt the ridiculous urge to hold on tight and scream as he experienced what chaos she was capable of in the descent.

He could feel the strange rawness to her hand, as if the skin had been sanded away and the nerves left alive and on fire. This did nothing to weaken her grip on branch or ice, the additional weight of the child slowing them only subtly. Her body was numbed with cold and fatigue and he could feel the eerie phantom tingles of adrenaline and exhaustion twitch and writhe under her skin. A fall from this height would take a while to kill us; I much prefer a quicker death so let’s try to survive until that chance mortal mine. Chronos bantered, trying to help distract her from the weakness that was even invading his mind.

As you wish. Ananke replied and he could feel the faintest touch of humour in her words. It would be interesting to see how she reacted to things now that her emotional side had been broken free.

The Titan could not help but realize that there was a disturbing parallel between the mortal who was his current host and the Pillars. The first one had to have been broken down, the dead once again thrust into living. So too, had Ananke needed the interference of Time and chaos. She had been living through the motions instead of actually LIVING.

Now this Pantheon had been locked in a cold, dead state to avoid the pain that was to come. The gods of this Vale had wanted to avoid their Fate so much that they had all but condemned their Pillar. Ananke had done the very same to herself; she’d buried her emotions under a numbed scab so well that they had overwhelmed her when they returned. He wondered just what exactly the next step would be, of course assuming that they were going to impossibly survive this.