The Death of Time

...is the coin of your life

The pain of remembering against the agony of forgetting…

Chronos knew he could be an unkind God. He’d been a Titan, a King, an executioner, a Husband, a Father, and a failure at all of those things. But he’d never been a torturer before, and Chronos was not at all happy to add that job title to his resume of talents. Merged into Ananke’s mind like he was, there was nothing able to stop him from touching all of the raw spots of Ananke’s psyche. From the first exciting moment when ‘nake had discovered her pregnancy, to that heart stopping moment when she felt Aeon move for the first time, and that last awful lurch when Ananke had FELT Thanatos escort the soul of Aeon to paradise without the baby girl ever experiencing life. The Guardian of Time knew he had to act cruelly and quickly for this plan of theirs to work, he even knew that Ananke has already forgiven him the need to do this at all, and yet it was a harder task even than submitting his physical form to the prison of Time had been. Somehow, somewhere along the journey, Chronos had started to think of Ananke as a friend instead of just an expendable ally, which only made his actions feel like an even bigger betrayal. It felt too similar to when his wife had cursed him and forced Chronos to turn on his children, a sequence of actions that had been out of his control then as well. The Hindu Pantheon didn’t seem to be the only God stuck in a hellish cycle of birth, arduous failure and then rebirth. As they endured their Kali Yurga, Chronos was stuck actually doing something he planned to do back when the journey started, but now found physically repulsive. He was acting as the hands of violence instead of the Keeper of Time.

He didn’t want to be doing this, he didn’t want to force Ananke to be emotionally flayed so soon after she had finally opened herself up to emotions again. It wasn’t a fair thing to be doing, even if it seemed like the only option. This wasn’t right. No. Chronos was surprised to hear his denial echo in the Void. The Void is the space between Time, where choice becomes everything and I am choosing to not hurt Ananke. I say NO. Chronos announced and felt absolutely NOTHING reflect back from the Void. Salty tears dried slowly on his astral face as Chronos looked at Ananke’s projection and hugged her close, holding her safely and trying to sooth the damage he had already done. I can’t do it Ananke. I cannot be that… instrument of destruction. I am sorry that all I can do now is fail you. The apology leaked out, given to Ananke through their mentally merged state despite Chronos wishing to hide his weakness.

Humans are masters of failure; you simply picked it up from us. Don’t worry about it Chronos, I rather like the fact that the one thing you can’t do it hurt me emotionally. We’ve come a long way since that cabin on a mountain side. Ananke’s reply was accepting and she tried so hard to hide the pain still cascading in her system. It had been a relatively brief flare, but it was akin to having every emotional and physical wound she’d ever experienced in her entire life being ripped open again at the exact same time. And then being immediately healed, the pain gone but her nerves screaming out in reaction. Chronos didn’t even think about it, he just offered whatever comfort sharing the pain could provide. It was less than pleasant.

If I had known a mere mortal had the ability to irritate me into compliance like you have, I would have been a lot more cautious at the premiere of this partnership. The God of Time found the humour easy, having used charm as a mask all his long existence.

I must truly be a master with no rival then. Ananke’s amusing response was just as much of a mask. They were in silent accord then; they both knew there was hurt and nothing to be done about it, so they were just going to work around it.

You’ve been around me for too long, my ego is starting to rub off. Chronos finally released the hug he’d been shielding the mortal in, though they both felt better with physical proximity; the Void is fathomless. Any other creative ideas for leaving?