The Death of Time

A Wrinkle In....

A/N: Pic to the side is Boris Kodjoe playing Chronos.

______________________________________________________________

At the junction of Time and Ending….

The neigh immortal creature long known as Father Time felt overwhelming pain, a sensation he’d never been forced to endure before. Chronos’ eyes fluttered, the first movement his body had made in eons. The Heart of Time quaked beneath him and his body stilled once more. The god Chronos was laid out on the Heart of Time like a sacrifice on an altar, veins connecting his flesh to the rigid shell protecting the source of all Time.

Although his body was lost to his power, Chronos reached out, knowing something was horribly wrong. His body was weak but his mind was stronger than ever. And for once his pride didn’t stop him from doing the smart thing. So although it stung his ego, Chronos reached out to the man that carried his blood and had cursed him with eternity and immobility. Hades, I summon thee. By your word you are indebted to me and I summon in thine mark now. Heed my call. As his summons faded away, another wave of pain tore through Chronos, faintly scarring the very Heart itself and Chronos heard Time scream. A sliver of that pain rippled down his bloodline, most oblivious to the sensation but a few great minds with greater hearts felt the pull.

On the mortal plane….

Ananke stood on the highest point on planet Earth and set down a single pebble. It looked unimportant, this simple, smooth rock, no bigger than her entire thumb with an almost childish looking scribble on it. The scribble was a single name, painted in whatever colour Ananke had available at the time, Aeon. A promise to a memory Ananke kept locked away. She stood where only handfuls had stood before and felt no pride in her accomplishment. Instead, with the latest of many pebbles laid, she felt the driving need to keep moving hit her once more. But for a moment, before she could descend back down the mountain, Ananke stopped and looked at the sky, a frown on her face as for a moment she thought she heard a scream.

When the sound didn't repeat she shrugged and started her long, lonely descent back down. The solitude of the mountain was peaceful and calming in a way that no one could or would understand so 'nake didn't bother trying to find a team to go with her. Her own family, what little of it that was left, thought she was beyond mental and so she only ever told them where she was going and how long she'd be there for so that she wouldn't just go missing one day.

Having spent the better part of the last year absolutely alone, Ananke had lost the knack of being around people. She preferred it this way, not knowing how to put herself back into a society that had done so much damage to her. These dangerous adventures of hers had served to give Ananke a Zen and self calm that kept the worst of the world at bay.

However, as she climbed back down the deadly mountain face, Ananke was forcibly reminded as to what had prompted her removal from the normal world. As she clung to a mountain face, another strange vision hit her, taking her completely off guard. As always she wished there was a way to turn off this strange gift, this burdensome curse that marked her. But these strange visions had always been a part of her life and Ananke had resigned herself to the fact that they were going to be around until one killed her. With her vision blacked out as she clung to the cliff face, Ananke wondered if she would even know it if her fingers let go and she were to plummet to the ground, or if the vision would hold her to the very end.

Ananke was an observer in this vision, a fact that made her grateful and stirred her normally dormant curiosity. Sometimes her visions revealed a future that was supposed to happen, sometimes it revealed things that had already happened and sometimes, sometimes she simply bore witness to things that made no sense in her world of logic and common sense.

This vision seemed to fall into the last category as she watched a darkly handsome man sit at an expensive desk and talk to a voice that belonged to no body. With her limited scope of the scene, Ananke couldn’t see the whole room and assumed that the man who owned the second voice was simply out of sight. Visually ‘nake knew that this conversation was happening at this time somewhere else in the world, and there was nothing alarming about what she was seeing. But the things she was hearing made her wonder if this vision wasn’t more hallucination than portent.

“Chronos, as times have changed, we’ve all had to adapt. It’s no longer enough that I navigate the souls from Thanatos’ hands to their just rewards, no longer are the peoples of the world satisfied with any gods that are not money, sex and power. To stay active and accepted, even I have had to adjust to new ways of achieving the same ends.” The man Ananke could see spoke. He was a striking man, physically large, muscular under his expensive clothes and handsome in an exotic way.

“Get to the point Hades. Charron Shipping is very pretty, I’m sure you’re quite proud of your accomplishments. But I need your assistance and I’m calling in the favour you owe me now. Why are you stalling?” the disembodied voice identified as Chronos asked.

If Ananke had a physical form in this vision, she’d shake her head and wonder at the pretentious names these men called each other. As she was disembodied herself, she could do nothing but stay silent and listen. The vision would not release her until the moment it chose.

The man who called himself Hades ran his palm over his chin, the scraping sound of the stubble disturbingly sibilant in the silence of the room. He sighed and Ananke had the feeling that whomever he owed the favour to was a man of little patience and even less forgiveness. “I can’t offer myself to help right now Chronos. Hear me out!” he shouted the last part, obviously sensing a danger Ananke couldn’t see.

“I’m listening.” Chronos’ voice was a hard, angry sound that held the promise of an unmentioned retribution.

“Persephone is pregnant. It’s our first. I can’t leave her to run off for an unknown length of time to help you. I won’t, and you and I both know that I don’t need to. Do a search of the bloodline, there aren’t many left but one of them should suit your purposes.” Hades bargained, his business dealings having more than trained him to handle these situations.

“I will tell you the name; you will take me to him.” Chronos’ voice was a dark warning and Ananke saw Hades swallow thickly before he nodded sharply.

Gasping and shaking like a leaf in the last days of autumn equinox, Ananke opened her eyes and knew she had to find the source of these visions and stop them or the next time one hit, she would likely be dead. The pragmatic part of Ananke’s nature wondered if it wouldn’t be better if she did die during a vision, they had brought her nothing but tragedy and heartbreak thus far. When she realized the dark path her thoughts were treading, ‘nake shut her thoughts down completely and focused on each movement involved in her climb. Fingers grasping, heart rate fumbling with fatigue and with emotions held at arm’s length, Ananke hurried back to her temporary cabin, wondering if she would beat the darkness of her thoughts back to the so called safety of her cabin.