The Death of Time

... Flies

When the reflection is a stranger…

Ananke was sitting in a first class seat, on her way to Greece and not entirely certain of what exactly was going to happen once they landed. In the pod seat next to her was the pleasantly smiling Herald and in a little pod of his own across the aisle was Hades. Only Chronos wasn’t free to actively enjoy the luxury of the flight and it was his constant bemoaning of the unfairness of it all that drove Ananke to call her therapist, just to have something else to listen to than a grown man’s whining.

She’d spent the bulk of her life being more than comfortably well off, and after her year of wandering, she had long grown accustomed to calling Dr. Callan from 30,000 feet up or even once from a submersible phone. Routine was the only thing that still anchored Ananke to the social world she once belonged to and it was Pavlolv's theory that kept her going through the paces. Ananke shook her head as once again Chronos simmered with anger at something he either overheard in her head, or over something on the plane they rode. For an eons old godling, he was far more mercurial than she had ever guessed an ancient, experienced being to be, though looking back on the myths and legends she'd learned in highschool this kind of behaviour was something she could have anticipated.

Your pathetic tomes and teachers could not have prepared you to even GUESS at what I am really like. I find it insulting that you even try to compare me to those pale, pitiful shades the myths present. Chronos grouse as the phone rang and clicked through. You're remembered and honoured, how arrogant do you have to be that that is not enough for you? Ananke shot back as Dr. Callan's office picked up the line. A hold, transfer and tone click later and 'nake was on the phone with her therapist.

"So where are we today Ananke?" Dr. Callan asked, voice smooth and soothing. Inside her mind Chronos was the exact opposite, painfully pushing on the boundaries between his mind and Ananke's. You're wasting your time on the phone with this mortal.

"Today we are on a flight to Greece. I am sitting between two immortals and with a voice in my head claiming to be a third one." she admitted calmly, seeing Herald watching her with an amused glimmer in his eyes. For a man who had given up so much and had so many responsibilities, he was far happier than most would assume him to be. I am not 'claiming' to be an Immortal you disrespectful whore, I AM god and once King. Chronos raged and Ananke did something that truely infuriated him; she ignored him.

Dr. Callan was laughing on the other side of the phone, thinking that Ananke's confession was just a jest. "Are they at least easy on the eyes Ananke?" Dr. Callan asked jokingly, playing along because normally 'nake showed no signs of having a sense of humour anymore.

"Relatively. Though obviously I cannot judge the incorporeal one. He has a wonderful oration voice but tends to dramatic tempertantrums far too frequently." Ananke described the men she was surrounded by while Chronos continued to swear sulfuriously at her. She was actually growing accustomed to the pain his anger caused them both and just accepted the reality of it. There wasn't much she could do otherwise, it didn't take very much to set the Father of Time off.

Dr. Callan made a weird sound that didn't translate well over the planephone, but Ananke recognized it as a throat clearing. Onto the interrogation time then. "So tell me what's really happening inside your mind Ananke."

Ananke hesitated for a fraction of a second. Here was her chance to confess that she really was insane; that there was a voice inside her mind that caused her pain, tried to control her and was making her do things that she had no clue of in advance. Pretty much a textbook case of schizophrenia and yet 'nake held her tongue. With a sense of shock, she realized that she wanted to keep the journey going, even if it was just inside her mind. The trauma that had driven her from her old life was still painful and fresh, still too hard for her to confront head on and this was another distraction for her to distance herself from it, to keep herself safe from the pain.