The Death of Time

Once upon a...

Trapped in memories and nightmares...

Ananke didn't realize that she wasn't conscious until she saw Chronos walk past her. She also didn't recognize the streets as belonging to Greece instead of Rome, but it didn't matter to her. Like before, the statues were no longer frozen in tableau, instead prowling to life and moving about, as real as she was, and as substantial as the Father of Time striding down the road ahead of her. And even though she had believed the impulse to be as long dead as her other emotions, curiosity propelled Ananke down the road behind him, wanting to know whose mind they were in today. Though the setting suggested that they were in his mind, she couldn't shake the feeling that things were not that simple.

The city around them was eerily quiet, not a breath of wind to break the oppressive silence and even though the mythical creatures of his world moved about her, they made no hiss or growl that she could hear. It was strangely like being buried under snow, where all vibrations and sounds are muffled and aborbed before it could carry to the human ear. But despite the silence, or maybe in fact due to it, her body was tense and her instincts screaming that she could not let Chronos escape from her visions.

It wasn't a simple task, running on a parallel next to the handsome figure of Chronos was a Chimera. It's three seperate heads each demanding attention and making Ananke wish she could stop and inspect it. The snake head tail looked as if it watched her as she tracked the man they both followed, her tongue flickering out but no sibilant sound reaching Ananke's ears. The lioness body prowled around the streets they scrambled across with the grace of a natural predator, and even though a goat's head protruded from the Chimera's back, the creature never looked unnatural. Ananke had never seen anything like it outside of murals and computer graphics, but her own strange heritage resonated that this was a true creature, and not just a figment of madness.

When the Chimera silently snorted and flames danced around the mouths, Ananke started in astonishment, almost forgetting to follow Chronos. Deep down inside, a part of her wished that she could just stay here, even if it was trapped inside Chronos' mind, because this fantastic place was like nothing she had lived through before and safe from her memories. Picking up the pace as Chronos turned a corner and started to distance himself away, even though he hadn't noticed her following, Ananke let her peripheral vision track the curiosity of the Chimera.

But when she rounded the simple street corner and saw the Colesium, not as it is in modern time but as it was in it's full glory, she stopped in her tracks. Her breath caught and the only reason she didn't lose sight of Chronos entirely was because he had stopped as well. But while Ananke stood rigid in surprise and awe, his shoulders were bowed under an invisible weight, grief etching his handsome face.

*~~*

Hades stared at Nyx as the daughter of Chaos puttered around her home, as at ease as if they were all long time friends. It wasn't as if she were the enemy, but Hades was cautious around few men and even fewer women and Nyx was on the short list of those that scared the daylights out of him. He simply did not know all of what she was capable of, the night was her domain and the rumours of her true power only made him more cautious instead of reckless.

"Can I ask why you brought us here, and how you expected us?" Herald asked politely, his voice and body language giving no sign that the change in plans bothered him at all. He was just accepting the new situation and dealing with it as if the fate of Time itself didn't hang in the balance. It was making Hades wish he could just leave now, before things got inevitably worse.

Nyx looked at Herald and it was clear with the focus of her eyes that she saw more than simply the man's surface, his smiling ease. Hades shuddered as he realized that she saw the man, as if his abilities and potential, dreams and nightmares were all there for her to see as others would read a list from a book. It terrified him that she would turn that knowing gaze at him and see all the secrets and shames that stained his soul. "Mortal soul within an immortal form... my Oneiroi children told me to expect you." her voice was serene, as if telling them that her god children of Dreams spying on their little group wasn't eerie news.