The Death of Time

...Bandits

In the face of Strife and Fury...

Ananke stared at the almost demonic visage of the woman in command, seeing a haughty cruelty to her smile. It warned 'nake that here was a creature that enjoyed destruction and the breaking down of things more than she did anything else. The three creatures that spit and hissed at 'nake stayed around this leader, and it surprised Ananke to see that her stone had left its mark on one of them. THe creature she had hit dripped thick, viscous blood into the sands of the Coliseum, the liquid almost tar black instead of crimson.

"Inevitability. So good of you to join us. I guess I was wrong when I thought you were just a myth." The woman in charge sounded smug and Ananke kept quiet, not understanding the situation at all.

Her surprise attack on these creatures had stopped the torture of Chronos and that was the end of her planning. Whatever force had held him immobile before fell away, allowing the Father of Time to slump forward, his whole body bowed with pain. "I am Eris, these are my sister's the Erinyes. Our confrontation is not with you."

Ananke found that looking directly at these strange women was disconcerting and left her feeling off balance, and yet her peripheral vision tracked them just fine. Like tracking movement across a glacier, the eye tried to trick Ananke into not seeing what was actually in front of her. "Chronos and I are leaving, whatever issue you have is going to have to be forgotten." Ananke stated calmly, wondering why she was willing to face off against these creatures for the sake of an ill-tempered god that raged inside her head. The only comfort she had was that this could not be a figment of madness, because Ananke had never been that creative, even while she was wholly alive.

Her words provoked an immediate response, causing the three Erinyes to yowl and hiss more like cats than the canines they sometimes resembled, and Eris just threw her head back and laughed. "Not going to happen. I finally have this fiend where I want him. His own guilt locks him in place! He is ours to extract Justice from!" Eris spat, humour gone as quickly as it arrived. "You do not know his crimes!"

"I don't care." Ananke stated simply, making all four females and even the injured Chronos stare at her in muted shock. "We're all guilty of something. Why should I condemn him for his past and yet seek absolution for my own?" as she spoke, 'nake carefully walked forward, feeling the sands of the arena burning her bare feet. It wasn't an unbearable pain but it was alarming because Ananke had never felt pain in the dreaming world, and she knew her body was located a long ways away from here. If the pain was real, what kind of damage could these strange spawn cause?

"His crimes are not forgiven!" Eris screamed, striding closer to Ananke. 'nake held her ground, the emotional void inside her heart not even allowing the common sense of fear.

"Then neither are yours." Ananke replied, not knowing what kind of past this woman could have had. But it was easy to assume, based on the volatile nature she now revealed.

"How dare you! I am the goddess of Strife! I am above such mortal concepts that bind you!" Eris loomed over Ananke, looking like she would strike out, and yet the goddess never actually touched her.

"Chronos is the Father of Time. And right now we have a task to be doing. It doesn't not involve indulging in your temper nor does it curtail being a sacrifice for your need to spill blood. I am carrying his soul in my flesh and while he is my passenger, you are not allowed to harm him further." Ananke didn't know where the words she spoke were coming from, but they felt laden with Power.

"You would stand between the rejected King of Olympus and his Justice?" Eris hissed, spittle foaming at her lips like a rabid animal.

"I would." Ananke said calmly, for once finding that her lack of emotional response was for the best. Her common sense begged for her to let these monsters tear each other apart, she had no place in this world. But there was a job to do and Ananke had never known how to back down from even the most dangerous challenges. And apparently she wasn't so far gone from the woman she used to be to walk away now.