Thief of Time

“I see.” Claud held his head. “Even the Coloured Gods do not know everything, then.”

“We are not that omnipotent. The incubation time of the Cosmic Egg is one of the foremost mysteries that everyone is wondering about too…including the five grand skies.,” the Black God replied. “And no, I cannot tell you what the five grand skies are. I can only tell you that they are the arbiters of the cycle, watching for the time when all life ends and a new one begins. They will protect it at all costs.”

Claud felt a shiver run down his spine. In that case…did this mean that the Hollow God fought against the five grand skies and won? Or did they react too slowly to the Hollow God’s actions of destroying the world back then? After all, Claud was quite sure that the Hollow God didn’t mention anything about the skies that looked down upon the world.

“Are they enemies of the Omen, then?”

“I believe you know the answer to that as well as I do,” the Black God replied.

“What does that have to do with me?” Claud asked. The Black God hadn’t yet acknowledged Claud’s position as the Omen, and Claud wasn’t ever going to let those words leave his mouth here anyway.

“You must have your own thoughts regarding this too,” the Black God replied. “I’m more curious about why you asked that question, if anything. After all, the five grand skies definitely know who the Omen is, the name of the Fourth Bearer of Destiny in this cycle. The only question is why you wanted to ask that question.”

Claud folded his arms, and then pondered on it seriously. The actual reason why he asked that question was due to his knowledge — if Lily died, he, the Omen, would certainly bring ruin to the world just for a chance to bring her back. The world didn’t matter without her, and he was not going to let his better half vanish forever either.

Therefore, in this cycle, if Lily…really vanished, he would oppose the five grand skies on and on, no matter how many iterations passed. Unless there came a point when one of his future iterations completely severed his bond with Lily…

He shook his head. Claud could not imagine that at all.

“You were just asking it on a whim, then,” the Black God replied.

“It’s related to what you said,” Claud hurriedly added. “After all, in the Third Godsfall, that person gave his life for this favour, creating an instance where both that cycle’s Salvation Star and Omen survived. Isn’t that a weird situation, all things considered?”

“Indeed so.” The Black God paused. “In the Second Godsfall, the Salvation Star emerged from the ranks of the Primordial Gods, opposing the Six Gods of Virtue, who were led by the Omen of Entropy. Destruction won, and the old order and world was completely eradicated. This should have been the usual state of things, in that sense.”

Claud wanted to speak, but his ability to draw breath and formulate them into more words weakened. Lily looked at him once, and then smiled.

“But you said that the five grand skies would protect the cycle at all costs,” Lily replied in his stead. “Why, then, do the five grand skies tolerate you two?”

“You said it yourself. We’re just tolerated. We can’t participate in the Fourth Godsfall, and no matter which side wins, we’ll remain neutral,” the Black God replied. “But…the five grand skies have far more to worry about. The Fourth Godsfall was highly irregular to begin with. In fact, all prior cycles have new divinities rising up from the ranks of mortals to defeat the inverted gods, their divine tyrants. This is, for some reason, the only cycle in which divinities of three opposing parties clash against each other, with Bearers of Destiny as the lifelines of their godhood.”

“…Any clue why this is the case?”

“Do I look like I specialise in that area?” the Black God asked, before pouring out more tea for himself. The shadow picked it up and savoured the steaming cup happily, before smiling. “You should, however, keep this question in mind as the days go by. Who is behind this grand plan? And for what purpose?”

Claud looked at Lily, made a few faces, and then forced himself to speak. “Regarding the Cosmic Egg…what happens now, since the Omen staked a full claim on it?”

“Who knows?”

“That’s a very irresponsible answer,” Claud replied. “You’re the Black God.”

“I do very little. Other than plugging up holes that were poked and exchanging tea with Schizel, I spend the rest of my time sleeping and thinking about the Third Godsfall. Especially in recent days, after that idiot died.”

“That idiot?”

“The Red God,” the shadow replied.

Claud suddenly found himself unable to speak again, so he shifted his eyes to Lily, who made a face back at him. The two of them exchanged funny faces at each other, before the Black God cleared his throat.

“Stop making funny faces. And I do not know who did the killing either, although I suspect that the Omen’s behind it.”

The Black God glanced at Claud. “But the only question is how he did it. After all, there are no deca-folders anywhere at all. It might be someone from the previous era, but the five grand skies would have retaliated on the spot if that was the case. I’m actually very curious.”

Claud really couldn’t tell if the Black God knew about his status as the Omen or not. To begin with, the whole thing was due to his previous self going back in time and offering himself as a sacrifice. However, that couldn’t directly pinpoint the current Claud as the Omen, even if he and the previous Claud shared multiple similarities.

“So you don’t know who the Omen is?” Lily asked, voicing the question that Claud wanted to ask, but didn’t dare to.

“No, unfortunately. I’m just guessing that it’s your partner here, but all that is based off that…benefactor.” The Black God took another sip of tea. “For I know, that fellow might be your great, great-grandfather by a couple dozen generations. Also…I don’t really mind, but you guys are very, very relaxed in my presence. I’m not complaining; the formalities of my church can be dull, dreary and very boring, but you guys seem very used to this.”

“We are?” Claud thought for the moment. “Oh! It’s because you remind us of Lesser Half.”

“Yeah, that.” Lily bobbed her head. “Similar motifs, you two are nice and easy-going, and you two don’t carry any airs at all.”

“Huh. I’ve never interacted with Lesser Half before, but he sounds like someone agreeable.” The Black God paused. “Do you think he’d accept if I send him an invitation for a tea party?”

Claud didn’t know why the divinities he’d met so far seemed quite taken with the ideas of meals together, but wouldn’t it be nice if the Blue Moon, the Black God and Lesser Half all came together to talk things out?

No fighting, just a nice talk…and they were all in a truce right now.

Why not?

“Well, I could try to arrange a little party between you, Lesser Half and the Blue Moon.” Claud blinked. “What do you think?”

“I have a lot of questions regarding your network of acquaintances, but by all means. It will be interesting, at least. Mhm. And I do need to tell the Blue Moon about my Holy Son. Nero has been holed up making babies with the Thirteenth Bearer of Destiny, after all.”

“We did not need to know that at all,” Lily muttered.

The Black God guffawed, and then took another sip of tea. “This insouciance is refreshing, when it comes from someone who’s not hostile! Yes, yes. I must be deprived of so much social interaction. Ahh…”

He shivered once. “Well, I won’t expect you to do it anytime soon, though. You are busy, after all. And you might want to consider visiting one of the others. Who do you want to visit?”

Claud paused, and then glanced at Lily, whose brows were furrowed. They exchanged quick glances for a few seconds, and then Lily nodded once.

“We would like to visit the Indigo God,” Lily replied. “He is the one who governs time, right?”

“Correct,” the Black God replied. “Mhm. You must be investigating that person, then, if you are looking at time.”

Claud nodded.

“Very well.” He paused. “I will send you there directly in a day. In the meantime, why not take a rest here? You two carry many, many heavy thoughts. Have some tea. Rest in a place of utmost safety.”

He got up. “I will prepare a calling card.”

Claud and Lily got up together and bowed. “Thank you.”

Still, it was quite amazing to learn that even the Coloured Gods used calling cards…but if one remembered that they used to be human, maybe it wasn’t that weird?

It was quite a good question.