Where The Dead Ones Go Book 4 -Union-

Chapter 16

"Welp, at least we won't have to be lost anymore."

Syden is right.

No tricks, no illusions, and no walking around aimlessly anymore.

The castle of time is right in front of us the moment we entered its previously known position according to Nox.

It's beautiful but crumbling. Even more so than when we saw it before in the past.

The pristine white marble turrets, lifeless ivory fountain, and the vast overgrowth that is climbing the deteriorating walls.

Even in its slow, possibly eternal, degradation, you can agree that there is beauty in the sad state it is currently in.

"Kairos! Finally, we found you!"

Asher, Zenith, Nox, and I saw the son of Koalemos hailing a familiar boy around our age sitting at the foot of the collapsing stairs leading towards the grand entrance of the castle.

But something is clearly different so I tried to stop him to no avail, "Syden! Hold! He is not Kairos!"

"What? Whoa!"

He suddenly stopped walking towards our friend when the hands of time appeared around the head of Kairos and a suffocating aura of pure primordial power was unleashed that almost took the air out of our bodies.

Kairos then stood up slowly and put his arm on Syden's shoulder but something is really different. Even our friend is shivering in fear even though the "being" standing beside him clearly means him no harm.

For now, that is...

"Why the defensive look, Gala. It's not like I will kill you all. No, she will never forgive me if I did that," he said in a monotone voice that made even Nox take several steps back as he and Syden began walking in our direction side by side, "Time flows ever so forward, yet there are some of us who are stuck in the past."

Zenith took a deep breath and inclined his head at our friend returning Syden to us, "Speaking about yourself?"

"Who knows, Zenith?" he asked back before nodding at Syden who heaved a sigh of relief after Asher bit him a little in the arm to take him out of his fear-induced stupor, "I like you a lot, Syden. You are the only one my wife was ever afraid of in our class. But next time, don't just run towards me without warning. If not for the precious memories we had, I would've destroyed you on the spot."

Our shocked friend nodded quickly and repeatedly apologize which made Kairos smile nostalgically at him before turning towards us seriously.

"What do you want from me?"

He asked that question with so much pain and sadness, all of us in front of him bowed our heads in shame.

It's like mortals only remember him if they need something from him.

Always giving, always answering calls for help.

But somehow never getting what he is due.

"I don't think there's anything for you to give, Kairos..."

He didn't answer when I looked up and said my piece.

Our friend just looked at me with his timeless eyes filled with grief and longing.

"Have you ever regretted all the things you ever did?"

We all looked at him as he gazes around his crumbling home.

"What if there's a chance to live it all over again, will you take the chance to do it?"

"Kairos..."

But he shook his head as he looked at Syden sadly, "No, I am not Kairos. I am no longer Kairos. He is just a part of me. I guess you already know the truth about me, right? Who I really am. Or rather, what I really am."

"Khronos, the Time Lord. God of Time, Space, and Reality."

Tears fell from his eyes as he opened his hands to reveal a floating face of a clock made of black light on the right and floating energy made of the very same composition on the left.

"I am indeed the god of time and space. But I think reality is something I can create but outside of my control unlike the latter two," he said quietly as he looked at the things on his hands, "Two completely different forces, inherently different but can combine to form something greater which in turn be controlled by the two."

He then combined the two and a flash of blinding black light engulfed us all in black light and after a few seconds, it subsided and when we all opened our eyes, we saw something that we never thought a mortal could see.

"The place where the mortals were supposed to go," a solemn voice said, and when we looked up, we saw Khronos hovering above us all in his full power and glory.

Behind his back are unmoving three pairs of wings. Brown, silver, and white. In his head, three pairs of clock face made of black light superimposing one after the other. One stuck in the midnight, the other, spinning clockwise, and the last, counterclockwise.

"This is outer space!" squealed Syden as he lets his eyes bask at the glorious scene before us all.

"What lies beyond Astraea. The final place mankind was supposed to discover and conquer," Nox said breathlessly as we saw several celestial objects around us.

Beautiful, unimaginable, and majestic.

Words to describe what we are seeing have not yet been conceived by mankind for they have only dreamt of being here where we are.

Khronos nodded before summoning time and spatial powers in his hands once more and combining them producing another celestial object. This time, a circular object that moves around us looks a lot like a comet.

"Always create never control..."

He then summoned his powers and combined them before we can even react and by the time we opened our eyes once more, we are in the last place we thought we would be.

"This is..."

Asher barked and ran around in excitement when we recognize the place we are in right now.

"Hellenic Citadel!" Syden screamed as he walked around the entrance of the building looking and peering over any nook and cranny he can find, "This is exactly the same school we are all in years ago! Man, even the skies are blue above us!"

"All first-year students please head to the school stadium for the welcoming ceremony! I repeat..."

And in a blink of an eye, students appeared out of thin air and began walking towards the stadium.

"They are not noticing us," Zenith whispered as he tried to wave at Boris walking near him but got ignored completely.

However, Nox deliberately tried to grab the hand of one student but his hands just phased through it.

"Are we ghosts now?!" Syden asked in panicked but the god above us descended and shook his head.

"No, my friend. They just exist in a different reality than you do," he explained before pointing at the two familiar faces that broke my heart into pieces.

"Gods, Vivet, Morris!"

I tried to run towards my first friends but like Nox's hands, I phased through their bodies before falling to the ground.

"This is not your reality, Gala," the god said calmly as he looked longingly at his wife, "This is their reality and you are not allowed to exist in their own plane of actuality."

Zenith looked at Khronos inquiringly as Asher whimpered when Morris and Vivet walked past him towards the stadium arm in arm.

"So you brought us to the past?"

The god of time raised an eyebrow as if he is offended, "Brought you to the past? Perish the thought, godling. I created this past. Time traveling is for those who are not me. Lytta, when breaking the final barrier of speed can traverse my domain as our ancient pact decreed allowing her to cross vast distances in a short amount of time. Or like the Parelton Glacier which is my construct."

"But why did you created this? For what?" Nox asked carefully that made the god look at us all quietly.

"I can make this your reality..."

Asher yelped in surprise asking as if there are side effects of such a thing.

"There are a few, son of Lytta. You will lose what memories, experience, growth, emotional, physical, and spiritual gains you have. Literally putting you in the same state as you did in the past..."

Syden's eyes widened when he heard that as his eyes gloss over, "That sounds enticing but I think I won't be able to let go of the memories I already have, thank you."

All of us looked at him in amazement because of what he said and he just raised his hands to show he meant no offense.

"What?! I mean, I'd rather go up and die than forget everything about Asher's excellent meal, Estelle's unsolicited dating tips, Eonia's calm smile, Zenith's explosive temper, Vaski's annoying taunts, Clite's history trivia, Morris' morbid sense of humor, Vivet's practical pieces of advice, Rebie's bad morning moods, Narcine's perky person, Taurei's crazy antics, Gala's neverending sermons, Avesa's adventurous spirit, and Kairos' barbaric dining etiquette. Well, I don't also want to forget Nox's kindness for helping someone like me in need no questions asked."

"Syden..."

"What?! Why are you all acting like I'm crazy or what?" he demanded as he waved away the school we are in right now as if it's nothing to him, "I know I am stupid but I am not about to forget everything that made me who I am right now. I know not all of them are good memories, but I'd rather relive every single memory than forget them all just for a chance to do everything again from the start knowing full well that this supposedly all-powerful Time Lord can't force something to happen the way we wanted to."

I looked at Khronos and he nodded slowly to confirm what our friend just said.

"So you can create countless possibilities but you cannot control the outcomes of those you made," Zenith said quietly as the Time Lord wiped away the vision as he already knows that we all stand behind our stupid friend's insightful stand on his offer, "You are the beginning of it all, eh, Nox?"

Hades' son nodded in agreement as we all returned in front of the crumbling castle of time, "Aye, Zenith. The one who knows no end, Khronos the Beginning."

"How long since have I have heard that epithet?" Khronos asked, now back to his "normal" self, wearing our tattered Auxiliary Squad uniform, "The useless god who can make countless possibilities but never have the power to manipulate them. Vivet, what should I do?"

"You knew she will gamble her own life, right, Kairos?" I asked him accusingly that made him avert his gaze, "You knew and you let her?!"

He sobbed and with it, more of his castle's structure came crumbling down around him, "I cannot control her nor her future. I can only give her the best possible but everything else is up to her."

"You betrayed her," Zenith said flatly that made the god cry even more, "And she knew you will but still believes in you until the very end. Now, she's gone!"

"I know! I know she's already gone. I have tried countless times than any mortal or other immortal will dare to count to turn back my hands and give her different possible paths but in each and every single one of them, she still chooses the same! To sacrifice her life for the lives of the many! For a chance to vanquish Typhon for good!"

Asher howled sadly as Syden took a deep breath and asked his own question, "Now what? Narcine sacrificed herself to destroy a fraction of Typhon's strength but we still don't have enough firepower to wipe him out."

"And even then, we don't know the way to completely and utterly vanquish him that he will never be able to return," I finished before looking inquiringly at our friend who is sobbing silently, "I am sure the way is connected to me "giving up", huh, Kairos?"

He nodded slowly that confirmed what Nox has said.

I am not supposed to die by "giving up". Giving up and Typhon's demise are connected.

"I doubt you will have anything substantial to say about it since you and Narcine are rather keen for me to find it out on my own. Fine. Have it your way. You can stay here and cry your heart out. We will gather all the forces we can muster and head straight for that monster's lair. Vivet entrusted me with something that I do not know. But what I do know is that it is something to bring this sad and sorry world back on track to opening the doors of the new Golden Age and I'd rather die trying to open that wretched doors than sitting and sobbing the day away."