INTERLUDE (XI)

  The Games Gods Play

  Purrenthkesk – The Merchant of Myriad Faces, stared down at the spot where their resident wildcard had so recently vacated.

  The soon to be infamous site, no doubt, wherein the joint assault of five Void Archetypes failed to kill a month old child. And a mortal child at that. Purrenthkesk didn’t even want to think what the other Archetypes would say. That he’d lost his touch, perhaps? Grown soft in his old age? Of course, this was all hyperbole. It was the Time Witch that’d thwarted them in the end, and that traveler was no child. And yet the irritating fact of the matter remained. It would seem her pawn really had gotten away.

  And here I could’ve sworn we were giving it our all.

  The once insignificant slice of abyssal sea, now a ruin of spliced reality, reversed causality, and severely botched space-time. A violently pulsating gash in what was, is, or would be, from which waves of cosmic radiation, snipped fate threads, and spatial tears spewed forth like water from a turned faucet. The exponential creep of unchecked chaos an ever expanding calamity. One unlikely to settle down, or even slow, for many eons to come.

  The grim results of a god, or, in this case, several, really giving it their all.

  Turning what was already an inhospitable plane, into an unequivocal death trap for all but the most powerful. Even Purrenthkesk was leery of straying too close, and he was fairly secure in his immortality. The Merchant of Myriad Faces drifted backwards a few thousand kilometers, wary of the strobing mushroom cloud of rampant chaos. He was not the only one either.

  His tail lashed in mild irritation.

  “Well. I think it’s safe to say that could’ve gone better. She must value this one more than we’d been led to believe, to have put so much of herself into his protection.”

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  “I shall recall the primordial seat of twelve,” Ormotten – The Abstraction of Absence, cut in, showing as much emotion as he’d ever seen on his avatar. “Enough with these games. What need have I to play by their rules? My watchers shall reconnoiter the land. My horrors and primordials shall descend like locusts. Take the girl by force, if we must, and return all else to oblivion. And should they wish to retaliate? I say let them. Now or later, it matters not. All wash up on abyssal shores eventually. All paths lead back to me.”

  Purrenthkesk briefly scrutinized the clearly irate deity. Tried to envision a world in which ripping out his throat and feeding on his suffering ended well for him. When the Merchant of Myriad Faces eventually came up empty, he settled on the diplomatic approach instead.

  “Look, Motten, buddy, pal. I understand the frustration. Really I do. If an angry wellspring spewing raw chaos were to suddenly geyser up realm adjacent to my personal domain, I’d be justifiably irate as well. However, that doesn’t mean pitting our humble selves against the whole of The Concord is a good, or sane, or, quite frankly, even remotely rational idea. I, for one, would not be joining you on such a suicidal venture.”

  The others gave their general murmurs of ascent. Powerful as they were, they were only five, after all. The Void God of The Yawning Abyss grumbled a bit at this, sending frustrated glances the way of the growing cloud of chaos, divine aura flaring wildly before he finally got it in check.

  “Excellent! Now-”

  “MIIIIIINE?”

  “Yes, yes. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about our little pet project-”

  “MIIIIIINE!”

  “No. Our. Say it with me now, our. Listen, we talked about this…”

  “The tabby stalks while children sleep. Your progeny bites the hand that feeds.”

  “Oh? And what was I meant to do about that exactly? It’s not as if I could’ve simply popped over and told him off, now could I? Well, not more than once at any rate.”

  “Not even when it places all we hold dear in jeopardy? Void’s Herald-”

  “Is fine! I’d say she acquitted herself quite well, in fact.”

  “And if she dies this time, before we can get to her?” chimed in Ormotten in that same dead monotone. “What then?”

  “Do you think that’s especially likely? An Earl defeating an Imperial, regardless of her age, is the stuff of myth. It simply does not happen.”

  “Mmmnph!”

  “See? If anything, this represents a golden opportunity to finish what we started.”

  “You would allow the Earl the satisfaction?” asked Ormotten, clearly displeased.

  “More than that, I would ensure he gets the job done. Might I remind you the traveler is now without her protections? All it should take is a gentle nudge, and that boy child shouldn’t last the week.”