Dead Lines

14: In The Beginning, There Was Khaos

Unedited.

Chapter Fourteen

As olive branches go, that was a pretty big one. I was impressed but it didn’t mean anything if she couldn’t deliver.

“A weapon,” I said incredulously. “Why do I need a weapon? Why can’t I, I don’t know, just run him through with a sword?” That really did sound appealing now that I’d said it out-loud.

“A sword?” She snorted, definitely not a sound I thought a Goddess would make. “My darling girl, do you really think a generic sword would kill the primal God of the sky?”

It was wishful thinking, I admit, but I really wanted it to be that easy. Nothing in this world seemed to be that easy but just this once…

Still didn’t stop me from hoping.

“What kind of weapon?” I said instead of answering her question. We were already doing a lot of dodging each other’s inquires so why not a little more?

“How much of the mythology surrounding Caelus do you know?”

Really? Did she have to ask?

“Why don’t you just assume I know nothing and tell me what the weapon is?”

She smiled. “I’ll be happy to.” Her back straightened a little and I really hoped she wasn’t gearing up to tell a really long story. “But in order to do that, I need to tell you a little tale.” Well there went that. “Once Caelus and I used to be like your Kells and that horrible water nymph he’s forcibly attached to. Back then Caelus went by Coelus or Ouranos if you were Greek. I always found it rather ridiculous how often the names were changed amongst the Gods and Goddesses…”

“Gaia.”

She stared at me for a moment, not understanding why I’d interrupted her. My patience was growing thin and if she hadn’t figured that out, I was more than happy to find a way to end this interlude we were having without learning about the weapon. The Gods would just have to figure it out on their own.

“If you wish to learn of the weapon, you need to hear all of this. You can’t just skip information because you find it boring.”

“I apologize,” I said, trying to placate her and keep my cool. “Please continue at your leisure.”

“So accommodating.” She smiled. “I used to be like that. Accomedating. I would do whatever was asked of me and because of it I created a great many things, some of which I’m not proud of.” For a moment she got lost in her head and I worried that this experience was going to last longer than need be. By chance, I glanced at the panel and saw Andrzej was still fretting over what was going on. He looked like he was in the middle of arguing with someone but whom that person happened to be, I wasn’t sure. They weren’t currently in my line of sight but whatever they were saying wasn’t making him any happier. “You never know what kind of monstrosities you can create until after you’ve done it.”

I looked back at Gaia and she had gone pale. “Gaia…”

“I believe in your histories you learn about the creation of the Elite, yes?”

“Amongst other things, yes. Why do you ask?”

“How does it go? Do you remember?”

“In the beginning, the Earth was chaotic…”

“Yes. Chaotic. They’ve changed it overtime. It should be ‘In the beginning, there was Khaos’. I hadn’t even come into being yet. Khaos was the great abyss, dark unformed mass and from him myself and several others came. I was the only one with a form, the only one who just wasn’t a floating voice in the nothing. And from me, came everything else.”