334: Crippled

Zoe writhed on the floor in agony. How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? Lying on her back, she looked up at the sky: the pink cloud was nowhere to be seen. Wincing, she propped herself up on both elbows and looked down. Black electricity crackled intermittently up and down both legs.

She willed them to move; there was the slightest twitch, but nothing more. A feral scream ripped out from her as she balled her fists, slamming them into the black sand over and over. Why was this happening to her? This was her mind. She wouldn’t cripple herself like this. Then again, she wouldn’t dump herself in the middle of a desert and then give herself a mountain to climb. How much of this place actually belonged to her?

Something appeared in the sky. She grunted and rolled, just in time to see the slow, angular lightning descend right over the top of the summit. Just like the previous two times, after giving a head start to the front of the lightning, the tail set off, moving much faster and eventually eating up the trail of traced light. Moments later, the head faded in.

“Ever…” Zoe pushed herself up right. She watched as he brought his head close to hers. His face was so serious… what was he saying? His voice came through as a low–

“Hello,” Chronos stepped in front of Zoe’s view. “Did you miss me?”

“Get out of the way!” Zoe barked.

“I thought you said you couldn’t hear him,” Chronos replied. “I can tell you what he said, if you’d like.”

“How do you know what he said?”

“You really didn’t notice I was gone.” The god of time feigned hurt, resting a hand on his chest. “I popped out of your mind to see what was happening. Long story short, your legs were seizing up, you went to the hospital, your doctor suggested morphine, Ever said no because it would harm the baby and any moment now, you’ll get some laughing gas.”

Seconds later, the relief flooded through Zoe. She felt lovely; the pain in her legs was ebbing away by the second. She tried to move them again, still to no avail. She rolled onto her back, looking up at the blank sky.

“So Ever is looking after me.”

“I’m no expert, but that’s what humans who love other humans do,” Chronos replied. “Not that Ever is a real human.”

Zoe watched Ever’s face fade away. “I wanted him to reap.”

“His friend Taylor is still helping him. She just reaped a soul earlier this week.”

She flipped back onto her front, making sure she didn’t press her tummy down into the sand. It was all well and good that Taylor was helping him, but he really needed to help her if they were to save the world. Pushing herself until she was sitting up, Zoe reached and fell forwards, digging her hands into the sand and dragging herself forwards. It was hard, but not impossible to continue.

“Where are you going?” Chronos took a step to the side as she moved past him. Her clothes were getting darker and darker as the onyx sand rubbed into them.

“Where else?” she grunted. “To the summit.'“

“Why?”

“I want to talk to Ever.”

“How do you know you’ll be able to talk to him once you get there?”

“I don’t know Chronos, you’re the god, you tell me.” Zoe’s shoulders slumped. She turned away from him and continued knuckling herself onwards.

Without uttering another word, he began following her.