A Chronometric Defect

So, so many people died. I keep sending communications to everyone I know in the... Former Empire.

Nobody's there.

I sit back on my sofa.

Just how many people died?

"Leario, take a breather. Whatever happened, we aren't gods. We're not Chronomet. He'll explain what happened. He always does, even though he's never had any need."

I look at him with great annoyance. These damn worshippers. Get off my outdoor sofa.

"Raiz. What if he's lying? What if all this time, he's never been a dragon? What if he's finally decided he's strong enough to kill us all without consequence?"

"You saw the Shridenia-sized bite he took. If that were true, do you honestly think he'd only eat the living?"

"No, and that's what I keep clinging onto. But you know. You know, as do I. Even when he explains things, his actions are so baffling. I fear— if he does bother to explain this time? It won't be the benign explanation it's been in the past."

"He's a god, Leario. Whatever he chooses, we can only accept it and pray for him to spare us."

"I don't see him as a deity. I don't buy his crap."

I hear Chronomet.

"Well, you can punch me, and I won't fight back. No purchase necessary."

I turn to face him, then look up 20 meters. His looming behavior has pissed me off ever since I saw it in Achiton. It pisses me off even more now that he's behaving exactly like the monster we all knew he was. Is.

I remember that inscription slab. The one which showed him towering over the former Shridenian landscape.

He doesn't deserve to be so unassailably powerful. Why is life unfair?

"What good would punching you do?"

"It'd make me know one more person has expressed some fraction of their justified anger. I deserve all such ire, and more."

Raiz speaks.

"You did this?"

He looks into Raiz.

"Not by my Will, Raiz. Thaddeus and Garne sprang a trap. Forced my own skill to function in a way that I couldn't control. I can explain the details, but ultimately it doesn't matter. I'm responsible for one point three billion sapient deaths. And roughly ninty-three b—"

Raiz interrupts him.

"One point three BILLION?!"

I say nothing. I can't comprehend what I just heard. How? What? Why? Thaddeus and Garne?

And was he about to say ninty-three billion others? I'm too terrified to ask. How much life remains?

Chronomet shudders. I've never seen him make any motions of weakness. He always seems so strong; so invincible.

"I ate many dragons. Many of my own kind. Not only humans, but elves, dwarves, kaizen, and many other species. Sapient

monsters, too. Which means also my own kind. I have no excuse. None. Not even blaming those who instigated this disaster

will wash away what I've caused through my own lack of self-control. Worse, my draconic mindset isn't letting me feel the

full weight of my actions. What I've done is unforgivable. I deserve nothing."

He makes a rickety wooden chair and sits, slumped over.

*creeeeeeek*

He continues speaking.

"Regardless, I must fight on."

WHAT?!

I stand and face him.

I point at him with my left arm and almost scream.

"You! YOU! What RIGHT do you have to claim that you must fight on?! Everyone I knew! Everyone I cared for! Everyone I respected! They're all gone, all of them!"

I lower my arm and fume.

Raiz speaks.

"Hey, man. What the hell? I'm still here."

I turn to him.

"Shut the fuck up!"

I turn back to Chronomet.

"How DARE you sit there in your shitty wooden chair, sulking like a three-year-old child! Then have the AUDACITY to say you should so much as continue EXISTING! MAY THE GODS STRIKE YOU DOWN!"

"Hraaah. Well, one tried already. I ate him."

"YOU! YOOOOOOU! ATE A GOD?!?!"

I'm getting dizzy. I need to sit before I give myself an aneurysm. I fall rigidly onto my sofa.

*flumph*

I yell in frustration.

"AUUUUUGHHHHHHHH!!!"

"I'm going to continue existing, and fighting, so all of the people who've already given their lives didn't do so in vain. A smart man named Yvilos helped me understand that."

I snap back at the annoying dragon.

"And I SUPPOSE you ate him too?"

"Almost. It was close call."

"GAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Raiz speaks.

"Look, I don't know what you've been through. But if I saw a human sitting like you are, I'd instantly know they regretted everything. So, just hold onto that and keep trying for better. It's clearly what you've already decided."

"Reah, I have. It's just too much. All of it."

"Then don't eat so much, you fat dragon."

I jump up. I want to punch Raiz off my sofa.

"I said, SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Raiz looks at me.

"No, you shut the fuck up. He's right, as usual. You don't get to be a god by being wrong."

I hear Chronomet interject.

"I'm a Demigod."

Raiz looks back up at him.

"You— you're not actually a god?"

"Getting close, I suppose? But no. I'm immortal, I have many god-like powers, but I'm not considered a god according to my status. 'Chronometric Dragon God' is only a title. I didn't even mean to add the word 'god.' It got tacked onto the end in my carelessness."

"Oh, I see. Your title was elevated to god status because of a dumb mistake. Yes, that sounds about par for the course for you, Chronomet."

"Rawh, rah, reeeehhh."

He's making weird dragon noises.

I turn to look at him and speak harshly.

"Then you'd best get yourself UNDER CONTROL, Chronomet! If you become a god who causes this much DEATH, well, there won't be anyone left to criticize you!"

His sharp red eyes shift to look at me, but he doesn't move his slumped head or body. He's so tall he can still easily see me while he's hunched over in his chair. He's extremely intimidating. Especially since I'm very much aware that this gigantic monster is only displaying a tiny fraction of his body to us... Ussss. Mortals. Haah. He's terrifying.

"That's true, which is why I'm working on consolidating my situation. I've already erased the skill which caused this disaster. I can do that; erase abilities, with the talent I got from the god I ate. If only I'd gained this talent sooner. I could've prevented so much death if I were stronger."

What.

Did this horrific monster just say it wants even MORE power?

...

"I'm going to accept your offer."

It seems surprised.

"Rah?"

I walk over and punch it in the shin.

*thok*

Damn, that was like hitting solid STONE! Ow!

Here I thought I was a high level?!

Wait.

Stone? No way, that would crumble under my punches. What the hell is this monster made from?!

As I shake my broken fist, I see many bones sticking out.

I'm momentarily stunned.

Damn, that's. That's one hell of a compound fracture. At least, um, twenty fractures. That's going to hurt like... Uh, like I punched a giant horror monster in the shin.

I'll need to find a healer since, I mean, Adelia's.

I look at it with renewed fury.

"Fuck you."

"I can fix that."

It's looking at my destroyed hand.

"Screw off, monster."

It looks back at my face.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

A Demigod is apologizing to me? Yuck.

Why do I feel so icky?

"It's not worth nearly enough. Don't EVER talk to me again. I never want to hear your voice."

It raises its horrid hand to its— mouth, I suppose? It moves its arm sideways.

I can barely tell what it's doing, never mind what that gesture means. Too much spatial black. Its hand isn't even remotely visible over its face.

I don't know why, but until this moment I'd never noticed what a freakish creature it is, beyond being intimidated by its outwardly scary appearance. Strange. Why do I feel like I could understand its gestures and form before?

Like I could see its form?

Why can't I now?

Wait. Wasn't it always this color?

But in Achiton— huh? No? Wasn't he black there as well?

What's wrong with me? Why don't my memories match?

It puts its arm back down. It then says something, but I hear nothing until Raiz speaks.

"He said that means 'zipper.' I don't know either. He says he'll be silent to you, for as long as you need."

Okay, apparently a Demigod can do that.

"Fine! I accept this. I'm leaving."

I walk away from my own home.

If THAT becomes a god—.

Tch. When it does?

It's all over.