"In my first few years as king of the titans I had to endure a number of challenges," Cronos's deep voice carried the power of his past and stabilized the trembling of Mane's Soul Scape. And though the Supreme had bowed his head once again, Cronos knew that he was listening.
"The toughest ones came from my father's brothers. In one of such duels I lost my eye. And in another, I lost my mind. Then came the final one, where I lost my heart."
As Cronos spoke his features that had been hidden all this while were exposed to Mane. And when the young Supreme lifted his head upon sensing the changes around him, he was shaken to his core, much like his own Soul Scape.
For in front of him wasn't the perfect image he had sculpted in his mind in the leisurely minutes of the day and the aimless ones of the night. Before him was a face scarred by the trials of life and a heart that wasn't a heart. And that was because the Cronos Mane saw was the Cronos he didn't think he would ever see.
Eyes that were of different colors and different sizes, a head that was missing some hair and a piece of the skull.; and a chest that had no heart but was maintained by a small grey clock.
"To replace my lost eye I took my father's. He didn't need it anymore, so I helped myself to it." Cronos chuckled as he lightly patted the golden eye ball that wasn't his originally. Unlike his clever blue eye, the golden eye ball was much larger and looked out of place. And now Mane knew why that was so.
"To replace my lost mind I crashed the heart of the one who wounded me and tossed his mind to the lowly fishes. There is nothing worse to a god than to lose their body to creatures that were not worthy enough to even gaze upon the sandals that snuggled their feet when they lived. It didn't give me my mind back, but the satisfaction restored my sanity."
Mane watched the irregular head of Cronos with a dull expression on his face. And though his state of surprise had faded, he was still very much interested in what he was seeing.
"And this," Cronos pointed at the clock in his chest before taking a small pause. "Well, you know what this is, don't you?" Cronos smirked and Mane nodded his head.
The grey clock that reeked of time and ticked several seconds into minutes and minutes into seconds was one that Mane had never seen before. Yet he didn't need to be told what it was.
"The Clock of Eternity," Mane croaked, his voice patchy and broken like a man who had known no food nor wine for decades.
"All this while people assumed that it was lost. But it was never released in the first place." Mane mumbled, the realization of this truth temporarily halting his fracturing soul's search of extinction as Mane's Scholar Energy grew with this knowledge.
"Yes," Cronos assented. "How else would I have been able to stay here with you; reverse time for you; break the laws of the universe as I do without this weapon here with me?" Cronos added.
"It was never a mere weapon to you – it was your sustenance. It is your heart. You are now it and it is you. You are an artefact yet you are not. It is an artefact yet it is not. You are something new. Something ancient yet modern." Mane spoke clearer now, his spittle absent of the mucus that plagued his blocked airways before. And once again with his knowledge increased and his understanding elevated, his power grew and his soul stabilized.
"That is true," Cronos nodded his head and waved his hand, and the image displayed to Mane changed. A handsome man with blue eyes embedded in sockets housed by a head that was as normal as it could be and full of long, black hair appeared before the Supreme. A chest that was covered with skin and sinew with hair littered unevenly all over the place occupied the eyes of the young Supreme. And the question he wanted to ask, naturally revealed itself.
"Why didn't you heal?" Mane asked. Gods could easily mend broken bones and replace lost arms as long as they had the right materials. Yet Cronos had chosen to remain the same. He had kept his faults and had merely produced a low grade illusion to hide it from the world. And Mane reckoned that the Selfish Titan King only did that to hide the secret of the Clock of Eternity from everyone else.
"Because I need to remember," Cronos replied simply. "Odin lost an eye for his pursuits and paid a grievous price when he sought to satisfy his curiosity. He attracted the sting of a dangerous enemy instead of vast wisdom. Yet instead regenerating his lost eye – which he certainly can, given the resources available to Asgard – he kept its hollow instead. Sure once in a while he flashes some golden pupil in there but it is temporary."
"Why didn't he replace his eyes either?" Cronos asked and then went on to answer his own question.
"Because he needed to remember why he lost it in the first place. He didn't want to forget the disgrace of loss and the pain of conceit. I am the same."
"Remembering keeps you steady and holds you stably. Forgetting is the fool's privilege. Are you a fool, young Mane?" Cronos asked with a cold expression on his face.
"No," Mane shook his head robotically. He would never admit that. Not even a fool would call himself a fool.
"Good. So you are a smart man. And you are alive. And as long as you live, you have a fighting chance." Cronos stated and stood up.
"I have temporarily laid hold of the Origin King's power. When he came into contact with you I took the liberty of interfering with his access to his authority. It will buy us some time." Cronos stated as he rushed towards the end of the Soul Scape. A small crack was present there – a crack that led to a place Mane would rather not be.
"What are you waiting for?" Cronos stopped and asked, a frown etching itself on to his face. "You have seen how they fight for you. You need to fight back." Cronos stated while waving his hand. And like a 3-D interface, Mane's Soul Scape became a mirror that showed him the events that were happening outside his body.
He saw Aurora disappear into a portal. He saw Crystal fighting like a mad woman. And the effects of her loss of sanity were gradually showing. But neither her bleeding eyes nor her trickling nose could dent her resolve to protect the boy who lay at her feet. Mane felt her desperation. He felt her fear; not for herself, but for him. And he also felt her hope. She hoped that he would stand up and prove himself to be who he was. She hoped that he would reveal himself as the Supreme!
"You asked Odin how you could control your power, didn't you?" Cronos asked and Mane nodded his head silently. Cronos had mystified him enough so Mane didn't want to ask how the Selfish Titan King knew the contents of his conversation with Odin. Besides, right now such a matter held little meaning to him.
"Well kid, this is it."
Mane balled his fists and gritted his teeth. But ultimately he made a decision. His clunky chains came off and he released himself from the prison of his own mind. He pushed his wobbly knees to extend and walked towards the one whose path was unclear even now.
"What must I do? What must I do so I do not lose myself in the void?"
**************
Outside Mane's Soul Space – on the battlefield where time stood still after having sold its dignity to the sun that stood unwaveringly high in the sky – Crystal was still engaging the Origin King in battle. It was Mane's war before. But that was when the young Supreme's breath was powerful enough to command the storms and summon the waves. Now he was too weak to stand and his breath was like a silent whisper. So, it was up to her now. It was her fight.
*Boom*
*Boom*
*Boom*
Crystal kept firing projectiles at the relic who had tried to rob her young Lord. And it had been keeping him at bay for a while. While her mind was a mess and her thinking null, she could feel that there was something wrong with the Origin King. And she knew that he wasn't able to use his power. But that didn't bring her any comfort. For she was growing weaker as well. In fact, she had long passed her limit. The blood that escaped her orifices were proof of this. For this world didn't have Chaos.
Usually Spiritualists were the most dangerous enemies to make because of the fact that Chaos didn't have to be stored in their bodies. They could move the Chaos stored in the atmosphere freely as long as they had the strength and technique to. But that wasn't so in this world.
The World of the Three Great Races had never been baptized in Chaos and knew not what a great opportunity it was missing. And without Chaos to inhabit the place, Crystal was using the Chaos stored in her aura shield – an appropriation made for times of emergency, not war. Because of that she was losing power quickly and hurting herself. And she knew that she wouldn't be able to last for long. Yet she kept fighting. She couldn't see where their help would come from nor could she smell any hope of a triumphant return from her Lord. All indications to a resurrection were pointing to that of the Origin King's and Crystal was ready to die than to see that.
"She is growing weaker," the Origin King's eyes shone with delight feeling the strength behind Crystal's attacks fading slowly. And he knew that the time was now. He could wait for her to exhaust her strength before moving in on Mane. But with the willpower the Eternal before him was showing, he doubted that she would stop fighting even if her body decided to. For he could tell that if it were left to her body to make decisions, Crystal would have collapsed minutes ago.
Once he made the decision to strike, he moved to do so.
*Bang*