What can be learned in a hundred years?
A thousand?
Ten thousand?
Million?
Chronos learned a lot.
But he could not answer what is the meaning of all life?
Become the best? To make your enemies shudder from your strength?
Have offspring? Give life to your children and show them the world?
Or survive no matter what? How many times do you fall down and get up and move on?
Chronos thought that every creature has its own goal, which he sets himself.
But he did not know his purpose.
He couldn't put it on.
He was born Eternal.
An entity so many-sided that it is impossible to know which face is real or are they all real?
Chronos has adapted to the ruthless cosmos.
The power that he gained in the course of his survival was sealed.
Why did his father need this?
Was he afraid of him?
Envy him?
Wanted to free?
Chronos again did not know the answer.
Wandering around the world, he observed people.
A hundred years were nothing to him.
But for people it's all life.
He saw how a person was born, how he grew, how he grew old.
He asked those who were already in extreme old age.
Do you know what was the meaning of your life?
They answered as Chronos had already suggested.
But there were people who had a different opinion.
— What's the point? Make sure that your descendants remember your name for centuries!
Ambitious people answered.
— Make life better.
Those who grew up in poverty answered.
Are you talking about the meaning of life? Our life is so short, so why should we remember the worst? Do bad things? They drain us, they give us nothing in return. It's better to enjoy the little things.
The old man continued.
— Life itself is made up of these little things. Thousands of such little things form our worldview, habits, what we like and what we don't like ..
His gray hair fluttered in the wind.
— If we enjoy the little things, haha! — the old man laughed. — Then we will enjoy life.
— Isn't that the most important thing?
He looked with a smile into the eyes of Chronos.
Enjoying life…
Enjoy every little thing...
Chronos wanted to live the life of this man.
Even if he can live like that old man, how long will it last?
Chronos didn't know.
Day? Two? Month?
Year? Decades? Centuries?
People are afraid of the unknown.
They are afraid of the darkness, which can hide danger.
But Chronos went to meet this darkness.
He was walking on a path that no one had walked on.
After all, it was his path.
A trail with its own characteristics, difficulties and rewards.
This trail was his life.
He fell in love with a man for the first time.
The fear that his feelings might be rejected was gone.
The fear that he might be a bad father was dispelled when his son brought him a grandson.
The fear that he would no longer see the smile of his beloved disappeared after her words.
— Chronos, do you regret that you met me, and not another?
She didn't wait for an answer.
— I will never regret meeting you that day then.
I have lived the best life with you.
— A life without regrets.
On the day when time took dear man, Chronos held on.
The grief inside him wanted to burst out.
I wanted to bring back the dead.
I wanted to see again that smile that warmed his heart every day.
He remembered her words.
But also the words of other people.
Live without regrets.
Make life better.
Enjoying life.
Make yourself part of history
He remembered those words.
He lived the life of an immortal.
The life of someone for whom time means nothing.
Chronos' eyes burned with desire.
He didn't want to be immortal.
He didn't want to watch his loved ones die.
Chronos found the purpose of his life.
He wanted to die, leaving behind a legacy, his wisdom.
Chronos tried various methods.
But his hardened body coped with all mortal ways.
The body that was tempered by the emptiness of the universe.
It is not known how much time has passed since the hardening of the body.
Chronos was already desperate, because only the gods could kill him.
Only myth and fairy tales remained from Olympus.
Maybe even Zeus himself was dead by this time.
The desire to die led Chronos to Hades.
To God, who is still alive and rules the kingdom alone.
But Hades, the God of the Kingdom of the Dead, told Chronos that even if he died, he would live.
After all, he is mortal.
Hades understood the pain of Chronos.
The chthonic gods also died.
He lost those to whom he had already become attached.
The pain of loss accompanied him every day.
Being the God of the Realm of the Dead, he could not control death and life.
One made him happy.
Their death was the real end.
The death of each such god caused a cataclysm that destroyed his domain.
After the cataclysm, only their soul remained.
Their souls merged with the River of Oblivion.
Hades offered Chronos to drink water from the river.
— The water that flows here can ease your grief, Chronos, — red eyes, like blood, looked at the flow of the river.
— After I drink it, I will lose myself, — Chronos replied. — The Three Sisters have not prepared such a fate for me.
— Hades, this is not an option for me.
Chronos spoke.
I want death in its purest form.
— You need something over which I have no control, — Hades turned his head towards the many aimlessly moving souls. — If I could, there would be no Lost.
Lost, souls that have completely forgotten themselves.
— When the soul of mortal beings gets here, they still remember who they were. Only with time do they lose this knowledge, — Hades' fists clenched. — A lot of people went crazy because of the "eternal" life. This fate deserved only those people who committed evil to a loved one.
— But we are in Elysium, where the souls of heroes live, — said Chronos.
— Unfortunately, becoming the Lost is inevitable, wherever you are here, you will 'live'.
— There are two ways.
First: suffer from eternal life and go crazy.
Second: drink water from the River of Oblivion.
— You are not dying.
— I know Chronos. But death is different. Let your essence live, but everything that made you a person has disappeared.
— Chronos, — said He who watches over the dead quietly. — I can only offer you such a death. Either that or you miraculously become a god again and die like a god.
— I think, Hades.
He turned his back on the Lord of the Dead.
— Go ahead.
Hades said.
— It is impossible to leave the Kingdom of the Dead, — said Chronos with a smile.
— I have no more strength, — Hades shook his head.
Chronos began to rise outside.
He saw souls that still clung to their memory, to their essence.
The Hydra, whose fifty heads looked at him with hostility.
Standing at the Entrance, in front of the Gates to the Underworld, the darkness thickened behind Chronos.
— Die like a god. I don't want to see your soul here.
— Thank you, Eldest of the three brothers. I will not forget your words, — opening the Gate thanked the former God of Time.
The bright light of the sun blinded the eyes of the immortal.
***
Hades watched the black smoke rise into the air.
After so many explosions, the insides of Chronos were destroyed.
Hades could not inflict an external mortal wound on Chronos' body.
It was stronger than known alloys.
Withstood the blows of his Aura.
His mind did not succumb to Despair.
The attacks were so fast that it was only thanks to foresight and intuition that he evaded only millimeters.
But even with such skills and strength, Chronos was killed.
Only the white spear lay at the very bottom of the crater.
Hades was filled with a sense of satisfaction.
But he couldn't let his feelings go.
A terrible future awaited him, which was covered in fog.
He had to get ready.
The look that he saw something that had not yet happened, but would happen prompted him.
There will be situations over which he will have no control.
Situations that would jeopardize the purpose of his life.
And right now he felt that his death was coming.
An amazing miracle happened before the eyes of Hades.
The craters were closing in.
Buildings that stood in their places began to be restored.
The spheres that distorted space reappeared and quickly disappeared.
He didn't believe his eyes.
Having used powers that did not rely on the eyes to obtain information about the area, Hades denied.
It's impossible.
It's something out of science fiction.
Time went back.
In the center of everything stood the Man.
Long, black hair fell from his shoulders, reaching to his torso.
The body seemed to radiate an aura of youth, an aura full of strength.
Eyes that were dead came to life.
Shine was visible in them.
- I...
The sound of thunder rumbled through the neighborhood.
Buildings that had been restored collapsed again.
The earth was shaking.
There seemed to be an earthquake.
Giant cracks grew, covering the entire city.
—… I will die like a god.
The spear that Chronos held in his hands was directed towards Hades.