Part 3
While the arguments continued, Vaust pulled Sirene off into a corner to have a chat with her one on one, away from the noisier Gods. He handed her a bottle of beer, opening one up for himself.
"So what are your thoughts?" Vaust asked as he took a sip. "The three of them will be busy for awhile."
"I’ve never seen this side of her before." Sirene said with a sigh. "I’m still processing this."
"That makes two of us. But the plan itself, what do you think?"
"She’s too energetic and excited to pass as me. If she could tone it down, it would work."
"Hmm. Let me ask you a question then. How do you act when you’re scared?"
"...Oh." is all Sirene said. "Gods, she’s terrified, Vaust. She’s absolutely terrified."
Vaust nodded. "Took you long enough. I sensed it early on. She’s trying to prevent another apotheosis from coming to pass. She’s trying to break the cycle."
"Are you sure you’re just the God of Luck?" Sirene asked, eyeing him. Vaust just winked. "Great, more mysteries. Let’s interrupt them, I have an idea."
"Is it a good one?" Vaust questioned, one eye open.
"No, but ideas that work rarely are."
Sirene walked over to Eigengrau, Vordea, and Sargon and cleared her throat. The three of them ignored her and kept shouting.
"Will you just listen..."
"No it doesn't work like that!"
"But!"
"Hey shut the fuck up!" Sirene shouted at them. "I got an idea you idiots!"
That got their attention, and they stopped shouting immediately.
"Who are you calling an idiot?" Vordea demanded.
"I'll have you know I am merely a moron!" Eigengrau proudly stated.
"Hold on." Sargon said, holding up his hand. "We've been getting nowhere. What do you have for us, Sirene?"
"Nobody would actually notice if Eigengrau went missing, right?"
"I suppose not." Vordea admitted.
"But they would notice if I was in two places at the same time, right?" Sirene continued.
"Possibly, if it was close enough." Sargon pondered.
"Why are we in such a fuss about having me spend some time in hiding?" Sirene asked.
The silence after Sirene said that sentence was deafening, until eventually Eigengrau spoke up.
"I don't know what would happen." She said, quite quietly.
"What do you mean, Eigen?" Vordea asked, looking confused.
"It's time I explained to you why the God of Time has such a hard time with speaking correctly." Eigengrau said as she began to draw on some paper she pulled out of her pockets. "So, here in the physical world, we can go left and right, up and down, forwards and backwards. All make sense so far?"
"Oh no." Sirene said. She realised the problem immediately.
"Oh yes." Eigengrau said. "So we'll call those movements X, Y, and Z. For all of you, except for myself, time is something you are part of, it simply continues to move forward. What if," Eigengrau paused to draw a 4th axis at a slight angle on the paper, and labelled it W. "What if time was another axis?" Eigengrau then drew a 2nd time axis, and labelled it V. "What if it was two axis? More? There is a reason I refer to time as a shape. Right now I already know how this meeting ends, because I'm already there."
"The parable of the flat lander." Vordea stated, stroking her chin. "Of course."
"What's that?" Sargon asked.
"A story to explain how a three dimensional person would look to someone who only lives in two dimensions. I suspect the Eigengrau we see here is only the very tiniest slice of who, or rather, what she is." Vaust answered.
"What is much more apt than you might realize." Eigengrau answered. "I'm not just the God of Time, I am time. When I say I don't know what would happen, I mean it. The blank slate is infuriatingly unhelpful in this regard."
"The what?" Sirene asked, causing Eigengrau to cover her mouth.
"Ah, I said too much." Eigengrau cryptically replied. "That's not for mortal ears. But the parable of the flat lander has given me an idea. What if I sliced off a chunk of myself, and left the rest of my N-Dimensional body intact?"
"What." Everybody else said.
"Okay so here's the plan." Eigengrau said, turning over the paper and starting to draw some more.
Staring at the drawing after it was finished, Sirene was certain none of that was actually possible, however a key point was still missing.
"Master, what about me? We still haven't decided what I'm going to do." Sirene asked.