Part 1
Narin sniffed the air in his lair. He knew that smell, a large pile of excessive time magic. It didn't smell like Eigengrau's either, he thought to himself. Seems somebody has been very naughty, and Eigengrau hasn't cleaned it up yet. He slowly stood, and stretched. His bronze scales rippled in the soft candlelight of the cave, and his golden eyes hungered for the magic he could almost taste. As he stepped outside, and into the crossroads between his cave and the linear flow of time, he found himself surrounded by blockages.
"What's this?" He said out loud.
The flow of time was heavily distorted, and made no sense. Time was becoming non-linear, and the flow was a mere trickle of what it was supposed to be. Something wasn't right. He took the only path available, and found he was being directed to a specific time and place, no matter what turns he took.
"A trap." He said to himself quietly. He steeled himself for whatever waited at the destination.
He passed through more twists and turns. He seemed to be going to nearly every period in time, from the ancient past of the dawn, to the far future of the end of time. He eventually found himself in the tundra of the north, far beyond the lands of even the elves. What surprised him was the pile of corpses, and the Goddess sitting atop it.
"Narin, how nice of you to join us." Vordea said, smiling. "Eigen will be along shortly, so don't try to go anywhere. Of course, not that you could." Vordea said with a chuckle.
"You've gone to a lot of effort to speak with me, so I will return the favour." Narin said slowly. He was not used to speaking with anyone, God or otherwise.
Eigengrau arrived a few minutes later, in her God of Time form, Sirene. She saw Narin already there, and laughed.
"Narin, haven't seen you in ages. How are you?" She asked. "But first, do we have a meddler?"
Narin sniffed at Eigengrau for a few seconds, before realizing it was Eigengrau. "Ah, you are in a different form."
"The God of TimeDeath has a question for you, you overgrown lizard." Vordea said, slapping the back of his head. "Do we have a meddler?"
"What?" Narin asked.
"Events are slightly shifting. Vordea's finding mortals dead before their time. I've encountered soulless bodies. The timeline's in chaos." Eigengrau said, pacing back and forth.
Narin thought on this. Something had been wrong with the flow of time lately, yes. Besides the trap they laid to talk to him, of course. It was no longer moving like a river, but more like a swamp. He recalled a putrid smell to the flow itself, as well.
"Time no longer flows. It's stagnant, like a swamp." Narin said eventually. "It smells wrong, and the roaring river is a trickle."
"That any help, Eigen?" Vordea asked. "You know this time shit better."
Eigengrau was concerned by this. She was beyond the flow of time so she couldn't see it up close like Narin could, who swam in it. A wrong smell? A trickle? What did it mean? She thought back to previous kalpas. Despite what she told her Apprentice, this was far from the first one since she ascended. Had this ever happened before?
"Vord." Eigengrau eventually said. She remembered the moment. Vordea looked up from poking the dead bodies.
"Yes?"
"You have perfect recall, right?"
"Meaning?"
"Do you have a perfect memory of every moment you've ever witnessed?" Eigengrau elaborated.
"Oh. Yes of course."
"Good. 890 kalpas ago we encountered this in a different form."
"...Khaine."
"and Vaul, yes." Eigengrau finished.
"This is a lot more serious than we first thought, Eigen." Vordea said, hopping down from the pile of corpses and approaching Narin. "A rotten world and a heart of guilt. Didn't think I'd encounter this again. Eigen, we've hit the threshold, go retrieve my husband and Eren."
"You're sure?" Eigen asked, eyebrow raised. "What about Narin?"
"Who's he going to tell?"
Eigengrau nodded and disappeared.
"So you've seen this?" Narin asked, flicking his tongue.
"Yes, but last time we couldn't fix it. We had to exterminate the timeline." Vordea said sadly. "I enjoy this kalpa though, so I'm not going to pass judgement quite yet." Vordea's tentacles were already visible and twitching, and Narin was getting nervous.
"...terminate?" He asked cautiously, but Eigengrau returned before Vordea could answer.
"Hoy, what's this about Vordea? Eigen wouldn't tell me anything." Eren said, looking around. "Where are we? Actually, when are we?"
"Perceptive as usual, Eren. We're at the end of this kalpa." Vordea said idly, gesturing around. "Narin, meet the actual God of Time, Eren."
Narin looked over at who Vordea was talking to, and saw only an amorphous blob. He glanced at Vordea with a puzzled expression, but Vordea didn't seem to understand. However, Eren did.
"Oh, my apologies, you don't seem to have a beginning. Here, how about now?" Eren asked.
Narin watched in amazement as the blob who was speaking to him suddenly shifted into the form of a teenage human with short blonde hair.
"Actual God of Time?" Narin asked, now that he could observe Eren.
"I borrow Eren's power, as Eren prefers to remain in the shadows." Eigengrau explained. "To the rest of the world, I'm the God of Time."