A Fortunate Paradox of Time [Private Full Gods]

The Goddess of Time took a steadying breath. She felt a lot weaker than she had in awhile, having kept herself pent up in her realm since the monsters came. Her followers had dwindled in that time, she could tell from the lack of prayers and offerings. It was a coward move, yet the last god she spoke to was Kelarth before all of this happened. She had no clue where any of the other gods were. Maybe it was time to change that.

The scent of various leaves and spices hit her nose as she entered into her little tea hut. If she was going to summon anyone it would be wise to do it in the place that was best to talk. Kayin grabbed a cup of tea and sat down on a plush purple pillow that was at the end of the table. She needed to relax if this was going to work and harness whatever power she had left.

Closing her eyes the Goddess let out a breath, searching for the other gods. "Where are you..." she breathed, face contorting in concentration. There was Kelarth with his familiar feel, but apart from him she could only find one other god who seemed unfamiliar to her. Kayin's heart dropped a little at the thought, but she couldn't lose focus of what she had. The dragoness quickly sent out invites to the gods, inviting them to join her in her realm. Now all she could do is wait and hope they respond.

The Scale of Fortune was unbalanced. It fully favored misfortune. Kelarth could not readily recall the last time the Scale had moved so. But it was no surprise it had now. The world was overrun with creatures that could destroy even the semi-gods as if they were only Hatchlings; nothing but mere simple beasts; the weak and pitiful human. As the Keeper of Balance, it was Kelarth's duty to shape the mortal world so that the Scale might find balance between the Fortunes again. But should he? After all, Kelarth had unleashed the monsters on the world. Perhaps it was destined for a different immortal to rid the world of them.

The brooding god was offered reprieve when he caught a telepathic message. "Kayin?" He hadn't heard from the Goddess of Time in quite a while. He had not even felt her presence. Standing, Kelarth stepped out of the mountain which served as his den. He took to the air and flew across his realm, which so resembled the mortal one, but in it's former state, before the invasion. He flew until he reached a temple dedicated to Kayin. In the doorway, a portal formed and Kelarth walked through it. Soon, he was in Kayin's realm. He made his way to her den. "Kayin? You never summon me, even for tea. Is something wrong?" he called from outside.

An ominous chuckle echoed throughout Time's realm, coming from seemingly nowhere. Above her little hut, purple lightning converged, seemingly as if the fabric of the realm fought against the intruder. However, it seemed to lose this battle as it was torn open, a swirling portal visible. But with the most casual spring in his step Paradox exited said portal. The dragon himself was looking quite odd, wearing a suit and a tophat as well as a monocle. His mustache seemed to be taken care of, looking as good as it never had been before.

He looked around, adjusting the gloves he wore on his claws. "My, my. This does seem like quite a comfy realm indeed. And look at this little hut, it looks absolutely cozy~". Like walking down invisible stairs, he made his way to the front door of the hut, knocking politely at the door. "Time, my dear, I have received your invitation for tea and arrived! Would you mind opening the door or can we just enter like that?". Paradox was, if anything, always polite when it comes to invitations. Especially for something as cultivated as a tea party.

Kayin knew she had only been waiting a matter of minutes before another god entered her realm, but it still felt like hours. She relaxed when she heard Kelarth- she couldn't even tell it was him at first -but a second voice joined joined in soon after. The goddess moved to her door, opening it and seeing the two Gods that had joined her. If the other wasn't here, she might have thrown herself at the God of Fortune. Seeing him again made her worried self flutter with a sense of happiness.

"I do believe that something may be wrong, so sorry if this may not be your cheerful cup of tea," Kayin said, looking at the fashioned dragon. "But, come in, come in, grab a cup of tea and make yourself comfortable." She turned to head back inside, her tail long dragging on the floor. The tip of it flicked anxiously, showing the emotions the dragoness was trying to hide. Kayin sat back down on her cushion at the end of the table, not grabbing any tea for herself.

"I'd assume you all know that the mortal world has been infested with monsters and..." the Goddess of Time glanced between the other two gods here. "And that we seem to be the only Gods left. I don't know where Nimbus or Arkhor or even Anila are, or if they are still a part of our world. Whatever's going on, it's not good." She looked over at Kelarth, the God of Balance. "How's the scale?"

As he stood there waiting for entrance into the Goddess of Time's home, another deity arrived. His appearance was... odd, to say the least. Kelarth only watched as the god came down from the sky, clad in some human attire. It wasn't until Kayin admitted them into her home that Kelarth finally spoke to the other god. "Who exactly are you? And what in the name of Shardas are you wearing?" Waiting on an answer, he looked at Kayin. The goddess seemed quite worried about something. Indeed, as she walked back to her table, Kelarth caught the flicking of her tail. "You'd be right in your assumption, Kayin, at least for me. The Scale...." The winged serpent sighed heavily before lifting a paw. Within it, the Scale of Fortune appeared, floating above his paw. The Scale completely favored the white plate, which signified bad fortune. "The world is in disarray, unstable. There is no good fortune. Dragonkind is all but gone." Kelarth closed his paw and the Scale disappeared. "Something must be done, or only we three will be left."

Continuing his spring in his steps, Paradox made his way into Kayin's little home and, with a twirl, sat down on one of the empty cushions. With a snap of his gloved claw, the tea set animated and, seemingly alive, poured him some tea into a tea cup settled quite perfectly in front of him on the table. With tea being served, he turned is attention to the fellow god he waited with in front of the house. "Why, my friend, I always come perfectly prepared to a tea party. I would have come sooner but I needed to make sure my outfit was looking perfectly, getting wrinkles in the clothes just doesn't look so well. This is a custom fitted suit I obtained through...favours, from far away. Nothing else would be more fitting for a tea party even if the matter is as serious as this. As for who I am, I am the one currently harboring the aspect of Chaos, the name is Paradox, a pleasure to meet you."

With that question done, he turned his attention back to the tea cup in front of him. Lifting the tea cup, extending his pinky talon, he took a sip, humming quietly in delight while listening to the discussion going on between Time and Fortune. In fairness, he never bothered to learn other gods names, except for Astral herself, as the aspect they represented was much more important. His mother was also the goddess of chaos, now he is the god of chaos. Just like that, aspects might be given to other gods, so learning their names has become more of a chore than anything else.

"Why, you are right. And, nothing against you two, but with just us three left it would become very boring very fast. I could never stand that, it would just not be a right place to be in. I myself do not know where most of the other gods ended up to but I can assure you, with 100% certainty and truth, that Astral has abandoned her great position. Surely, you two have felt the shift of power as well, but what if I told you she did so because she favors the humans now? I'm not going to talk much more about it, as it is not directly important to the case at claw. We need to either remove or lessen the impact the monsters have on our world. As much as I dislike to say it, it seems that, with the current path the world is walking, dragonkind faces extinction or we get personally involved in the world as a whole." After the talk about Astral, Paradox' face grew darker, more serious. What he said, he actually did not joke or made fun of.

Kayin put her claws together while listening to the two gods talk. The scale was on the white plate, showing only bad fortune, Kelarth saying that there was no good fortune left. Astral seemed to be truly gone. The fate of dragonkind seemed to be left in their claws, or else it may just be the three of them left. The goddess closed her eyes with a shake of her head. How had the world turned so bad, and why did it take this long for them to think of doing anything?

"We need to come up with a plan, or some way we can help. Without dragonkind, could we really be considered gods anymore?" Kayin asked, her eyes dull with concern. She shifted her attention over to Paradox. "What do you think we could to to lessen the monsters effect on the dragons?" They were gods, they should be able to handle the situation. All they needed was to figure out how.

Paradox hummed for a moment, seemingly deep in thought, as he brought a wooden pipe to his muzzle which just spew out a few soapy bubbles. With a snap of his talons, the object in question just poofed away and he focused again on the gods around him.

"Now, there are two obvious ways we can deal with the monsters. Either a) we go into the mortal realm and fight them ourselves, which would have certain consequences. Or we decide to not get involved and instead choose certain mortals to become our champions, heralds of sorts, given our respective blessings to fight for dragonkind in our stead. Which also comes with consequences. It really is just up to what you think is the better solution."

While he explained the possibilities to the fellow deities, he made miniature animated figurines of dragons, monsters and even themselves, surprisingly accurate in detail. He took another sip from his tea before setting the now empty cup down only for the animated kettle to hop over and refill the cup.

"Chaos, hm? Then this whole ordeal must be enjoyable for you... At least before Dragonkind found itself standing at extinction's door. I wish we could have met under better circumstances, Paradox. As for I, I am Kelarth, controller of the Fortunes. One might even say keeper of Balance."

The conversation moved on to the problem at paw. Kayin inquired what Paradox thought would be their best course of action. Kelarth found the God of Chaos to be a rather odd immortal, to say the least. He conjured so many strange objects. At last, the deity spoke his options. Kelarth gave a draconic scowl. "One or the other will not work. We can fight them ourselves, but the mortals shall resent us for allowing this to have gone so far. Allowing them to be merely extant. We could create, as you say, Champions... But this, too, would only result in resentment. Instead of taking matters into our own paws, we would do as we have always done: sit and watch events unfold. Only this time, it would be far worse; we'd be sending the mortals to their deaths. Even with our blessings, they would not gain much ground against these monsters. To be effective, we would have to grant all remaining mortals such power. I think both options would benefit our kind. In addition to fighting ourselves, we appoint champions. Perhaps this way, we'd be seen as more than deities who do nothing until it is too late, who send those we are meant to protect to die."