The Fountain of Eden: A Myth of Birth, Death, and Beer
Page 34
Chapter 34
Stoppage
Everybody in the Throne Room was frozen solid, awkwardly caught unawares, like in a bad photograph. Jack was on his knees, reaching out to Stephone, who stood staring at the Unseen One in shocked disbelief. Tom, Becky, and Sid stood in a huddle, Tom reaching for his slingshot with a hand that would never make it there. Rhadamanthus cowered by the window as a still-life mound of black robe, whereas before he had been quaking with fear.
All was silent, inanimate—and then a laugh split the unmoving air of stop-time like thunder.
“Mwah-hah-hah-ha-ha!” The Unseen One dusted off his hands. “What fools! Did they really think I was just going to let them have their way with me like that?” He strolled over to the rigid Stephone and placed a finger on her forehead. A flash of darkness burst, and Stephone gasped as she reanimated.
“What in—” She looked around in bewilderment, then her eyes focused on Hades. “You! You stopped time! But how?”
Hades's eyes changed. For a split second they betrayed worry. Fear. Frustration. Helplessness. His lips parted to speak—and then his eyes went wild, and he giggled like a mad, misguided mockingbird. “Chronos owed Hades a favor, and I have borrowed a measure of his powers.” An obscene grin stretched across his face. “Right now, my hellish legions are invading Eden, my Queen. Once that pathetic little Earth-town is under my control, I will round up the human residents and throw a little party where everybody will be served all the Hoppy Heaven Ale they can drink! Let me tell you, it's sure to be one Hades of a party!” Blood dripped from his fangs, as if leaking from some unseen well of suffering within his soul. “Soon there will be no more Earth, no more Worlds of Myth, and you and I shall be the only beings left in the universe. You will then be my Queen in earnest, and we shall repopulate the cosmos with our children, who will become the next line of gods and mythological beings. We shall become . . . Creator gods!”
Stephone's eyebrows shot up. “Mythological beings cannot simply become Creator gods! What you speak of is impossible! We are bound by our limitations!”
Hades's eyes glazed over. “When the universe is ablaze and Shiva is at his weakest, I shall absorb him and his ken. Then I will take care of the rest of those doddering old fools sitting there twiddling their thumbs outside of linear time.” He chuckled. “That is, if they're even still there. After that it'll be you and me, babe, together until the end of Time . . .”
“But if humanity perishes, so do you! Your mind, your spirit, your ken, will be snuffed out with the death of the human race, the drying up of the Ocean of Myth! And you cannot simply absorb Shiva! You do not have the power to absorb! And even if you did, you won't be around to try!”
Hades stared at her with unblinking crimson orbs. Lust arose within his eyes and seeped across his countenance in an evil flood. A chilling, open-mouthed smile spread across his face. “You know, perhaps we could start that repopulation of the cosmos a little early—plant the first seed now, if you know what I'm saying. I'm really liking this whole 'having a body' thing.”
Stephone recoiled. “You are speaking nonsense, Hades! What's gotten into you? This is not like you!”
The King of the Dead's breath quickened and filled the room with the stench of decay, as if his innards were rotting away inside of him. “I've wanted you since the day I first laid eyes on you. I've always had a thing for goddesses of death.” The fangs jutting from his mouth extended to below his chin, and he reached out for Stephone with a smile conjured from a nightmare painted on his face and an ancient, unfulfilled lust burning in his eyes.
Stephone shrank from him, backing into the wall of beer. Her powers were useless against her husband. It was her ken.
Stoppage.
When he gave me the watch, Sir Arthur said, “But it might come in handy if you run into any stoppage. Break it.”
He meant the stoppage of time! Time will start again if I can break the watch!
But how? I can't move an inch, no matter how hard I push. I can't produce the slightest twitch of the finger, no matter how hard I try.
So can I break the watch with my . . . mind? With my ken? Is that possible, much less inside this weird stop-time?
Well, there's only one way to find out, I guess.
I can feel the watch, pressing into my leg, right there in my pocket—and it's still ticking! Perhaps this crazy plot of mine just might—holy shit, he just grabbed her arm!
Break, you clockwork bastard!
For Stephone's sake . . .
BREAK!