Mairek squeezed his eyes shut and opened them, hoping to find Saive before him and not the woman whose mere presence stirred his loins and made his knees weak. A horrid thing provided he was naked within her domain. Beautiful was too weak a word to describe Nyawe, for beauty was fixed yet her features kept on shifting, her face a multitude of separate features all sharing an uncanny symmetry. Eyes became narrow then wide, the space between them became stretched then equidistant, her lips became full then thin then full again. Her nose tittered on bulbous then moderate then small. Her skin was dark then light then brown... Then... Green?

  Nyawe gathered the magenta mist to her body, as if shielding herself from Mairek's eyes. "Apologies, Champion of Nielda, I understand the effect I have on mortals." Her voice, Mairek realized, held the same tinge he'd gleamed from Saive's melody.

  "Why am I here?" Mairek asked. Fear creeping up his spine as the thought of incarceration availed itself.

  As if sensing his thoughts, the Goddess answered. "You're free to leave, whenever you feel like it."

  "Good," Mairek said. "I would like to leave now." He was already tethered to a crafty, ignorant God, adding one more who seemed just as sly didn't sound like a good idea in the least.

  "Okay," Her voice lost the vibrance lacing each word, retreating to sound natural but still unable to shake off the beauty of each utterance. "You may depart but you will know pain."

  "Pain?" Like a fish biting on the hook, he felt himself being reeled in.

  "Yes," She continued. "Pain!" Grief suddenly blanketed him, the pain of loss threatened to tear his mind apart, crippling his will, rendering all that he knew to be far less than what he surmised it to be. His sight that could gleam beauty at a mere glance witnessed nothing but dull grey colors. His tongue that could taste the full extent of succulence with each bite suddenly tasted only ash. His ears that could derive the melody from the most meh of voices heard only the scratching of a fork upon a tin can. He found himself falling on his knees, unable to act he trembled, fingers scratching at the soft purple ground. Where was this pain coming from? What was its source? If he could stem it, he could be free.

  "The pain comes from her death." Nyawe said, and as she spoke he saw Saive, dead in an alley, stab wounds all over her midriff. Then he saw her again, flattened beneath a fallen cart, legs bending at an awkward angle. Then he saw her sprawled beneath a building, a pool of blood spread out around her. He saw a sword being driven into her, saw a horse trample her, saw her drown, burnt alive, poisoned—

  "Stop, please." Mairek begged. "Make it stop." For each death he was made witness to, the pain within him doubled, then tripped. Growing in intensity and threatening insanity. He would lose his mind, he knew, he would lose it all to grief as Ishar had lost his to chaos.

  Abruptly, the revelations of Saive's death ceased and he was free to take a trembling breath with a shallow exhale.

  "The woman you have witnessed, is someone you would never have taken note of if it wasn't for your perception of time." Nyawe continued. "She is, how do we put it? A mortal who exists as an entity separate from the perception of mortal men. But you, champion of Nielda, were able to glimpse her through time and this may occur only once for its price is too high to be paid twice."

  "I don't understand." Mairek muttered.

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  "Get the fuck away from her, Mairek!" A male voice, deep and quite familiar. Mairek turned his head to see Rehny step up beside him. Naked as he was. Pink hair floating about his head. "What did you do to him, Nyawe?"

  Nyawe's face gave a startled expression as if she could not believe what she was being accused of. "Me? Why Rehny, I've done nothing to him!"

  "What is he doing here then?" Rehny asked. "Naked and kneeling before you!"

  "Well, you do know that love cannot be hidden, same translates to my domain, a place without shame. To appear here is to be free of one's need to hide. Hence the nakedness."

  "Send him away." Rehny ordered.

  "I can't say I like your tone of voice, Rehny."

  "What you like matters not to me. Send him away!"

  "Fine." Nyawe said. " Good luck Mairek, I hope you shall be able to stomach the pain."

  "WAIT!" Mairek cried out just as the Goddess was about to wave her hand. Rehny turned to Mairek, confused. "She's shown me grief, and loss. I'm not here because of her, but due to my own actions."

  "What have you done?" Rehny inquired, lowering himself then clutching Mairek by the shoulders and raising him off the ground.

  "I've fallen in love, Rehny, I don't know how."

  "It's actually 'fallen into a trap.'" Nyawe emphasized.

  "Expound." Rehny said.

  "Fine." Nyawe moved as she spoke, Mairek struggled to tear his eyes away from her curves, her ample behind hidden by the mists but whose silhouette was still quite visible. "Mairek, delved into time, seeking a profound moment that would enable him to experience something out of the ordinary. Time being a crafty aspect of Nielda, delivered what Mairek wanted. Showing him a moment that would change his life for good, and Mairek, being the greedy little puppet of his God, pounced on the moment."

  Mairek felt his body tremble. Time... Time was his enemy. Jailed him at first, forcing him to conform to a certain movement which he denied and which resulted in Time seeking to kill him. Then upon failing to kill him, Time sought to ignore him with the occasional prod to see whether he could be annihilated. He was a fool to think that Time would relent at that. A trap. Turns out Time was as crafty as Nyawe presumed Nielda to be.

  "So you see," Nyawe continued. "Mairek unknowingly used Time to find love, and Time answered, gifting Mairek the exact moment his soul would tether to that of another. But the thing about love, as you well know Rehny, is that it is shared."

  "Oh no." Rehny whispered.

  "Mairek is at war, every second of every day is spent facing an enemy that is all around him. And upon loving another, the war shall encompass one more. As time strives to deliver the killing blow to Mairek, so too shall it do the same to Saive." Nyawe continued.

  "But..." Mairek could form no word beyond that. He struggled to find something, anything to say.

  Rehny's eyes glowed a brilliant pink. "I see the ropes of love, tethered to the two of them."

  "Quite numerous aren't they?" Nyawe asked.

  Rehny pointedly ignored her. "The pink light flows one way, from Mairek to the woman. She does not love him, the love isn't shared. She is safe as long as he stays clear of her."

  Nyawe gave a hearty laugh. "Roast a duck and place it before a starving man, tell him not to eat it and leave him alone with it. Will he obey?"

  Rehny turned to Mairek. "Do not make a deal with Nyawe, it will cost you as it has cost me. She has plans within plans, she works in secret, nudging and pulling, twisting everything to fit her will. You are here not because of your actions but because of what she desires of you." Rehny gripped either of Mairek's shoulders, hard. "You must leave... Saive? Alone.. You must stay clear of her, avoid her, get her out of your mind and your life! If the love becomes shared she will die."

  "Or this might happen." And Nyawe waved a hand and Mairek saw Love and Time forge into one. Then his vision widened, and the future in relation to both Love and Time availed itself. He saw himself with Saive, perched on a hill, overlooking an army of men in green armor who numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Mairek and Saive raised their right hands in unison and the army answered, raising half spears to the sky. Mairek saw his hand in her curly white hair, massaging her scalp as she sung. He saw her straddle him, shifting either which way in a dark room, pleasure, desire and love warred within him. He saw her lean on him, overlooking a field of Galiu meal, the sun touching them, something in the orange rays bore witness to the joy he felt. He saw her heavy with child, his child, his ear pressed to her abdomen. Listening to the baby kick... He saw—

  "I cannot, Rehny, I cannot." Mairek whispered. "She is..." The word came easily to him. "Everything!"

  "Don't be a dolt," Rehny retorted. "You barely know her!"

  "I know her." And he found that he believed this. He knew her as one would know a friend from birth. He knew her as a bard knows the sound of his tunes. He turned to the Goddess, saw the coy smile spread across her face, that smile checked him a moment before he spoke. "What can I do? How can you help? How can you save her?"

  "A bargain must be struck." Nyawe said. "I will hide love away from time but this will cost you."

  "I will pay the price."

  Rehny groaned. "You know not what you're doing."

  And Mairek found himself agreeing and not caring.

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