I Only Love My Greatest Enemy

Eris sat bored in a cathedral seat, hiding just how dull she found the service. Armand was next to her. While he also found it boring, the Concord paid more attention.

Primate Jean stood at the pulpit, overlooking the churchgoers. Joy flowed through his heart upon seeing how packed the church seats were. There was a book, bound in gold, in front of him. The priest read from it.

"Our world was created eons ago by the Divine Coalition. Chronos, who despises our kind for our sins, objected to including humans in it. However, the other gods wished for Dʰéǵʰom, the god of humanity, to partake in this world's creation. And as such, humanity's presence was guaranteed," Primate Jean said.

"Chronos, I wonder what you think of humans now that I used your blessing?" Armand thought.

The priest spread his arms side to side in a grand gesture. He addressed the crowd with a warm smile.

"We must thank the gods for our existence and thank Chronos and his allies for not wiping us out," Primate Jean stated. "We must remember that we humans are filled with sin. The gods are right to be angry with us, and we must always strive to fight against our sinful nature so they have no reason to end our kind."

Eris nodded her head.

"He's spreading his arms. That means he's saying something important," she thought, not paying attention to anything Primate Jean was saying.

Armand, meanwhile, clasped his hands together. He closed his eyes and let out a silent prayer.

"I apologize, Chronos, for using your gift so flagrantly. I have no idea if I did the right thing or not."

Then, silence came to Armand's ears. He opened his eyes. No one in the room was moving. Armand looked at peoples' chests. They weren't even breathing, but they weren't collapsing from oxygen deprivation either. Even the dust in the light wasn't falling.

Suddenly, the church took a grayish hue. Its tones became muted. Armand was the only thing that remained in his original color. Then, a deep voice flowed into his ear from behind.

"The world. Time has stopped."

Armand turned around. A young-looking, beardless man was behind him. His hair was brown with streaks of white going down it. This man's eyes were almond in color. He was standing in the middle of a large zodiac wheel that floated in the air.

Without hesitation, Armand jumped off the pew he was sitting on. The concord knelt before the man.

"It is an honor to see you again, Chronos," Armand said.

"Nice to see you too, Armand," the deity replied.

Chronos held up his hand.

"You may rise," he stated.

Armand did so.

"This gray hue wasn't here the last time," the boy noted.

"It is a little touch of mine. I've been looking into many human cultures since then, even in worlds we gods created outside your own," Chronos said. "Well, I started looking into them after you turned back time, Armand."

Armand nodded. He would comment on how strange that was, but the boy doubted that Chronos perceived time in the same way mortals did. Though, as the God of Time, Chronos could probably see it however he wanted.

"I apologize for using your gift like that," Armand stated.

Chronos chuckled.

"Now, now, Armand. Why would I give you a one-use time turn back if I didn't want you to use it? I mean, I'm not Zeu...oh, wait, you don't know who he is. I'm not that kind of god," he said.

"But you told me..."

Chronos interrupted him.

"I told you to be careful about when you use it because there could be consequences. I didn't expect you to wait so long. Honestly, I thought it would just be a few days before you did. But you waited until after you've lost everything, even your greatest enemy. It looks like I scared you way too much."

He then shrugged.

"Don't worry about the souls of the people who were born after the point you turned back time to. I made a deal with the afterlife gods to take them," Chronos said.

"I wasn't worried. I had faith that you would preserve their souls. Even if you dislike humans, no god would go as far as destroying a soul, if such a thing is even possible," Armand replied.

The God of Time grimaced, sending a jolt of fear down Armand's spine.

"There are some real bastard gods out there," Chronos stated. "Some of them are even as bad as the average human."

Armand stayed silent. Fear clenched his heart. There were gods that would be willing to destroy souls? The boy started shivering. Chronos noticed this and sighed.

"You don't need to worry about those gods. And honestly, saying they're as bad as the average human is a bit unfair," Chronos said.

"Yes. I am certain that it is unfair to those gods," Armand nodded, not wanting to contradict the deity.

"No, no, that's not what I meant," Chronos sighed. "Dammit. You're one of the only humans I like, and here I am, scaring you shitless and just throwing insults at your kind. I mean, you've already got it rough being the only decent person in a pile of rubbish. I don't need to scare you more."

The god jumped off the floating zodiac. He landed on the ground without disturbing even the smallest spec of dust. Chronos then walked over to a pew and leaned against it.

"Listen, Armand. You know that there are rules about how gods can interfere with the mortal world, right?" he asked.

"Yes. I remember you telling me that," the Concord boy answered.

"Well, I can't tell you too much, but I'm here to warn you about something," Chronos said. "And I can only do that with vague, cryptic hints."

More fear flowed into the boy.

"What is it?" Armand questioned.

"Protect Eris, but let her do something you don't want her to do first," Chronos instructed.

"...okay?" the boy was confused.

Chronos waved his hand.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it's vague. I want to just outright tell you what you need to do, but I've got a bunch of god rules tying me down. We don't want some big god war to start, and the rules are supposed to keep that sort of thing from happening."

The deity then got back on the floating zodiac. Armand went into his seat again.

"Well, I've got to go now, kid," Chronos said. "I mean, I'm the god of time, so it's not like I have to worry about schedules or anything. But I really don't want to be around humans any more than I have to be."

With that, Chronos disappeared. The gray hue vanished. Time resumed.

Armand looked around as everyone started breathing again, dust fell once more, and noise returned to the world. Eris noticed him glancing all over the place. She saw the horrible expression on his face. Concern flowed through Eris.

"Armand, are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Armand answered. "Just...had a bout of stomach sickness."

"Do you need some medicine or magic?" Eris questioned.

"I'll be okay. Just...let's talk more after the current service. There'll be another one after that, but...let's skip the rest of the day's services," the Concord said.

Suspicion flowed through Eris.

"Why does Armand suddenly want to skip them? Did something happen?" she thought before speaking. "Alright, Armand."

When that church service ended, Armand and Eris left the cathedral. Armand looked around before taking a deep breath. He was fidgeting with anxiety, and his fiance noticed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Eris asked.

"I'm fine," Armand answered, his mind a bit foggy. "Is there anything you want to do, Eris?"

The girl blinked in shock. She entered an internal debate.

"Why did Armand ask me that? He knows that I want to find some way to get more power at this festival. That's probably why he took me to the cathedral, to stop me from doing anything horrible for more power. There's no way Armand would just let me do anything bad, and he knows that I won't outright tell him my plans. Why is he doing this?"

Then, another thought came to Eris.

"Maybe something big is wrong with Armand, and he isn't thinking clearly. If that's the case, I should probably get him to a doctor. Something clearly happened in that cathedral. He turned back time because of a favor from Chronos, so maybe Chronos talked to him again? Seeing a god would put anyone off their game."

Armand, meanwhile, shivered.

"What is Eris going to do, and why does Chronos want me to let her do it? It can't possibly end well, or maybe it can? Chronos is the god of time. He's far wiser than I could ever be. But he also hates humans. Can I trust him? No, even if I can't trust him, I couldn't dare defy him," he thought. "I probably shouldn't have just asked Eris what she wants to do like that. That'll just make her suspicious unless she misinterprets my intentions."

He shook his head, sweat pouring down his brow. Then, when Armand turned to Eris, there was a wide smile on her face.

"Either she misinterpreted my intentions, or she got them 100% spot on," Armand contemplated.

"That's it! Armand wants to go on a festival date with me! He loves me, and dates are part of romance! I'm so glad I read those stupid romance stories this past year! Getting more power can wait. There is plenty of time left in the festival. But I've never been on a date before. I suppose I should let Armand lead," Eris thought before speaking. "Whatever you want is fine."

Armand narrowed his eyes. A hint of suspicion flowed through his body. He looked Eris up and down, trying to find any sign of what she was really thinking.

"Eris must be trying to divert my attention somewhere else or find out what I'm planning. She might even be trying to distract me so she can scheme behind my back. Well, I'm supposed to let her do one of her plans. So, I might as well play along," Armand thought before speaking. "I'll get us something to eat. There are some stands serving food over there."

With that, Armand started walking over to the food stands.

"Eris should leave while I'm there. She'll run off and start her scheme. Then, I can show up and protect her when I need to."

When he arrived, the boy looked through the various items available for purchase. His eyes stopped when they came upon some truffles. Armand recognized the merchant as someone who came to his family's lands often.

"I will have some truffles," Armand said.

"One pack for you and one for your madame?" the man asked.

The merchant's words caused Armand to turn his head to the side. Eris was standing right next to him. Armand somehow managed to hide his complete and utter shock.

"Of course," he answered.

"Why is Eris still here? I have her the perfect chance to escape. Did she misinterpret what I said?" Armand thought.

After paying the merchant, he and Eris were given their truffles. Eris started eating with a smile on her face as they kept walking.

"Thank you, Armand. You know that I love truffles," she said.

"You are welcome, Eris," he replied before thinking. "Maybe Eris just wanted to eat truffles? She might have even been hungry in general."

Then, the Hapsburg girl spoke.

"What are we doing next?" Eris asked.

"Why is she asking me that? Is this some sort of mind game? No matter. I just need to give Eris some opportunity to get away from me," Armand thought.

"Give me a moment. I need to use the lavatory," he said.

Then, Armand went into the nearest outhouse. After staying in there for a few minutes, he left. Complete and utter shock blasted through Armand when he saw that Eris hadn't left.

"So, what are we doing?" Eris asked.

"We're going to see a commedia dell'arte play. There are a few performers from the Southern peninsula that came here for the festival," Armand thought fast and answered.

"I have never seen a commedia play before. This should be fun."

As Eris spoke, a revelation came over Armand. He suppressed his shock masterfully and held out his arm for Eris to grab on to as he escorted her to a theatre. Still, Armand was shocked internally.

"By the gods, Eris really did misinterpret my words! She thinks we're on a date!"