Tales From The Kronos

The church echoed with the only sound of a singing voice inside the holy place, a voice coming from a nun, praying for the Lord in the silence of the room. It felt like a few hours passed before she finally stopped and walked gently toward the door leading outside where another nun waited for her. Unlike her dark blue outfit, the other nun wore a black and white uniform. The nun who just entered was looking at her in the eyes as if she were gauging her soul.

"Hello, I don't recall seeing you here before, may I ask who you are?" The nun in black was talking in a friendly, but concerned manner. She kept a serious and neutral expression all along, showing a visible distrust.

"Is it not allowed to pray in other churches?" The other nun was on the opposite smiling and had a defiant tone in her voice. She seemed more relaxed, and less worried about her behavior, she didn't try to appear polite like her interlocutor and instead just acted like herself.

"It isn't, but I think that as a woman of faith, you can understand that it is better to be careful. We wouldn't want anyone to get in trouble." Despite her warm voice, the woman showed visible signs of distrust and arrogance. She tried her best to make the other person uncomfortable, even if she never stated her disdain directly.

"Of course my child, you can call me Ada. I come from a faraway land, a land forsaken by the Gods." The woman gently approached the woman in black, visibly unfazed, while still keeping a smile on her face.

"Ada... What a peculiar name. And a land forsaken by the Gods, you look like you have a story to tell." The woman's worry grew even bigger at the words of the nun named Ada, and the smile on her face only added to the mystery of the woman.

"It is a long story, but it is a story from the past. May I ask what is your name?" Ada stepped even closer, making the other nun more uncomfortable.

"Evelyne, but everyone calls me Eve here." Eve's breath started to accelerate. The other woman put her hand on her cheek. She felt at the same time frightened and reassured by this unusual gesture.

"What a lovely name, tell me Eve, how would you feel God itself came to you? Would you feel relief? Joy? Excitement? Maybe even... Fear?"

"I would feel nothing else but happiness, and would give all of my faith to Them." Ada's hand caressed the girl's cheek gently, making her feel strange. It was like being touched by a mother, and yet, she still felt chaos in the woman's heart.

"And would you feel happy? Would you feel satisfied to give your life to a greater being? Wouldn't you feel bad to give up on yourself for someone else?"

"I would never feel anything else than bliss and happiness. I am ready to give myself body and soul for God, give Them all my freedom, and dedicate my life to them." Eve felt that something was wrong, and yet, couldn't manage to find the strength to get away from the gentle touch of the nun. On the opposite, she put her own hand over Ada's one "Who... Are you?"

"I already told you. I'm Ada, and I come from a land forsaken by Gods. I no longer put my faith in them, I chose my own path."

As a saving grace for Eve, the door behind them opened, revealing another nun. She seemed in a hurry and barely could catch her breath. Ada removed her hand from the woman's face and both of them stayed silent.

"Sister Evelyne, it's terrible, we need your help!"

Eve looked back at Ada and slowly bowed "I'm terribly sorry, I have to leave. Maybe our paths will cross again sister Ada."

"It will, in this world or another."

The two nuns in black left, leaving Ada alone in the house of God. The woman stood there for a moment, thinking to herself.

"Would Neige be happy too if he didn't have to think? He would only need to believe in me, and I'd make him happy." Ada looked at the stained glass of the church and let out a sigh before praying "Neige, may you guide my steps toward a greater future."

Ada took a step outside, there were flowers everywhere, flying in the air. The woman took a moment to take a deep breath before taking out a diary. Despite her best efforts, she put ink on the pages to form a childish writing. She used to write down a note of everywhere she traveled, she couldn't pinpoint a precise place, but having a mental image helped her to go to places she already went to faster.

"There are a lot of flowers, and the town is pretty small, it reminds me of home, I think I'll name it Eden's Garden. I don't feel any Neiges' here. It's too bad, but maybe I can stay a bit longer, it shouldn't hurt. I hope all the Neiges are all right, but it's important to take breaks. And besides, the Neige who fixes worlds always manages to find me somehow. He really reminds me of my Neige, he was the best and always knew what to do."

The woman closed the book. She always tended to write a bit too much about Neige, but she couldn't help it. She always missed her friend, no matter how long it had been.

Ada was about to explore the city more, but a sudden voice stopped her.

"Ada, it's funny seeing you here!" The voice came from a girl with short red hair. She had a crazy smile, and looked like she was ready to cause some troubles. Ada could have sworn she saw her before, but couldn't remember her.

"You... I've seen you before..."

"Yes, yes you've seen me... It's the third time Ada!" The girl started to lose patience, but the nun couldn't remember anything. Seeing that, the girl calmed down and tried to refresh her memories "I'm the one that told you more about the Kronos, and I'm the one that tried to explain to you the nature of the world we are in. Remember?"

Ada took a moment to think and suddenly clapped her hand in satisfaction.

"Kairo! You're Kairo! Wait no, Kairo is the guy I talked about the nature of our world. He seemed like he understood better than me."

"Silv." The girl said, exhausted "I'm Silv."

"Oh! I remember now, you're always with Neige, right? So, how are Neige and Salty D?" The nun asked innocently.

"Salty D? Are you talking about Sepide?"

"Sepide does sound right now that you say it."

"Anyway, I don't care about them, because the person you're talking about is Silva. I'm Silv, I create chaos, I'm the one that was playing poker against Neige in a dirty saloon!"

Ada thought for a while, her face became more and more confused until she finally looked like she remembered.

"You're the girl with red panties!"

"Yes... I don't understand why it's the only thing you remember about me..." Silv was more than disappointed, but this wasn't going to stop her from doing what she came for "Disappointed is the word, yes. Anyway, so I have a deal to propose to you."

"Oh, what is it?" The nun seemed curious, making Silv more than happy to have picked her curiosity.

"What if I gave you information on Neige's world, you could go get him! But you would need to help me with a personal project."

"Mmm, which Neige?"

"The one on board of the Kronos."

Ada looked at Silv with a gaze that showed that she didn't understand. The girl with red hair couldn't see it, but the silence showed that she didn't make herself clear enough.

"The one with Silva and Sepide..."

"Oh right, I'd like to know where he is yes."

"Then you'll help me, right?"

"I could, but what's stopping me from getting the information right away?" As she said that, a dark matter came out of Ada's clothes and surrounded Silv. But even despite that, the girl kept her calm.

"If I die, the information dies with me." realizing that the girl was most likely right, Ada stopped her threatening and listened to her. "Thanks, so I want to convince them that I am their God. I know it sounds weird but-"

"I'm okay with that." Said Ada, cutting Silv's word.

"Let me finish first! So I have a plan later on, if I'm their God, I can make changes here. And the group of losers will come and-"

"You want to hurt Neige, don't you?"

Seeing how impatient the nun was, Silv was forced to cut short her conversation and quickly find a way to convince the nun to spare her. She took a second to think before quickly answering.

"Fine, so here's the plan. We'll-"

Another voice cut Silv, annoying her very much.

"You? I didn't expect you two here."

When Silv turned to the origin of the voice, she saw a man that both she and Ada recognized. He wore the outfit of the Kronos, lost his right arm, and looked tired of seeing them. There was no way to mistake him, it was Kairo.

"What are you doing here?"

Silv smiled mischievously, it wasn't planned, but she already knew her plans would get even better now.

"Kairo, are you still interested in destroying worlds?"

"I might." Kairo said with a deep voice, he knew where Silv was going, but still stayed careful.

"I think we should work together then. All the three of us! The three villains of the story! We can do anything together!" Silva sounded very happy, which didn't escape Kairo's attention.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, but I will follow you for now. It should be faster together."

Ada looked at the two of them, and after looking at Kairo from every angle, whispered to Silv.

"I think I met him, I think his name is Kairo!"

Silv already was tired of Ada, but all her plans revolved around her, so she couldn't just get rid of her. Ada ended up agreeing, it was the only way she had to find Neige after all. Ada, Silv, and Kairo all headed toward the peaceful town, ready to put in motion Silv's sinister plan.