Tales From The Kronos

The wind was blowing through the city, the children were playing, and people lived their lives peacefully. But the small group was planning to disturb that peace, Silv explained her plan for a while to the others, and even though Kairo didn't raise any objections, Ada was very confused about the plan and kept asking questions.

"So to prove that we're sent by God, we go find the pope... And then what?"

The two others looked at the nun with a bit of worry, they talked for a while, and despite that Ada acted as if she didn't remember anything.

"Ada Ada Ada, please tell me you listened to what I just said." Silv started to wonder if her idea was worth it. The woman in front of her couldn't understand the plan, and she was an important part of it.

"Well I did listen, but at one point I lost focus. And when I listened again you talked about weird stuff, like the essence of chaos or something, so I just gave up."

"I have to agree with the anomaly on this." Said Kairo "Half of your talk was just about strange things. I'm not here to listen to the mind of a crazy person."

"Then explain the plan to her if it's that easy! You'll see how hard it is, she forgets everything that isn't about her beloved Neige!" Silv turned around and ignored them. Kairo quickly understood that she wouldn't explain anything and that he was the one who needed to do it.

"Okay, Sister Anomaly, let me explain to you what we're going to do."

Ada saw Kairo's gaze on her, she was a bit confused for some reason and looked around.

"Anomaly? Is it a fourth member?"

"No... It's how everyone has been calling you all this time." The nun appeared even more confused, but the man didn't feel like explaining more, and instead went to the plan directly "We need to find the pope, there, Silv will pretend that she's God. I will take care of gathering people, and you will use your powers to convince everyone. Then we have a plan to bring this world to an end, but don't trouble yourself with that."

Ada paused for a moment and seemed pretty satisfied with the explanation.

"Got it, but where is the pope?"

"That's what we need to figure out." Kairo turned to Silv, who still acted offended "See, it wasn't that hard."

"Sure, I hope she understood. Come on, we need to find out where this guy is!"

The three of them searched for anyone who could help them find their target, but the town was mostly empty. It took a while before they found someone, it was a woman sitting on a bench and reading a book. She had short gray hair, Kairo thought he recognized her for a moment, or at least one of her other self. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember who it was exactly, but for him, it wasn't important. Silv was the one who approached her and tried to talk with authority in her voice.

"Hello, what a beautiful day it is! Would you know, perchance, where we may find the pope?"

The woman on the bench looked at them, visibly doubting their intentions.

"And who's asking?"

Silv didn't lose her cool and instead continued with her mighty and authoritative voice.

"We are chosen ones, sent here by God himself!" She tried getting Ada's attention, and even if she didn't understand at first, she eventually understood she needed to impress the woman with her powers.

"Of course, let us demonstrate!" The nun took a deck of cards, seemingly out of nowhere, and handed it to the woman "Choose any card you want!"

Silv couldn't believe her eyes, she didn't expect a being able to destroy worlds to just do a magic trick to prove her divine hood. But still, the woman on the bench picked a card and handed the rest of the deck to the nun.

"I know what you took, it's the Six of Heart!"

The woman looked at her card and nodded her head nonchalantly. Ada was extremely happy, she tried to high-five one of her teammates, but both ignored her. The woman on the bench looked at them with disbelief, she couldn't tell if they were making a joke about her or were just crazy.

"And why are chosen of God searching the pope?"

Seeing how the conversation was going, Kairo decided to step in and negotiate instead.

"Excuse them, they still aren't really good at communicating with humans." Ada and Silv both looked offended by Kairo, but he ignored them and continued "We came here for an important matter, and we want to talk about it with the pope of this land."

The woman still didn't feel convinced, but she wanted to read her book and had no wish to make the conversation last any longer.

"The church, he goes to pray there every sunset."

"Thanks." Kairo left after hearing what they needed to hear, followed by the two others.

"I can't believe it." Silv looked concerned and depressed by the events that just occurred and acted like she looked in the void "I thought that with the three of us, our efficiency would be multiplied by three, not divided by ten!"

"It's because we went with your plan." Kairo wondered if it was a good idea to follow Silv's instruction but figured that they had already gone far enough and that it was too late to stop now "We all have our own way of proceeding, it was foolish to work together. The sunset is already here, it will take hours just to go back to the church. We're not going to meet him today I'm afraid."

"That's not a problem." Silv and Kairo both looked at Ada, she seemed pretty confident for some reason. The nun pointed her finger toward the sky, and the moment right after, the world seemed to shatter. The two others couldn't believe what was happening, it was like the world transformed in front of them, and just like that, it was noon again.

"Wha-What was that?" Silv looked around, lost. She tried to understand what happened, but she couldn't see the sun being high in the sky.

"I traveled in time. Or rather, I reverted the world to the state it was a few hours ago."

"So you really can travel in time." Kairo mentally took note of it, he knew it was possible for her to do that, but actually seeing it was something else. Silv on the other hand, didn't share the same feeling and felt more mad than anything else.

"You can do that? Since when? Why didn't you do something like that to impress her? We could have looked more intimidating!"

"I don't know, it didn't go through my mind."

"I feel like not much is going inside your head at all. Next time you want to impress someone, do that instead of your stupid tricks."

"That's not a stupid trick..."

The trio headed toward the church. Silv complained all the way there, while Ada felt sad about her trick not being considered impressive.

Inside the church, a man in a white uniform finished his prayer. The nun in the black dress stood at his side all along. The man seemed a bit surprised when he saw the girl standing there, waiting.

"Evelyne, I didn't see you here. Were you waiting for me?"

The woman nodded her head silently. She looked at the ground and seemed to dodge the man's eyes.

"Father, please forgive, for I have sinned."

The man looked at her seriously, he seemed surprised about the news but still kept his composure "My child, what have you done? It doesn't look like you."

"Indeed." The nun took a deep breath, she seemed very ashamed for her actions. After a long moment, she finally mustered the courage to talk about what was on her heart. "I have started to wonder about our blind faith in God, and whether it is truly necessary. Are we truly happy that way? Or are we worshiping God because we are happy?"

"Eve... You were always the most faithful, why do you have those thoughts so suddenly? Is it the work of the devil?"

"The devil..." The woman thought deeply about her interaction with the other nun. It was strange for her, who was she? And why did she feel all those feelings about faith and happiness? Maybe that woman was indeed, the devil "Why is the devil seen so badly? Perhaps it isn't as simple as the holy book says?"

"Eve, it's enough!" The man talked forcefully, frightening the nun. Seeing how she flinched, he quickly took a more reassuring voice "Our happiness comes from God, anyone who questions it shall be excluded from heaven. You more than anyone else should know."

"But father, why all those rules? We put all of our faith in God, and He doesn't allow us to choose our path!"

"Freedom will create chaos, chaos creates suffering, suffering creates desperation, desperation excludes us from heaven. We must obey God, as He knows more than us."

"But doesn't the holy book talk about how pain creates tears, and about tears creating rivers, and rivers creating life? Our whole land is made upon those words, pain allowed us to live this peaceful life! And this peace makes us happy. So, is it really that controversial to think that happiness is also made from suffering?"

The man kept his calm but clearly didn't agree with the woman. He was about to gently scold the woman, but the door opened before he did. Another nun, wearing a dark blue outfit, a man lacking his right arm, and a girl with red hair entered the holy place. Evelyne recognized the woman instantly, and couldn't control herself at their sight.

"It's her... The devil..." She whispered to herself, as the group approached the man. The girl with red hair acted like the leader and started to talk to him.

"You're the pope I imagine."

The man seemed surprised but answered with calm and composure.

"Indeed, and who is asking?"

"I am the Goddess of this world, and I decided to come here to see how is this world since its creation."

"I'm sorry, but it is quite a bold claim." Eve was worried about the woman she believed to be the devil, but she also was curious about her and the reason behind her actions. Even after the girl's answer, she couldn't help but stare at the other nun.

"Of course, you do well to be careful, as the devil could be hiding anywhere." The light of the room suddenly disappeared, and the windows allowing the light to enter were covered by a kind of dark matter. "But you see, if I'm God, you should listen to me. After all, didn't I create this world?" A kind of purple light lit up slightly the room, enough to see their silhouettes, but not enough to see their faces "And if I'm the devil, then it means that your God gave up on you, so isn't it wiser to listen me?"