Master of the System

“Your avatar broke Kosmos!”

Vremya frowned at the message he received. It was sent from Pravos, and it had arrived minutes after Kosmos had left the vicinity. Had the god of space immediately left for the fast-time world? What would she even want to do there? Regardless, he had to investigate! He stretched out his arms and cracked his knuckles. Then, when he felt like he was ready, he typed out a message and sent it to Pravos. It consisted of one word: What?

The messaging app showed Pravos replying. Moments later, a huge wall of text appeared. Vremya skimmed over it, scrolling down a few times by swiping his screen. A frown appeared on his face, and it seemed like he was staring past his computer screen, staring a thousand miles into the distance beyond. After a moment, Vremya turned his head towards Karta, and the black dog couldn’t help but flinch.

“Whatever you’re about to blame on me, I didn’t do it,” Karta said. Her head tilted to the side, her ears flopping over. “What happened?”

Vremya leaned close to Karta and raised his hand. The black dog eyed it with a wary expression, but she didn’t do much to get out of its way. As a god, she wasn’t capable of being physically harmed by Vremya. With that thought in mind, she watched as Vremya’s hand got closer and closer to her face. When it was mere inches away from her face, she couldn’t help but open her mouth and ask, “What are you doing?”

Slap!

“Ow!” Karta’s eyes bulged out of her head, and she recoiled, clutching her nose with her paw. “What the hell was that for!? That hurt!” She glared at Vremya with watery eyes, nursing her now-swelling nose. When she saw the god of time not doing anything but staring at her, she couldn’t help but frown. He thought it was funny to bully her like that, huh? She bared her teeth, and a moment later, a question appeared in her mind. “You hurt me. How did you hurt me? Gods aren’t allowed to hurt each other!”

Vremya smirked, pleased with finally being able to teach the stinky dog a lesson. He had been waiting for so long for a chance like this. Most people would assume he was a terrible person for treating his dog like that, but if those people had dogs that pooped on their carpets while grinning at them, asking what they were going to do about it with their eyes, he was sure those people would react in the same manner as him.

Karta glanced around. “The rules of the godly society changed? Is that what happened?” She pointed her nose towards the ceiling and sniffed. Then, she sniffed again. For a god that denied being a dog, she certainly behaved like one at times. She hopped off the couch and paced around in a circle. Then, she nodded and turned her head towards the personal computer she had left on the couch. With a few slaps of her paws, she posted a question to a popular forum, and within seconds, she obtained an answer. The godly laws weren’t functioning anymore! She gulped and glanced at Vremya. She hadn’t done anything warranting the death penalty, right? Just in case, she sidled up to Vremya and did her best to look cute and harmless. “Hey there, pal. We’re cool, right?”

Vremya chuckled. “Stop pooping on the carpet.”

“Yep!” Karta bobbed her head up and down.

Vremya stroked his beard. Other than the pooping, she wasn’t really a bad roommate. As he thought about it more, he found himself wanting her around rather than not. He glanced at Karta and sighed before taking out an ointment from his bellybutton. “Here, put it on your nose.”

“Does it look like I have thumbs?” Karta asked. A moment later, she regretted saying what she did. Was she coming off as too aggressive? Would Vremya skin her and give her divinity to one of the phoegons? “Err, I mean, thanks, pal!” She dunked her nose into the ointment before Vremya could say anything.

“Calm down,” Vremya said. “I’m not going to do anything else to you.”

“Promise?”

Vremya chose not to answer. “Pravos said Kosmos showed up at the fast-time world and took back her divinity used to support the godly laws. Since Gravitat, Istoriya, and Dvizhen aren’t around to support them, with Kosmos pulling out, the already fragile laws completely collapsed.”

Karta blinked. Three of the primordial gods Vremya had named were gone because of him. Was this Vremya’s plan all along? He wanted to destroy the godly society, so he kicked out the pillars from underneath it. “Are you a titan in disguise?”

Vremya furrowed his brow. The shock from having the laws disappear must’ve done some mental damage to the stinky dog. He hadn’t said a word about the titans, but she was bringing them up for some reason. “I’m not a titan. Why would you even think that?”

“Well, you’ve done more damage to the godly society than the combined efforts of all the titans over the past few eons,” Karta said. “Clearly, you’re on the opposite team.” Her head bobbed up and down, but she froze when she realized she wasn’t protected from harm anymore. She cleared her throat. “So, what’s going to happen now? Are you going to contribute some of your divinity to replace the void Kosmos left behind?”

“Why would I do that?” Vremya asked, raising an eyebrow. Give up his own personal power for the sake of some gods he didn’t care about? What an awful idea. However, if the godly laws were no longer functioning, he wouldn’t be able to keep Kosmos out of his house with a simple barrier anymore. She could drop by whenever she wanted, destroyed a few of his things, and run away without any harm befalling her unless he chose to pursue her—which would be exactly what she wanted. Having Kosmos target him was worse than having a mortal having a tiger in his backyard. At least the mortal would know why he died when the tiger inevitably ate him. Vremya had no idea what made Kosmos tick. She was obsessed with power, but he didn’t understand why she was willing to go so far for it. He shook his head. Something had to be done for the sake of his peaceful future.