Titans of Chaos

He said, "Perhaps I can negate the electromagnetic entities from Quentin's paradigm. You saidyou saw what you call morality involved? Which direction is it?"

I said, "It is in the time direction."

"Time is not a dimension," he said, puzzled.

"Victor! I'm going blind. I am losing my sight on all levels. I can't see anything."

The azure light from his eye swept over my face once or twice, with no effect.

Victor turned the beam on Quentin. Quentin shivered, made a gasping noise, like a child mightmake who cries out during a nightmare.

The voice from the cell phone said, 'The god of speech will not deny you now to speak yourepitaph, oh no! Choose your bons mots carefully. No one will remember your dying words, butme-but then again, since I will be the only being in Cosmos or Chaos to survive the upcomingApocalypse, no one will recall anything at all, and what I deem to be, real or dream, shall bereality."

Quentin opened his eyes, looking pale and dazed.

Victor said to him, "Cast spells on Colin. We need him to fix Amelia."

Vanity said, 'The loudmouth can't get in, I'll bet, to this area of space. If the laws of nature are sosolid, all he can do is talk."

The chuckle floated from the cell phones. 'To decree is to talk. What god need do more?"

Victor said, "Ignore him."

The voice of Trismegistus slithered from the cell phones again, "Oho! Now is that wise, mywind-up Telchine bot-boy? You don't know what I want; you don't know what I can offer."

Quentin, still lying prone, raised his head, bleary-eyed. He lifted a trembling hand and pointed it atColin.

The voice from the cell phones said, "Whoops! What's this? A fallen felon spirit thinks now toweave a spoken spell? Do tell! But what if the crafty god of craft, with tragic magic causes atwisted mystic gaff? You can't enchant if you can't chant! Your cantrip might trip! I am anOlympian. This is my decree."

Quentin opened his mouth, but then a series of convulsions shook him; he vomited dryly, hisstomach bringing up nothing.

But even with my vision going dim, I saw it. I saw the decree Trismegistus made. It was like aflare of light, bright beyond brightness. It was in the time-direction. The flow of time changed itsnature, became useful rather than neutral, and became entangled in a whirlpool of knottedstrands of magic. It was a solid block of ice formed in the river of time. It was a fate.

This one was nearer than the death-fate. It was immediate, happening now.