Chapter Text
One cannot hold onto sand as one cannot stop the flow of time. It can be slowed or quickened but will reach its destination all the same.
A grain will always slip through and more will follow. A curse will always come to pass though it can be postponed. But not infinitely.
One generation, time itself could grant no more than that his own children life before his father’s anger took hold. Ouranos lost the ability to spawn more descendants due to his children, he wanted them to share his pain.
Like holding onto grains of sand, even time could not stop his wrath. Add more to the top of of an hourglass while everything will always run to the bottom either way. No one can fight fate and that had never been his intent. He had always been stalling and it had only ever been enough to assure the survival of their own children. Not their grandchildren.
Metis and Zeus brought forth nothing but a dead child, their union short lived. His marriage with Hera, brough forth two living ones. But far more never came into existence at all and their mother never truly recovered.
Poseidon was luckier, but even his bloodline was ill. Kept below the sea, kept safe and always right in their domains. That thing which tethered them to life.
Hestia never tried, surrounded herself with mortals and their offspring instead.
Demeter built herself a child out of flowers and gifted it godhood.
Hades takes every lone mortal child in as his own.
His children arranged themselves with the curse. Like mortals arrange themselves with the world they live in. A thing that cannot be changed.
Leto offered Zeus her aid and it led to a living daughter and a son that never had a grip on life.
Maia brought them Hermes, whose domains barely held. Too different, too thrown together. He nearly joined the dozens of others.
His youngest brother was even closer and would be the last grandchild ever granted to Time. A curse now completed.
One that does not care about the gaps where domains should be, places unoccupied. Mortals will adapt, spread concepts not taken across existing gods. They are good at it.
But he feels the pain of his children, they do not know what is missing but feel its absence all the same. He, he knows.
Time branches out like a tree, millions of path with only one being walked on. The fates have shown him no such thing but if they wished to hide it from him he’d have never found it. Different timelines, with different gods.
Unreachable, for he exists in each and every one of them. Except in one, a recent development. Time bends to his will there too now.
He will not call it theft, for his children there deserve none of the gifts they received. They poisoned their own spawn, he cannot and will not blame his grandchildren for their parents mistakes. But taking all of them would break apart both their realities.
If he only takes what his world is missing, leaves behind nothing pointing towards the culprit. They will survive it too, with thousands of gods replacing two will bear no difficulty. He’d love to take their mortal spawn too, but they’d not survive being ripped from their tapestry. Their strings would burn up and he has seen enough dead children to last him eternity. If they wish to follow their missing parent, the claim will keep them safe in the transfer.
He has hopes, but they are out of of his control. His choice has been made, he cannot help all of them but he will do what he can.
Fill the gaps in the domains of his world and take two grandchildren from a son of his who does not deserve the title of father.
Kronos reaches forward and takes Knowledge and Wisdom from those who only ever pretended to appreciate them.