Vincent ran as soon as he felt the energy of the other two future gods.

  “Get him! Beryl yelled. But for some reason she didn’t get a reply. Soleil had literally vanished into the air.

  “If you want something done right!” Beryl stared running after Vincent “DO IT YOURSELF!”

  Vincent sped up, afraid that she might catch him, bring him to the grand pace and force him to spill where Natty and Cais were.

  Vincent cursed. He thought he should’ve insisted that Natty would accompany him on the shopping trip. Because, in the past, whenever Vincent got in trouble Natty would protect him the best she could.

  Vincent turned right on a street. He looked behind him and then stopped, realizing that Beryl wasn’t following him anymore.

  And then, Vincent got punched out of nowhere.

  “Hey sunshine” Soleil, ironically greeted. Vincent tripped and fell. His whole face hurt and he couldn’t see straight.

  Beryl arrived just in time. She tripped too, but didn’t fall, instead yelled:

  “HEY YOU! Boy on the ground!”

  Vincent couldn’t even talk, that’s how much it hurt. Soleil just stared at the scene, not saying anything.

  “First…he should apologize!” Vincent managed to utter.

  “No” Soleil bluntly said, his expression changing to angry then happy again “Besides, you’re a suspect.”

  “Uh…why?” Vincent decided to py dumb.

  “What’s your name?” Beryl asked “If you’re with the rebellion, then I would assume you’re Vincent.”

  “Nah” Vincent tried getting up, but failed “I’m Cais.”

  “Ew” Beryl crossed her arms “I’m sure Cais is a whole lot prettier than you” she then added “Kid.”

  “I’m fourteen!” Vincent countered “How old are you?”

  Beryl smirked.

  “Twenty.”

  “You look older” Vincent smirked “Waaaaaay older.” Beryl’s jaw dropped. Soleil was about to ugh but covered his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

  “In any case” Beryl cleared her throat “The interrogation starts now. Where’s Cais?”

  Vincent obviously didn’t want to say anything. So instead he chose to counter:

  “Why do you want to know where she is? Why Cais and not the whole rebellion?”

  Soleil’s eyes widened. It was the perfect opportunity to question Beryl, even though he already figured out what was happening.

  “Good point” he added “Why just Cais, hm Beryl?”

  “You’re Beryl?” Vincent questioned “Ohhh yeah I see it now. Though Natty’s impression of you was better…”

  “Natty did an IMPRESSION of me?!” Beryl yelled.

  Soleil covered his ears because of how loud she yelled.

  “Vincent” he then said “Listen mate, just tell us where the headquarters are.”

  Vincent managed to stand up this time. He adjusted his coat then simply added a “no”.

  Beryl had enough of that. She went over to him and grabbed his colr.

  Beryl had questioned if she was in love with Cais or not, even though they had never met. And now that Cais’ friend stood there before her and didn’t want to spill where Cais was, Beryl just felt angry. Maybe she really was in love with someone she never met. And if that fourteen year old boy was going to stand in her way of finding Cais, Beryl would probably raise Hell.

  “Whoa rex everyone!” Soleil announced “Let’s talk this one out in a peaceful manner!”

  Beryl gred at him.

  “Says the one who punched me in the face!” Vincent cried out. Soleil shrugged as usual and proceeded talking:

  “Just tell us where your friends are hiding…Or we’ll bring you to the actual gods, And believe me, mate, you don’t want that. In any case, if I were you, I would choose to tell us.”

  “Why would I trust you? After you find us you’re going to bring us to the higher-ups anyway.”

  “Not necessarily” Soleil assured him “If you tell us where your friends are hiding, we’re not going to tell the higher-ups.”

  Beryl wanted to protest, but Soleil gred at her, basically telling her to shut up.

  “Then what are you going to do?” Vincent wondered “This makes no sense.”

  “We honestly couldn’t care less about the rebellion. In fact, all we care about is finding Cais and Natty.”

  “Wow, am I that unwanted?” Vincent sneered “If you tell me why then I’m going to tell you where they are.”

  Soleil bit his lip and questioned his life decisions.

  “Well” he began “I’m looking for Natty because she’s supposed to be my future subordinate. And Beryl is looking for Cais because she’s her future girlfriend.”

  Vincent stared at Beryl with the most judging stare ever.

  “Cais deserves someone pretty” was all he said. Beryl had gotten red from embarrassment and anger.

  “Who even are you?” Vincent turned to Soleil “I’ve never heard of you. I don’t even know your name.”

  Soleil frowned. No one really knew him. Mainly because he didn’t strike a conversation with anyone and that was because he deemed everyone as an idiot the moment he saw them. Attitude which didn’t go unnoticed and which wasn’t appreciated at all. In any case, he didn’t have any friends at the grand pace.

  It had been that way with the previous god too. He didn’t really talk with the others and because of that everyone deemed him as an arrogant idiot. Which he actually was, minus the idiot part.

  In short, it was no surprise that Vincent had no idea who he was.

  “The name’s Soleil” he said “I’m the one chosen by the god of space, yada yada yada…”

  “Ok cool, never heard of you.”

  Soleil tried to act smug like he didn’t care, but he actually did and kind of wanted to cry.

  “Well then, take us to the rebellion headquarters.”

  ??ˋ ? ?ˊ?

  Verita was pacing back and forth in the garden of the grand pace.

  Ever since Cais got taken away (Verita really hoped that Cais didn’t want to join the rebellion and instead got abducted) Verita had been nothing but worried.

  She sort of wanted to cry about the whole situation. First, she felt like everything was her fault. Which it was, mainly because she chose to manipute Cais into becoming a goddess instead of just telling her. Second, because of the lie she told about being Cais’ adoptive mother, she had actually grown attached to her and now viewed her more like her own child.

  “Hey” the god of time said. Verita jumped.

  “Oh it’s you, Stephan” Verita sighed in relief “I thought it was Finneas…”

  “Oh forget that arrogant prick” Stephan, the current god of time said “He’s annoying.”

  “He’s fun…” Verita tried.

  “Nuh uh” Stephan shook his head “And that kid he chose…as arrogant as him.”

  “Regarding that kid…” Verita took a seat on a bench in the garden “After Beryl left today, he followed her…”

  Stephan’s face darkened.

  “Where to?”

  Verita shook her head “I have no idea, to be honest. But she took your watch, did you give it to her?”

  “She took what?!” Stephan yelled.

  “I thought you gave it to her…”

  Don’t get him wrong, Stephan absolutely adored Beryl. He had rescued her at some point and then basically took care of her until he decided to make her the next goddess of time. But sometimes Beryl could be very hard to deal with. She was very smart and extremely curious, which resulted in her stealing all of Stephan’s magical objects.

  “I did no such thing…oh gods…I mean I should thank myself for keeping two watches. She took the one for finding anomalies in time, right?”

  Verita shrugged.

  “If it’s the blue and gold one, then yes” she replied “Although I might be mistaking.”

  Stephan didn’t know how to react. The best he could do was just wait for Beryl to return.

  “I suppose that Beryl has finally taken matters into her own hands.”

  ??ˋ ? ?ˊ?

  Cais and Natty were on the couch, scrambling through different papers and trying to come up with a pn. Yet, up until that point, they were out of ideas.

  The moment they heard a sound, both looked into the direction of the noise, hoping to see Vincent carrying shopping bags full with food.

  Instead, the image before them was the following: A smug looking guy who was too tall for his age, Vincent who looked like he had been tortured and a girl who was hugging a shawl around her, looking cold.

  “This pce…” Soleil began “Is very dirty.”

  Cais frowned and commented:

  “I literally just cleaned it, thank you very much.”

  Behind her Natty was shaking in fear. She tried to poke Cais’ arm in order to get her attention.

  “Oh you did?” Soleil said in faux amazement “maybe you should try to do something about the smell, it stinks in here. Oh wait, it’s just Vincent.”

  Soleil never understood why people didn’t like him. Well, here’s your answer.

  “Shut up everyone” Beryl decided she didn’t want to deal with any more of their bickering “You’re Cais right?!”

  Cais gulped.

  “If you’re talking to me then yeah, I’m Cais. I got scared because you actually pronounced my name right…”

  “Hey I’m French too…” Soleil mumbled.

  Beryl stared at Cais and Cais stared at Beryl. While Beryl was questioning her whole life and what to say next, Cais was just confused.

  “You look like Verita!” was all Beryl managed to say “Same…grayish-whiteish eyes haha…oh and simir brown hair too! Though Verita’s is really short and yours is looooong…”

  “Dude” Soleil cut in “Stop being so nervous. Cais ain’t gonna kill you.”

  “Asking the real questions, why are you both here?” Natty was hiding behind Cais “You’re here to bring us to the rest of the gods, are you not?”

  Soleil yawned.

  “We already expined this…”

  “Not to them…” Beryl reminded him. Soleil paused, then scratched his head.

  “Right. I didn’t. Well, let’s go over this again…”

  “Can I sit down?” Vincent asked “I’ve been carrying the shopping bags around. Also I’ve heard this story before so…”

  “Just go sit down already and don’t interrupt me!” Soleil yelled. Vincent did as told and went further away from Soleil.

  “Well we’re not going to tell the gods about all of you. We’ve got our own goals in mind, right Beryl?” Soleil smiled kindly towards her.

  “Right…” she replied “We just want to talk to Cais and Natty. For different reasons.”

  “Oh I remember now!” Cais’ face lit up “You’re the one who Natty impersonated! You look slightly different in real life.”

  Behind Vincent ughed and stuck his tongue out at a now furious Beryl.

  “So…why are you looking for us if not to take us down?” Cais intervened.

  “Well” Soleil replied before Beryl could “I’m looking for my future subordinate, hi Natty!” he waved “And Beryl is looking for…”

  “Cais because I wanted to test your powers!” Beryl covered Soleil’s mouth and yelled out instead.