If I Had Words

Chapter 1     Chapter 3

Khaos surveyed his void. It was a vast nothingness that stretched beyond his consciousness. 

Perfect. 

Gaia, unfortunately, had been a nuisance from the start. She imagined herself a creator. Her creations were not good. They were easy to pull apart and push away. 

Still, he couldn’t stop her from creating entirely. He had been glad when she’d finally found her way to the abyss. Yes, the abyss. Tartaros could handle her. He would keep her out of the way. 

Khaos sighed. 

Things were peaceful again. He’d initially been quite annoyed with Erebos and Nyx, betraying him and creating light. The darkness was a good addition to the void. Light? Ugh. Light was blinding and had too much energy. It was too much like Gaia. 

But it was soon clear that the dark and light couldn’t occupy the same space. That led to Hemera and Aether being pushed together into their own little part of the void. Like he’d done with Gaia when she was building that hideous thing she called earth. 

That left Nyx and Erebos largely free to continue helping him maintain the void.

The perfectly wonderful void.  

“Have you thought about all of the elements we have pushed into the abyss?” Nyx said. 

Nyx wasn’t as annoying as Gaia, but she definitely asked unnecessary questions.

“Why would I think about them? They are no longer my concern,” Khaos said. “Tartaros will keep them there, I am sure. His abyss will remove all desire to do anyth—.” 

Khaos broke off as he sensed something big suddenly touch the edge of the void.

Gaia.

Pulling himself across the empty space, Khaos determined he would keep this simple.The rules would be clear. No more creating. He wouldn’t tolerate any more disruptions. If necessary, he would push it all back into the abyss. 

But what Khaos found was not simple, not just Gaia and her ugly earth. With them was what looked like nearly every element he had pushed out of the void. 

And another being.

“Who is this?” Khaos said, scowling.

Erebos and Nyx joined in behind Khaos. Hemera and Aether had to stand on the other side of Gaia and her abominations. 

“I am Pontos,” he said. “I — “

“I do not care,” Khaos interrupted. “Go back. Go back into the abyss.”

“No,” Gaia said. “We have work to do.” 

Focusing her energy, Gaia began sorting the elements they’d brought into the void. Some joined her earth. Others tried, but changed and began splashing and flowing in all directions along the surface. Khaos smiled and touched a group near him, making their pattern even more irregular and difficult to manage. 

Pontos stepped forward and filled the flowing elements with direction and purpose. They converged and were soon gathering into one great pool. Gaia and Pontos continued working together to sift and collect the remaining elements, growing and expanding their creations until nothing remained aimless in the void. 

“What is that?” Erebos asked, looking at the new thing Pontos had created.

“It is the sea,” Pontos said.   

“I like it,” Nyx said. 

“Me too,” Aether said. “Look how my light dances on its surface.”

Nyx and Erebos strained to see the other side of the earth where Aether and Hemera stood. 

“Enough!” Khaos raged. “It is not good. None of it is good. Only the void. Only the darkness and the stillness. Not light. Not dancing. Not earth or sea. Nothing. Nothing is the only thing that is perfect. Nothing is the only thing that belongs in the void!

“Where is Tartaros?”

“With his abyss,” Gaia said.

Khaos frowned. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He had explained things so clearly to Tartaros. Things were naturally lifeless in the abyss. All Tartaros had to do was cool the life out of Gaia. 

“Tartaros,” Khaos said. “We need Tartaros! He will help dampen your heat. He will give you rest. He will take you where you will not disturb the void. He will take these things back.” 

He began touching parts of the earth and sea, scattering them in board strokes, as he inwardly called to Tartaros. 

“No!” Gaia said, firmly pulling the elements back.  Pontos helped her. “You must make space for us. You cannot keep pushing these things out.”

She seemed strangely confident, but it didn’t matter. There was no way Khaos would make space for her or anything else that didn’t belong in the void. 

Tartaros soon appeared. 

“Take these back,” Khaos said. “And take those creatures of light as well. Take them all into the abyss.” 

“No,” Nyx said. “Those are our creations.”

“You cannot even exist together,” Khaos said, turning. “You repel each other. What was the use of creating them? Why have them in the void at all? They serve no purpose.” 

Nyx fell silent. She couldn’t deny she hadn’t yet figured out what to do with her creations. Their natures were so different. 

Khaos paced a little, loosening and kicking a few more elements towards the abyss. Then he turned on Tartaros. 

“How?” Khaos accused. “How did you let this happen? How did you let her leave the abyss?” 

“Ssshe is not what you said,” Tartaros said. “Sssshe is powerful.” 

“What do you mean?” Khaos asked. 

“The abyssss absorbs all desire for anything,” Tartaros said. “It depletes all warmth and ambition. But somehow, she rekindled the elements. She is a source of power greater than the abyssss.” 

“What did you do?” Khaos said, facing Gaia. 

“I helped the elements awaken,” Gaia said. 

Khaos scoffed. 

“You mean you forced them to change using your awful heat,” Khaos said. 

“I reminded them of what they could be. Tartaros agreed I could take the ones who accepted my power and wanted to become something.”

“Sssshe did not take them all,” Tartaros said. 

“Well, you cannot have these,” Khaos said, his anger rising. “You all belong in the abyss. You do not belong in the void.”

Khaos began more earnestly touching and ripping at Gaia and Pontos’s creations. He sent portions of the sea flying across the void. The water instantly froze and burst apart into little pieces. He buried his hand deep into the earth’s crust and brought it out, sending a large spray of the hot core through the darkness. 

“What are you doing?” Nyx said.

“I am done with Gaia and her creations,” he said. “I am done with these desires to create. Tartaros help me.”

Tartaros stepped forward and began touching loose elements, depleting them of their energy and desire for more.  

“No!!” Gaia cried, trying to revive them. “You are destroying everything!” 

Khaos glared at Gaia. 

“Destroy? Me? No. I set them free. You are the destroyer. You have always been trying to destroy my void. I will reduce your creations to their elements. I will restore the aimlessness.”

He tore through the elements with such force, it ripped open huge cracks in the earth, exposing the core. 

“Stop!” Gaia said, frantically working before he released too much of her heat.

Khaos did not stop. He spread his hand over the sea, separating everything and scattering it. 

Pontos tried to gather back his elements.

“Khaos,” Erebos said. “You should stop.”  

Khaos ignored him. 

Something had changed within Khaos. They could all see it. He was determined to dismantle Gaia’s earth. It was the earth, its very existence, that had sparked the idea of more.  

Gaia fought to stop him. She began working faster, fighting to keep ahead. It was harder with Tartaros working alongside him, but Pontos was there too, stretching and helping Gaia as best as he could. As Khaos continued ripping and tearing at her creation, her heat and energy began to fill the void.  

Aether and Hemera tried using their light to slow Khaos. Their light enhanced Gaia’s energy as she struggled to pull things back together. Pontos’s seas grew warm and new elements began to form in the mix of it all. From these elements, grew a new force. As the new force took shape he instinctively blocked Khaos’s hand, mid-scattering. 

Khaos stopped, surprised.

“Who are you?” Khaos said. 

“Ouranos,” he said.

Ouranos surveyed the elements and began gathering up more of the loose and energy-infused ones. 

“What are you doing?” Khaos demanded.

“I am collecting those which belong to me.”

A small but spacious mass of loose elements formed above Gaia. 

“What is that?” Aether asked. 

“The heavens,” Ouranos said. 

“He is also a creator,” Gaia said, defiantly to Khaos. “You have Tartaros. I have Pontos and Ouranos.” 

“I belong to no one,” Ouranos said.

Ouranos gathered his elements and started to move through the void. They soon lost their energy, contracted and grew heavy. Ouranos came back, bringing them closer to Gaia’s earth and they returned to their heavenly form. 

Ouranos frowned.  

“My earth does have a purpose,” Gaia said, facing everyone. “It helps Pontos maintain his seas. It gives the heavens their energy. It helps Aether and Hemera direct their light. My earth is the center, the core, the heart of these creations.”

“This is your fault,” Khaos said. “You turned them into creators. Even Erebos and Nyx.”

“It is what they are meant to do,” Gaia said. “It is who they are. You can no longer deny the way things are, the way things must be. The void must share its space. It cannot remain empty.” 

“There is still the void, even with all of these things,” Nyx said. “Gaia’s creation is large, but it does not fill all of it. I rather like her creation, especially now that there are other creators. We can all find a place.” 

“Nyx is right,” Erebos said. “Tartaros already has his abyss. Aether and Hemera have been unsure what to do. Their brightness is too much for us, but with Gaia, perhaps she could be at the center. The light on one side, the dark on the other. 

“Yes,” Hemera said. “The earth provides a perfect object for us. And it’s warmer than the void. There is more potential with Gaia.”

Khaos groaned.

“Potential? I do not want potential. I want nothing,” he said. “I want things back the way they were, before all of these. I will even give up Tartaros and the Darknesses to bring back the perfect void.” 

“You cannot, Khaos,” Gaia said. “You have to make space for us, whether you like it or not.” 

Khaos gave them all a dark look then focused on Gaia. 

“I will find a way,” he said, leaning towards her and making her move back a little. “I will never stop trying. I will eventually pull apart your earth.” 

Gaia straightened.

“And I will never stop creating,” she said. “We will see who wins in the end.” 

Chapter 1     Chapter 3