Darkness

Darkness, endless darkness, Ashur did not know how long he has been here, the only thing to keep him company is the endless stars in the sky as Ashur floated in the dark void.

He does not know how long it is on the outside, but Ashur feels like it's an eternity as floated there.

He even tried counting all the stars to pass the time, but he stopped at around a million as it was virtually endless.

He was once on the verge of going insane, as he would sometimes talk to himself and was even tempted to destroy his own soul to get out of this hell.

But when he wanted to do it, Hephaestus suddenly flashed in his mind and made him stop.

If one day, one day, he gets to meet her again, all he wants to say is 'I'm sorry.'

So to keep himself sane, he suddenly thought to tell dad jokes to pass the time.

"What do you call a fish wearing a bowtie?" "Sofishticated."

"I'm afraid for the calendar. Its days are numbered."

"What did the ocean say to the beach?" "Nothing, it just waved."

"Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up."

Ashur spent his time telling dad jokes to pass the time, and it was also to remind him of Hephaestus and so he could hold on to his sanity.

He did this for a very long amount of time, to keep himself sane, or what's remaining of his sanity, as the infinite time passed on.

As time passed on, he began to lose his sense of self as he still continuously told dad jokes

"What do you call someone with no body-"

Suddenly a screen popped up and on it was [Repairs complete, now launching....]

But Ashur did not care as he was already numb and his eyes were blanked over as he continued "And no nose? Nobody knows."

Suddenly, the surroundings suddenly changed to a bedroom.

The sudden change from a black void to a bedroom, made Ashur's eyes suddenly gain some clarity and he suddenly came to.

"What have I been doing?" Ashur asked himself as he suddenly came to, in his bedroom.

"Was all of that a bad dream?" He asked himself as he looked around.

As he looked around, Ashur suddenly got out of bed and walked outside his room.

"Hephaestus! Hephaestus!" Ashur screamed out but got no response.

This, in turn, made him panic a little, as he suddenly tried to teleport around his house to look for her, but when he tried to teleport, he soon noticed that he had no divine power.

"No! No!" screamed Ashur as he suddenly bolted out and suddenly started checking rooms one by one.

He looked around in a flurry.

He first checked the workshop before he bolted out seeing that she was not there, and went to another room, this time was the bathroom, still not there.

The kitchen? She was not in there either. Her room? Not there also.

The last place he hadn't checked was the bath, and he did not really care if he had to apologize, he just wanted to see someone, anyone!

But as he checked, he found no one was inside and it was an empty house.

He suddenly despaired and this made Ashur suddenly curl into a ball as he hugged his legs as he started crying while rocking back and forth.

He did this for more than an hour before he collected himself and got up.

Ashur decided not to brood over anything before finding out what happened while he was unconscious.

He soon decided to go outside his house, because he already checked everything inside the house.

He soon reached his front door and opened it, and what he saw outside shocked him.

He was in the middle of the sky!

Ashur looked around and clouds were all his eyes could see as he looked around, but he suddenly noticed that there seemed to be a giant city in the distance.

"How long have I been asleep?" Ashur asked himself as he looked at the surroundings.

He also noticed that his house was on a floating island surrounded by clouds.

He looked outside a bit and decided it was useless as only grass surrounded his house.

Back inside his house, he decided to inspect his house with closer detail, starting with the room he woke up in.

Back to his bedroom, Ashur looked around in more detail as he inspected every inch of his room.

Soon, he was attracted to a vase with some flowers inside it by his bedside table.

The reason he was attracted to it, was that the flowers were withered a bit.

This attracted Ashur as he seemed to notice that his house was fully preserved by some laws to stop its time. Must have been done by some time god, Ashur figured.

Ashur was not the only time god, so it came to no surprise that someone could persevere his house using the laws, but what surprised Ashur, was that these flowers were not protected.

This meant that someone must have brought these in after the laws were cast and kept replacing them periodically.

After he finished inspecting the flowers, he finished inspecting the room and coudn't help but notice that he was REALLY thirsty.

This was a given since he had no water in who knows how long, and although gods can survive without food and water, gods can still get hungry and thirsty.

So he decided to go get some water from the kitchen.

As he got the water, he started drinking it while he walked around the house, he did not get himself a glass of water, but a full jug of water as he chugged it.

As he walked around, he suddenly noticed someone was opening the front door, just a few meters away.

So he turned to it, as he was right in front of it, and not far from it while he held his jug of water.

Ashur looked at the person who entered, Ashur recognized this person who just entered, it was his long-time sparring partner and best friend, Athena.

As Athena entered, she and Ashur both locked eyes.

Ashur decided to be casual, lifted his jug up in the air before saying "Yo, Athena"

As Ashur did this, he suddenly heard Athena scream in terror before she suddenly fell to the ground.

This confused Ashur greatly, as in all his long life, he has never, and he means ever, saw Athena scream in fear, and especially faint.

'It's like she saw a ghost or something' thought Ashur.

As Ashur looked at the fainted Athena, he noticed that Athena seemed to bring flowers with her, 'Well, that settles that question' thought Ashur, as he went over and picked her up.

After he picked her up, he brought her over to the sofa and laid her down.