Whether believed or not, Time once shared many friends. In primordia, Love and Hatred went by different names but altogether were the same. And many other couplets arrived before the Reapers, to either witness or follow the birth of Sol.

One of the last arrivals convinced Time to stall her desires, to endure the hardships that mortals brought to her once simple plain. As with the others, this feminine form once went by an ancient name.

Today, the reapers knew her as Geduld. A hundred years before, she went by Patience. Her twin sister Ungeduld had not yet learned how to speak with Time when she first spared the mortals, lest history might have taken a different path.

Both sisters shared a passion for the cultures of Africa but one day Ungeduld showed a little place called Germany to Geduld and both fell in love with a second nation. In the presence of others, they wore lightly dark skin and thick, black hair coiled out like knitted wool, and adorned the garb of African queens.

While Ungeduld steered Germany toward a great war, Geduld promised Time a solution for the incoming doom. She returned to schematics she first tested at the Black Plague, and forged a suit that any reaper might adorn, capable of storing thousands of souls. Once a reaper finished harvesting for the day, they were to connect the tubing of the suit to Sol’s Maw at the center of the Reaping Concourse. Life essence had a place to go, Sol had an endless supply of protein.

Time loved the finished product, but she grew to despise the sisters the same as she despised Love and Hatred. She refused to speak with those early friends for one reason or another, always inventing excuses. Most were exiled to faraway plains.

This was why Ash stood naked in Geduld’s workshop, arms stretched out and legs spread while the patient suitor ran tubing along his flesh, into a central container strapped over his stomach. She had the most gleeful grin.

He tried to avoid eye contact with Harakiri and Volatile, but he couldn't do anything to ignore Love and Hatred who always found a way to sneak under his eyelids.

“Nice house you have,” Volatile said, head bent down to fit into the room.

It was a nice home, decorated as if a junker’s aesthetic slammed head-first into a Germanic grandma’s kitchen. A ceiling too short. Windows too high. Obsidian littered the bookshelves and what humans called magic clogged the air, which it wasn’t magic but they got a taste of it a long time ago and invented wizards and dragons, and that was another reason Time hated them.

“Oh, thanks. You don't have to make pleasantries. I've been doing this so long that compliments all sound the same,” Geduld said, stapling a tube along Ash’s left arm. “See, now, Ash, you paying attention?”

“Love’s licking my eye,” Ash muttered, struggling to stay still.

Geduld snapped a finger. Love appeared for all, the way in which Ash saw envisioned her, and was dropped to her pale, bony ass.

“Okay, Ash. Listen to me. I'm going to run the tube directly into your wrist. It's going to hurt. A lot. But it's the most discreet way of feeding life to you without anyone else noticing.”

“Won't Time be pissed?” Harakiri asked.

The room fell silent, with all eyes on the bug-eyed reaper.

“Oh, right. She already wants us dead.”

“That's not a guarantee,” said Ash. “Remember, Time acts on the whims of a god. I asked Geduld to fashion this suit out of a wealth of caution. Nothing more, nothing less. Time and I are old friends. It's of my opinion that she's not doing this through her own motivations.”

“I'm just happy that someone finally asked me to rethink my old suit. Like, it's been a Millenia at least. Come on people.” Geduld pushed her hair back, allowing it to bundle itself. “The Grand Reapers use the same suits that they did when Time first employed them. That’s insane. Sol wants genocide but doesn’t want Time to put any resources into it. He’s gone nuts, I swear.”

“Oh,” said volatile. “I forgot that the Grand Reapers might be there.”

Love clasped hands against her cheeks. “And you love Decay.”

Much like Harakiri before her, all eyes fell upon Love, and Ash’s irises burned brighter than the sun with which he planned to meet.

“And I forgot everyone can see this version of me now.” Love moved behind Harakiri. “Can we bring Hatred out?”

Geduld snapped her fingers. Hatred appeared, lurking behind Volatile.

“Ash hates Decay, right?” Love asked.

“Loathe to admit he loves her,” Hatred said.

Volatile jumped, cracking his head on the low ceiling.

Hatred had donned another veil. This one, black. It matched a stripped-down black wedding dress.

“Where is your twin after all, Geduld?” Ash asked.

Geduld stabbed one last tube into the container, patted to check for openings, and nodded. “Snuck into the Concourse. Wanted to see what you’re up against. You know how she is.”

On cue, Ungeduld tossed the door aside, flying through Hatred and striking Volatile.

“Shit. Ash. I’ve never seen Time like this.”

Geduld ripped a tag from the back of Ash’s new suit. A grumble grew in a slow, uneasy pattern. The tubes shuddered, container rattled, and the two needles stabbed deeper into Ash’s wrist. He felt his power swell. Life essence coursed through every passage within his hollow, coiling innards. He muttered “Detritus” and buried his face into darkening, black hands.

“Okay.” Geduld smacked Ash on the ass. “Go see what my twin’s on about then.”