Time is a Prison

King Agua, Minoreyna, Jesus, Krsna and a whole lot of other interesting beings had appeared suddenly in one of the many residential districts of Rasalandia to discuss the end of the universe. Krsna had summoned them all in order to discuss the zombi apocalypse occurring just outside the city of the Minotaurs. 

King Agua was accustomed to being summoned and shoved from one end of the galaxy to the other by Gods since becoming the monarch of Lollipop City, so he was not at all bothered by this particular summoning, which took him to one of his favorite places on the planet, the beautiful city of the horned folk. Jesus Christ and Krsna were already there, discussing current events.

"Oh, hi, I called you because we're discussing the end of the universe, and I think you should take a part of the discussions, since it was some of our decisions that started the whole thing." said Jesus Christ. 

This would be fine, but for one peculiar element...

Suddenly, time stopped.

Only King Agua was left standing. Everybody else was frozen in time, waiting the logical conclusion to what was about to happen. Jesus was left in mid-sentence. Krsna was left with a butterfly just about to land on his outstretched hand. Minoreyna had a single drop of drool coming out of her mouth, drool that never reached the ground.

King Agua looked around perplexed.

Cara, his octopus-faced friend;  Stego the blue dragon; Lava the dragonman.. all of them frozen. Even Lord Krsna and Jesus Christ were there, frozen in time. Who or what had the power to do such a feat? It was beyond King Agua, because he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that the most powerful being in that place was Lord Krsna, and somehow, he was also frozen with his butterfly that never landed on his hand.

The mystery was suddenly solved with the appearance of a particularly beautiful angel with white wings, long blond hair and a smile to warm the suns.

"Please allow me to introduce myself."  he said.

"You need no introduction, Lord Lucifer." Said the lizard King. He had never met the fallen angel, but he knew enough about him to recognize him for the sheer beauty of his being. He was after all, Gods' most beautiful angel.

"Yes, pleased to meet you." said the fallen.

"I am not sure if the pleasure is mutual. You have quite a reputation for evil acts against those who befriend you." Said King Agua, nervously.

"Well, you don't think I would stand by and see the most powerful begins in the universe discuss the end of all things without having at least a little bit to say about it, did you?".

"True enough. How did you freeze them all out of time? Aren't  Lord Krsna and Lord Christ more powerful than you?". asked the lizardman.

"I actually didn't do anything to them. I only extended your timeline, permitting a small eternity to appear between the seconds of your breath. I needed to speak privately to you about some matters of great philosophical importance to the multiple universes and the multiple realities thereof before you make decisions that will affect us all without consulting with me first." said Lucifer, and then he picked up an apple from a fruitstand nearby. He bit into the apple with delight.

In fact, Agua knew exactly what kind of magic could cause time to stretch for him but not for the rest of reality. He had heard about it once, but the power necessary to accomplish it was ... well, only Gods could do it. In fact, the extension of his own time would not affect in any way the ordinary timeline where Jesus and Krsna had summoned him. To them, what happened now to him would never actually happen. 

"Lord Lucifer, what might I do for you?". Agua just wanted to return to his own time. He was not at all comfortable outside of time with Lucifer.

"Well, Agua, my dear friend, I have looked into your future, and I have come to realize that you will become aware of being the Avatar of Vishnu very shortly and therefore, you will cause the end to all suffering in the universe, and the bliss and everlasting life for all sentient beings. Your nature is pure compassion and you would gladly set free of all suffering all beings." Said Lucifer munching his apple.


"I was not aware I had such power."

"Oh, but you will. Trust me. I have seen it happen. And that is just exactly my problem. Now I want you to consider the nature of suffering and evil, before you decide to make all sentinent beings blissful and eternal.  You want, in fact to eradicate suffering now, and I don't blame you, but there are other aspects to consider in this equation." The Archangel smiled and threw away the reminder of the apple, moving over to where Krsna was and softly putting the butterfly on its perch of Krsna's index finger.

Agua "smiled" (lizards have a hard time with this). In fact, the fallen angel was right. Agua was a being of goodness and his mission in life had always been, besides serving Lord Krsna, to serve all other sentient beings,  vowing to liberate them from suffering.

"Are you sure this is what I would do if I were to become all-powerful?" Asked Agua.

"As I have told you, I have seen it happen. You would liberate even me! Your innocence and goodness are predictable." Lucifer shook his head sadly.

"And of course,  you can't allow that."

"The Vedas advice us that reality is composed of three "gunas" or "elements" of creation: passion, ignorance and goodness. If you become all powerful, which you will, trust me on it, you will defy reality and rid the universe of ignorance and passion. The result shall be eternal bliss for all beings. But then... what will happen to reality? Consider, for instance, a blissful mosquito. His entire existence is based on the need to suck blood, causing pain to his victims. In a universe without pain, what use is a mosquito? Would you destroy all mosquitoes? Or maybe all sharks. Or cats. Don't you like cats? Imagine a universe were cats can't hunt. Would that be possible? Reality is made in various parts from ignorance and passion, and if you remove them from reality, it is no longer reality as we understand it. In fact, I would probably cease to exist, since it is passion that has made me into what I am. Would you simply cause me to cease to exist?".   Lucifer was truly moved by his own words. As if this speech had been in his heart from the beginning of creation, and waiting just the right moment to come out.

"What is wrong with a reality where evil has no more power to hurt beings?" asked Agua innocently.

"What is wrong is that it no longer belongs to "reality", Agua. Total bliss without benefit of suffering is tasteless, it is like the ocean without fish. Just look at the ocean to understand what I tell you. The little fish is eaten by the big fish, but in that eternal struggle there is beauty, there is glory, there is wonder... if fish did not eat fish, would they still be fish?"

"I guess you represent the biggest fish." said Agua.

"Leviathan. He's a friend of mine." laughed Lucifer.

"So, you could stop me from becoming all powerful, Lucifer. Why not do it? Why the conversation?".

"In fact, I do not have the power to stop you. The events which I have seen have already "occurred" and there is no turning them back. But I do have one possibility to continue to exist, and it is to appeal to your reason. I know you to be a purely good being, and an innocent to boot. But your innocence threatens my existence and the existence of all beings who depend on ignorance and passion to exist. Please consider my plea. I will say no more. We have spoken, and that is sufficient. I know you to be a supremely intelligent (if somewhat naive) creature. I return you to your timeline, and Ihope you keep my words in mind."

Having said that, Lucifer disappeared and Agua saw how time returned to its' ordinary state.

"How is Lucifer?" asked Krsna to his old friend, the lizardman.

Agua whistled. And lizards never whistle.