This new landscape was pleasing to Arkidetelos. Blackened, bloodied. Battered. Broken. But most importantly, dying. The entire floating island was to be destroyed and consumed by him, starting with the dead, golden-armoured entities that littered what was once a beach and small forest.
However, among the devastation, Arkidetelos saw something moving. Something small and red, flickering with fire. Flickering with life. Before Arkidetelos could feed, he needed to deal with this little spark.
“I thought I told you to leave. You should leave, before I finish feeding.”
“We need to talk, Arkay.”
This being was the flameborn one that Arkidetelos had left in that mansion. With a snarl, Arkidetelos shrunk himself down so he was on equal footing with the fire god.
“Talk about what?” Arkidetelos snorted. “Are you really going to try and convince me that killing those armoured goons was wrong?”
“We need to talk about you, Arkay. About who you really are.”
Arkidetelos snorted some more, kicking up blackened sand in frustration. “This is who I really am.”
“Is it?”
“Yes! Yes, this is what I really am! Once you take off the shackles, once you free me from my naivety and morals, this is my true self! Death, destruction and hunger personified!”
The look on little Retvik’s face faded slightly. Did this fool really think he could talk the mighty Arkidetelos out of the path of mass destruction he was going to take?
“Is it really though?” Retvik asked again. “What happens to everything you did as Arkay? Are you going to throw away everything you have done, everything you have created, just so you can be a hungry, lonely monster?”
Arkidetelos stared at the little flaming Decayling. Retvik’s flames were simple flickers of red and orange, nothing compared to the black, cosmic flames that rippled off his own body. How did this individual even have the courage to stand before Arkidetelos, especially when the armoured beasts he had just defeated had cowered in fear.
“All that was just a mask. A cover. No. A shell. A shell that kept me contained, kept me sealed away. I have always been Arkidetelos. I was only Arkadin on the surface. Arkay was nothing more than a shadow of my former self. A shadow of even just Arkadin. I am Arkidetelos, and I am as real I always should have been.”
“What about Arkay though?”
“A lie, nothing more than that.”
“Hmph…” Retvik crossed his arms, tutting. “That is a shame. A shame to throw away the knowledge he learned, the friendships he made. The beings who loved him. I mean, I waited all this time until you were ready to come out of your shell and finally be yourself, and this is who you are? It is… pointless really. I do not know why I bothered being so patient with you.”
Retvik’s statement seemed… Arkidetelos wasn’t sure. It felt sharp. But it also felt… wrong… With a snarl, Arkidetelos shook his head, a vague attempt to get rid of this sudden rush of feelings. Feelings he shouldn’t have been feeling. Feelings he didn’t need.
“I cared about you, Arkay. But I guess you never truly cared about me. It hurts to say this, but, well, you crossed the line. I am sorry, Arkay, but you have forced me to do this. Our relationship is over.”
The Lord of Destruction stared at Retvik, unable to make any sort of comeback. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly, his thoughts and feelings conflicting with each other. He could hear a myriad of voices in his mind, all screaming at him. Retvik’s words echoed through Arkidetelos’s recent memories, over and over, harsher and more distorted every time. Beneath it all, cold, foreign hands worked tirelessly, sowing discord in the Thantoepheron’s thoughts, helping him tear himself apart.
“Oh. I… I guess you are right.”
Arkidetelos sighed to himself, then fell to his knees. As he did so, the cosmic flames across his body died down and his armour faded away, revealing his older form underneath.
“I’m sorry… Not that it means anything any more…” Arkay muttered as he collapsed on the ground, allowing his fellow Decay Lords to put him to sleep.