“Hey, Sini, you said you had news about… What are you two doing here?”
Arkay stood in the doorway, holding a bloodied shovel. He had just finished burying a field of recently dead soldiers when he got Sini’s message to meet her at her southernmost lab. He assumed it was important, so he had rushed off as fast as he could. However, Arkay was surprised to find he wasn’t alone. Waiting for him were Kairos, the Whenvern, and Epani, the Lady of the Deep. His fellow deities.
“Arkay, you had visitors the other day…” Kairos immediately started talking, demanding explanations. “Who were they and what did you tell them?”
“Hello, Kairos, how are you, Kairos? I’m fine, thank you, Kairos. Why are you asking about my life, Kairos?” Arkay responded dismissively.
“No one ever visits you, Arkay.” Kairos growled. “I demand answers.”
The Thantophor sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to speak to Sini until Kairos’s demands were met.
“It was just a bunch of curious Skyans. They found my mortal address on Friendface after Sini set up an account for me, and they wanted to see if I was real. I let them in, we had a quick chat, then they left and I politely asked them to not come back. Happy?”
Kairos grunted. He wasn’t satisfied with Arkay’s answer, but it seemed truthful enough.
“Did you fuck them?” Sini asked, not considering her question to be weird in the slightest.
“Sini, not every encounter with mortals has to end with sex or experimentation…” Arkay sighed, before changing the subject. “Did you find anything out about the anomalous material I was stabbed with? I assume that’s why you asked me to come here.”
“Yeah, about that… well…” Sini trailed off, then nodded towards Epani, who hovered ominously in the corner. Like Sini, Epani took on a feminine form, but appeared far more alien, with a look adapted to life underwater, rather than a life of seduction. Dangling from Epani’s head was a long, glowing lure, similar to that of an angler fish.
“Little one, we analysed the sample Sini removed from you, and it contains materials leftover from the birth of our universe…”
“Hah!” Kairos snorted. “Proof that not even this universe wants you, Arkay!”
Arkay simply rolled his eyes. “Do YOU want to be the death god, Kairos? No? Thought as much…” He turned his attention back to Epani. “What does that mean?”
“I believe that some corruption may have somehow managed to get in, using a hole within the earthbones to do so. The reason why you were so gravely injured is because the earthbones…” Epani stopped mid-sentence, thought for a moment, then rephrased her words. “The earthbones are designed to react negatively against avatars of decay such as yourself, in a form of self-defense. Unfortunately though, you are the only being really able to get inside the earthbones and remove the corruption lurking inside.”
Arkay frowned. “You want me to go inside a trap designed to kill me, to flush out some corruption?”
“Not designed to kill you!” Sini smiled. “Just designed to really, really hurt you.”
“And none of you can do this instead of me?”
Epani shook her head. “There is a reason why you are as you are. The blade of death is always the most precise.”
“Also, you are replaceable…” Kairos added.
The Thantophor sighed some more. “Fine. But I am going to need some time to come up with a plan. I can’t just go in blind, otherwise I might end up critically injured before I even find the corruption.”
“Very well…” The Whenvern crossed his wings grunting. “But do hurry. You know the dangers of corruption.”
With that, Kairos disappeared, leaving behind silver feathers and a metallic scent. Epani bowed her head, muttered a thank you, then also vanished, leaving Sini and Arkay alone.
“Why did you invite those two?” Arkay asked.
“It felt important!” Sini shrugged. “So, tell me about those mortals you spoke to!”
Arkay immediately got defensive. He pointed his bloody shovel at Sini. “You leave those mortals alone, understood? They were perfectly normal, perfectly curious mortals. And I sent them home, because I know you get funny whenever I become friends with mortals.”
Sini smiled. Arkay didn’t like that.
“I do what I want, Thantophor.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Allbirther.”
Sini continued to smile, not finding Arkay particularly threatening. “Alright then. I have work to do. Do you need help with your next big trip?”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“Good. Now get out of my lab. I have work to do.”
Arkay grunted, then left the lab, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind him, just to annoy his sibling deity.