Kuta was utterly miserable. It had been a long time since they’d experienced a breakup, and Kuta was taking it badly. Things were made worse by the fact that they still loved each other. And things were made awkward by the fact that Kuta had been forced to report the breakup to others. In hindsight, maybe dating the God of Decay was a mistake, but Kuta did genuinely love them, and felt awful about what had happened. It turned out, despite their status as a divine being, the Thantophor mostly just served the other deities, and they could just essentially force him to seal himself away whenever they wanted to.
With a sigh, Kuta decided to check their emails. Captain Taliv had been very kind and helpful, dealing with phone calls and anything important, as well as offering some kindly advice, but Kuta still needed to report and archive things. Their job as General of Deitic Affairs had made a lot of things awkward, and now the breakup was threatening that as well.
One email came in. From the Thantophor. All it contained though was a small list, documenting a handful of things that he and his fellow deities had been done that day, as well as recent sightings. Arkay would kindly send these emails out, to keep mortals somewhat informed, but normally Arkay’s emails to Kuta would have smiley faces and hearts in them, as well as a signature and sign off. This email though contained no greeting, no goodbye, just the list.
Kuta frowned, then forwarded the email to their Skyavok, Ksithan and Banikan counterparts. After a moment of thought, Kuta picked up their communicator.
“Taliv?”
“Yes, Kyr Kuta?”
“I need to take the rest of the day off. I am not feeling well.”
“That is most unusual, General. Is there anything you need?”
“No. You can handle the office for the next two hours, yes?”
“Of course, Kyr Kuta.”
“Thank you.”
Kuta sighed again as they closed the call. They had too much on their mind. But they didn’t want to go home. Not to their now empty apartment.
A thought entered Kuta’s head. A long shot. Kuta started packing their stuff up, placing everything in their brown satchel. Keys, communicator, wallet, notebook and one of Kuta’s many small laptops. They also took off their General’s Insignia and tucked that away too. Kuta then reached under their desk to a small secret compartment, and opened it up, pulling out a small envelope with paper money in it, as well as an interspecies passport, just in case.
With their gear ready, Kuta turned to the large shadow they kept in the corner of their office. The one Kuta used to travel about. They concentrated on where they wanted to go, closed their eyes, then leaped into the shadow.
When Kuta opened their eyes, they realised everything was dark. And cold. For a moment, Kuta panicked that they had messed up, and had appeared on Zero Zero, the great park in the middle of Skyavok territories, where beings always went if they failed a shadowjump. However, as Kuta picked themselves up off the floor, they discovered they were in the right place.
Arkay’s bedroom, in his tiny apartment, in the Skyavok district of Palaestra.
Except there was nothing there. Just cold, tiled floors. No shelves with mechanical models on them, no pile of stuffed animals, no suitcase full of armour and clothing and no bed. No curtains either. The only light in the room was coming from a street lamp outside. As Kuta wandered around, they realized the whole place was completely empty. As if no one had ever lived there in the first place. Kuta pulled out their communicator and opened a mapping application to make sure they were in the right location, but to their dismay, yes, this was Arkay’s place. Or, it used to be.
Clearly, Arkay had disappeared. Completely.
Kuta sighed. They needed someone to talk to. Someone who would understand. Taliv, bless their spirit, had tried to cheer Kuta up, but Taliv was young and happily married and couldn’t relate. Also, they were currently three solar systems away. However, another thought entered Kuta’s head. A real idea. And, thankfully, Kuta was in the right location.
The front door was locked, but Kuta could see a shadow on the other side of the door through the keyhole. That was enough for Kuta to be able to escape from the empty apartment and step into the streets of Palaestra proper.
Once Kuta was outside, they turned to their mapping app again. They thought for a moment, typed in an address, and started to walk. Since Kuta didn’t know the massively mixed race city very well, they couldn’t just shadowjump, but Kuta was already pretty tired, and needed to conserve their strength for the shadowjump home. They’d brought money in case they needed to book a flight, but Kuta did want to avoid having to do that. That being said, they had a good 30 minute walk ahead of them.
The mixed-race district of Skipou was rather quiet, mostly just a handful of shops and four small cul de sacs, but the homes were all quite large, clearly built for wealthy Banikans and Thraki and the occasional Rethan. The one Kuta wanted to visit was right at the end, on its own, with a small, messy garden. Normally, there’d be a Temthan 4×4 truck parked out the front, but that was missing today. Kuta checked the time, wondering if it was a bit too late. 8:30pm local time. A little late. But this was important.
Kuta approached the front door and knocked politely, then stepped back and waited for a response. There was a light on inside, someone was in, Kuta… well, Kuta could easily find out who with their telepathy, but they were tired and didn’t want to breach privacy. Some messing around could be heard inside, and, eventually, the door opened.
“Oh. Hello, Kuta, what are you doing here?”
Height-wise, Retvik was completely average, but he was still a good 10cm taller than Kuta and was very muscular. Just like Kuta, he was a higher caste Rethan, but the additional strips of plating around Retvik’s shoulders had been trimmed down, and the thin line that would have run along the top of his head plate had been cut down to a small stub Aside from that though, Retvik was an absolutely stunning specimen. Retvik was an exiled Rethan who had set off on his own and become a famous gladiator. He was also one of the few beings who knew the Thantophor personally.
Kuta blinked, having forgotten what they wanted to say. “I, uh… I wanted to apologise.”
Retvik blinked back, then stepped to one side, letting Kuta in. Kuta quickly scanned the place, but it seemed Retvik was the only person present. Kuta was well aware that the members of Retvik’s gladiator team lived with him, but they were all missing.
“Where is everyone?”
“Nyssi has a date, Tenuk took Kayel out to the night mall because he is angry and upset. I take it that you are here for… a similar reason?”
Kuta nodded. Retvik eyed Kuta, then led them to the largest sofa in the living room and sat them down. The utterly beautiful Rethan then fetched two drinks, cans of diet caramel soda, and sat down next to them.
“You look heartbroken.”
“I… I am. This is all my fault. Arkay went cold because he glimpsed into the future and saw me die, and the only way for him to avoid it was to disappear. He… I…” Kuta stuttered, struggling to continue. “He did not want this. But the other deities, they always get their way, and he is gone again. If I had not suggested we date, none of this would have happened.”
“You do not know that…” Retvik sighed. “Could have happened to anyone. Could have happened regardless of you dating Arkay. We should take solace though that we briefly made Arkay happy, and that he will return one day.”
Kuta tutted. “True… Still, I am feeling a lot of emotions and I am unable to express them.”
“Hah, you are not alone there. Is there anything you wish to talk about in particular?”
Another tut. “I enjoyed not being single for once. Arkay was the first person I had a proper relationship with for over a decade, and he was capable of looking past my ugliness, my stupid eyes, my hideous fangs and my leering personality. He thought I was just as beautiful as you are. Meanwhile, I still face insults from my peers. The Master of Generals called me a vrykolak the other day and while, sure, your sibling apologised in Vaksavar’s place, that thought now lives rent-free in my head.”
“That is a horrible thing to say!”
“I have been called a vrykolak multiple times, but I expected better from the Master of Generals. Still, as much as Rethais and I have our disagreements, they are at least honourable. Mostly.”
Retvik shrugged. “How are my siblings?”
“You do not speak to them?”
“I message Relkir occasionally, but I have not spoken to Rethais since I was exiled.”
“Fair, I guess… They are… well, I assume. Rethais has requested that the paperwork for ending the Bloodline Traditions be done by Lepidas, but we are getting awkward backlashes from Vaksavar and the Ethranioi.”
“Hmph. The Master of Generals is old, it does not concern them any more.”
“Utterly ancient. Still working at the age of 167. Still scary, Vaksavar makes even Rethais pause. At least the repatriation work is going through. Ritlir confirmed to me yesterday that your information has been confirmed and handed to Internal Affairs, but I do not know how long it will take from there.”
“That is good to hear, I appreciate the update.”
Kuta glanced at Retvik. They couldn’t understand how Retvik seemed so kind and caring. He was an exile, shunned from Rethan society, yet was capable of looking past that. Really, Retvik should have hated Kuta and everything Kuta stood for, as Kuta had become the General of Hidden Affairs not long after Retvik was exiled, and they never did anything about it, despite disagreeing with what happened.
Really, Retvik was the perfect Rethan. But here he was, out here, all on his own. Lonely. Like Kuta now was.
“You… are really nice…”
“And you are clearly in distress, Kuta.”
“I… I am. I do not want to go back to being alone. For the first time in a decade, I felt actual love and now it is gone. And the stupid, stressed, animalistic part of my brain is telling me to… do weird things…”
Retvik glanced back at Kuta. “You like me. Despite me being an exile.”
“It is not your fault you are an exile. And I know what it is like to be avoided by other Rethans for things outside your control.”
Retvik sipped his drink, then patted Kuta on the back. “You are in shock right now. You are hurting inside and you are struggling with your emotions. I know because I have seen this before, and I felt the exact same way when I was forced to split up with Isaar. You are looking to fill a very sudden hole, are you not?”
Kuta nodded. “I am. I grew too used to not being ignored, to being considered normal, to having someone who looks at me as a whole being. Even your little blue-eyed sibling looks down at me. Well, they look up at me, because they are so short, but you get what I mean.”
“Mhm, I do. And, when you are not wearing that scary black Below Twenty armour, you are much prettier than you think. But right now, you are not thinking straight. Because you are a Below Twenty General who was just seen dating the Thantophor, and dating an exile like me would cause more problems. Plus, you live in Phos, I live here in Palaestra, and, well… I cannot love you back, thanks to the damned Rethianos Tradition.”
“Both of those things will change. I will make them change. Travel is not an issue for me either, I literally shadowjumped here an hour ago! And we are both… cursed to live long lives, unnatural lives. We…”
Retvik put a finger to Kuta’s lips, silencing them. “While I do appreciate that you like me, and I do like you back, you are currently grieving and it is clouding your judgement. You need to take some time for yourself, to get back on track. Have a sleep, have a proper meal, maybe take a couple of days off. Then see if you actually want to spend time with a dumb exile like me.”
“You are not a dumb exile. But… do you… actually like me?”
“I definitely am!” Retvik smiled. “And I do like you. Sure, you are a scary Below Twenty General with fangs, telepathy and wholly unholy shadow powers, but I do admittedly find your eyes and bright white plating very pretty and you have a good, strong, pure soul. Especially since you are blaming yourself for all of this, even though it could have happened to anyone. But you need a little time to mourn before you do something you might regret.”
Kuta sighed. “You are right. You are absolutely right… But do you mind if I sit here and rest for a bit? Shadowjumping from Phos to Palaestra has exhausted me and I need half an hour to recover.”
Retvik continued to smile as he got up. “That is absolutely fine. Do you want something to eat in the mean time? I do not mind cooking a bit of extra mince and pasta, if you want.”
Kuta hesitated, then shrugged. “Yes, sure, that would be nice. Thank you, Retvik.”
“No worries, dear. Do not fret, you will get through this.”
Kuta smiled weakly. “Yes, I think I will…”