“OW!”
Continuity rushed into the room in a panic. “Arkay, are you well? Is it becoming too much? Do we need to find a new Veth to replace you?”
Arkay was sitting at a table, rubbing his hand. On the table was a large map of Kinigi, something Kinisis had made millennia ago, that updated in real time. Continuity knew that the Veth Prime would experience discomfort occasionally, especially since he was essentially taking the place of Death, but that outcry worried him. Maybe Arkay wasn’t strong enough after all.
“Ow… No, I’m alright, Continuity… Felt like something just… Continuity, tell me, if Kinisis gets hurt, it’ll show, won’t it?”
“What do you mean?” Continuity asked.
Arkay grunted, then got up and held his hand out to the Veth. “You see that? Purple. It wasn’t there before. That stabbing felling, I think… I think we’re hit.” The Veth Prime winced in pain. He went back to the table and pointed at the map, where a weird purple splodge had appeared. “We need to send Veth to here. Fight this thing off from the inside so Kinisis can fight it off from the outside.”
Continuity looked down at his own hand. Arkay was right. The Corruption had hit them. A purple mark was growing from Continuity’s claws, steadily growing in size.
“We’ve lost…”
“No we haven’t!” Arkay shouted, making Continuity jump.
“You didn’t…”
“Yeah, I didn’t care. But now I’m here, I’m going to fight for this universe.”
“We’re infected. The Corruption can’t hurt itself. It’ll spread. We need to-”
“Then we’ll cut off our hands,” Arkay growled, his eyes glowing.
“No!” Continuity panicked. “You cut off your hand, you’ll sever that part of the universe! But… you’re right. I’ll…”
Before Continuity could finish, Syklos burst in, wearing a heavy set of armour and carrying as many weapons as he could handle. Behind him was Istoria and a handful of other Veth.
“It’s broken through! Everyone get your weapons!”
Arkay sighed. The pain was actually pretty bad, worse than the lingering strain of subconsciously controlling the Cycle. He couldn’t tell if it was just his imagination or not, but he could also hear a voice, whispering for him to give in.
“Istoria, is Continuity right, that if we’re infected, we can’t harm the Corruption?”
Something hit the ground by Arkay’s feet with a wet thud. It was Istoria’s hand.
“I have already done as you ordered, and have sent as many Veth as I can muster. Whether it is enough, I do not know.”
“I should come and fight. Can I try and cut this out of my hand, since I can’t just cut my hand off?” Arkay asked, picking up the first weapon he could see.
“You can try cut it out but you need your hand,” Istoria explained. “If you can cut around it, maybe we can push the Corruption out on-site, but that might make it easier to get in. After all, it needs some sort of access poi- Arkay?”
The Veth Prime fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. Continuity and Syklos rushed to his side and tried to help him up, but Arkay wouldn’t budge.
“G-get out there. G-go,” Arkay muttered as he reached for a knife and started cutting into his hand, doing his best to ignore the pain. “Cut the Corruption out of your hands then stab those weapons into the fucker trying to get in.”
The Veth all did as they were ordered and raced off, picking up weaponry as they did so. Istoria though remained.
“What is going on, Arkay? Has the Corruption broken in somewhere else?”
“I-it’s trying to. I can feel it prodding and p-poking. I can hear a voice. It wants t-to get in. Not just to c-consume us.”
Outside, the flapping of wings could be heard. Arkay picked himself up and he and Istoria headed out to meet the sound. The Whenvern had arrived.
“Are you the Veth in charge, currently?” Kairos asked.
Istoria nodded as she put an arm around Arkay. “Yes, we are. What do you need?”
“Kenos and Kinisis have requested that I pick up the designated survivors. We have to…prepare for a new universe…”