Arkay trawled through books and texts, anything he could get his hands on, looking for information. There were hundreds of books sprawled on the floor alongside Arkay right there, and he’d also emptied out four other rooms, only occasionally stopping just to keel over and growl in pain. Mostly from what felt like violent thrusts to the groin and stomach. There had to be SOMETHING in Death’s Library that explained how to kill an invading corruption. But all he had learned was that he needed another corruption to defeat it. A piece of circular logic that Arkay couldn’t get his head round.
“Veth Prime, we’re being pushed back!” Syklos shouted from somewhere. “Where is Istoria?”
Arkay didn’t answer. He was trying desperately to not panic. If the others saw how scared he was, why would they fight? Everyone was counting on him.
“Arkay!”
“I don’t know where Istoria is! She went off with the Whenvern!” Arkay finally shouted back. “Is there ANY more information on this thing?”
Syklos stood above Arkay. There was a look of hatred and anger on his face.
“You can’t find anything?”
“I can’t find information on how to stop THIS corruption. I’m doing everything I can…” Arkay sighed. “I know. We need to… We can’t just throw more Veth at it. Maybe if we threw Deitics at it…”
Syklos growled. “Are you kidding me? Allowing Deitics into the realm of Kinigi? If the Corruption doesn’t destroy us, they will!”
Arkay put his head in his hands. “I… I don’t know what to do. Not even Kinisis knows what to do. We get Deitics in here, maybe they can at least hold the Corrruption off until I find a way to get it out of here.”
Syklos growled again, then slapped Arkay around the face.
“You have no idea what you are doing. This is your fault.”
Arkay hesitated for a moment. The slap didn’t hurt, but it angered him. He retaliated by standing up and wrapping his claws around Syklos’s throat. Just his right claws. His left hand had growing amounts of purple on it, an indicator that the Corruption was spreading.
“Oh really? It’s my fault that Kinisis let us all down? She’s the one supposedly fighting it! And you know what She’s done? She failed. Not me. She failed this universe. This shitty universe that I don’t even like. But I put my anger to one side, unlike you. I’m desperately trying to hold this universe together for as long as possible so the Whenvern can save as much as he can and make a new universe…”
The Veth Prime let go of Syklos and let him fall to the ground.
“Is that where Istoria is?” Syklos finally muttered.
“Yeah. She’s saving what she can.”
“I don’t suppose she’s taking any of us with her.”
Arkay sighed. “Probably not. Maybe one or two Veth. Rest of us need to stay and stop the Corruption from spreading. Even with breaking the speed of light, it’ll take her and Kairos at least a week to get everything ready.”
“I don’t think we can hold that long.”
“That’s why I suggested the Deitics. There’s millions of them compared to thousands of us. Even the Anexartitai care about the universe being swallowed up.”
Syklos wiped something from his eye. Arkay could clearly see that Syklos wasn’t happy. He was just as scared as Arkay. All the Veth were.
“I’m sorry…” Arkay apologised.
“Don’t be. I deserved it…” Syklos admitted. “Should I… go and inform the Deitics?”
“Get them to come in waves,” Arkay suggested. “The aggressive ones first. Anexartitai may hate us, Allagon and Aggeloi may despise us, but they all understand that there’s no point if there’s no universe. Get the smart races working on things as well. After that… I don’t know. Maybe there’s some ascended mortal races that could at least slow the Corruption down. Stop it spreading so fast…”
Arkay closed his eyes as a wave of pain washed over him. Just like before, he was clutching his stomach.
“You alright?”
“No… I don’t even know if She’s fighting any more… It’s as if She’s just… bent over and let it take Her.”
Syklos blinked. “You think the Corruption is… raping our universe? How would you… even know?”
Arkay tutted as he rubbed his stomach. “Unfortunately, I’ve experienced it first hand… My whole family almost, apart from…”
The Veth Prime stopped mid-sentence and stared at the floor. After a moment, he looked back at Syklos. “Do as I said. Send some Deitics to help keep our defences up. If there’s any Veth or mortals with crazy ideas, go ahead and let them do what they want, as long as there are beings holding it back.”
“What about you?” Syklos asked as he watched Arkay leave.
“I’ve got a crazy idea of my own…”