As the Missing returned to Savepoint, they noticed that the place was still rather busy. But most of it was administrative business, rather than people needing to be healed from various ailments. Retvik and Litvir did quickly make their way to where everyone was, to work out what was going on, but Arkay had noticed the presence of someone unusual, someone sitting by the lake and seemingly upset, and he went to go and see who it was.
As he approached the bench, he spotted a young but worryingly familiar Voidborn. They were staring at the lake, looking miserable. More worryingly though, they looked like Kenon, the Voidborn that Kinisis forcibly married, someone who spent a long time pretending to be Arkay’s father figure. Arkay though was well aware that this being wasn’t specifically Kenon, because Arkay had killed Kenon not too long ago.
“Uh, hello?”
The Voidborn hesitated, then turned around to face Arkay.
“Uh… hello…”
The Voidborn clearly didn’t recognise Arkay. That was both a good thing and a bad thing. Arkay hesitated briefly, then decided to sit down with the Voidborn and see what was wrong.
“You seem upset.”
The Voidborn sighed. “I am sad. Everyone here does not like me. Call me what I am not.”
Arkay tutted. “Let me guess, people are calling you Kenon or Kenostaton, right?”
“Yes. I am not Kenostaton. I am just Staton.”
“You’re definitely not Kenostaton.”
This Voidborn was clearly very young. There was an odd slowness to their movement. As if they were learning how to control their body. Arkay assumed Staton had only recently formed a body for himself.
“How… how do you know?”
“I killed Kenostaton.”
Staton hesitated, then sighed again. “They say I am Kenostaton, reborn. I do not want to be Kenostaton again, but I do not know if I am or not. I cannot dispute it either way. All I know is that Kenostaton was a bad person.”
Arkay shrugged. “Well, he was a bad person, but, like all people, it’s kinda complicated. Being a bad person isn’t always a one and done thing. There are different levels of badness, and people can become bad over time. They can also just… vary, I guess. And Kenon definitely varied?”
“How so?” Staton seemed curious but unsure at the same time.
“Well, when I first met Kenon, he was… uh… well, a monster. He wanted to take over the universe to prove his love to Kinisis. Both he and Kairos were constantly doing stupid things in a bid to make Kinisis love one more than the other, and Kenon did some hideous things.”
“He… made Vekeus. In a bad way.”
Arkay nodded. “He did, yes. He hurt my mum in order to have a hybrid child. He hurt Vick as well, and he nearly killed me by trapping me in space, back when I was mortal. And when I killed him? He was threatening to break and remake reality, using power stolen from Kinisis. Admittedly, I think Kinisis had driven him insane because he dared want to no longer be Kinisis’s partner, but still, he hurt my friends and was a danger to everyone.”
“So he was nothing but bad…” Staton clicked in annoyance. “Which means I am bad.”
“That’s not true at all. Yes, Kenon was bad, but he did do some good. He may have hated some people, but he did care about Kinisis’s universes overall. I think he actually cared more about her universes than Kinisis did. Because when his old cult, the Golden Protectors, threatened to destroy Kinisis’s final universe, Kenon literally threw himself at Voidborns who used to be his allies. He fought his own kin, in order to protect Kinisis and her children. And he consistently worked hard to protect Kinisis’s universes from Corruption and other Voidborns. That’s not something that a completely bad person does… And, at the same time? I don’t think you’re bad.”
“I am not bad?”
“Well…” Arkay hesitated. “I admittedly don’t know you. You might very well be Kenon, reincarnated. But in all honesty? It doesn’t matter. Because you got a second chance.”
Staton didn’t seem to understand. They looked at Arkay in a confused manner, waiting for an explanation.
“Alright, basically, you MIGHT be Kenon reincarnated. We don’t know. There’s no way TO know. You do look like Kenon, definitely. You might be Kenon. You might just be a random Voidborn who pulled himself out of the Eternal Darkness and just happened to be near my old universe when it happened. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Not in the slightest.”
“It does not matter?”
“Nope! Because you got a chance to be a good person. It doesn’t matter what Kenon did. Kenon is dead. I killed him. His death was a direct result of his ill actions. You though, you’re a brand new person. You’re a baby Voidborn. You’re starting fresh, you can do whatever you want. And because of that, you can choose who you want to be. You could choose to continue Kenon’s legacy of being a confusing cuntbag with flickering loyalties and no sense of real mortality. Or you could choose to be completely neutral. But…”
“But you… you do not think I will choose that. You hope… you think I will choose to be good.”
Arkay smiled. “Yep. Staton, you got what almost no one else gets. You got a second chance. It’s up to you to use that second chance well. Be a good person. Be the person Kenon should have been, from the very start.”
Staton hesitated. Whether he smiled or not, Arkay wasn’t sure. But Staton did seem more optimistic now.
“I want to be a good person.”
“That’s the first step. What will you do to be a better person?”
Staton glanced behind him, back at the main offices.
“Vekeus, Theocydes and Kesistatir are teaching me how to do Corruption Purges. It is… worrying. But it is for the betterment of others. For their safety. I want to find better ways. Faster ways. Safer ways. I remember when Vekeus got hurt. There has to be some sort of way to… I do not know…”
Arkay smiled some more, then patted Staton on the shoulder. “You’re a good kid. You’re going to figure things out.”
“You think so?”
“I do, yes. Because you’re already taking those first steps. You’re not evil old Kenon. You’re good little Staton.”
Staton perked up and definitely seemed to be smiling back. “I like that. Thank you.”
“No worries, kid. Just keep on doing good, and you’ll be just fine…”