While Sini and Arkay had been working on curing Epani of her insanity and illness, Kairos had gone back to work repairing the grand hall in the vast castle at the centre of the universe. Everything was now back to normal, thanks to a small army of Spasts and Athrens that Kairos brought in to clear everything up. He had sent them all off about five minutes ago, and was now waiting for his fellow deities to come in and sit down at the main table, where Kairos had prepared drinks and a handful of snacks.
“Hey, Kairos, how are you feeling?” Arkay asked awkwardly as he wandered by, not sitting down yet. Sini and Epani were busy elsewhere having a private discussion, so the two male deities had some time to themselves.
“I feel awful, thank you for asking.”
Arkay blinked, then apologized. “I’m really sorry about Seimeni. Do you want to talk?”
“How would talking help?”
“I… don’t really know. But it’s better than just bottling up your sorrow. Seimeni was a nice person, she didn’t deserve what happened to her, but you did the right thing.”
Kairos glared at Arkay. “How do you even know she was a nice person? Epani stripped you of those memories.”
“I, uh, got some of them back…” Arkay edged away, then actually sat down in the large, black bean bag chair he called his throne, helping himself to a drink. “I mean, what I remember of her, she kinda wasn’t a nice person, she intruded in my friends’ thoughts and messed with their heads and she toyed with my emotions in the past, but at the same time, I know she made you happy, you two were a cute couple. It hurts me that you were so badly hurt, and that you had to end her life. I’m sorry.”
Kairos snarled, but calmed down. “I… I appreciate that, Arkay. I am sorry for taking my pain out on you.”
Arkay tutted. “It’s fine. You needed to mourn. My apartment can withstand being torn up by a whirlwind eight times. I want to make sure that you’re alright. After all, you were Kinisis’s servant for way longer than even I was.”
“Admittedly, I don’t actually remember most of the universes I have been a Time Drake for, aside from the fact that I’ve always existed but at the same time Kinisis first attuned me to forward-flow non-branching aparelthon-changing concurrent time…” Kairos sighed. “Again though, I appreciate your kindness.”
“At least you and Sini do!” Arkay crossed his arms, tutting again. “I have no clue what’s going on with Epani. Constantly walking on Temthan eggshells around her lately. Speaking of which…”
The Panelix and the Allbirther had both finally arrived, both with angry looks on their faces. Sini threw herself into her chair and started pouring herself multiple glasses of wine, while Epani wandered around the room, before sitting down.
“Thank you for clearing up around here, Kairos…” Epani closed her eyes and put her hands together. “And thank you too, Sini and Arkay, for helping me get over my recent bout of insanity. What did you want to talk about, Kairos?”
Kairos grunted, tucking his wings underneath himself. He felt cold, almost scared and certainly uncomfortable. “I have a… painful question to ask. Why are we here, Epani?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are Arkay and I here? Why is Sini here? Did you really need us three to make your universe?”
Epani nodded. “I do need you here. You three are vital to the continued existence of this universe. We all are.”
“Yet you have been needlessly aggressive towards all of us. And, at the same time, you dragged us away from prior paths. You fundamentally changed the Forward Flow for all of us, permanently and destructively altering our timelines in your bid to build this universe and remodel it as you saw fit.”
While he waited for a response, Kairos inspected Arkay and Sini, watching for their reactions. Arkay shifted nervously in his seat, but Sini mostly just looked confused.
“I did no such thing…” was Epani’s oddly blunt reply. “You chose to come in here, to follow my lead.”
“I didn’t. I used to be chained to Kinisis, same way you all were. I felt Kinisis die, saw the universe start to shift, sensed that time had shattered and jumped into the reforming universe to try and protect it. Sini rushed to your aid because she knew you couldn’t rebuild the universe on your own, even though she was accepting her duties as the goddess of life and death. Arkay, well…”
“I was dead…” Arkay muttered. “Literally dead. Most peaceful ten minutes of my long, painful existence, until you resurrected me.”
“You still accepted your duty to serve this universe!” Epani spat.
Arkay twitched nervously. He couldn’t sink any further into his seat. “I kinda only said I’d help this cycle because Kinisis made me. Before we killed each other, Kinisis cursed me to live through one more Cycle, and that I’d never have peace, and, as much as I hate that cunt of a deity, she’s been right on both counts so far.”
Epani tutted. “Well, you may have been coerced, but Kairos, Sini, you both accepted my offers to stay and help me build this universe. Why are you telling me now that you want to leave, Kairos?”
“It’s not that I want to leave, it’s that you have never been completely honest with us, Epani…”
“Wait!” Arkay suddenly interrupted. “Are you saying we could just leave?”
“No.”
“You just said that Kairos-”
“NO!” Epani repeated herself. “Arkay, you cannot leave this universe until you are unbound from it. None of us can simply leave. We started this job, we have to finish it. And we have to look after the many mortals we created to give this universe meaning. That means no backsies, Kairos.”
The Whenvern sighed, then downed his drink. “Fine. Whatever. The one thing I cared about outside of this universe is dead anyway. But if I can’t have a nice exo-universe girlfriend, then Arkay shouldn’t either. And neither should Sini if she has one.”
“Alright that’s fucking below the belt!” Arkay abruptly shouted. “I’m sorry about Seimeni but that doesn’t mean you lot have the right to go after my blood-bound as well!”
“You’re not really blood-”
“Yes we fucking are! I didn’t spend hundreds of hours trying to recalibrate myself in a hostile, lawless landscape alongside a sexy hot fire god and a lunatic psionic mastermind, culminating in spending a week trapped inside a sphere full of corruption to become a Decay Lord, just to have you three piss all over my two friends I can’t even touch!” Arkay took a deep breath, but that didn’t really calm him down. “Why do you all keep on doing this to me? You were going to take my four little mortal friends away from me after we fought the Kinisis skin, Epani wanted to kill me and make little Phovoula take my place, Sini called my new Rethan friend a vampiric prick and now, Kairos, you want to take Retvik and Litvir away from me? Despite the fact they warned us about Kinisis coming back, sent Kal to us to get rid of my corruption and pointed me and Sini in the right direction when it came to helping Epani get over a fucking imaginary illness?”
“We’re not taking your friends away!” Sini hissed. “I won’t let them. Kairos, Epani, you two need to stop being assholes. Although I will be honest, Arkay, your new Rethan friend IS a bit of a vampiric prick. But in a good way.”
Epani growled. “Sini…”
“No! Don’t ‘Sini’ me, sister! I won’t tolerate it!” Sini stood her ground and also stood up from the table, crossing her arms angrily. “Kairos, I get it, you’re mourning and you’re sad but that gives you NO excuse to hurt Arkay. And Epani, you’re just… why are you acting so much like Kinisis? We’re supposed to be better than this, we’re supposed to be equals, but you look down on all of us! Actually, now that I think about it, why are you two acting like such cunts anyway?”
Kairos and Epani both stared at the floor, feeling rather embarrassed.
“I’m… I’m just tired, Sini…” Epani finally admitted. “I have not taken a proper break in a long time.”
“Honestly, I feel the same. Having to kill someone I loved has only made matters worse.”
Sini tilted her head to one side, eyeing her siblings. “Do you both want a short break?”
“Yes.”
After a moment of thought, Sini turned to Arkay. “Little brother, do you mind covering for Kairos for a couple of weeks, while I do the same for Epani?”
Arkay tutted loudly. “I was already fucking doing that, but fine, I’ll cover for a bit longer. Only if those two promise not to piss me off though or threaten my friends though.”
“Do you both promise?”
Kairos nodded. Epani sighed.
“Of course.”
“Fine.”
Arkay got up from the table, summoning one of his gunstaffs. “I’ll hold you both to that. You know what I’m like about broken promises… But if that’s the case, I need to get back to work, this universe isn’t that large, but if I’m dealing with decay AND time, then I can’t really just sit around. Enjoy your break you two.”
With that, the Thantophor walked into the nearest shadow and disappeared.
“Seriously, you two, you’ve really not been nice to Arkay…” Sini remained standing, but picked up and sipped her drink. “And stop threatening the poor mortals Arkay wants to protect. He’s well aware that everything he loves will die by his hand, you don’t need to rub it in.”
“He is still dangerous, he still needs to-”
“He doesn’t, Epani. We’ve been doing this for two billion years, and not once has Arkay stepped out of line in any particularly dangerous way. But you are prodding a sleeping Banikan for no reason…” Sini trailed off, finishing her glass of wine. “I need to get back to work as well. Have to dig out that beginner’s guide to making stars, to replace the ones you ate. Enjoy your break, dears…”
Sini glanced one last time at Kairos and Epani, then snapped her fingers, vanishing in a puff of pink sparkles, utterly sick of this stupid conversation.