“Arkay!”
He knew she’d come running to him. That was why he hesitated. He could have thrown himself off the edge right now, but he didn’t. He had stood there and waited. Waiting for a sign, perhaps?
“ARKAY!”
Her cries were fierce, full of anger and sorrow. She was as conflicted as he was.
“ARKAY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Kinisis skidded to a halt. He wondered why she had bothered. She was all-powerful. She could have easily just teleported by his side. She could have teleported him away from this cold, horrid, frozen place. But she didn’t.
“Arkay. Please. Talk to me.”
“Why should I talk to you when you’re going to make me suffer?”
Kinisis immediately realised what was going on. She stepped back. She was shivering. A mixture of ice and sand blew through this place, circling around the 10m hole, which was normally used to remove unwanted items from the universe. Past that hole, there was an empty, black void. Trillions of miles down through that hole, one might have encountered the walls of another universe, but the distances were so vast that one would end up spending eternity alone.
“You spoke to Istoria. I thought you would. You’re not dumb, you ask when you’re scared. She’s… she’s talking about a long time ago.”
Arkay took a single step forward, his claws hanging over the endless void. As he did so, he felt the wind pick up and change direction, trying to push him back.
“You put them through endless suffering. You’ll do that to me as well.”
“I stopped doing that…” Kinisis sighed. She wanted to explain things but the words were muddled. “I was young, okay? The first five billion years, I did a lot of utterly retarded things. I was an idiot. I still am an idiot. I have done so much stupid shit. But I undid those things. They’re not screaming any more. I let them go. Please, Arkay, I promise, I’ve changed. I’m better now.”
Rather than calm him down, Kinisis’s words angered Arkay.
“You promise? Your promises mean nothing to me! You’ve always broken them!”
“Yeah, I know…” Kinisis finally admitted. “I know, I’m bad at that as well. I’m not very good at anything. Really, it should be me standing over a void of despair and you talking me out of jumping… I should have brought you under my wing several cycles ago…”
Arkay paused. “What do you mean by that?”
“Well, everything has been through the Cycle a few times. Your other cycles were… nicer… That’s not the point though…” Kinisis changed her tone. “I fucked up. Yet again. And there’s nothing I can say or do that will prove I genuinely have changed… There’s nothing I can do to willingly convince you to be my partner…”
“And that,” Arkay growled, “is why I am doing this…” He stepped forward, his foot hovering over the endless abyss.
Suddenly, Arkay froze. He could feel something wrapping around his legs, twisting around his arms. A brief panic swept through his mind, but it was swiftly replaced with a flood of calm.
He felt empty.
He felt cold.
He felt… nothing…
Kinisis sighed as she picked Arkay up and threw his now limp body over her shoulder. She had realised what she’d done. She’d taken Arkay’s right to choose, yet again.
“I think I’m just going to have to make you how I want you to be…” Kinisis muttered as she walked away. “It’ll be easier for the both of us. No more messing around…”