LK0044K: @IceShield are you busy currently?
IceShield: Oh! Hello! I’m not busy, do you need help with something?
LK0044K: Somewhat.
LK0044K: I need to talk to Arkay about something, but he has not been online in a while. Is there a way for you to get him online so we can talk?
IceShield: He’s on guard duty right now, but I can let him know and he’ll get online when he can.
LK0044K: Alright, thank you.
IceShield: No worries. Do you want game help?
LK0044K: I would like to play, but I do have work right now. Sorry.
IceShield: Alright. Let me know if you want to play, okay?
LK0044K: Sure.
Elkay sighed as he put the small gaming console down, then went back to the books he was studying. He’d been doing all sorts of research over the last 24 hours, and, really, he should have taken a break or something, but there was a question burning at the back of his mind that Elkay couldn’t currently answer. And having exhausted most of his in-universe sources, he was turning to sources he really didn’t like using. Not because he was scared of the knowledge, but because he was concerned that the higher deities would find out. The last time one of them had discovered that Elkay had contacted something outside the universe, the Whenvern had nearly bitten his face off.
With more sighs, Elkay continued to look at his books and do research on his computer, up until he heard a specific bloop sound. It came from the game console. The… forbidden game was open and Elkay’s character was just idling on their ship. The bloop was a private message, and, thankfully, it was the person he wanted to talk to.
Arkay: Hey, my little Shadow, what’s up?
LK0044K: Hi, master. I have questions to things. Things I can’t answer.
Arkay: Alright, first off, don’t call me master. We’re equals now. Secondly, I’ll answer what I can.
LK0044K: Are you working right now?
Arkay: Yeah, kinda, but I can multitask. It’s not a problem.
LK0044K: Very well… One second.
Elkay glanced around, looking for a spare keyboard. When he didn’t find one, he unplugged the one from his computer and plugged it into his gaming console.
LK0044K: I can type like a reasonable being now.
LK0044K: I do not get how little Kayel types so fast with the stupid keyboard on this tiny device.
LK0044K: Either way, I have a question.
LK0044K: The question is currently theoretical.
LK0044K: More research is needed to work out if the question becomes a real need.
Arkay: Is someone corrupted?
LK0044K: …
LK0044K: Why did you automatically assume that?
Arkay: I’ll be blunt, I’m currently on guard duty right now, working for a facility that mostly cures people from Corruption. It’s the first thing on my mind these days.
Arkay: Actually, I’m kinda on break, but I can teleport between my bedroom and where I’m supposed to be patrolling so it’s fine.
LK0044K: And… how are you doing that?
Arkay: I just wait until I hear the little bloop, come back, type a speedy recovery then go back.
Arkay: Actually, I’m doing this in a stupid manner. One sec.
LK0044K: Alright?
A message popped up, saying that Arkay was offline. Elkay typed a few more messages and sent them, up until he stopped getting the offline message. It was only a couple of minutes, but it was a tad annoying.
Arkay: Alright, that’s better.
Arkay: I’m just perched on top of the watchtower with my laptop now so I can better multitask.
Arkay: Important question: Are Epani or Kairos corrupted?
LK0044K: No, no one’s corrupted. But I realised that we don’t… have any real protocols in case they DO get corrupted.
LK0044K: Also Kairos has been acting very weird ever since he beat up Dalosisaar and Litvir last year and Epani told him off.
Arkay: Uh… why… and who?
LK0044K: Oh. Dalosisaar is this Thraki that was present on the planet Kairos crashed on during the Sudden Darkness and tried to burn away Kairos’s corruption and Epani made him into the God of Air and Unity.
LK0044K: I don’t know if I told you about Litvir? One year old Rethan teenager deity with a heart of gold.
Arkay: You mentioned your Litvir. I don’t really know your other fellow deities.
LK0044K: I’ll give you a rundown when I’m less stressed.
Arkay: Are you alright? Do you need me?
LK0044K: I just need information.
LK0044K: When Kairos attacked Litvir, he was pissed off that Litvir dared stand up to him, only for Epani to put Kairos in his place, i.e. underneath Epani but somewhat above us Twelve Anew.
LK0044K: But none of us know what Kairos has been up to since that day. He’s been hiding in his palaces and only leaves to fix time anomalies.
Arkay: Are Litvir and Dalosisaar alright? Wounds caused by Time Drakes take longer to heal.
LK0044K: Litvir’s fine. They’re a tough kid. Good kid too. Dalosisaar has mostly healed up but he has a scar on his cheek caused by Kairos.
Arkay: Ah. Alright.
Arkay: So I’m gonna guess that you’re concerned that Kairos has some residual corruption or something and you want to know how to fix it. And are a little too scared to ask.
LK0044K: Uh… yeah.
Arkay: Well, the good news is, if there is residual corruption, it’s so little that it won’t cause another Sudden Darkness. It’s been over a year now, and Corruption doesn’t like to take its time.
Arkay: Has Kairos been equally aggressive to everyone?
LK0044K: No, not at all.
LK0044K: We had a… thing last year, where Kairos thought he was corrupted, and we did a fake surgery to get rid of it and he immediately felt better.
Arkay: Oh. Sini and I had to do that to Epani once. Has it been a gradual slide towards this new anger again?
LK0044K: Somewhat, yes.
Arkay: Things are making sense now.
Arkay: Honestly, you might need to do it again. A lot of Kairos’s power comes from his super-inflated ego, his age and how his will somewhat affects the reality around him.
Arkay: You’ll probably have to do the fake surgery in a different way, but the principal is the same. Epani can help you plan it out. If you make Kairos believe that he’ll feel better afterwards, he’ll be more accepting.
LK0044K: Alright.
Arkay: So that should sort Kairos out.
Arkay: I’ve also got materials on how to fix Corruption, I just need to work out a way to send it all to you in a way that you can easily access it.
Arkay: In the mean time, I can talk to Kal, and they might be able to do a home visit. They did so once, back when I fell ill. Kairos and Epani know them so they’ll be open to it. The problem is, it’ll take about three weeks for Kal to get to your universe. And if it’s Kairos giving himself anti-placebos, again, it might not be worth it.
LK0044K: If you can speak to them anyway, that would be great.
Arkay: I’ll do that, no worries. Last thing, I’ve got some anti-Corruption daggers that I left in my universe. I need to dig out the coordinates, but I’ll send them to you. There should be 15 in total. Worst case scenario, you stab the infected being with one of those daggers.
LK0044K: Ah, alright. Well, thank you for the advice.
Arkay: No worries, kiddo. I gotta get back to work, I’ll sort out this stuff once I’m done. In the mean time, don’t hesitate to ask for help, alright?
LK0044K: Thank you. Have a good day.
Arkay: You too, my shadow.
Elkay took a long, deep breath, and finally relaxed a little. Sure, he didn’t have answers to all his problems, but he was getting somewhere. There was hope. He needed that.
With a stretch and a yawn, Elkay decided to put everything away and go and have a nap. He’d been working non-stop for hours. Hopefully, when he’d get back, he’d have more information.
“This is fixable…” Elkay smiled. “We can sort this out…”