“OH WHAT NOW?” the angry deity roared as the roof of the building collapsed around them. “Why are YOU summoning me?”
The gathering of scared mortals huddled together, avoiding the falling debris. One of them meekly raised their hand, only to quickly lower it when the deity started shouting again.
“I LITERALLY JUST DEALT WITH SOMETHING LIKE THIS, WHAT DO YOU WANT?”
“We just… don’t want to… die…”
Arkadin stopped being angry and turned to the tiny mortals. These beings were very similar to the beings he had been summoned by yesterday. Except they had floppier ears and stubbier tails.
“Well tough, everyone dies in the end.”
“We know you visited… them…”
The Thantophor rolled his eyes. “I visit a lot of people. You should be more specific.”
“The Gatoi. You visited them. They wanted you to kill us all…”
Arkadin stared at the creatures, then sighed. “I assume you lot are… Skyloi? Is that what they called you?”
The leader of the group nodded hesitantly. “Yes, oh great Thantophor…”
“Oh no!” Arkadin tutted. “I don’t want any of that. And I’m going to be blunt and honest with you, I didn’t agree to kill any of you on their behalf. I told them that if they want to wriggle out from oppression, then mass murder isn’t the way to go about it. Because as we can clearly see right here, no one wants to be mass murdered.”
“What did you give to them, oh gr-”
“Please, just call me Arkadin…”
“Sorry… What did you give to them, Arkadin?”
Arkadin inched closer to the little Skyloi. “Before I answer, I want to ask you lot some questions.”
The Skyloi all bowed.
“Of course, my lord.”
Arkadin tutted again, then sighed a little more, then asked his questions.
“Are you oppressing the Gatoi?”
“Uh… Not us… Our government is… A dictatorship. We have no choice but to follow orders…”
“What happens if you don’t follow orders?”
The Skyloi glanced at each other.
“We, uh…”
“Go on…”
“We get sent to camps. Those who… disagree get worked to death…”
“And the military, the police?”
“They all do as the Lord says.”
“By choice?”
“Some of them.”
Arkadin sighed. “Okay, fine. You know what I gave to the Gatoi? I gave them… information. Details. Things they can use. Because they know, you know, I know that the only way you can get out of this mess is a change in leadership. And frankly, if I just went and killed everyone in charge right now, you’d be left with a power vacuum and a bloody war to decide who gets back on top.”
“So you… will not kill for… anyone?”
The Thantophor sat up proudly. “I have principles, you know! I’m not just a mindless killing machine! If I was a mindless killing machine, the whole universe would have gone to shit already…”
The Skyloi looked at each other. “So… what do we do?”
Arkadin turned back to the little mortals. “You do the same damn thing I told the Gatoi to do. You change your leadership. The people need to take back the power. You can’t just sit there and hope that the gods help you out.”
“That is… fair…”
Arkadin smiled, then sighed again. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a small crate. “This is what I gave to the Gatoi. Sorry I can’t be of much use otherwise. It’s just… not right, you know?”
The Skyloi all nodded.
“You are a fair deity…” the leader bowed. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, I guess…” Arkadin grunted as he faded away. “Good luck…”