“Today’s been weird…” Tenuk muttered as he sat down with a drink and a bowl of marshmallows. He was supposed to have been eating more healthily as part of a training routine to give himself more muscle mass, but Tenuk had been struggling, and it turned out that Spasts couldn’t really get muscular anyway. “I mean, we got signed off work for a week for no reason, the local Banikans are all congregating in the Panicked Wardens, the Raptor admitted to all her House Fighters that she was dating the Holy Whenvern and the Panelix passed by and caused multiple eclipses today. How strange.”
Nyssi sat down next to Tenuk and put an arm around him, while watching as Retvik paced back and forth. Oddly, Retvik was slowly tapping away on his communicator, clearly talking to someone. Retvik wasn’t normally a fan of text conversations.
“Well, I kinda don’t blame the Banikans. They genuinely believe Arkay designed them or something, and now their beloved god has disappeared again. I’d be upset if Blessed Sini disappeared…” Nyssi frowned. “Retty, what do you think about your patron deity disappearing?”
Retvik wasn’t paying attention. However, Nyssi did get a comment from elsewhere in the room. Kayel suddenly burst in to the living room, leaping down from his bedroom upstairs.
“He’s our matron deity!” Kayel exclaimed with a little too much anger and annoyance. “They all are apart from the Whenvern! But that’s… only kinda important because I saw something fucked up today and I really need help unpacking it all!”
Upon hearing the word ‘help’, Retvik returned to the conversation. “Is something wrong, Kayel? Also, do any of you mind if I invite Kuta over? They are upset and need company.”
Kayel stared at Retvik and tilted his head to one side. “Kuta lives in the Rethan capital, how the fuck is that vampiric prick going to get here? Is he gonna shadowjump? Because THAT’S a trick and a half!”
Retvik blinked, returned to his communicator and typed out a message before answering. “Uh, yes, Kuta is going to shadowjump here. Apparently Arkay taught them how to do long-distance jumps.”
“Well fuck, I should have asked Arkay that too…” Kayel sighed. “Yeah fine, invite the cunt. I’m totally blaming them for this though.”
“I’m not!” Nyssi retorted. “Poor bastard just lost someone he… they loved!”
“Everything was fine until Arkay ran into Kuta and… now… Like, he’s completely fucking gone. I went to his apartment and it was…” Kayel trailed off. “Well, uh… I…”
Unable to complete his sentence, Kayel wandered towards one of the free sofas, stealing some marshmallows from Tenuk before sitting down. Retvik realized that Kayel was stressed and sat down next to him.
“Retvik, when you went outside the universe, you saw some creatures, right? Mechanical Vohra?”
“I did, yes.”
“I… I think I saw one today. When I went to Arkay’s place. It was completely empty, as if no one had ever lived there. But as I went to leave, the door opened up and there was this black and silver robot Vohra with glowing yellowish green eyes and a mouth that didn’t move when it talked!”
“That… sounds like one of the mechanical Vohra I saw…” Retvik muttered. “I do not remember their names though, even though they did introduce themselves, and they knew my name.”
Kayel frowned some more. “This one asked me my name and I kinda just blabbed and said I was looking for Arkay… It said it knew Arkay and was doing a check up, I assume to make sure he didn’t have Corruption again… Said they were friends and stuff, and asked if the universe had ended or something…” Kayel trailed off yet again. “It was weird. I think I’m in shock because I kinda find myself not recalling properly…”
“They did say they had telepathy when I met them…” Retvik glanced up at the door. Someone suddenly knocked on it. Tenuk and Nyssi both wondered how Retvik knew someone was there.
“Is that Kuta?” Tenuk whispered.
Retvik nodded as he got up and headed to the front door. Just as predicted, Kuta was standing there, holding four XXL pizzas. Oddly, they weren’t wearing a cape or their General’s insignia. In fact, they weren’t wearing that black, scary Below Twenty armour either. As Retvik let Kuta in, he couldn’t help but smile and admit that Kuta looked pretty good in standard armour.
“Hello…” Kuta was avoiding eye contact. “I brought apology pizza.”
“Hi!” Nyssi waved from the living room. “You look like shit! I mean, you look different, new clothes and stuff, but emotionally you look like shit.”
Kuta grunted as they made their way in and placed the pizzas on the table between the sofas. “You would be correct, I feel like shit. I am glad I did not go public with my brief relationship because I have a meeting with the Banikan Deitic Detection Group tomorrow and if they knew the whole story, I am certain I would end up hanging off an angry Ita’s horns.”
“You didn’t need to bring pizza though…” Tenuk shrugged as he helped himself to a slice. Pizza was not something Spasts ate at all, and Tenuk knew the heavy carbs and non-sugary toppings were going to sit in his stomach like a brick, but Tenuk didn’t particularly care. “It’s not your fault. Is apology pizza a Rethan thing?”
“Rethan and Skyan…” Kayel tutted. “And it IS Kuta’s fault.”
“It is my fault. How dare I make the ever-lonely death god feel happy and loved, and how dare Arkay see a potential future in which I am killed and he loses his mind. Yes, it is all my fault, I did all of this. Because I felt a connection to a deity, we both wanted to be with each other, and we had a chance to make up for the broken relationship we had before this stupid universe ruined Arkay’s existence. And how dare I want to not die. That is so completely my fault…” Kuta paused for a moment. They were angry and they were showing their emotions. Kuta was a Rethan, they were supposed to not show anger. Instead, Kuta got up and made their way to the door. “I am sorry. I should not have come here. I had hoped you would be more understanding, but, no, you are right, it is my fault. I guess…”
Kuta felt a hand around their wrist. This was followed by a hand on Kuta’s shoulder, a hand on Kuta’s other shoulder and someone patting them on the thigh.
“I’m sorry, Kuta. I’m… angry and I’m taking it out on you…” Kayel sighed. “It’s wrong of me to attack you. You had no idea yourself, and you’re also… you’re in pain too and I am making it worse.”
“Please, Kuta, stay with us. You totally need the company right now!” Nyssi beamed, tugging at Kuta’s arm, only to realize that Kuta was just as hard and stubborn to move as Retvik was. Thankfully, Retvik was a tad more forceful, and helped bring the distressed Rethan back to the main living area. However, Kuta tried to shrug everyone off.
“I do not deserve your kindness.”
Retvik grabbed Kuta by the shoulders and forced them onto the sofa. This did bother Kuta somewhat, most Rethans wouldn’t dare be so hands-on with a General, but Kuta was aware that Retvik was just trying to be kind.
“That is not true in the slightest. And Arkay would be upset if he heard you say that!” Retvik nearly growled. He was upset too, but mostly because Kuta was upset. “Kayel is wrong. Please, stop blaming yourself.”
“Especially since it’s probably just some sort of revenge plot from the other gods to get Arkay to go away for a while!” Tenuk added.
Everyone else paused and turned to Tenuk.
“What?”
“You think… you think Arkay was tricked?” Kuta stuttered.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Why?” Kuta asked as everyone sat back down. “Arkay explained it all. He said he went to Kairos and he confirmed that Arkay’s nightmares were potential glimpses into the future.”
Tenuk shrugged. “You weren’t there, Kuta, but, like, Kayel mentioned that mechanical Vohra thing? And we met the other deities and the Panelix or the Lady of Light or whatever you want to call her, she wanted to kill and replace Arkay? None of them like Arkay and they all seemed upset that we were his friends. What if Holy Kairos lied to Arkay? Or the Panelix made Kairos lie to him? I mean, it’s pretty convenient that Arkay starts doing stuff among mortals and making things better and being happy and then suddenly he starts getting nightmares about an immortal guy dying and Arkay has to go away…”
Kuta blinked, then snarled, but quickly calmed themselves down. They were being angry. They were not supposed to be angry. “Now I feel even worse. I was used.”
Kayel tutted as he reached for some pizza. “Yeah, maybe, but it’s proof that this wasn’t your fault… I’m sorry again, by the way. I was really fucking harsh for no reason, and it was wrong for me to take my anger out on you.”
“Apology accepted…” Kuta sighed. “At least you do actually apologize. Unlike some vok…” Kuta took a deep breath to calm themselves down further, then took a slice of pizza too. “Thank you…”
“No worries,” Retvik smiled as he sat down next to Kuta and put an arm around them. “We will get through this together, dear.”