Retvik gasped for breath as he suddenly woke up in his bed, his head spinning and nausea in his throat. Something… something had happened. Retvik hadn’t gone to bed. It was 2pm. Far too early for bed. The memories slowly trickled back. It was his birthday party. He had friends round. Kuta was there. So was Arkay. They were eating pizza. Then… the flash of light. The…
Before Retvik could continue that trail of thought, something flopped into the floor in the corner. It was Kuta. Retvik was about to exclaim in surprise, but Kuta immediately picked themselves up and practically threw themselves at Retvik, covering his mouth.
“Shush. She will hear us. May I come in?”
It took Retvik a moment to realize what Kuta was talking about. They wanted to speak to him, telepathically. Retvik silently nodded his head, and Kuta’s voice began to echo in his mind.
“She is going to lobotomise Arkay! We need to stop the Lady of Light before she dooms us all!”
“How do we-” Kuta pressed their hand harder against Retvik’s mouth. There was fear in Kuta’s eyes.
“She will hear us. But we are the only people here who can stop her. She sent everyone home, put them to bed. I came back here as soon as I woke up, but I can shadowjump and can wake myself up in an instant. Literally our only backup is Sini, if she knows what is going on, and Kayel, if he can wake up. But we have to stop Epani before she potentially wakes up Arkidetelos!”
Retvik grunted and thought as hard as he could. “What IS Arkidetelos?”
“Uncontrollable rage, hunger and pain. I have seen it. In the Before. It took all of mine and Litvir’s strength and complete and utter heartbreak to stop it the last time, during the Before. And, according to… uh… other on-fire Retvik, Arkay being lobotomized could cause Arkidetelos to form again! We do not have that luxury now. We need to get Epani away from Arkay so he can slither away to safety, before he loses his mind completely!”
“And how do we do that?”
Kuta’s eyes fell downward. They were clearly trying to think of a plan and were struggling. “Um… Do you have any weapons or anything in here? Hm… No… Epani is a deity, weapons will do little… I… I could use my paralytic venom, I know that might do… something, but that means getting within biting range of something that can alter gravity at will…”
“Actually…” Retvik got out of bed and made his way over to his wardrobe. At the bottom of it, underneath some stray pieces of armour, was a small, secretly locked compartment, which Retvik opened by pressing several nearby buttons at once. From the compartment, Retvik pulled out a blade wrapped in a black sheath with a silver emblem on it.
“What is that?” Kuta silently asked.
“A dagger that Arkay gave to me…” Retvik thought. He always found telepathy hard to use. “Said it can kill anything. I think he meant killing that evil Corruption stuff, but, well… Are we really going to hurt the Lady of Light?”
“I do not think we have much choice. If Arkay… like… it… it could… it could get really bad.”
Retvik sighed. “I will go down there, stab Epani and distract her, then you can try and bite her and, I do not know, bite her and paralyse her and stop whatever it is she is doing. I am certain the Lady of Light will be less likely to kill me on sight.”
“Alright…” Kuta also sighed, then wrapped their arms around Retvik. Retvik hugged Kuta back. They didn’t want to let go of each other, but a deep growl of pain from outside the bedroom forced them to.
Retvik signalled for Kuta to wait in the corner, then unsheathed the dagger and made his way downstairs. Really, Retvik wasn’t sure what to expect, but the sight of a giant red Temthan coldly punching and stabbing a small, naked, yellow-plated Skyavok who was sprawled across his coffee table and the Temthan doing so with absolutely no emotion wasn’t what he wanted to see. Epani’s back was to him, and Retvik couldn’t tell whether Arkay could see him, but it was obvious that Arkay had given up on trying to fight back.
After a quick deep breath to steady himself, Retvik picked up his pace and stood directly behind Epani, then coughed loudly.
The Panelix rolled her eyes, then turned around.
“What are you doing here?” Epani asked.
“I, uh, live here.”
“Hm. I thought this place belonged to Arkay.”
“No. It is my property. Been living here for just over a decade. I still have ten years left on the mortgage.”
Epani stared at Retvik for a moment, however her attention was quickly drawn elsewhere. Kuta had tried to sneak up on Epani, but she had spotted them before they could even get close. With a wave of her hand, Epani flicked Kuta away, and the fanged Rethan crashed into the kitchen and collapsed in a heap on the floor. Before she could turn back to Retvik though, Retvik snarled and charged at the Lady of Light, stabbing her in the shoulder with his dagger.
To pretty much everyone’s surprise, but especially to Epani, the Panelix screamed in agony as glowing blood poured from the wound.
Retvik raised his dagger to strike again, but held his breath. He could feel that defensive anger bubbling up inside him. While he wanted to hurt Epani, he knew that if he went Defensive Stance right now, he could do irreparable damage. Instead, Retvik stepped back, took several deep breaths, then tried to speak.
“Why do you keep on hurting us? We are your creations, part of your universe, and you keep on hurting us! We do not want to hurt you! But you scare us and hurt us and make us fight back! We want to make things good but you… you…”
“You hurt me.”
“I had no choice! Us Rethans are taught that you made us to protect the weak from those who would seek to harm them! So that is what I am doing! Protecting the weak! I… I do not know what you are doing though, apart from hurting us!”
From the corner of his eye, Retvik could see that Kuta was starting to stir. Retvik then glanced at Arkay, who was still lying there, unmoving.
“He just wanted to have some pizza with his friends. Why are you torturing him for that? Why is he not allowed to be happy for just a moment?”
Epani didn’t answer. She applied pressure to her wound, tutted, then disappeared.
“Did we do it?” Kuta asked as they staggered back to their feet. When they noticed that Retvik didn’t answer, they rushed to his side and held him tightly. “Retvik, dear, you did your job, you protected the weak, you do not need to go Defensive stance.”
Retvik’s eyes remained focused on where Arkay was lying. Eventually though, Retvik relaxed and hugged Kuta, before making his way to Arkay’s side.
“Arkay?”
Arkay’s eyes flicked open.
“Oh.”
“Are you…”
The Thantophor rubbed his head. His left eye was somewhat glazed over, his right eye was a bloody socket, his tongue was drooping out to one side. He looked bruised, but he wasn’t bleeding too badly.
“Need to… Need to see Sini. Fix me. Thank you…” Arkay looked up at Retvik and Kuta. “Bright light, pretty shadow. I am sorry. Ruined your birthday. Am bad friend.”
“It is not your fault, Arkay.”
Arkay frowned. He awkwardly climbed off the coffee table, not caring that he was covered in dirt and bruises. “Probably is. Normally is. Wouldn’t have happened if I’d stayed away.”
“It is-”
“It is my fault. I’ll go now. Away. Again. Thank you. Sorry.”
It was clear that Arkay wanted to cry, but was unable to do so. A broken gasp escaped his equally broken maw as Arkay made his way to the front door, let himself out, took several steps, then vanished.