Burning Hypocrisy

The Thantophor wasted no time tearing his way through chains in a bid to attack his would-be aggressor. Shadowy arms of void energy lashed out at the Death Lord, only to be torn apart. Every obstacle Kenon put between him and the Thantophor only seemed to anger him further.

“Arkadin, please…”

“DO NOT… DO NOT EVEN START!”

One false move and it was over. The Thantophor’s claws were wrapped around Kenon’s throat. The Void God had fought hard, but there was no way he could defeat a Death God.

It had all started off quite plainly. Kenon was so sure he would be able to recapture the Thantophor. He knew it would be a bit harder than the first time, now that they were both somewhat expecting it, but he didn’t expect the Death Lord to break free and retaliate so dramatically.

“Arkadin…”

The chains Kenon used to try and hold the Thantophor were now being used against him. Arkadin took his time, slowly chaining up each of Kenon’s six limbs, immobilizing the giant, antlered beast.

“Arkadin!”

“Don’t you dare shout at me. Don’t you dare even try and move until I’m done with you! Because I am so fucking tired of your nonsense!”

“You are imprisoning me against my will!” Kenon shouted.

Arkadin stopped what he was doing. He floated up so he was at eye level with Kenon. There was a strange emotion in his eyes that Kenon couldn’t explain. A mixture of surprise, confusion and sheer, uncontrollable rage.

“… Really? That’s what you’re going with? I’m imprisoning you against your will? You do realise, just over a week ago, you did EXACTLY THE SAME THING TO ME?”

“That was different.”

Arkadin tightened the chains around Kenon, causing him pain. “How so?”

“You are a dangerous Doom-Bringer who can end this universe on a whim. I am simply a protector of this realm, a buffer between this universe and the darkness beyond.”

“You do realise that, with your unfettered access to Kinisis, you could end this universe on a whim as well, right?”

Kenon shrugged. “This is still different. I was protectin-”

“PROTECTING ME? BY TORTURING ME?” Arkadin roared, pulling on the chains, constricting Kenon’s movements further. “You hurt me, you hurt my friends, you destroy and damage and maim and murder, in the name of protection? Do you not see your own hypocrisy?”

“No.”

Kenon’s reply was blunt.

“Do you not understand the fact that me imprisoning you is the same as you imprisoning me?”

“It is not the same.”

“IT FUCKING IS! You hurt me and imprisoned me for no real reason. Here I am doing the same to you. Do you not get it? Do you not understand this?”

“It is…”

“You know what? I am going to fucking hurt you. Same way you hurt me. I shouldn’t. I’m better than you and I’m supposedly above torture. In fact, I normally avoid hurting others because that’s what makes me hungry and leads me down dark paths. But you? You fucking deserve to be hurt.”

“You don’t have it in you!” Kenon almost gloated.

Arkadin growled, then ran his claws across Kenon’s face, scratching out Kenon’s eyes. Of course, him being a Void God, Kenon’s eyes instantly healed back.

“What was that for?”

The Thantophor stood there, staring at Kenon.

“Are you really that thick?”

“Are you really this angry?”

Arkadin gave up. He let go of the chains, dropping Kenon on the floor. “You know what? Fuck it. This isn’t worth my time.”

With one last sigh, Arkadin grabbed Kenon and threw him off into the distance. He then disappeared. He had better things to do.