Rethais grunted as he realized he was not at home, but was in fact chained to a wall. While it may not have been the first time Rethais had woken up, chained to a wall, the fact that he was alone did bother Rethais a bit. Since he was alone though, Rethais had a chance to try and escape.
Annoyingly though, the quiet did not last. A familiar serpentine body dropped down from the ceiling, landing directly in front of Rethais.
“Oh hi! You’re finally awake!”
“Hmph. What do you want now, Allbirther?” Rethais was already annoyed. He tried wriggling his wrists, a small attempt to break free, but the chains turned into a meaty tentacle, giving Rethais even less freedom of movement. “Did you at least tell my partner, my kids and my guards where you have taken me?”
Yisini slithered up to Rethais, gave him a quick look up and down, then slithered back over to what looked like a plastic table covered in plastic sheets, where she was clearly working on something. While the workspace seemed mostly clean, there was a large, black stain covering most of the floor.
“Just to one of my work stations. I have some mobile ones that I carry around with me. Your wife has been informed.” Yisini’s mood seemed off. Every other time Rethais had spoken to the Allbirther, she had been annoyingly cheerful and bubbly. Today though, she looked… almost sad.
“So why am I here?” Rethais asked, feeling impatient. “I was planning a nice day out tomorrow with Lysar and the kids and I do not wish to waste my time here.”
Yisini sighed, turning back to Rethais. “I have a problem and you are a requirement of mine on how to save my sorry butt.”
“Why?” was Rethais’s blunt reply.
“Because I need to get moving and make everyone more resistant to godly… emissions.”
“That makes no sense.”
Yisini remained silent, then took out a long, drawn out breath. With a snap of her scaly fingers, a small white board and some marker pens appeared in her hands. A chair appeared behind the Allbirther as she sat down.
“I have a lot of explaining to do. But, simply put, the fact that mum is building a fucking oasis right above our heads has made things more problematic than I could have realized.”
“How so? I was under the impression that the… whatever it is, it would be separate for us?”
Ysini snarled at Rethais’s question. “That was the damn plan! Our stuff would be separate from her stuff! But no, I’ve got constant random shit sneaking into Epani’s universe. Epani can’t fix it and Kinisis doesn’t know or care. I have to fix this problem myself, and fast, before the deitic emissions from her damn oasis start fucking with my work!”
Rethais tilted his head to one side, trying to understand what Yisini was saying. “What does any of this have to with me being chained to a wall?”
“Because, somehow, you have some godly protection, something I can pull from you, that will help me put together some way of max-vaccinating everyone.”
“Um…” Rethais stuttered. “May I be honest for a moment?”
Yisini grunted. “Yes you may.”
“You promised us you would fix the Secret, make us back to what we used to be. But I have seen very little improvement. Your promises tend to be half empty.”
The Allbirther closed her eyes and sighed.
“Rethais, I am going to be very, very honest and very, VERY blunt. If it wasn’t for the fact that both Arkadin liked you and I didn’t like seeing Arkadin upset, you and the rest of your kind would have ended up as lobotomized Voidborn slaves, stomping around and drooling like mindless beasts, used as pawns so our cunt of a father could start attacking other species.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh…” Ysini hissed, throwing the unused whiteboard to one side. “Now, I need some of your blood. Blood sample, brain sample, bone sample… and maybe some of your… no, that can wait.”
Rethais shrugged. “Will it take long?”
“I was planning on doing all of that when you were unconscious. I’ll have to knock you out again.”
“Fine, fine…” Rethais moaned. “Just make it… zzz…”
Yisini smiled a little, glad that the room was now quiet. “I am sorry, little Rethais, but you are, uniquely, my only hope…”