Elkay stared out of the window, watching the city of Thre-Vretania. It was a large city, full of life and love and all that sort of thing. Something though felt different. As if the city had changed overnight and no one had noticed. Elkay’s office was above it all, furnished simply but designed in such a way that Elkay could observe the many goings on of Thre-Vretania without leaving his desk, but today, he just wanted to stand up for a bit and rest on the bullet-proof glass.
Behind him, someone knocked on the closed office door. Elkay couldn’t remember why the door was closed. He normally only closed it during private meetings.
“Come on in!”
The door opened up and in walked a Rethan in silver and blue, slightly taller than Elkay himself. On their back was a pair of translucent wings made out of white energy. They gently closed the door behind them and stood by Elkay’s desk.
“How are you, High General?” the Rethan asked.
“I’m good, Captain Vallas…” Elkay replied as he turned around, only to realise that the Rethan had changed their looks completely. Silver replaced by black. Blue replaced with yellow. Energy wings replaced with real wings made out of hideous, sharp blades. “You’re… You’re not Vallas…”
“Clearly not. How are you, Elkay?”
The General tutted. “I can’t help but ask, are you here to kill me, Veth Prime?”
“No.”
The creature wandered across the room, standing next to Elkay and gazing out the window.
“You sure, Arkay?”
Arkay nodded. There was a half-smile on his lips but concern in his eyes. “I am definitely, 100% not here to kill you. How are you, Elkay?”
Elkay sighed then decided to answer the question. He knew the being standing next to him was basically death incarnate. If Elkay was to die that day, Arkay probably would have apologised and already killed him.
“There are flying vehicles. Small personal ones. We didn’t have those yesterday. The city is taller and larger. The streets look more busy. I am pretty sure there are teleporters down there, even though I know for a fact that us Rethans are a couple of years away from completing our own teleportation technology…”
The High General was getting concerned now. He was wondering whether Arkay had already killed him and maybe he was in some sort of afterlife. Or perhaps he was asleep? A quick bite to the inside of his mouth suggested otherwise.
“Huh, that’s rather cool. I was hoping that the… changes would benefit you…” Arkay shuddered, shaking his head as if something was rattling around inside his skull. Did this being of death even still have a skull?
“Arkay, am I going insane?”
“Nope. You’re just one of the few lucky souls who can… see all of this happening…” Arkay started to explain. He shook his head again. It seemed like something was bothering. “I wish those two would shut up already. They’re still arguing over what they want to do. I get it that Kinisis and Istoria want to fix this universe but I wish they wouldn’t force me to have to listen to them fight…”
“What do you mean?” Elkay asked, looking confused.
“Basically, there’s going to be a lot of change around here. Everything will be the same but different. No one will notice the fact that their pasts and futures will change, that they might not even be the same species tomorrow. Everything is like… melting…”
“What?”
Arkay sighed. “This universe? It’s being remade. You can see this because you are half not from this universe. When the dust settles, I don’t know if you’ll remember. I hope so, because I’m worried this will not turn out too great…”
Elkay wasn’t getting this. “Are you saying the universe is about to end?”
“Not at all!” Arkay paused. He realised just how insane all of this sounded. No wonder the Rethan General was struggling to understand. “As far as I can tell, no one is going to die. Things will just change and no one will be any the wiser. Apart from you. And me. But I’m going to have… other duties..”
The Veth Prime shook his head once more, then placed his hand on the window.
“So… this will keep on happening? Me waking up every morning, seeing that things are different?”
“Yeah.”
“And what about you?”
“I think I’m going to be a god of death. But frankly…” Arkay sighed, the sigh of an exhausted and defeated being. “I don’t know any more. I’m just… hoping things go smoothly. It’s all I can do right now…”
Elkay shrugged, then looked off into the distance. Despite the rush of beings going to and from work, everything seemed calm, everyone seemed happy.
“I have to go…” Arkay grunted as he turned around, slowly fading away. “Look after yourself.”
“You too…” Elkay waved, not sure what else to say.