Retvik stepped into his office without knocking on the door first, but as he looked around the room, he did wish he had in fact knocked. Purring on the sofa, was resident Decay Lord and Life Goddess Seimeni, legs apart and rather content. Sitting at his desk as if nothing happened was Litvir, although he clearly wasn’t wearing his standard armour.
“You do realize you have your own personal quarters for that sort of thing, right?” Retvik growled as he pushed the office door shut, then awkwardly walked past Seimeni, who was fast asleep, despite having everything on display.
“You say that, but the first thing you did when you became a Decayling was to sleep with Seimeni…” Litvir didn’t look up from his work. “She still wants you, you know.”
Retvik tutted. “Well I am taken now.”
“By another Life Goddess.”
“Phovos would kill you if she heard you calling her that.”
“We both know that is what she is, what with being the direct descendent of Kinisis. Moreso than both Seimeni and Arkay…” Litvir drifted off briefly. “I suppose it is a good thing that you tied yourself to the one thing on this ship that I probably would not sleep with.”
“Are you TRYING to sleep with everyone on the Thantir Two?” Retvik let out a low hiss. Litvir noticed that the room heated up, and by quite a bit.
“Well, I was not trying to, but I may make that a secondary objective of mine now. After all, Seimeni just threw herself at me. That leaves Tenuk, Elksia, Phovos and Galyn, and I do not believe our boss actually has genitalia or even really understands the concept of intercourse. Tenuk may prove slightly problematic due to being singularly male but I can accommodate for that, and Elksia is rather open to a lot of things, what with being a Time Drake. Really, the only challenge is Phovos, because I would have to go through you first. And you two are barely above hand-holding.”
“But… what about…”
“I have been fucking your half-brother ever since you abandoned me on Kinisis’s Life Oasis. Funny how two out of the three Rethianoi managed to make it to godhood. I wonder if Rethais was as vigorous as you two are?”
The Flamebearer snarled, and Litvir felt the room get even hotter, but after a moment, everything cooled down again.
“Since when were you this sexually active anyway?” Retvik eventually calmed down, sitting at his own desk. “You were not this… bad when we were Decaylings ourselves.”
“I am pretty sure the time we, or rather I, spent working at Kinisis’s Life Oasis, surrounded by mind-altering Goddesses known to enslave whoever got too close, affected me more than it affected you. You were lucky, Galyn let you go off on your own adventures with your Dessaron buddies. We both know, despite my psionic prowess, Life Goddesses can circumnavigate any sort of mental protection. Also, I disagree with your considering my sexual liberation bad. I am having a lot of fun. And so is your half-brother.”
“Mention Relkir again and I will melt your tail, legs and buttocks to your chair.”
Litvir smiled. He enjoyed occasionally getting under Retvik’s skin. After all, he needed someone to practice his emotional manipulation powers on once in a while. “Very well. Why did you come in here?”
“Oh. Yes…” Retvik frowned. He’d forgotten briefly. “I was looking back through some old archives. Galyn does not throw anything away and also had very little respect for our privacy when we were Decaylings. I found a recording between you, Arkay and myself, where Arkay claimed to remove our mind-bond. But we are… still connected to him. Do you know why?”
“Hm…” Litvir thought back. “Was that just after we were captured by a bunch of Decay Lords that wanted to sell us off as slaves and turn Arkay into a godly breeding device?” Litvir trailed off. “Now that I think about it, it is genuinely amazing that he did not snap sooner.”
“I… think it was about then, yes. He borrowed some of your telepathic powers and killed every soldier on that ship.”
“Yes, I remember now!” Litvir started explaining. “Simply put, two things happened. Firstly, Arkay did a very bad job in attempting to remove our bond, which, by then, was no longer a simple telepathic link, similar to the Rethan Secret. Trauma and spilled blood made our bond unbreakable. After all, we bled for each other.”
“What else happened?”
“Well, I…” The vampiric Decay Lord hesitated for a moment. “As soon as Arkay said that he removed the bond, I went and, well, reinstated it. For his sake, more than anyone else’s. Arkay needed us, we gave him comfort and security. Which we took away from him when Galyn sent him away.”
“I… I see…” To Litvir’s surprise, Retvik didn’t seem angry in the slightest. He glanced at the screen on his desk, then turned back to Litvir. “Have you had any luck communicating with Arkay via that game? Have you confirmed it is him?”
“He outright admitted to being a trapped intra-universal deity with three annoying fellow deities while giving me a tour of our new clan base. And proceeded to mute a clan mate for mocking him about it. There is also an entire room in said clan base in which he built a statue of himself.”
“So it IS our Arkay?”
“Definitely.”
Retvik smiled, just a little. “Hm. Does he seem to remember us in any way?”
“Not really…” Litvir frowned. Him doing so made Retvik stop smiling too. “He is definitely very much aware of what is outside his universe, but he stated a few times that his memory is hazy. That can be rectified, but I require more time.”
“Take all the time you need then, Litvir!” Retvik’s smile returned as he got up and headed for the door, pausing to pick up a small folder. “I need to check on the Decaylings, do a quick physical health check on them all, so I will be busy for a few hours. Let me know if anything comes up… Also… Good work, so far.”
“Was that an actual compliment?”
“Yes. Do not push your luck.”
Litvir grinned. “Very well, Flamebearer. Tell your half-brother I said hi, and that he knows where to find me…”