“Shush, shush, babe, you’re safe. It’s alright…”
Arkay ignored the scratches up and down his body and kept his arms wrapped around Kayel, who wasn’t quite awake but was trembling and shaking, clearly terrified of something unseen.
Kayel’s panic had started without any warning. While his eyes remained shut, he had clawed at anything and everything around him, as if he was mindlessly fighting off demons hiding in the darkness. In order to stop Kayel from hurting himself, Arkay had gripped onto Kayel as tightly as possible but also allowing Kayel to move a tiny bit, so he didn’t strain himself too much, and, after about five minutes of flailing, Kayel slowly stopped.
However, Arkay had kept Kayel close. Kayel hadn’t woken up yet. As his eyes flicked open though, Kayel immediately worked out that he had done something horrific in his sleep. His body was aching and he could feel and taste blood, after all.
“It’s alright… You’re safe…”
Arkay’s voice was quiet and calming. Like that of a gentle mother. Kayel had never heard Arkay speak like that before himself, but he knew where the voice came from. It was the slow, calm, godly voice of the Silent Blade as they spoke to the dying. Was Kayel dying? He couldn’t have been dying. He was as godly as Arkay was now, right?
“Ugh…”
Realising that Kayel was properly conscious, Arkay lessened his tight grip on Kayel, then started telekinetically cleaning up the blood, while still gently holding him.
“You alright, Kayel?”
“Clearly not…” Kayel glanced up and down, then turned to Arkay. “Fuck, did I do that to you?”
Arkay inspected the deep cuts on his arms and side, then shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s already healing up. I’m fine. You’re clearly not fine though.”
Kayel took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he did so. “I… I don’t really… I don’t remember…”
“Did you have a nightmare?”
“Felt like a premonition. But I don’t have time powers.”
Arkay frowned, then let go of Kayel so he could get a fresh blanket. Yes, there was still wet blood everywhere, but he’d wash it all later. It was more important that Kayel was comfortable.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. I just… remember a lot of pain. Something attacking me. Lots of somethings. But I was gigantic and my team were… they were there but they weren’t? Something wanted to kill the Thantir but us specifically but it felt like something small, something smaller than us… I… I don’t know…”
Kayel wrapped his arms around himself, feeling scared again. Arkay wrapped Kayel up in the blanket then gave him a hug.
“Might have been just a nightmare. I’ve had some pretty horrible ones before, and I’ve done the same thing as you. Retvik has a faint scar on his stomach, when we were both Decaylings, that I caused. And I’ve woken Retvik and Litvir up multiple times from my clawing during tormented dreams.”
“I guess…” Kayel sighed, still feeling uneasy. Arkay noticed this then laid Kayel down and tucked a few pillows around him, so he was all snuggled up.
“You don’t want to go back to sleep.”
“Not really.”
“I get that. You should try though.”
“I suppose… don’t wanna though.”
“I understand.”
Arkay gently stroked Kayel’s cheek for a moment, a bid to get him to settle. However, there was a very gentle knock on the door. Kayel frowned and tutted, but they’d both expected a knock at some point. Arkay was a rather important person and was the fourth most senior person at Savepoint after the Tattered Navigators.
“Please don’t go.”
“I’m just going to see who it is and send them away. I’ll be back in a moment, alright?”
Kayel frowned some more, but relented and settled down among the pillows and blankets. Arkay stroked Kayel’s cheek again, then got up to answer the door. To Arkay’s surprise, Galyn was on the other side. A quick but accidental telepathic scan informed Arkay that something was wrong, and he decided to head outside and close the door behind him, so he didn’t disturb Kayel any further.
“What’s wrong?”
“Is Kayel with you?” Galyn kept his voice low.
“Yeah.”
“Did he have a nightmare?”
Arkay crossed his arms. “Let me guess, Tanos and Nyssi also had a nightmare?”
“Somewhat. Tanos was on guard duty and suddenly buckled over, having a panic attack. Akah and the Vohra are comforting him and Fengar took over his duties. Nyssi was alone in bed but Phovoula heard her moving around erratically. She seems to have stopped now but the Raptors are keeping an eye on her. Have you heard from the Rethans?”
Arkay thought for a moment, then summoned his communicator. He hadn’t received any messages or anything. However, Arkay did quickly send a message to Litvir.
Deathbringer: Hey, babe, is everything alright?
There was a brief pause but Arkay did get a response.
Souldrainer: everything is fine we are very drunk and we met a behena
Souldrainer: ret looks a little pale though
Souldrainer: will see if he is alright
Deathbringer: Alright, thank you. Have fun.
Souldrainer: thanks darling
Arkay sighed, and Galyn picked up on that.
“So Ret also is not well?”
“Seems like he had something similar, yeah. Litvir said he’ll check on him and let me know.”
Galyn grunted. “I am a little concerned.”
“Me too, but, well, Elkay and I have both had weird things like that. And since Nyssi is a telepath? She could easily accidentally send her nightmares to her fellow half-Synaisthyns.”
“I guess. If that is the case, I will make sure that Phovos and Eksi keep an eye on Nyssi got a bit.”
Arkay nodded. “Good idea. Hopefully it was just a one-off thing though. Either way, I’m going to go back in there and comfort Kayel for a bit. Can you do me a favour and make sure Nyssi and Tanos are also looked after?”
“Of course. I will let you know if there are any developments.”
“Thanks!”
Arkay waved as Galyn stomped off. Once the coast was clear, he headed back into his room. Kayel was still there, and he seemed to be only half awake.
“You alright?” Kayel muttered.
“Yeah. You alright, Kayel?” Arkay asked back.
“I think so…”
“Good. It was probably nothing. Do you want to snuggle some more?”
Kayel smiled weakly. “Yeah, please… I like snuggles.”
“Me too, mate, me too…”