“Hey, may I have a word with you?”
Decay Lord Retvik looked up from what he was doing. He had been helping his friend and partner Phovos fill in some paperwork, allowing her to study as a Decayling despite technically being a Life Goddess. At the door, fellow Decay Lord Litvir was standing awkwardly, an unusual expression on his face.
“What is it, Litvir?”
“I think I may have found a way to… communicate with our Lost Third. But I need to show you something and confirm that we potentially have the right being.”
Retvik glanced down at Phovos, who gave him a quick shrug.
“Sounds important. You should go.”
“Very well. Litvir, lead the way.”
The two Decay Lords exited the observatory and made their way down the main hallway, stopping outside what was now Retvik and Litvir’s personal office. Sleeping on the sofa was one of the Decaylings Litvir was supposed to have been training. Really, between the two of them, Litvir had it easier, as he was training three former Divine Guardians, rather than a Life Goddess, Time Drake and Divine Guardian that Retvik was now the boss of.
“Eksi…” Litvir snapped his fingers, making the Decayling immediately get up. “Go back to your room.”
“Sure thing, Litvir…” Eksi immediately scampered off. Litvir closed the door, giving him and Retvik some privacy, before sitting down at his desk and opening up his computer.
Retvik waited patiently for a moment, then approached the desk. Litvir muttered something about something being slow, then finally brought Retvik round to look at his screen.
“Uh, is this one of those old video games we played back when we were Decaylings ourselves?” Retvik asked, not certain what exactly he was looking at.
“Yes, the one Arkay introduced us to.”
“I do not think I even finished the tutorial.”
Litvir tutted. “No, you never had the patience for this sort of thing, and, admittedly, I never got too far either. However, while I was looking for some of my old belongings, I found this old computer, found the games installed on it and decided to have a look. This one in particular, Arkay was pretty fond of, so I updated it and started playing again. Look who I just got matched with.”
Retvik examined the screen again. “Who is the little thropic thing?”
“Oh. That is… a spoiler. Sorry. But look at the main character and their weapons. Bright yellow, shiny assault rifle with bayonet, using the exact same character Arkay always used. I checked the rest of his profile, the stats all match up. Heck, he’s even CALLED ‘Arkay’! ‘Arkay’ followed by a bunch of numbers, but still!”
“That really cannot be our Lost Third…” Retvik grunted. “No way.”
“I genuinely think it is him…” Litvir hit the T key on his keyboard, bringing up a chat menu, showing the messages from the last mission he had played. “Look, he even said hello and asked how everyone was. No one says hello in this game. He was literally using a custom weapon named ‘Blade of the Thantophor’, and this is a game played exclusively by Decay Lords and Divine Guardians.”
“Why… why is your username ‘Phovos’?” Retvik didn’t mean to change the subject, but he was curious.
“I, uh, did not want to use my actual name, it sounded cool, and when I made the account, I did not know we would inadvertently end up one day picking up a Life Goddess of the same name…” Litvir quickly explained. “Still, should I send him a message? See if it is him?”
Retvik thought to himself for a moment. “Hm… No. Not… directly.”
“Why not?”
“We do not know how much he knows or remembers. If you message him out of the blue, he may… not react the way we would want him to.”
“Hm. Fair point, Retvik. Do you want me to do recon instead? Keep an eye on him?”
“Well, we need to figure out if it is actually Arkay first. Do you think you can get that information out of him?”
Litvir snorted. “You are asking the master manipulator to extract information from someone. Of course I can get him to confirm or deny that he is our Arkay.”
“You can do that without revealing who we are?”
“I should be able to. Might take me a while to gain his trust, since he will not know me via this account, but I am certain I can get him to talk…” Litvir trailed off. “Hm. He just turned online. I shall send him a friend request. Perhaps I shall play the part of a new player, looking for help.”
Retvik grunted some more, crossing his arms. “Just do what you need, without blowing your cover or scaring him off. And, one last thing…”
“What is it, dear?”
“Do NOT let Galyn know about this, understood?”
“You think he will freak out.”
“Yes.”
“Fair enough…” Litvir turned his attention back to the game. “I will let you know if I get any more information.”
Retvik bowed slightly, then made his way out of the room. “Thank you, Litvir.”
“No problem, Retvik.”