“So why DOES everyone call you the Missing?” Veeyel asked as he downed yet more mead. “Because you guys weren’t even missing for that long.”
Arkay shrugged. He was also drinking mead but he wasn’t digesting it, he was storing it in his pseudo-stomach to avoid getting drunk. But he was starting to need to empty it out and he didn’t know where the bathrooms were to do so.
“Seriously, you must know!”
“I think it’s more that, well, we did our trial then disappeared. But when we got back together, we… we kinda just make other people go missing.”
“That… is a terrifying sentence.”
“I know.”
“You don’t even seem the sort though. Like, you three just seem to want to help people and Deathven treats you half like the Travellers and half like the Aphthorai.”
Arkay shrugged some more. “I guess…”
Veeyel looked up at Arkay. “Is something wrong?”
“Eh… kinda. But it’s awkward and I don’t know if I want to say it and potentially ruin things.”
“How could you ruin things? You three helped out Letalis and I am certain Retvik did something to Ralian to make him get off his high horse briefly…” Veeyel trailed off, having felt a vibration.
“You got a message.”
“Yeah.”
“I just got one too.”
“You’re not checking it?”
Arkay grunted. “I am gonna bet it’s from Retvik and was aimed towards Litvir, not me. If it was actually important, we’d use telepathy.”
Veeyel shrugged, understanding where Arkay was coming from. “Fair. From that vibration, I know it’s Ralian messaging me directly, so it might be important. May I check it?”
“You don’t need to ask me. You’re literally a medic who runs a hospital, you do what you need to do.”
Veeyel nodded a thank you, then pulled out a sleek communicator and read the messages he had received. However, he didn’t reply to them and just put the communicator back down.
“Ugh.”
“What?”
“Because Ralian is considered Telian Perfection, he does sometimes get it in his thick head that he needs to sleep with everyone, because that “must spread perfect genes” doctrine does occasionally break through. Doesn’t always work out how he intends it to.”
“Oh.”
“Although, in all honesty…” Veeyel sighed, then looked up. “Can I be really blunt?”
“Sure.”
Veeyel hesitated slightly. “I wanted to use this meetup to get under your armour, so I could fuck you silly.”
“Well, unfortunately, that’s not happening, because I’m pretty sure you’re my uncle.”
Both Arkay and Veeyel fell silent. Arkay felt particularly awkward, as he wasn’t interested in Veeyel at all, but he also felt bad, because that was the awkward thing he hadn’t wanted to reveal. Veeyel though stared blankly at Arkay, not sure how to answer.
“There… I… I broke the…”
“You didn’t break anything. You’re still the only Skiavok out here!” Arkay immediately started explaining. “Me and my family, my brothers, we all came into existence BEFORE you did the Teletourgic. I’m the Dead Child, the Deadly Slave, that Kayel spoke to, to get approval from the Gods to do your ritual.”
“You… you have been looking things up.”
“You have a small museum dedicated to you. You have information online. I combined that with what I know and… and…” Arkay trailed off briefly. “I’m sorry I didn’t help you enough. I’m sorry I left you in that damn hospital with your broken legs and battered brain and then I died.”
Veeyel didn’t respond at first. “You’ve been beating yourself up over a bunch of shit you had zero control over, and that I hardly remember anyway. Outside of my legs not working and the things you’ve read, I remember pretty much nothing about my life before the Teletourgic. The first of us did the Teletourgic, then streamlined it again so we could repeat the Teletourgic two more times, to create the second generation, then we all disappeared into the Umbric Realm and created our own universe.”
“The Umbric Realm was its own pocket universe, connected to ours but also… insanely far away. Multiple eniapents away…” Arkay sighed. “So… I can see that, when shit went down in the main universe, you were somehow completely fine, because the Umbric Realm was… uh…”
“Near Ralian and Letalis’s universe…” Veeyel muttered. “Apparently a LOT of universes were attacked by Corruption at around the same time, and I just assumed the Skiavok were closely related to Telians.”
“Were things good in the Umbric Realm?” Arkay asked.
Veeyel nodded. “Yeah. Things were great. We built a truly equal and happy society. And my promise is still holding fast, I think. I… I go back to it, sometimes. Never go close, but, well, it’s still where I left it.”
“That’s good… can I ask…” Arkay hesitated quite a bit. “Is… is… is Kayel still alive?”
Veeyel’s smile faded. “I don’t know. She… she wasn’t of the best of health when I left, and she had been struggling for a while. Losing me, her forever-partner, probably would have made things worse. If she is alive, she’s… not in a good way, but I doubt she’s still around. We weren’t true gods, just very long lived…” Veeyel suddenly paused. “Hang on… how do you know who Kayel is?”
Arkay hesitated even more, then sighed. “Kayel was my mum.”
Both Arkay and Veeyel fell silent again. It was a long time until someone spoke.
“I’m sorry…” Arkay eventually muttered.
Veeyel looked up at Arkay, trying to decide how to respond. Eventually, he found an answer.
“Hi, sorry, I’m dad.”
“… Fuck! I walked right into that one!”
Veeyel went back to smiling. “You did. Although I think I’m more uncle than dad. I’m pretty sure Kayel and I didn’t have any kids together before the Teletourgic. Does mean you have got about fifty half-siblings though.”
“I’ll add them to the six half-siblings I already had.”
“I guess. I’ll be blunt with you, I dunno if anything we’ve discussed is actually guaranteed. But if it is true? Well… it’s good to know that I have family both inside and outside the Umbric Realm.”
“You’re not angry?” Arkay asked.
“Nah!” Veeyel grinned. “I got new knowledge, I’m happy. And now I have two reasons why I shouldn’t pursue you sexually.”
“Were you… put off by me being a Synaisthyn?”
“Yeah.”
Arkay shrugged. “Honestly? Fair. But, well, I know a few people who are us-sized…” Arkay trailed off for a moment. “Alright, vaguely related question. What did Ralian message you about?”
Veeyel suddenly snorted in amusement. “HAH! Ralian was complaining about how your buddy is “far bigger than expected”. Gonna guess that Rethavok, like Skiavok, are very well endowed.”
“Hah, you’re definitely right there. And, well, we do have a common ancestor.”
“Heh, we do…” Veeyel raised his glass. “Cheers, to us to curiosity and to answers we didn’t really expect.”
Arkay raised his glass as well. “Cheers.”