Arkadin snarled as he finished tearing apart the remains of Yisini’s experimentation labs. He was bathed in blood and smoke, from having destroyed not just the fortress of flesh but the corruption that was festering inside of it. But there was still plenty of work for Arkadin to do. He needed to deal with the cause of this mess.
The being behind it all was cowering in a small, concrete bunker. Yisini had curled up inside her own tail and was whispering quietly to herself. Her whispers though quickly turned into terrified screams as the roof of the bunker was ripped off, revealing a very angry death god.
“I’msorryArkyI’msorryIjustwantedtotrysomethingnewI’msorrypleaseforgivemepleaseIpromiseIwon’tdoitagain!”
“Really, little sister?” Arkadin growled as he closed in on Yisini, placing a hand around her neck. “You want me to forgive you? For what you did to me? For how you treated me, tortured me and violated me? Forgiveness is what you ask for?”
Yisini whimpered, trying not to move. Arkadin’s grip on her throat was steadily tightening. “Please…”
“No, Yisini. I do not forgive you. In fact, I think I might hurt you. The way you hurt me.”
A roar echoed above them. Kairos and Epani closed in, summoning high winds to try and separate Arkadin and Yisini. Arkadin simply responded by throwing Yisini at Epani, knocking her out of the air. Kairos had just managed to fly out of the way, and was hovering above them nervously.
“Arkadin!” Epani cried as she helped Yisini up, but gripped her tail tightly so the Allbirther couldn’t wriggle away. “You hurt Yisini, you become just as bad as she is!”
The Thantophor tutted. “As bad as she is? Really? That’s easy for you to say. Especially as you sat there and WATCHED as I was led around, like a puppet on her strings. You did the bare minimum to assist me. You let me be hurt by Yisini.”
Epani swallowed nervously and looked up at Kairos, hoping he had something to add.
“Arkadin, you know you shouldn’t hurt Yisini. It’s not her time yet…” Kairos grumbled. “I know she hurt you but-”
“But what?” Arkadin roared. “But what? Tell me, Kairos, why the fuck does Yisini get let off for hurting me? Why did you get let off for trying to kill me? In fact, you’re just as guilty as Epani is! You knew I was trapped, you knew what she was doing to me! And YOU DID NOTHING!”
“Uh…” Kairos and Epani had no idea what to do. They had seen Arkadin’s fury before, but not like this. “Maybe if you calm down a little, we’ll sit down and talk about how we punish Yisini and make sure this never happens again…”
“No, I don’t think so. For millions of years, it’s been the same damn thing. One of you tries to hurt me, the other two cover for them. None of you have learned and not one of you will chance. So I’m going to kill all of you now.”
Arkadin hissed, then started to claw at himself, tearing off his skin. Underneath, instead of blood and flesh, the Thantophor’s true form began to emerge, a monstrous combination of black diamond scales and armour plating made of flames and smoke, tipped with hideous golden teeth and claws.
With a final, traumatic roar of pain and anger, Arkadin began his fiery revenge, scorching the world around him.
“Prepare yourselves. Because I am no longer holding back.”
…
“You know what?” Levik blinked as the ship took off. “I think maybe we fucked up a little.”
“How so?” Ct’Era asked.
“Oh really?” Elkay grunted sarcastically. “It seems that, instead of saving the Thantophor and ruining the Allbirther’s plans, we have released an apocalypse-inducing monster…”
Ct’Era shrugged. “The Thantophor does as the Thantophor does. He is Death. He is inevitable.”
“I do not know if you all heard those screams, but Arkadin may… kill the other deities…” Elkay hesitated. “If the Thantophor does that, he may continue on and destroy the entire universe. I… I believe we must try and stop him.”
Talok gasped. “You’re fucking kidding, right? I thought you were a fucking smart emperor or something, and you’re suggesting that the four of us try to kill a death god?”
“Kill Arkadin?” Elkay snapped. “Do not be so ridiculous! But we have to do something. Perhaps… perhaps if we went down there, I could talk to him…”
“That is a fucking death god!” Talok shouted. “You don’t talk to death gods!”
Ct’Era got up and stood next to Elkay, being careful not to scrap her horns on the ceiling. “That talk explains much. Is why the Thantophor keeps to himself. All think he is a monster. Drive him to the edge. When in fact, in actual scenarios, the Allbirther does the killing.”
“But more importantly, I have spoken to Arkadin before. He can be reasoned with. He just needs to be calmed down. The other deities cannot do it. It is up to us to help.”
Talok and Levik both looked at each other. They knew that Elkay was right, that there was no one else around to stop the Thantophor. That perhaps nothing could stop him if his deathly fury left this planet.
“Fine. We’ll go down there…” Levik sighed. “But before we do so, let me call for some reinforcements…”