“THAT’S FUCKING RETARDED!”
Psiksi’s voice echoed across the room, bouncing down the hallway. He quickly realised what he had said, in front of the Goddess of the Entire Universe of all things, but Psiksi didn’t change his tone.
“You want to bring the other deities here for a fucking family meal? Are you insane?”
Approximately six of the eleven other beings present had moved to try and quieten Psiksi down, but all of them realised that, if he hadn’t said it out loud, no one would have.
“Yes and no…” Kinisis replied calmly. “Like all families, mine needs to spend more time together. And no, I am not insane. Not completely insane.”
Psiksi stepped forward, despite Tenuk’s obvious hints telling him not to. Elksia and Retvik though both seemed to have Psiksi’s back.
“You know that Arkadin did recently try to murder his three siblings and his step-dad, right? Because they did cruel and horrible things to him, right? You know that, if we invite four beings he hates into his private space, Arkadin might act out again, right?”
“He attacked them though, didn’t he?” Kohra suddenly butted in. “He’s here because he was the one who did things wrong.”
“When he was fighting us, yeah, that was wrong!” Psiksi hissed. “But he wasn’t trying to hurt us. He didn’t want to hurt us, he wanted to hurt those who had hurt him!”
Kinisis raised her hand, silencing Psiksi.
“I understand your concerns, little one, but I assure you, everything will be fine.”
“That’s a load of bollocks…” Talok muttered under his breath.
“Excuse me?” Kinisis turned to Talok. Being a Vohra, the Allmaker towered over him.
Talok sighed. He considered lying but that would just make things worse. “Uh… I said that’s… a load of bollocks… There’s like, fuck all stopping Arkadin from breaking out apart from us twelve, and really I think he’s only still here because he doesn’t want to hurt us or our feelings and has Vahrga-feelings for General Elkay.”
“Vahrga-feelings?” Timik whispered.
“Means he’s sexually attracted to General Elkay…” Levik replied. “But Talok raises a good point. Arkadin is here because he is safe and isolated, protected by, well, former friends. He has a little circle of safety and if we puncture that circle… well, frankly inviting people one hates to dinner is a sure-fire way to start a fight.”
Kinisis tutted to herself. “You all have little faith in me.”
“No offence, Allmaker…” Psiksi almost growled. “You could have stopped all of this from happening and you didn’t.”
“Why are you so insistent on painting Arkadin as a victim rather than a prisoner paying for his crimes?” Kinisis snapped back. As she spoke, there was a weird electrical sensation in the air. She was clearly annoyed by this insubordination. “He attacked his siblings and threatened to kill the entire universe!”
“He lashed out because he was hurt!” Elkay shouted. “His own sister, someone he trusted, violated his mind, and because of that pain, he lashed out!”
Kinisis sighed, then fell silent, believing that these mortals were wrong.
“Or, alternatively…” Kayen spoke quietly, but just loud enough for Kinisis to hear him. “Perhaps he attacked because Yisini told him to. When you’re mind-raped, you are forced to do things you would never willingly agree to. But you also get whispers afterwards…” Kayen turned to Timik, who was staring awkwardly at his clawed feet.
“The whispers that tell you do do things…” Timik shuddered. “I… I can’t even look at Ksithans properly. I still get the whispers. And that was all… drug induced…”
Kinisis crossed her arms. “Are you really suggesting that Arkadin tried to kill the universe because Yisini, the Goddess of Life, told him to?”
“Well, it’s possible!” Kayen exclaimed. “Intentionally or otherwise!”
“All that is beside the point,” Retvik interrupted. “Levik is correct. Inviting angered relatives so soon after a potential disaster is asking for more disaster. At least give us all a little more time before we have to inevitably find ourselves in conflict once more.”
The Allmaker tutted, then finally relented. “Very well. I’ll wait. But you will all be working extra hard to make things as smooth as possible in the meantime. Understood?”
The twelve mortals all nodded. Satisfied, Kinisis disappeared in a puff of pink glitter.