Relkir couldn’t deny that they were briefly scared as something pulled itself through the shadow underneath their desk, but as they realized who it was, they did quickly calm down.
“Hello, Kyr Elkay…” Relkir got up from their desk so the dark being could get up, then stood to one side and greeted the God of Shadows and Knowledge. “I.. I have a door, you know. It is even open right now, you could have just walked in here.”
“Yeah, sorry for the intrusion, kid, but I need to talk to you, privately. Do you mind following me to a more convenient shadow, so we can go to my place?”
“Uh, no, I would rather stay here. 47th Legion Security would be very upset if you took me away.”
Elkay frowned, then relented. After all, he was the former All-Ksa, his guard always got pissy at him if he sneaked off somewhere. “Fine. We’ll stay here. But I am closing the door and shrouding this room with shadow, because what I am about to say is for your ears only.”
“Uh, very well, I guess? But if this is so important, why are you not taking it to Rethais?”
“Because this involves you and ONLY you. Literally no one else can know about this.”
Elkay summoned some shadowy tentacles, which nudged Relkir back onto their chair. He then pulled up a chair of his own and sat down. With a flick of his fingers, the room fell completely dark and the tendrils melted away.
“I do not like this.”
“Understandable. But I will be brief, and I promise I am not here to hurt you. I just want to talk.”
Relkir settled down. “Fine. Go ahead.”
Elkay shoved his hand into a nearby shadow and grabbed a handful of sheets of paper. “Alright, last month, I think your 11th Legion folks explained to you and Rethais that the Whenvern was briefly ill, yes?”
“Yes. Messages were sent to all the god-tracking groups.”
“Well, we did… omit some things from that report. Mostly the reason why Kairos attacked me.”
“Why as it omitted?” Relkir asked. “I think most people assumed it was because you are now the closest being to the lost Oath Keeper.”
Elkay shrugged. “Well, that IS true. Arkay did bless me and make me into his Shadow when I was young. And I’m actually glad you brought up my master, because I wanted to ask, you’ve met him, haven’t you?”
“I have, yes, twice. The first time was after Retvik and their team beat Retha Squad One. The second was when I went on holiday to Portalia with my partner…” Relkir paused, then eyed Elkay. “I think I now understand what the Oath Keeper was talking about now…”
“What do you mean?”
“He said that I reminded him of someone called Elkay. And, because of that, he liked me and said he was looking out for me. I wondered what he meant by that… I thought he meant you. But the description the Oath Keeper gave me only partially matched you.”
“Alright, before I go on… did you Rethans know I was the Shadow?”
Relkir shook their head. “No. Rethais told me you saved them alongside General Kuta.”
“Ah… Poor Little Bitey…” Elkay sighed. “Taken too soon. It was fun training them when they were a kid.”
Relkir blinked in confusion. “But… Kuta was a hundred years old. You are only-”
“I’m 121 years young. And I lie about my age and my past a LOT. Kinda have to since I was the Shadow of the Skyavok… But I’m really getting off topic. Because Arkay once said something similar to me. That I reminded him of another Elkay. After he’d left, I went and checked A-Class records (since I was All-Ksa and could do whatever I wanted AND I knew what I was looking for), and I worked out that there were three other Elkays who had served Arkay as the Shadow. Considering there’s only 20 known identities confirmed to be the Shadow in our super top secret Triple A-Class archives, that… that’s a lot. And to make matters worse, all three of them were killed in conflicts that were connected to the Whenvern.”
“This is all very interesting, but what does this have to do with me?” Relkir asked. “I am a Rethan, not a Skyan, and I certainly am not blessed like you are. I may have worshipped the Oath Keeper, but never as a being of darkness.”
Elkay frowned. “I’ll be honest, I thought nothing of it myself at first. Elkay is a common name for K-Class Skyavok, and it’s the K-Class that normally trains shadow-blessed Skyans. But this… came up again when the Whenvern was ill. He attacked me and threatened to kill me.”
“That is…”
“Don’t worry!” Elkay raised his hand. “We’re all fine now. Kairos was fixed up. But when he was ill, when he attacked me, he said some very, very strange things. And he admitted that he as one fear: that he will be killed by someone called Elkay.”
Relkir shrugged. “Death is lingering below everyone. Is that not what “Thanto Kat’olon means?”
“It means Death Below All, yes.”
“But how does this connect to me?” Relkir was getting frustrated now. “I am NOT called Elkay! I do not match your colourings either.”
“The colours don’t matter…” Elkay decided to just be more blunt. “Kairos thinks someone called Elkay will kill him one day, so he’s been making sure that people called Elkay who have some potential to gain power never do so, to avoid something he called looping.”
“But-”
“Let me finish!” Elkay tutted. “He flat out told me about four Elkays that he had ‘disposed of’. Not killed, just… affected by the Whenvern. And, when Nanik helped me go over the memory of what happened, I realized, one of the four Elkays was you. Because, and I am quoting the Whenvern’s direct words here, Kairos thinks that “most Rethans are stupid and willing to sacrifice themselves” and that this sacrifice avoided an alternate path, an alternate timeline.”
Rethais suddenly put everything together. “Are you suggesting that Retvik offering their own life to protect mine completely and utterly changed history?”
“Yes.” Elkay leaned forward and started whispering. “Dalosisaar has weak time powers now. He can’t do what Kairos does, but he can extrapolate from existing data very well. Had Retvik not sacrificed himself, you would have run away in a bid to escape, and, somehow, you’d have ended up living among us Skyans, calling yourself Elkay and probably working for me. Also, we’d all be dead because you wouldn’t have been around to help Rethais become High General, and Photis would never have acted in time against the Corruption.”
Relkir thought for a moment, digesting what Elkay had just told them.
“And I assume the same happened to Retvik’s friend Kayel. Their original name was Elkay, yes? Their path was altered by Kairos, and they always looked a bit… Arkay-y anyway.”
Elkay nodded. “You’re spot on. But the problem is, I don’t know if Kairos has properly dismissed your potential futures yet. He might still see you as a threat. And, while yes, you are far stronger than you appear, should Kairos attack you… well, you’d be fucked.”
“And you would not be in trouble?”
“I have eleven other gods and Epani behind me. You’re a mortal. A powerful one, yes, but still capable of dying… Basically, I don’t want you to be defenceless. Doubly so since Retvik is gone and you don’t have a demi-god working in the 11th Legion cave any more, and I’m pretty sure Kairos keeps on throwing more and more duties at Litvir to stop them from protecting you too.”
“Um… I… I do not follow… You are offering me some sort of protection?”
“Yep.”
“Am I actually in danger?”
“No. But the potentials are there. Which is why I…” Elkay abruptly fell silent, having caught something in the corner of the room. A small shrine, dedicated to the Oath Keeper. One that had a Phantasma dagger resting before it. “Where did you get that?”
“The dagger?”
“Yes.”
Relkir smiled briefly. “Kayel gave it to me when Gath and I went on holiday to Palaestra. I then used it to stab my mother in the arm because they tried to hurt me.”
“Hm… well…” Elkay hesitated, then smiled too. “A Phantasma blade blessed by righteous violence and the blood of justice. Good. That means you’ll accept my gift.”
“What gift? What are you-”
Before Relkir could finish their sentence, Elkay reached forward and grabbed Relkir’s hand. He pried open Relkir’s fingers, then swiftly carved something into Relkir’s palm with his claws, definitely drawing blood. Elkay smiled some more and relinquished his grip on Relkir.
“You’re a shadow too now.”
All of a sudden, Elkay got up and dived into the nearest dark corner, dismissing the black shadows across the room as he did so.
Relkir stared blankly at where Elkay had just been sitting, utterly bewildered and having no idea what had just happened. After a very long silence, Relkir decided to wipe the blood off their hand. However, weirdly, there was very little of it. And underneath was a strange yet familiar emblem.
A ringing phone snapped Relkir back to reality. They stared at the phone for a bit and just let it ring for a moment, before answering.
“H-hello, Rethais…”
“Little sibling, are you alright?”
“Uh… I think… I think I am very stressed right now…” Relkir stuttered. “Do you need me for anything?”
“No, no. Just checking in. What is wrong?”
“I… I cannot explain it… May… May I go home early today?”
“Of course. Stay safe.”
“T-thank you…”
Relkir closed the call, then took a deep breath to calm themselves down. Eventually, Relkir got up, no longer wanting to do anything except go home and see Gath.
So that was what Relkir did, trying their hardest to forget what had just happened.