There was a hole in the sky, a gaping black scar with glowing red edges. Hovering in its centre was Kenon, the Voidborn, surrounded by four monstrous entities. The massive beasts growled and snapped at the air, threatening the universe with their very presence.
“Arkadin, you wouldn’t happen to know why Kenon is here, would you?” Kinisis asked as she snapped her fingers angrily. “Because I’m pretty sure I told him to leave and not come back.”
The Thantophor didn’t answer at first. The thunderous shrieks of Kenon’s beasts had caused a large amount of rubble to fall, and the last thing he wanted was for his friends to get hurt. Sure, they were just a small group of five mortals, but Arkadin did consider them to be his friends.
“Arkadin, I’m talking to you.”
“Yeah!” Kayen squeaked as Arkadin pushed him towards the tower Arkadin had recently called home. “What the fuck IS going on? You disappear after you save me from being kidnapped by your dad and then your mum asks me to find you, then she uses me as a fucking teleporting portal thing to get to you and suddenly your dad’s here being all angry?”
Kinisis snapped her fingers some more. Three balls of white light suddenly glowed behind her, and out of them, three familiar deities appeared.
“Hi, mum!” Yisini beamed as she coiled herself around a crumbling tower. “Hi brother! Hi… dad?”
Kairos and Epani had similar confused looks on their faces.
“I thought you exiled him, Kinisis?” Kairos asked. “Why is he back?”
Arkadin took a deep breath, keeping an eye on Kenon. It seemed that the Voidborn was waiting for his explanation as well.
“When you exiled him, Kinisis, I went to find Kenon, just to talk. I wanted to be the better god and talk things through. He threatened me, stabbed me and said that, unless I kept myself hidden from you all, he would come back and kill us all.”
The other deities all looked at each other.
“That’s fucking stupid!” Kairos tutted.
“Yeah, that’s retarded!” Yisini tutted as well. “You should have kicked his ass the moment he threatened you!”
Epani nodded in agreement.
Above them, Kenon seemed to be getting angrier and angrier.
“KINISIS!” the Voidborn’s voice echoed through the ruins. “YOU DESERVE BETTER THAN THOSE BUMBLING FOOLS. I HAVE MADE BETTER DEITIES FOR YOU.”
Kenon floated down towards Kinisis. The four monsters behind him followed, drifting eerily, before presenting themselves to Kinisis. Each creature was a bigger, scarier version of her four children, standing proudly with gleaming gold armour. A golden time dragon, a sparkling, finned sea monster, a shimmering golden naga and a gilded panvaic beast.
“Uh, why did you make these when I have four perfectly good deities right here?” Kinisis asked.
“You exiled me because of them. But you deserve better, Kinisis. I tried to change them to be better for you but they wouldn’t budge, so they turned you against me. They only care about themselves.”
“THAT’S NOT FUCKING TRUE!” Arkadin suddenly shouted. “I have done everything in my power to both help you all and keep out of your way! I completely changed myself to better fit in! The ONLY being here who has been selfish and uncaring is Kenon!”
“You lie…”
“No, YOU lie!” Epani interrupted, not letting Kenon speak. “You make Arkadin’s existence miserable, which makes our existence miserable. You pit us against each other and taunt us when we fail!”
Kairos flapped his wings angrily, him and Epani putting themselves between Kinisis and Kenon. “You’re the horrible whispers in the back of our minds! You’re responsible for the corruption we could never quite destroy. You are the problem, not us!”
Kenon sneered, then smashed his golden staff into the ground. What few buildings remained swiftly collapsed as massive cracks rippled through stone and concrete. Kairos immediately grabbed Kinisis and lifted her onto his back, while Yisini and Epani got themselves airborne before the destruction could hurt them. Arkadin hesitated for a moment, then disappeared.
As the dust settled, Kenon glanced at his four creations.
“Maybe combat would be a better method of persuasion?”
“Do we really have to fight?” Yisini murmured as Kairos handed Kinisis to her. The Whenvern and the Panelix swiftly grew shimmering silver armour on their bodies, preparing themselves against Kenon’s beasts.
“I’d rather you all didn’t…” Kinisis sighed. “I’d much prefer if we could sit down and talk like reasonable deities…”
“Well, your ex isn’t giving you much choice, mum…” Yisini hissed back.
The Voidborn waved his staff, ordering his creatures to attack. They immediately charged forward, knocking Kairos and Epani into the ground, then picked themselves up and started threatening Yisini and Kinisis, only to abruptly stop.
“My children, what is wrong?” Kenon asked.
The creatures turned back to Kenon. There was pain in their eyes. Before any of them could say anything, all four beasts suddenly turned into nothing more than dust, scales and ash. A cloud of shimmering gold gently drifted down, snowing on Kinisis and her children.
Kenon tried to move or say something, but nothing was happening. Hideous yellow blades pierced through each of his limbs, wrapping around him and immobilizing him. No longer able to suspend himself in mid-air, the Voidborn fell to the ground, collapsing in the rubble.
“You hurt me, you hurt my friends, you hurt my family. Enough is enough…” Arkadin growled as he chained Kenon up and dragged him through a portal. “It is time to pay for your crimes against this universe…”