“I do not like it, sister!”
“It’s just a Voidborn.”
“It is hovering outside.”
“Yeah. Outside. It’s not hurting anyone.”
“I want it gone, Sini.”
“Well, get your pet to deal with it then!”
“He is not my pet.”
“You treat him like one.”
“Well… he IS a death god. It is better that we keep him on a chain.”
“Things are better when he’s happy.”
“Things are fine as they are right now.”
“Still, get him to do it.”
Epani snarled at Sini. She knew Sini was absolutely right but she didn’t want to argue, not when there was a dangerous entity nearby. Instead, Epani snapped her fingers, then counted to ten. As she muttered the number ten, a familiar, yellow-plated god of decay appeared.
“Hello, Epani, hello Sini. You summoned me?” Arkadin wearily asked.
Sini inspected Arkadin, then crossed her arms and tutted. “There is a Voidborn outside. It hasn’t done anything, just seems to be waiting patiently for someone to greet it. Epani wants you to kill it, but I want you to talk to it and tell it to leave peacefully.”
“Has it… done anything?” Arkadin queried.
“No, not yet.”
“Alright…” Arkadin sighed. He floated past the two Life Goddesses and opened the heavy metal hatch at the top of the universe, before awkwardly stepping outside. He made sure to keep his feet firmly on the platform, so he didn’t lose his connection.
Hovering about one meter above the universe was, as Epani and Sini had claimed, a Voidborn. However, it was quite an odd one. Pure silver and lacking in normal antlers. Instead of an intricate mask, this one had an armoured face, and only its eyes were visible. Most Voidborns had at least some gold on them, but this one was very plain.
“Ah, hello, Arkay!” the Voidborn seemed to smile. “It has been a while, how are you?”
Arkadin very much disliked how this Voidborn referred to him. Arkay was his old, lesser, mortal-like name. His godly name was Arkadin. The fact that the Voidborn believed it knew Arkadin was very troubling.
“Who are you and what do you want?”
The Voidborn immediately stopped smiling. It quickly became aware that the death god standing before it didn’t know who it was. It stepped back and raised all four of its hands in a non-threatening manner.
“I am Theocydes. I am an Adogtic Voidborn, an older-age Voidborn that does not belong to a cult, that used to live here in the Kinigian Wilderness but moved to the Ventra Expanse. The last time we spoke, I offered to come back and check in on you occasionally. And, in all honesty, I am very concerned right now.”
Arkadin growled, then summoned a weapon, a long, black spear. “Is this some sort of trick?”
“No, not at all. We last spoke approximately 1450 hours ago and you told me that the two Life Goddesses keeping you prisoner had forbidden you from speaking with mortals. I offered to visit on the regular, so you would have someone to talk to.”
The Thantophor hesitated. “That was… two months ago… Unfortunately, I don’t remember. I was recently reset and lost a year’s worth of memories. I have gone back to loyally serving the other deities and protecting this universe from any and all threats. Including strange Voidborns like you.”
Theocydes stepped back some more. “I swear, I do not wish to harm you or your universe. I came here solely to speak to you and do a wellness check. Clearly, looking at the state of you, you need help.”
“Why do you care about my state of being?” Arkadin snapped. “You’re a Voidborn! Not even a normal one! You’re all… weird and silver…”
“Well, that is true, yes. I am a weird Voidborn. I was humbled, I swore off my cult and set off to do some good for once. Some of that good includes checking in on the Decay Lords that humbled me, and making sure that the person that killed the great, terrible Ancient Collector is, well, alive.”
“What… what do you mean?”
The Voidborn put most of his hands down, then prodded one of his stubby antlers that were more like horns than anything else. “What did your Life Goddesses do to you?”
“They reset me. Remade me back to how I was before I got… bad.”
“Bad? You seemed fine to me. You appear to be doing far worse now. You…” Theocydes took a moment to decide how to phrase his next few words. “You look blatantly abused. Beaten almost. I don’t know if you do mortal-like things, like consuming food and sleeping, but have you done either of those lately?”
Arkadin hesitated some more, then shook his head. “No. I do not take breaks. I work constantly. As is my duty.”
“But you occasionally consume food and go to sleep, yes?”
“I… I used to. I have to remain vigilant now.”
Theocydes sighed. “I don’t normally feel sorry for Decay Lords, but, well, you’ve been utterly torn apart, broken down and enslaved.”
“I know. But I don’t understand why you are concerned. You’re a Voidborn. Your kind come along daily and try and tear my home apart.”
“Other Voidborns, definitely, because youngling Voidborns are stupid, and culted ones aren’t much better. Adogtic and Partnered Voidborns, we are more open to the feelings of others. And right now, it is clear as day to me that you are being treated poorly by the Life Goddesses who hold you hostage. I know because the same thing happened to me, before I broke free and escaped back to the Eternal Darkness. Have you even spoken to your friends?”
“I don’t have friends. I’m a death god. I don’t deserve them.”
“Oh… Oh dear… You…” Theocydes stuttered. He was feeling genuine pain and empathy, something he wasn’t used to. “You are completely gone… And I can’t pull you out of this mess and drag you to your freedom because you are bound to this little universe. I am so sorry, Arkay, I don’t think I can help you.”
Arkadin raised his spear again, no longer trusting Theocydes’s words. “Why would you want to help me? You’re the second damn Voidborn I’ve seen lately who has told me I should be free! Are you, like, trying to remove me from this universe so you can kill it?”
“I have no desire to kill universes, I just told you that I have no desire to harm you or your home! I want to help you! You used to be this proud, powerful Decay Lord, then you got ensnared here and you have been torn apart and turned into a slave…” Theocydes trailed off. “And, unfortunately, it seems that you don’t even understand that you need help.”
“I don’t need help.”
“But you look physically less healthy now than you did the last time I saw you.”
“I’m fine!” Arkadin snapped. “Will you leave already? Your presence is bothering Epani and Sini. And them being bothered makes my duties harder to carry out.”
Theocydes gave in. “Fine. I’ll leave. I hope, one day, you will be free. As you deserve.”
“That’s not how it works. I’ll always be here. And, frankly, I’ve had this damn conversation before.”
“Unfortunate. Farewell, Arkay.”
With one final sigh, the silver Voidborn floated off into the darkness, before teleporting out of sight. Once Arkadin was certain the Voidborn was gone, they climbed back inside the universe, where Epani and Sini were waiting for him.
“So, are they gone?” Epani immediately asked.
“Yes, I told them to leave.”
“Wonderful! You can go back to your normal duties now!”
The Panelix waved her lure, then disappeared through a portal. Sini stared at Arkadin. He stared back.
“What?”
“You’re not looking after yourself.”
“I don’t care. I have work to do.”
Sini frowned as Arkadin grew a pair of inky wings and flew off, back to whatever he had been doing before he’d been summoned. After a few moments of awkward silence, Sini crossed her arms and sneered to herself.
“They didn’t just reset you, brother. They did something else too…”