“I feel like I have been repeatedly bashed over the head with a frying pan…” Relkir grunted as plates of food appeared in front of him. “Too much for my small Rethan brain to handle.”
Only a few hours ago, Relkir and his fellow Divine Guardians had experienced a rather traumatic event, followed by a second traumatic event. Digital mind combers had gone through their heads, removing any traces of influence from evil Life Goddesses, as well as apparently giving them extra protection from future Life Goddess attacks. After that though, as a second layer of protection, their boss Kinisis had just… gone and given them all their memories back. Memories that had supposedly been lost when Kinisis had turned them all into Divine Guardians in the first place.
To help smooth things over between the Guardians and their leader, a local group of Decay Lords – the same ones that had saved Kinisis’s backside in the first place – were offering them food and company. The feral Life Goddess known as Viia had done a lot of damage to both ships, so they had to wait for the automatic repairs to sort themselves out anyway. Right now, Relkir, Teekay and Tahnahos were sitting in what was apparently the “Decayling private lounge”, while their host brought them plenty to eat and drink. While they were pleased to have a little bit of peace and quiet, Relkir somewhat wished it could have been under better circumstances.
“That’s because you have!” Arkadin, the smallest and yellow-est of the Decaylings, smiled awkwardly. “Don’t blame you. We all have problems right now. Apart from Litvir, nothing seems to bother him.”
Relkir lifted himself up and glanced at Litvir, who was nonchalantly buttering a bagel and sprinkling pepper and garlic powder on it. “Speaking of Litvir… how in the name of the Light, out of ALL the Rethans to be uplifted, how did YOU end up here?”
Litvir looked up and shrugged. “How are you not dead? How many times did you die, High General Elkay?”
“No one here actually died…” Arkadin interrupted. “Don’t argue about it, because I’m the former death god here. Elkay was kidnapped by Yisini, before being rescued once by Tenuk’s brother and once by me. I saved Teekay from a collapsing temple. Retvik and Tenuk, you both know. Litvir, you’re the miracle one who accidentally got himself trapped in a computer program without a body, only to be saved by Kenon of all people.”
“And here we all are, sitting around drinking fruit squash and eating sandwiches…” Teekay muttered, somewhat flustered by everything that was going on. “Our universe died and we… are having dinner with the being who did it, while sitting on a ship in the middle of an infinite space filled with hideous deities.”
“When you compress everything down like that, everything can seem rather insane…” Retvik shrugged. “If there is one thing I have learned, it is that sometimes you do need to just go with the flow.”
Relkir didn’t seem to agree at all. He stood up and leaned on the table, almost snarling at Retvik. “That is very optimistic for you to say, when everything we loved is dead.”
“That was going to happen anyway, little brother. And, thankfully, we are still here.”
Relkir grunted as he sat back down, crossing his arms in frustration. “How are you dealing with all of this?”
“Rather badly, to be honest…” Arkadin muttered. “I mean, coping with being forced to kill your own universe… That guilt hasn’t gone away. It probably never will.”
The table fell silent. Relkir recoiled back in his chair, feeling conflicted. Litvir helped himself to some sandwiches, but chewed quietly, not really wanting to mess with the weird atmosphere in the room.
Suddenly, a large black box slammed into the table. Tenuk hovered above it, a big cheesy grin on his Kronospast face.
“You guys did not tell me you had Cards Against Existence!”
“Oh, I brought that,” Litvir shrugged. “Between the three of us though, we never really had enough players.”
“Well you do now!” Tenuk beamed as he opened the pack. “Come on! Let’s do something fun and distracting! You all clearly need it!”