Litvir had been sitting at his desk for a while now. He was supposed to be reading through some guidelines and terms and conditions when it came to Time Drakes wanting to register as Decaylings or Decay Lords, as a favour to his dear friend Retvik, but on his screen was a video game character, standing around aimlessly in an idle animation, summoning the occasional wisp of energy. The character nor the game itself were what were keeping Litvir busy though, and he certainly wasn’t gaming while on the clock. No, the important thing was a small chat box in the corner, for the clan he had been invited to. In it, he had been having conversations with the clan owner, trying to pry information from them.
“It was a really annoying mission type as well. Like, the AI tends to get stuck on things at the best of times, and we had to get these guys through a constant infested swarm of level 200+ enemies!”
Really, Litvir wasn’t that interested in the conversation. He wasn’t actually a gamer, and had only started playing this game out of curiosity. However, the person on the other end of the screen was important to Litvir.
“I mean, we did it. It’s why Trin is still one of my most-played characters…”
The other being was an individual called Arkay. Their character was bright yellow, as bright yellow as Litvir remembered him. Arkay had been the third member of Litvir and Retvik’s old Decayling trio, the three of them had worked together and become Decay Lords together. They survived the death of a universe, they fought off imposing threats, they lived and bled for each other. But unfortunate… circumstances had forced them to be separated. While Litvir and Retvik had found a way to reunite themselves, Arkay had become lost. Trapped inside a new universe, somewhat unwillingly working as its god of death.
“Is Trin that healing one?” Litvir typed, trying to make himself sound interested.
“Yeah but she’s a horrible farm…”
More messages flooded the chat as Arkay diligently explained the best way to unlock this particular character. Litvir admittedly already knew how to, he just never really cared that much. What bothered him more though was that Arkay seemed completely unaware of everything that had happened between them. The whole reason why they had been split apart was because someone wanted to force Arkay to do things he didn’t want to do, and Litvir and Retvik didn’t do enough to stand up for him. And now he was doing something he didn’t want to do, without anyone to help him. While Arkay did know there was an entire society outside his universe, a society for beings that escaped their universes (after all, he WAS playing a video game run and maintained by said beings), his memories of his time as part of a blood-bound trio were non-existent.
“Do you want to farm her now?”
“Not really.” Litvir checked the time, then sighed. He needed to finish up here and speak to the three Decaylings he was now training, to go over the automatic management of different scales of time. Relkir in particular was rather bad at that, and had been predictably 16 minutes early to every meeting lately. And, at the same time, Litvir knew that time ran differently on the Thantir Two compared to the universe Arkay was trapped in. It was Saturday morning for Arkay, but the Decay Lord ship kinda didn’t really have days of the week, just numbers.
“Oh. Alright. Probably for the best, I gotta go soon anyway.”
Really, what Litvir needed was another way to communicate to Arkay outside of this game. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.
“What other games do you play?”
“Uh… I play Walkymonsters…”
Arkay listed off a handful of games, but most of them, Litvir didn’t recognize. However, he did know Walkymonsters.
“I have played that.”
“You have? Can I add you as a friend? I need gifts.”
Litvir blinked, then began to panic. Sure, he had played Walkymonsters before, but only very briefly, and he was certain his account got deleted. That and he had lost the small, digital device he used to play the game on.
“Sure. One second…”
Thankfully, someone was around to hopefully save the day. Retvik had stepped into the office, alongside Phovos, one of the Decaylings he was training. Getting her set up had been problematic since she was the daughter of a powerful but now dead Life Goddess, but Phovos was adamant that she wanted to become a Decay Lord rather than follow in her mother’s footsteps.
“Hey, you two, have either of you played Walkymonsters?” Litvir asked.
“What the fuck is Walkymonsters?” was Retvik’s rather gruff reply. Phovos on the other hand seemed to light up slightly.
“I got an account. Haven’t played in a couple of months, though, why?”
“Arkay plays it and I foolishly said I play it too, and he wishes to add me as a friend when I do not have an account. Phovos, may I use your account?”
The Raptor shrugged, pulling out a communicator with a digital screen. “Sure, I don’t mind. Has he got a friend code?”
Litvir returned his attention to his computer. Arkay had written several messages.
“@Phovos, you still there?” That name being Litvir’s in-game alias.
“Yes, hang on, cannot find my damn device… Do you have a friend code?” Litvir typed back.
A series of numbers appeared in the chat box. Litvir wrote them down, then handed the paper to Phovos. As he and Retvik glanced at her screen though, they both had the same question.
“Uh, why is your Walkymonsters account called Litvir?” Retvik asked.
“I, uh, didn’t want to use my real name, and didn’t think I’d end up working for a Decay Lord called Litvir?” Phovos awkwardly explained as she entered the code into the Add A Friend box. After a moment, a message popped up. “Huh. Seems that Arkay’s Walkymonsters account is called Retvik.”
“What is it with you guys and-”
“Hang on, I shall ask him…” Litvir returned to his keyboard. “Did you get the request? Why is your username Retvik on Walkymonsters?”
“Dunno, my normal names were all taken and the name sounded both cool and weirdly familiar. Then, back in December, I accidentally made a Rethan called Retvik immortal and I haven’t got the heart to change my account name.”
There was a brief pause.
“Speaking of which, I have to go. I need to go and congratulate my new friends on their match today. I’ll send you some gifts, alright, Phovos? Have a good one!”
Before Litvir could type a response, Arkay disappeared, having logged out from the game.
“So, what did he say?” Retvik asked, waiting for any sort of response from his psionic counterpart.
“Hm…” Litvir frowned, then tutted loudly. “I think Arkay’s fellow deities may… be keeping him suppressed…”
“How so?” The look on Retvik’s face became more and more concerned.
“He has a new friend called Retvik. A Rethan as well. That cannot simply be coincidence. Combined with his lack of memories from our time as Decaylings, despite knowing what Decay Lord society is like, suggests that his fellow deities have some sort of control over him.”
Retvik sighed. “Hm… Well, I guess more work is required then. Perhaps we should start being… more blunt with him.”
Litvir closed the game and turned himself to face Retvik. “You want me to be forthright with him?”
“He needs to know. It is unfair to take memories away, good or bad.”
Litvir nodded in agreement. “Very well. I shall start the next phase of our plan…”