“You ever feel like the universe is too large?” Kinisis muttered to herself as she filed down her incredibly long claws. “Like there’s too many beings in it?”
Arkay didn’t respond at first. He wasn’t sure how to. Not that he wanted to respond. These days, he preferred not talking to anyone. Especially other denizens of Kinigi. And especially Kinisis herself. Yet she always insisted on talking to him.
“Arkay, I’m talking to you.”
The Veth Prime grunted. “I do not know, Kinisis. That is a strange question to ask.”
Kinisis sighed, then span around in her chair. She was unsatisfied with everything lately. She had been unsatisfied with her Veth, with the look of her home, with all sorts of things. Arkay had wanted to call her out on her constant whining and complaining, but he hardly had the time. He considered himself lucky he had ten minutes of break time, and was cursing the fact he was forced to spend it with Kinisis.
“Do you know how many beings there are in my universe, Arkay?”
Arkay grunted again. “No. And I do not wish to know.”
“Why not?”
“Why are you asking me all these questions?” Arkay countered with his own question. “Do you wish to talk about something and do not know how to bring it up?”
The Cycle shrugged. Kinisis wandered around, running her claws along the walls and ground. As she did so, she sighed loudly.
“Tell me why you don’t want to know how big this universe is.”
Arkay relented. There was no point arguing. “Because then I will be acutely aware of how many beings I have killed and dragged into the Rivers of the Cycle. I am better off being ignorant and tolerating my duties.”
Kinisis smiled as she wandered back round to where her Veth Prime was sitting. She hovered in and out of his view, intentionally trying to piss him off.
“What is your damn problem, Kinisis?” Arkay was pissed off now. “I have to get back to killing in a bit, can I please just have a few moments of peace and quiet? It is bad enough you make me slaughter, maim and murder, but do you really have to rub it in my face?”
“I do!” Kinisis grinned. “Because I feel you’re not resisting me as much as you normally would. Is there something going on in your little head? Are you plotting or scheming or something?”
“No. I am not plotting anything. What could I even plot without you knowing?”
Kinisis’s smile faded away. Technically her little Veth was right. If he had plans, she’d know about them. Arkay was part of her, after all.
“So no secrets, no ideas, no schemes?”
“Nothing, Kinisis.”
Satisfied with Arkay’s answer, Kinisis decided to talk about what was bothering her.
“Well, now that I know you’re not going to do anything dumb, I can tell you what the problem is.”
“What is the problem?” Arkay humoured Kinisis. He had to leave in a minute anyway.
“There’s too many beings in this universe. And I want to kill a lot of them. You know, sort of start over a bit. Make things smaller. Make things how I want them, rather than being the baby mummy that Stasis and Kairos always wanted me to be.”
“I… I don’t follow…”
“I want to kill things.”
“You always want to…”
“I mean, I want to kill a lot of things. Like, maybe a quarter of the universe. Maybe a third. Maybe even half. You know, clear some space. Start fresh.”
Arkay had no words. He sat there, unsure what to say, staring at the floor.
Kinisis smiled, then patted Arkay on the shoulder. “Have a think about it. Not that you have much choice in the matter, but think about it anyway. In the mean time, you’ve got a job to get back to…”
With a giggle and a puff of star dust, the Lady of the Cycle disappeared, leaving Arkay alone with his thoughts. After a moment of awful silence, the Veth Prime got up and went back to work, feeling more helpless than ever.