Arkay stared wearily at the strange glass walls that made up his liquid cell. He had been bobbing up and down in the clear, viscous fluids for goodness knows how long, but only now had Arkay realised what was going on. These curious and powerful beings were trying to heal him.
Why, Arkay didn’t know, but he didn’t want to complain and seem ungrateful.
In the mean time, Arkay had been trying to figure things out. There were lots of strange things going on that Arkay couldn’t explain. Like the fact that he hadn’t seen any other beings in the other liquid cells. He could clearly see the odd larger being walking between his cell and the cells to the left and right of him, but everything just seemed empty. And weirdly dark.
That was until someone walked by, someone with a burning torch. On further inspection, it wasn’t a torch at all, but a little ball of fire they were holding in front of them. The sudden brightness did cause Arkay to recoil slightly, but once he was used to the light, he found himself not able to look away.
“Oh, there you are!” the kindly red and gold being smiled, wandering over. “How are you doing, Arkay?”
Arkay smiled back, happy to see someone he vaguely recognised. “Hi Retvik! I feel a lot better! No idea where I am or who I am or why I am but I’m alright!”
“That is good to hear!” Retvik seemed unsure as to where Arkay actually was. He definitely wasn’t looking directly at him. “Are you settling in?”
“I, uh, dunno… Does everyone live inside a glass cage filled with magic fluids?”
“No. Apparently that is temporary while they… deal you.”
Retvik’s words sounded uneasy. Most of Arkay’s memories were fleeting, but he did know that Retvik was not one to truly hide his troubles.
“What do you mean by that? I honestly don’t really know what’s going on. Heck, not long ago I thought they were going to kill me.”
“They… were considering it. But… we fixed that. It is all good now.”
“I gathered…” Arkay floated down so he was directly in front of Retvik. Clearly Retvik noticed the movement and was now properly tracking Arkay’s location, looking right at him. “Although from what you all said was happening to me… I can kinda see why.”
Retvik frowned somewhat in agreement. “Well… you are alive. All is well. Mostly…” Retvik sighed a few times. Something was on his mind.
“Is something wrong?”
“I need to tell you something, Arkay. About myself and Seimeni.”
Arkay blinked, utterly confused. “Who is Seimeni?”
Retvik also blinked, confused for obviously a different reason. “You… do not know who Seimeni is?”
“No. Name doesn’t ring a bell. Although I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff that Arkadin knew.”
“I was under the impression Seimeni was your friend before she met me.”
Arkay shrugged. “I genuinely do not know who Seimeni is.”
“So it would not bother you if I told you I had slept with her?” Retvik asked. “Because I was under the impression she was your friend and you liked her.”
“I’m telling you, I don’t know. But honestly not like I ever tried to sleep with anyone anyway so why should I care?”
Retvik frowned again. “I broke off the relationship with her since it was going too fast and I had been tasked with tracking you down. I do not want to hurt your feelings, Arkay. Had I known of your relationship with Seimeni in the past, I would not have allowed her to approach me.”
Arkay shrugged some more, not sure what Retvik was getting at. “I genuinely, honestly have no idea who Seimeni is.” Arkay’s words however turned into a long, drawn out yawn. Behind Retvik, one of the Decay Lords could be seen.
“I am sorry, Arkay, I have to go…”
“No problem!” Arkay smiled between yawns. “It was great seeing you!”
“Yes… it was good seeing you too…” Retvik grunted as he headed off. “Stay safe…”