With a thunderous crack, the delicate, stained glass ceiling collapsed, dropping a rain of shrapnel down on the unwitting creatures below. A wave of panic rushed over everyone present as they tried to run for shelter. This was supposed to be a peaceful event, the meeting of leaders, and already it had turned into chaos.
The cause of the collapse landed in the centre of the intricately decorated room, not caring at all about the tradition and history she had just destroyed. The Allbirther was furious and she wanted answers.
Local soldiers attempted to enter the room, weapons pointed at the divine goddess, but with a flick of her wrists, half the soldiers were incapacitated, their bones broken by strangling vines, the other half’s skin and armour shredded by razor-like whips. Summoning heavily toxic plants, the Allbirther sealed the room, trapping the leaders inside.
“Tell me where he is, you Skyavok scum.”
The Skyavok, the ones that were still alive and conscious, all glanced at Kayel, the leader of the L-Class and the current All-Ksa.
“Where who is?” Kayel whispered. “Also you… kinda just killed a lot of vok…”
The Allbirther hissed, throwing herself at Kayel, while vines pushed the other Skyans out of the way. She grabbed Kayel by the neck, holding him in the air.
“PUT HIM DOWN!” Veear, the leader of the R-Class police force, demanded. His cries though were met with a wind of sand and sleeping powder, knocking him out completely. The other Skyans realised there wasn’t much they could do except to remain quiet.
“I will be clear with you, imbecile. WHERE. IS. ARKADIN?”
“You mean Arkay?” Kayel stuttered, struggling to breathe. The Allbirther realised she would accidentally kill him before he could give her any information, so she loosened her grip around the Skyan’s throat, just a little.
“Yes, you retard, I mean Arkay.”
“I don’t really know…”
The Allbirther sighed, then threw Kayel into the ground, not caring that she had just broken his shoulder. She turned to the other Skyans, who were huddling together.
“Do any of you know?”
One Skyan, a black and green one, stepped forward.
“The Thantophor came here peacefully, purchased a plot of land then went off to build a house on it. We cannot give you that location because the land he purchased is a mobile plot that drifts on its own currents.”
With a sigh, the colossal serpentine goddess leaned forward, towards the Skyan. She placed her hand around its waist, smiling.
“What’s your name?”
“I am Enkay, leader of the K-Class Ksa-aah!” Just as Enkay finished his sentence, the Allbirther squeezed her hand, crushing Enkay’s waist and cracking his armour. Enkay clearly tried to hold in his pain, but tears were streaming from his eyes.
“Can you lead me to where this plot of land goes?”
“Uahh… Not now… I think you broke something…” Enkay murmured.
The Allbirther rolled her eyes and let go of Enkay, dropping him on the ground in front of the other Skyans. But as she did so, she noticed something glimmer. Something had appeared behind her.
Suddenly, as the Allbirther turned around, a black, smoky spear impaled itself in her tail, causing her to roar in pain. The spear’s owner floated down from the ceiling, carried on wings darker than the void.
“What the fuck are you fucking doing, Yisini?”
This new being was a Skyavok. A yellow and black one. Aside from the obvious black wings, dark flames and smoke, one would have considered this Skyavok to be relatively normal. Several of the Skyans muttered a name – “Arkay”.
“Arkadin!” Yisini screeched, pulling the spear from her tail. “What the fuck are YOU doing?”
Arkadin stood still for a moment, flabbergasted at his sister’s stupidity. “You come into the Void Spheres, desecrate holy grounds, spread your seed over a building that is literally a temple to Kenon, hurt a bunch of innocent beings and then ask ME what the fuck I am doing?”
“Yes, I am…”
The Thantophor closed his eyes, then leaped forward, swinging himself around Yisini, forcing her to take a smaller, safer form. In a single, fiery breath, Yisini watched as her plants all rotted away and disintegrated, destroyed by Arkadin’s display of power.
“You just don’t get it, do you, Yisini?” Arkadin hissed. “I just wanted to be left alone! I didn’t want to talk to you. I left you to do your work so I could do mine. But no, you HAD to fuck around again. Well, enough is enough!”
Yisini hesitated, then coiled around herself, tutting. “Are you threatening me?”
“Yes, yes I am.”
“You’re not supposed to threaten me.”
Arkadin glanced at the Skyans behind Yisini, then sighed. In a single, swift action, he grabbed Yisini by the arm and neck and threw her to the ground, pinning her in place.
“YOU’RE HURTING ME!” Yisini bellowed, thrashing wildly. Her attempts to free herself did nothing but further fuel Arkadin’s contempt for her.
“Really? You’re bitching about me hurting you, when you just killed twenty seven Skyans and injured seventy nine more? Really?” Arkadin gripped tighter. He was tempted to do to Yisini what she had done to the poor mortals, but he decided to just start by snapping her fingers. “You’re a horrible being, Yisini. I know I’m horrible too, after all, I’m the Lord of Decay. But you, Yisini, you have so much potential and you waste it all on… well, being a massive cunt, if I’m honest.”
“STOP HURTING ME!”
“No. You’re going to stay here and listen to me. And I’m going to hurt you more, to make sure you remember.”
Yisini continued to flail, making her own pain worse. Smiling, Arkadin broke another finger, which caused Yisini to stop screaming and devolve into whimpering and murmuring.
“Look at me, sister.”
The Allbirther did as she was told, not wanting to lose another finger. “What do you want?”
“I want you to stop with all your dumb little experiments, your dumb little plans. I want you to stop interfering with mortals, to stop hurting them. Play with your single-celled organisms, sure, but leave the sapient ones alone. Because what you are doing now is sending more beings to my domain than if you simply did nothing…”
Arkadin glanced at the mortals, then turned back to Yisini.
“I also want you to leave me alone. We both know that I don’t have the secret to immortality. But even if I did, the way you act, I would not share it with you. You have to earn my trust back, sister. And you won’t earn it unless you leave me alone and you leave the mortals alone. Do you understand?”
Yisini nodded. The Thantophor released his grip on the Allbirther, and the serpentine goddess slithered away to the back of the room. After wrapping her broken hand in vines and leaves, Yisini began to grow in size and rise from the ground. Once she was at the size she wanted, she flew off, through the hole in the ceiling from which she had originally arrived.
With a sigh, Arkadin turned to the Skyans. They all stared up at him, a mixture of both fear and wonder in their eyes.
“You… saved us…”
“No, I just stopped unnecessary bloodshed. Could have stopped more if I’d arrived sooner…”
One by one, the Skyans lowered themselves down, bowing in Arkadin’s presence.
“Oh no… please don’t do that!” Arkadin protested. He floated over to where Kayel had fallen, helping him up and carrying him over to the rest of the Skyans.
The Skyans continued to bow. “You deserve recognition and honour!”
Arkadin sighed. “I can’t have you worshipping me!”
“Why not?” Kayel asked weakly.
“You’re a better god than anyone else we’ve worshipped!” several of the other Skyans added.
“The Banikans worship you too…”
“None of the other gods are as humble…”
All the Skyans had some sort of vague yet logical reason to bow down to him. Arkadin wasn’t sure whether this was because they were scared still or if they were being serious, but it genuinely disturbed him.
“It’s… it’s not right for you…” Arkadin stuttered, before realising that these mortals probably wouldn’t budge, especially since he had just saved the lives of the leaders of an entire race.
“Listen. Don’t worship me or do anything yet. Let me… go and think about all of this first…”