Retvik grunted to himself as he rubbed his head and nursed his drink. He was still reeling from what was in all honesty a very stupid fight. A fight in which he had been knocked out, ripped one of his nice golden fabric stomach wraps and had snapped his favourite sword in two. While also potentially ruining the relationship he had with his half-brother Elkay.
Admittedly, Retvik didn’t actually know where Elkay was currently. Nor did he know who had actually won their fight. Or whether Elkay was even conscious. According to Tenuk, both Retvik and Elkay had managed to knock each other out, and everyone had agreed that there was no clear winner. Thankfully, since he was essentially a deity, Retvik had recovered from his physical injuries pretty quickly, to the point that he wasn’t even aware he had any injuries. But Retvik’s emotions were definitely hurt, and he was currently nursing his wounded pride more than anything else. That was why Retvik had requested to be left alone.
However, Retvik noticed someone was approaching the door to his personal quarters, despite the door being shut. It had to be either Litvir or Elkay, because they were both Rethans. Back when they were mortal, the Rethavok had a low level telepathic link, and it seemed that, despite Retvik having no other telepathic powers, he could still at least sense the presence of other Rethans. It was either that or Litvir intentionally keeping some sort of telepathic link between them, to keep them sane.
A knock on the door. Of course. Retvik grunted some more, then got up to see who it was.
“Oh. Litvir. I wanted to be left alone.”
Litvir had that familiar smirk on his face. Really, ever since they’d left Phantai territories, Litvir was a much happier person. He’d always been oddly happy and emotional for a Rethan, but now he was even happier. It was somewhat understandable. Not only was Litvir dating one of the hottest (and last) Rethans alive, but he felt like he was actually doing real good these days.
“I know, dear, but I wanted to check on you. Also, Elkay is hovering around and he wishes to speak to you. For obvious reasons.”
Retvik tutted. “I am quite surprised he wishes to talk so soon. We did not have a particularly good battle and we said some rather horrible things to each other.”
Litvir shrugged as he leaned against the door. “You should really both speak as soon as possible, before your anger boils over and you have a fight in which you intend to genuinely hurt each other. Although I am surprised there is that much anger between you both.”
“Why? You have a twin sibling, you know exactly what it is like.”
“Well, yes, but Kuta and I did awful things to each other. Accidentally at first. Culminating in Kuta ignoring me and accidentally murdering most of the old 11th Legion or putting them into permanent comas, followed by my permanently imprisoning Kuta inside a digital matrix. You and Elkay have never had any real anger towards each other in general, and it is odd how a silly, now pointless title really pushed you both over the edge…” Litvir paused for a moment, then smiled some more. “I also recommend not taking Kaytee’s suggestions. It is blatantly clear now that our dear Arkay’s lunacy is not unique to him. Kaytee is quite insane as well.”
“Hmph. You are annoyingly right on both subjects. Very well, I shall speak to Elkay. Where is he?”
Litvir’s smile turned into a demented grin. He stepped into a nearby shadow then abruptly pulled Ekay into view. Elkay didn’t have a chance to say thank you or anything as the cheery Psion disappeared once more.
“That was awkward…” Elkay muttered. “This is awkward. May I come in? I do not wish to speak out in the open.”
Retvik snarled briefly, but quickly relented and moved to one side, before pulling the door shut behind Elkay.
“I am sorry about our conflict…” Elkay immediately apologized. “It was stupid. You were always the Conqueror, well before I got into power, well before Rethais had his kids. I am not a real Rethianos, I do not have the right to even consider myself part of the actual bloodline, let along suggest that I am worthy of a title in said bloodline.”
Rethvik thought for a second. “That there is the problem though. The title of Conqueror should be obvious. The one Rethianos who is blatantly better than anyone else in the bloodline, over the course of three generations. None of us, not the three of us, nor Revan and Relkay are worthy of it because we are all as good as each other. And the previous generation… well, fuck them.”
“I admittedly never really knew mum or dad. Rethais and I were essentially raised by both maidens and the Juvenile Stratos, and spent most of our childhoods working as hard as we could. Although we are not alone there. You had to work extra hard to prove you had value, due to being an orphan of… dubious nature.”
Elkay frowned. “Surely you must have formed an opinion of either Revalos or Jelik as an adult though? I never spoke to Revalos, always kept my distance in case he tasted my scent and tried to kill me, but Jelik just seemed like a pretty normal Below Two Hundred General who happily assisted us in the war against the Whenvern.”
“Hah… mother was… pretty typical of previous Rethianoi. They just… lived off the name, I guess. Which is why our argument is even stupider. You and I both fought hard to prove ourselves as the non-Bearer, and, admittedly, Rethais fought hard as well, he helped you become High General, was a loyal Vice General who helped you while you were in power and continued your legacy when you were… taken…” Retvik fell silent, then sighed some more. “I humbly apologize, Elkay, I should not have attacked you, and I should not have called you a false Rethianos. You are family. My only remaining family. Also the only other remaining Rethan outside of Litvir and myself. We cannot afford to be at each other’s throats.”
“I definitely agree with you there. Which is why I apologize too. We should not have had that stupid fight, we should not have even had an argument about a stupid, pointless title in the first place. But I owe you a second apology. I should not have dragged Gath’s name into this.”
Retvik took a deep breath. “The sad thing is… you are right. I told Gath I was going to put my sword away. One last adventure. And it got the better of me. Kenon’s control ruined everything else, Gath thought I was dead and moved on, and by then… well, I was too broken to fight back. He got what he always wanted, a child, and with no thanks to me. Not that it, well, matters any more, what with everything we ever did being dismantled, destroyed and remade into a new universe.”
With a defeated sigh, Retvik sat down on his bed. Elkay hesitated, then sat down next to him.
“I suppose, at least, the universe that replaced ours seems somewhat nicer.”
Retvik shrugged. “According to Litvir’s little brother, it is quite nice. Peaceful. No Kinisis around to make the other gods use mortals to fight each other. Apparently everyone got remade as well, so no one technically died. And new-universe me is apparently very nice, to the point Kuta is dating him.”
Elkay opened his mouth to speak, stuttered, then finally tried to form a sentence. “So both the remaining Kaldieridoi are dating someone called Retvik Rethianos?”
“Seemingly so.”
“Does that… not bother you?”
“Oh, it bothers me greatly that there is another Retvik Rethianos and he is younger and fitter than I am.”
“Is there… an Elkay Theanon? I know Litvir speaks to Kuta on the regular, and Kuta has been informing us of Arkay’s constantly worsening status, but Kuta also said that there was no Litvir in his universe for some reason.”
Retvik thought to himself. “I do not know. I think some people just, well, got different names and things like that. Or became different species. I suppose we could call Kuta and find out.”
“We ought to. Kuta is the fourth last old-universe Rethan, stuck in a universe he can’t leave. And he is Litvir’s brother. His last brother, and the only one Litvir considered to be actual family.”
“Hmph. I forget just how many Kaldieridoi there were. But if Kuta and Litvir can forgive each other, then we should forgive each other as well.”
Elkay nodded in agreement. The two Rethans sighed and fell silent for a bit.
“I forgive you, Elkay. I am sorry for what I said and did…” Retvik eventually muttered.
“I forgive you too, Retvik. I too am sorry. Also, I must commend you on heating the air so I could not fly. That was a good trick.”
Retvik snorted. “Well, to be fair, you deserve some kudos as well. You held your own against my rage.”
“Shall we call it a tie then?” Elkay asked, holding his hand out. Retvik looked down at Elkay’s hand, then smiled and shook it.
“Yes, yes we should.”