“Hey, Arky!”
“Hey, Sini…”
Yisini slithered her way across the various tubes and rocky girders that made up the foundation of the Whenvern’s crystal palace, heading towards the tiny little hammock that had been hung underneath it. While Yisini could have simply hovered or grown wings or something, she wanted to approach in a less direct manner, not wanting to scare off the tiny visitor.
“I’m glad you’re alive, sister…” Arkay sighed as he kicked his legs, staring off into space. “I was worried about you lot.”
“I’m glad you’re alive too, Arky!” Yisini smiled, slithering ever closer. “May I join you?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Yisini perched on the nearest ledge, watching as Arkay stared somewhat blankly into the abyss.
“Everyone thought you were dead.”
“I thought I was dead.”
“You want to talk?”
Arkay took a deep breath. There was clearly much on his mind. A creaking sound far above them made both Arkay and Yisini look up, but neither paid further attention to it.
“I don’t know where to even start.”
“Well… what is bothering you the most?”
“I thought being dead would be easier.”
Yisini frowned, not expecting that to be Arkay’s response. “Is it really that bad out there?”
“Yeah…” Arkay nodded. “Everyone wants me for their own agendas. Turns out I’m an easily manipulated idiot with more power than I know what to do with. Made worse by the fact that everyone seems to not know that most of Arkadin and Arkidetelos are dead and buried and I’m just a remnant of what they both were.”
The Allbirther shrugged, slithering closer to Arkay. “That sucks. Also kinda ironic that the only part of you that survived was the mostly mortal bit.”
“That is… kinda ironic. I thought I’d be alright hiding with the Decay Lords but they keep on claiming that I’m dangerous and too much of a pain. But everyone else just wants to use me. Kinisis specifically wanted to make me into a Life Goddess…”
“Wha? Kinisis made YOU that offer?” Yisini was taken aback by Arkay’s statement. “Dude, I’d fucking LOVE to be a proper Life Goddess! Yet here I am, stuck making nothing but mortal life and dealing with the odd time anomaly!”
Arkay turned to Yisini, looking confused. “You… didn’t get that stuff?”
“Nope, Epani got almost all of it. She got not just the ability to create life, but also control over decay and time as well. I just gained the time stuff Kairos has, except worse because I haven’t had time to practice.”
“Oh… I’m sorry…” Arkay sighed. “If I could… give you some of that power, I totally would. I’m too messed up to ever be a Life Goddess…”
“And I assume you don’t want to be stuck with Kinisis for a third universe?”
Arkay blinked, then nodded, realising what Yisini meant. “Yeah. Not again. Not after what happened.”
“Did… did it hurt? When you were made to destroy everything?”
“Yeah. I’ve felt a… a lot of pain. I can’t do it again.”
“Then…” Yisini shrugged, as she plonked herself down next to Arkay and put an arm around him. “Then don’t do it again?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Well that’s perfectly fine. You’re a big boy, you can make your own decisions.”
Arkay tutted loudly. “Clearly I can’t because no one will fucking let me. I just… want to be left alone to do my own thing.”
Yisini shrugged some more. “I… I understand. Do you want me to leave you alone?”
“No. I shouldn’t even be here. Putting you and Kairos and Epani in danger.”
“Nah you’re not. Whatever comes, we’ll deal with it. You can stay here if you want. Or you can go, if you want. Or whatever. I ain’t your boss. But if someone tries to be your boss, I’ll fucking whack them with my new time powers. We always had our problems, but at the end of the day, you’re a good person and you’re family.”
Arkay smiled, just a little. “I appreciate that, Sini. Rather… uncharacteristic of you, but it’s still… nice…”
Yisini grinned. “Yeah, gonna be honest, I changed a bit after what happened. Losing 95% of all your creations in under a minute tends to do that to you.”
“I’m sorry…” Arkay’s brief smile faded.
“It wasn’t your fault. Kinisis fucked up, not you or me. But now we can, I dunno, do our own stuff.”
“Hopefully…” Arkay sighed. “Thank you, Yisini.”
“Hey…” Yisini beamed as she patted Arkay on the back one last time. “No worries mate. After all the shit I did to you, the least I can do is be nice to you now…”