There was a hint of nervousness and worry in the air as the two leaders of the Reth-Vrekan Union paced up and down their throne room. The Great Keeper Veeksiar, in charge of both maintaining history and informing the King and High General of current events, had just given up some grave news.
“Both the Vohra and the Kronospasts. At the same time!” King Ver slammed down his staff in anger. “What pray tell have we done to deserve this?”
Veeksiar hesitated. He had more bad news. More important bad news.
“We will have to focus on the Kronospasts first…” General Elkay muttered. “The Vohra have to either go through the Temthan Empire or through the unknowns at the universe’s centre. Perhaps the Temthans will hold them back long enough for them to not be a threat. The Kronospasts though… The Kronospasts are rather close already.”
“And they have the Dragon God of Time helping them…” Veeksiar added.
Elkay looked up and stared at Veeksiar. “What?”
“The Whenvern. He is assisting them again. While a Goddess of Space is assisting the Vohra. The Panelix, I believe she is called.”
“There are GODS helping these two massive empires?” Ver shouted. “How in the name of all that is good are we supposed to fight two damn gods? We barely made it through when the Kronospasts attacked last time! I bet you there’s a god of some sort helping the Temthans too! And we’re all on our own!”
“Well, not quite.”
The three beings turned around. There was a yellow and black creature sitting in King Ver’s throne. They looked a bit like a Skyavok, except taller and with black, star-studded, inky gloves covering their hands. Their armour plating though was sharper, more akin to that of a Rethavok.
“Who… are you?” Elkay asked after an awkwardly long silence.
The being stood up, walked over and shook Elkay’s hand. “I’m Arkadin, the Lord of Death. And I’ll be your God today!”
Elkay and Ver glanced at each other.
“So… we get a god too?” Ver finally spoke.
“We get the Thantophor?”
Arkadin nodded. “Yep, you lucky bastards get me. Yeah sure, the Kronospasts have the God of Time, the Vohra have the Goddess of Space and the Temthans have the Goddess of Life. They all got to pick, but really you all got the best deal.”
Again, Elkay and Ver glanced at each other. Veeksiar just stared blankly at the Thantophor, not really sure what else to do.
“The God of Death is here to help us, not kill us?” Ver blinked.
Arkadin rolled his eyes. “Why do I have to explain this every single time? I don’t want everything to die, I don’t enjoy making things die and returning them to the cycle and I hope one day sapient life finds a way to make itself immortal so I don’t have to kill you all any more.”
More confused stares. This was beginning to annoy Arkadin slightly.
“Alright, I’ll cut to the chase. My siblings are basically ruling their territories via the former leaderships of these empires. I don’t want to do that, I have no intention in ruling over any of you. I have better things I could be doing. I’m just here to give you all a little bit of protection and to give you advice.”
Elkay breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Thank heavens! I was worried you were here to turn us into your puppets, as the Whenvern has done to the Kronospast leadership!”
“No…” Arkadin sighed. “Why would I do that?”
“Because you are the Thantophor, the most terrifying force of nature to exist in this universe?” Veeksiar suggested, before cowering away in a corner.
The Lord of Death tutted. “This is what happens when you let your siblings publish propaganda against you… I assure you all, I am not here to rule. I do not want that. At all. I want to protect and look after you all, because your little union is one of the nicest things I’ve seen in a while, and I’m not letting Kairos fuck that up.”
Elkay and Ver looked at each other again. Arkadin waltzed over and put an arm around them both.
“Don’t worry, guys. You’ve got the God of Death on your side. You’ve already won…”