“It’s still breaking in!”
“I know, Sini, I know! I can’t fucking be in twenty places at once!”
Arkay had been racing back and forth across the northern hemisphere of the universe, sealing up massive cracks and holes that the Corruption outside was making, as it tried to enter the universe. Sini was trying to help, she was busy rallying mortals and getting them to set any intrusions on fire, while also shipping in new materials that Epani was making, so that Arkay could continue plugging the holes. They were holding, just about, but the Corruption was slowly working out that it could still get micro-droplets in, and Arkay was certain that he and Sini were missing more and more.
The problem was, this Corruption was huge. Their original estimates suggested that this Corruption was about a third the size of the universe. That estimate kept on going up. And up. And up. According to Epani’s new calculations, the Corruption was nearly the same size as the universe itself. When Arkay and Sini were told this, Sini did freak out, but Arkay reassured them both that the Corruption couldn’t surround the entire universe, it probably had a solid centre.
Right now though, a rather nasty tentacle had broken in, and Arkay was busy trying to stop it. He was thankful he was a deity, because he was summoning a lot of daggers and coating them with a lot of his blood. This was somehow more effective than using fire or acid, and just stabbing the tentacles was enough to make them shrink away and dissolve. But Arkay could only produce so much of his blood, and he couldn’t afford to spend the time making more blood. Yes, Sini did have backup supplies, but they were getting through that too.
While Arkay stabbed at the tendrils, Sini brought over some lava, freshly molten rock she had heated up via a nearby star. She shoved the lava in the hole, sealing it up, then pushed more lava against the universe’s now diamond-coated membrane, filling up any potential micro tears and punctures they couldn’t see normally.
“We can’t keep this up forever, Arkay.”
“We don’t need to keep it up forever. We just need to hold until Kairos works out his plan.”
“And when will that fucking happen?” Sini was getting very stressed out. Not because she was in danger, but she was at risk of losing all her beloved creations yet again. Sini loved this universe more than she loved herself. “Kairos might not find anything! Does he even have a plan?”
“He can see further ahead than we can. Kairos also knows this Corruption has some sort of weakness, he’s just trying to work out how we can exploit it. We’ll get there.”
“Doesn’t feel like we’re getting there. We’re clinging on for dear life.”
Arkay sighed as he raced off, detecting another break in. “I know, I know. I feel the same way. But we are holding. And what’s getting in, mortals are catching it and dealing with it. And in all honesty? From what the Corruption is chanting? As far as I can tell, we’re pissing it off. We’re doing something right… Hang on…”
Sini chased after Arkay, then watched as he effortlessly disintegrated another intruding tentacle, then sealed the hole.
“Wait… you know what it’s saying?” Sini asked.
“… Kinda?” Arkay frowned. “I just… somewhat pick up languages. Like, I can speak a lot of things. I even made up two languages to spite you and Epani. I don’t know exactly what the Corruption here is saying, I just know it’s angry and doesn’t seem to like Life Goddesses…”
The Corruption outside seemed to be aware that Arkay and Sini were close by. It began knocking on the crystalline walls of the universe, and chanting something in particular.
“What’s it saying right now?”
Arkay hesitated, then closed his eyes, listening closely to the chants. They were deep, heavy but with strong bass and an annoyingly good beat. Arkay was only catching some words though, less than he would have liked. However, there was one word that stuck out. A word Arkay knew well, one that he knew was bad news. It was part of a phrase Arkay had heard before. And the more the Corruption chanted, the more Arkay realized it was repeating that phrase he’d heard in the past.
“So?”
“It… it knows that we have two Life Goddesses here, and it doesn’t like that. But… worse… I think it knows what I am.”
“It knows you’re a fucked up amalgam of the, uh, three main type thingies?”
Arkay nodded. “Yeah. And it’s very angry that I’m hurting it. It’s well aware just how deadly I can be. If it was a normal-sized Corruption, it’d be dead already.”
Sini sighed. “I guessed as much… Alright, can I ask something stupid?”
“Sure. We’ve got… a few minutes.”
Sini looked Arkay up and down, then shuddered.
“Is something wrong?” Arkay gasped. “You’re not hit, are you? Do I need to-”
“No, no, I’m fine. Just… I got a future flash… Probably nothing though, since Kairos is constantly doing… whatever he’s doing… Things keep on changing and making my future flashes kinda pointless… No, what I want to know is, can I take one of your bones?”
Arkay blinked. “Why?”
“In case… in case something happens to you. Your blood is nearly as miraculous as my blood. A bone with some bone marrow in it will… will allow me to create more of your blood without me asking you directly.”
“I… admittedly already thought you had some of my bone marrow.”
“No… Not any more. I stopped stealing body parts from my fellow deities a long time ago. Too risky. But… well…”
Arkay shrugged, not really that surprised. “You can have some bone. Is part of my tail alright?”
Sini stuttered. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“You… never let me before.”
“I’m trying to stop the universe from ending. I’m also trying not to die, but also willing to die if it means saving the universe.”
“But…” Sini looked Arkay up and down some more. “But… Arkay… I… I don’t want you to die.”
“I’m sure I’ll be alright. Will probably just get hurt. You know I’m a tough cookie.”
All of a sudden, Sini hugged Arkay tightly. “I’m scared. I’m scared about so much.”
“I’ll be fine, Sini!” Arkay considered wriggling free, but decided to just accept the hug. “I’ll always be fine. I have promises to keep, the biggest of which is my promise to this universe.”
“Yeah, well… my future flashes are saying otherwise…”
“You just said your future flashes are untrustworthy.”
Sini let go of Arkay and sighed some more. “Yeah. I did. Doesn’t mean I can’t be scared.”
“Understandable…” Arkay grunted, then changed the subject somewhat. “So, how much of my tail do you need to get some working bone marrow?”
“Oh… uh… Can I have just a couple of tail vertebrae? Just the tip.”
Arkay shrugged, then summoned one of his anti-corruption daggers, then nonchalantly chopped off the tip of his tail, as requested. He then handed both the tail tip and the dagger to Sini.
“Keep it close, alright?”
“Yeah. I will. Thank you.”
The Thantophor smiled. “No worries. I… I gotta get back to work. It’s trying to break in elsewhere and Kairos is calling me.”
“Do you need help?”
“No, no. You focus on your own stuff. We just gotta follow Kairos’s directions and keep on holding on. The universe will survive. I promise.”
Sini opened her mouth to speak, but changed her mind. She sighed once more, then headed off, back to her duties of ferrying mortals and materials around.
Arkay sighed as well, realizing what he had just said. But he pushed that thought to one side, so he could carry out Kairos’s new instructions.