Elkay sighed as he got up and opened the door to his private quarters. The room only consisted of a desk, a bed that was meant for a being larger than Elkay and some storage space, but it was quiet and closed off and separate from everything else. The knock on the door wasn’t unexpected, but Elkay wasn’t looking forward to greeting who was there.
Not too long ago, he’d had an argument with his partner Teekay, mostly over the fact that Elkay’s sex drive and ability to be intimate had been incredibly low lately and Teekay had been feeling unwanted, unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Elkay had tried to explain that he was having a myriad of issues lately, mostly identity problems and the fact that he was recently stabbed, but that hadn’t really made Teekay feel any better, and the argument had ended with Teekay storming off, claiming he’d find someone else to screw, since Elkay didn’t seem to be willing to even try. But Elkay just needed some time to recover.
However, as Elkay opened the door, he quickly realized that the being outside wasn’t Teekay.
“Uh, hello, Lord Vikalos…” Elkay muttered, bowing slightly. “How can I help you?”
Vikalos was a strange being. While the majority of the beings on the Shimmering Blade were tall, muscular beings, even more armoured than Elkay was and sporting crowns of horns on their heads and blades on their arms, Vikalos was naturally armoured, but he also had fur and a pair of fluffy ears sticking out from the sides of his armoured skull. The reason for this was simple: Vikalos was actually from a very, very far away place, and was a member of a sect known as the Justar, before he met Galyn and Itaviir, who used to be Phantai soldiers. This former fire god also always seemed to wear the same red and orange speckled, sleeveless jacket, as well as a long, flowing scarf around his neck. Vikalos seemed to own a lot of scarfs, Elkay hadn’t seen him wear the same one twice.
“Hello, little one, I am actually here to help you!” Vikalos smiled. He was always an overly friendly being, even if his two partners seemed cold and emotionless at times. “Are you busy, may I come in?”
“I am not busy, but… I am admittedly not in a good way…”
Vikalos continued to smile as he patted Elkay on the head. “I can leave and come back later, if you wish? Is something wrong?”
“I… I had an argument with my partner.”
“Ah, that is understandable. These things happen sometimes. But I assume you are both reasonable beings. After a little cooling down and some time apart, I am sure you will be back together in no time. Are you sure you do not mind me being here?”
Elkay sighed, then nodded, standing to one side so Vikalos could enter. “I can sulk any time. This is clearly important.”
“It is, yes, but your feelings are more important currently.”
“It is fine.”
Vikalos shrugged, then entered the room and sat straight down on the bed. Elkay noticed that Vikalos was carrying a small bag with a handful of items in it, mostly sheets of paper and books. Elkay decided to sit down at his desk.
“So, first off, a little introduction is required. You know my name, that I am part of the Tattered Navigators and that we founded the Thantir. But you might be unaware that I have worked with hybrids before, and have assisted in helping them settle down, allowing them to live a perfectly normal life. While yes, Elkay, you may be a hybrid mimic, a very rare sight, but you are certainly capable of both becoming a true Decay Lord and having a happy existence.”
“Have you dealt with hybrid mimics before?” Elkay asked. “And when you say yes, I assume you mean you have dealt with Arkay?”
Vikalos nodded. “Indeed. Admittedly, Arkay was the only hybrid mimic I have met, your kind are extremely rare. But Arkay was definitely doing well until she… he… they were tricked. Luckily for you, you do not have a family of awful siblings who intentionally want to harm you… Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
Elkay closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “That is all anyone does, these days.”
“I promise I will be quick. This is mostly to help me help you.”
“It is fine. I would rather we be quick though. I do wish to somewhat return to my bad mood and lonesomeness.”
Vikalos smiled again, then patted Elkay on the shoulder. “I can come back-”
“No. Please. Just get on with this.”
“Very well. My first question is, why is your name Elkay?”
Elkay blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Does it mean anything?”
“Why are you asking?”
“While your name is similar to not just your partner, Loopblade or the only other hybrid mimic I have met, you are clearly quite a different being. A large part of hybrid mimic issues and the issues of hybrids in general is that they suffer from a loss of identity. They do not know who they are, they have been twisted and manipulated and broken…” Vikalos straightened himself out somewhat. “I spoke to Retvik and Litvir, they both seem to agree that your identity issues are recent. The point of these questions is to find out not just who you are, but who you believe you are and who you want to be.”
“Oh…” Elkay felt bad now. “You actually want to help.”
“Of course! I am aware though that I came at a bad time.”
Elkay got up from the desk and sat down next to Vikalos. “And if I decide who I want to be, my body will stop trying to turn me into things other than Rethavok? And I might be able to make my eyes red again? Because I am sick and tired of having to rip out errant body parts…”
“What do you mean by that?”
Elkay closed his eyes again then sighed and climbed off the bed, reaching underneath it. He pulled out a long, thin box, covered in blood and filled with bony spikes, horns and blades.
Vikalos did his best to hide his concern. “How long have you been doing this?”
“Since the first excursion Elksia, Akah and I were taken on to kill Voidborns. A lot of the Phantai mistook me for one of them, and the Voidborns kept on whispering in my head.”
“That is somewhat typical from what I have seen. But there is good news to be had!” Vikalos lifted Elkay back up and sat him back on the bed, putting an arm around Elkay. “You actually have some grip on who you are. We just need to refine your identity. And doing so requires discussing your past. Are you comfortable doing that?”
Elkay nodded. Vikalos’s words did reassure him somewhat. “I am.”
Vikalos grabbed his bag and pulled out a pad and pen. As he did so though, something fell out. Something very sparkly. A book covered in gems, that seemed very ill-fitting compared to everything else Vikalos had on him.
“That is a very glittery book…” Elkay muttered.
Vikalos glanced at Elkay, then at the book, then at Elkay again. “It is just a…” Vikalos paused for a moment. To him, the book was completely blank. “This is the Life Goddess manual I was supposed to be giving to Phovos in a bit, at Litvir’s request. To me, it is blank. But you see it differently, yes?”
“I do.”
“Arkay was the same. He spent time studying with Seimeni and became a full-blown Life Goddess temporarily. And he turned completely female while under my care in Deathven when he met a male entity he fell in love with. But Arkay also was nearly convinced he was a Voidborn once or twice, and settled down when there were less of us around. It is possible that, if you spend enough time alongside Phovos, you may be able to pick up some Life Goddess traits yourself.” Vikalos picked up the book and put it back in his bag. “Still, this IS meant for Phovos. I would not recommend reading this book on your own.”
“Fair enough. Phovos has already proved that Life Goddess stuff is… weird…”
Vikalos nodded in agreement. “Anyway, back to my original question. Why are you called Elkay?”
“I, uh, picked the name myself when I was one year old…” Elkay did his best to explain. “I have never been a normal Rethan, I could read and write at the age of six months old and was born with a pair of wings and low level telepathy, but had been abandoned as a hatchling. Because I was so smart, my carers let me pick my own name.”
“That is… a little weird.”
“What is even weirder is that I named myself after an ancient warlord I read about, who united the species us Rethavok evolved from. Somehow I turned the name Elkaithean into Elkay Theanon, completely unaware that it sounded like a Skyavok name.”
“And I assume you never got around to changing it?”
“Basically, yes.”
Vikalos smiled a little. “I can relate. My full name was Rhetvikalios, which, back in my old universe, meant Keeper of the Damned. I changed it when I became a Decayling.”
Elkay paused for a moment. “You were called Retvik?”
“Well, I suppose I could have shortened my name to that, yes…” Vikalos jotted a few things down. “Speaking of whom, Retvik is your sibling, yes? When he was a Decayling and ran into you while you served Kinisis, you called yourself Relkir Rethianos. Where did that name come from?”
“It is the name I would have had, if I had not been abandoned and had been properly accepted in the Rethianos bloodline and family. I do not like it any more though, since Kinisis gave me that name and I do not like Kinisis. She made me into a hybrid mimic after all.”
“Fair enough…” Vikalos wrote something else down, then turned back to Elkay. “So, if you could choose any name you wanted, what would you call yourself?”
“That… is an interesting question…” Elkay thought to himself. “Well, as weird as my name is, I am happy being called Elkay. I have been considering changing my surname to Theanon-Rethianos, which is a bit of a mouthful, but shows off both my life and my lineage.”
“So you would call yourself Elkay Theanon-Rethianos?”
“Yes.”
“Hm… Alright, one last question before I leave you to it and give you back your space. This is a bit of an odd question, but who do you see yourself as? How do you describe yourself, how do you want to be?”
Elkay paused again. “That is not one question.”
“I did say it was an odd question, but you are correct. But I suppose a better way to phrase it would be: who are you?”
Yet again, Elkay fell silent, pondering the question. After a short while, he smiled, ever so slightly. “I am Elkay Theanon-Rethianos, former High General of the Retha, a powerful, smart, winged Rethavok, a Decayling and, soon a Decay Lord of the Thantir.”
“Does that identity make you happy?”
“It does.”
Vikalos smiled as he wrote down Elkay’s words. “Wonderful. Then we shall assist you in making sure you can keep your identity.” Vikalos then sighed and put his pen down, packing everything away. “Elkay, little one, you are quite lucky. Things will be rough as your powers grow, and you will have some fluctuations even after you become a Decay Lord. But you are lucky in the sense that you do actually know who you are and what you want.”
“That is genuinely reassuring, thank you.”
One last time, Vikalos patted Elkay on the head. “I will leave you to it now. And I will send Teekay your way if I see him. You ought to discuss these things with Teekay, since he will help you reinforce who you are. If you can, talk to Retvik and Litvir as well. Since you are the same species, remaining close will also help you keep your identity in check. Have a good one, Elkay.”
Elkay bowed as he followed the elder Decay Lord to the door. “You too, Vikalos. Thank you.”