“He’s doing his job again, but where from?” Kayen muttered.
“Pardon?” Kohra turned around and asked Kayen if he was alright. “What did you say?”
Kayen blinked his eyes. “What?”
“You said something…” Kohra had noticed that Kayen had been trailing the rest of the group ever since they’d started walking through the ruined city. He seemed as if he was somewhere else. Kohra was a bit tired as well, after all he’d just finished re-shapeshifting back into his Rethan form, but there was something off about Kayen.
“I did?”
The group had been walking for an hour now. Teekay and Timik had been closely following Phovos and her powerful nostrils. Kohra had Kayen had been following them, but Kayen had constantly been drifting off, only for Kohra to grab him and bring him back to the group.
“You mentioned something about “doing a job, but from where”, perhaps referring to the Thantophor?” Teekay asked as he glanced over his shoulder. “You look ill, Kayen.”
“We have been walking for a couple of hours,” Kohra admitted. “Little legs get tired. Well, maybe not your little legs, Teekay, since you’re some sort of scary super-Skyavok, but Kayen’s just an accountant.”
“Of course he is. He’s N-Class. Not built for running.”
Teekay continued following Phovos. Kohra shrugged, then picked Kayen up, carrying him on his shoulders.
“What did I say?” Kayen whispered.
“What?”
“I don’t know what I said…”
“You said something about a ‘him’ doing his job again.”
Kayen shook his head. “I have no memory of saying that. I… kinda don’t really remember much since like, five minutes ago…”
Kohra didn’t know how to respond, so he remained silent. Kayen tightened his group on Kohra as they continued to walk.
The city though was not much to look at. It was mostly just ruins and rubble, with the odd building still having part of a roof on it. The group was glad that it wasn’t raining right now, as the roads were littered with bricks, crumbling concrete and dead trees.
“Are we close?” Timik asked after a long silence.
“Yes…” Phovos replied.
Ahead of them, obscured by a familiar inky black mist, was a single tower, still standing on its own. Hovering at the top of the tower was a dark figure, who instantly spotted the group and disappeared inside.
“I think we found him!” Kohra beamed as the group approached the front of the tower, which had a very nicely decorated front door, complete with a little gold doorbell and a couple of flower pots with dead plants inside them.
“I think we have too!” Phovos smiled as she rang the doorbell.
After a few seconds of waiting, the door opened. Arkadin did not look very happy.
“Did none of you realise I wanted to be left alone? That maybe I was in hiding for a reason?” the Thantophor snapped. “I’ve literally just worked out how to stealthily do my duties and now you’ve all blown it.”
Everyone glanced awkwardly at one another. Arkadin rolled his eyes and was about to turn around and head back inside, only to be stopped by a blinding white. Both Kohra and Kayen found themselves on the floor, while a green, eerily familiar-looking being stood in their place.
“Son!” Kinisis smiled as she pushed past Phovos, Teekay and Timik and threw herself into Arkadin’s arms. “You’re here! We’re together again! Everything is better now!”
The Thantophor sighed, then looked upwards. The formerly dark sky began to glow with an otherworldly red tinge. Cracks of lightning rippled through the atmosphere. A blood-curdling roar echoed across the landscape, causing the ground to tremble.
“Nope, everything is worse now…”