“Aaaaaaarkadin, where arrrrrrre yooooou?”
Kinisis pranced around the palace, glancing in every room. She was about to go for a swim in one of her many waterfall pools and was suitably naked, but a sudden thought had caused her to go and find her son. After all, she hadn’t seen him for a few hours.
“Aaaaarky!”
A small bang caught Kinisis’s attention, but it was just the end of her endlessly long tail knocking down some stupid bit of art she’d put on a pedestal somewhere in the palace. A second, almost identical bang, followed by a shattering sound confirmed that. But the smashing of art gave Kinisis an idea. If she made enough of a mess, Arkadin would appear to tidy it up. Or would she have to brutally murder something for the little Thantophor to come out of his little hidey hole?
“ARRRRRRRKAAAAAADIIIIIIIN?”
Kinisis’s voice echoed across the palace. There was no way Arkadin couldn’t hear her. She was the Goddess of All, the Lady of the Universe, the Allmaker, and this was her damn domain. So either Arkadin was ignoring her or… maybe he wasn’t here any more? Maybe he’d sneaked out or something?
No. He was definitely here. Just hiding. Or possibly asleep. Did he even sleep? He never really seemed to.
“ARKADIN, REVEAL YOURSELF!”
Kinisis waited for a second. Arkadin didn’t respond. It was time for somewhat desperate measures.
Clapping her hands together, Kinisis created a ball of light. The ball fell to the ground and started rolling around, leaving a trail of light and smoke behind it. After a brief moment of fidgeting, the ball rolled forward and down the hallway. Kinisis grinned as she followed the ball. It lead her all across the house, all the way to the back of the palace, where one of Kinisis’s many fancy bathrooms was situated.
The door was ajar, but Kinisis knocked anyway.
“Uh, one second…”
Arkadin was inside. Just as the ball promised. Kinisis liked bending reality to give her answers like that. With a snap of her fingers, the ball disappeared and the Allmaker wandered into the bathroom.
Considering how quiet Arkadin had been, Kinisis expected to walk in and find him naked (as naked as his weird Panvok form could be), possibly even playing with himself. But no, the Thantophor was fully armoured and lying in the bathtub with a black towel covering his eyes.
There wasn’t any water in the bath or anything.
He was just lying there.
“Son, are you well?”
Arkadin sat up awkwardly. He’d been asleep. There was a trickle of silver goo hanging from his mouth.
“Not really. Kinda have a headache. Don’t normally get mortal things like that…”
The Allmaker hesitated before wandering closer and perching on the edge of the bathtub.
“Didn’t know you slept. What’s with the towel?”
The Thantophor rubbed his eyes, pulling the towel away. “Helps me sleep. Stops the screaming and the visions.”
“What screaming?”
“The screams and visions of the dying…” Arkadin sighed. “Normally I can block it all out, but while I’m sleeping, somehow covering my eyes and ears helps. Just to block things out for a bit.”
Kinisis leaned forward. The bathtub was cold. Colder than everything else in the room. It should have been warmer though.
“Are you sure you are alright? Do you normally just fall asleep like this?”
Arkadin nodded. “I’m fine. This was just… kinda comfy, and I was feeling really tired, so I went to sleep.”
“You don’t seem the sort to sleep.”
The Thantophor shrugged. “Well, things change I guess. Everyone needs a nap at some point. Why are you not wearing anything?”
Kinisis smiled as she glanced down at her large, floaty breasts. “I was gonna go swimming. You wanna come?”
“No thank you. I’d like to go back to sleep, if that’s alright.”
The Allmaker patted Arkadin on the head. “Very well! But I want you to be awake for dinner in two hours, alright?”
“Sure…” Arkadin smiled a little as he yawned and curled up inside the bathtub. “I’ll see you later.”