“Alright, that’s all sorted, now we need to… Hang on…”
Both Arkay and Kuta had picked up the intention, but Arkay has gotten up first.
“That is worrying, yes?” Kuta asked.
“A little, but don’t worry. I got this.”
“Anything we can do to help?” Ret frowned, aware that something was wrong but not knowing the specifics.
Arkay thought for a moment, then nodded. “Take Kuta to Litvir’s office. Tell Nyssi and Litvir to go there too. Have Kayel, Tenuk and yourself look after them, and do not let anyone touch them until I’m done. Elksia’s already dealt with herself, Thassalin is checking branches, Eksi knows what he is doing. And so do I.”
Ret staggered to his feet, then took Kuta’s hand and helped them to their feet too, before wrapping his arms tightly around Kuta. “Very well. You know me and my desire to protect things. Everyone will be fine.”
“Well, maybe not everyone…”
With a shrug and a quick glance at his hand, Ret tried to snap his fingers but nothing happened. He tutted briefly, then dragged Kuta through the nearest shadow, to Litvir’s office, as Arkay had demanded. As they disappeared, Arkay smiled to himself ever so slightly, amused by the fact that the only thing stopping Ret from copying Tanos’s teleportation powers was his finger-clicking problem. That amusement faded almost instantly though. Something was causing problems. And since Arkay was a vastly powerful being, he wasn’t limited by his lack of fingers. He could teleport by just thinking about it. So that’s exactly what Arkay did.
Arkay reappeared in the main courtyard of Savepoint. Everyone who had been caught off guard and lacked the correct mental shielding was somewhat frozen, standing around as if they were zombies. However, there seemed to be two beings who weren’t. Talok and Tah, both of whom did have the correct mental shielding, were being pinned down by a very large serpentine creature, while smaller serpentine creatures were rounding people up and locking them in rooms to keep them out of the way.
“Hello, Deathbringer… uh…” The being stuttered,, then turned to Tah. “Shieldamp, Cleanser Kal Wehl-Tah, formerly Spiritcleanser-1, what is that being’s name?”
Tah clicked with anger. He was trying to teleport Talok and himself away and/or electrocute the snake creature pinning him down. “I’m not telling you, you stupid slimy telepathic meanie!”
“Hah…” the being laughed nervously. “Your insults are inadequate. But you are not who we Mindfangs wish to confront. Deathbringer Arkidetelos, you have many, many names. Which common name shall we use to talk to you?”
Arkay crossed his arms and tutted. “Not Arkidetelos, for certain. You can call me Arkay.”
“Your mortal name, RK0019K Arkay Theanon?”
“No, just Arkay. What are you doing here and what the fuck do you want?”
The being straightened itself out. Its comrades finished what they were doing, took Tah and Talok and moved them to one side, then joined the largest being.
“I am Skeftofayos, these are my siblings. We are the Mindfangs, the Children of the Mindeater-”
“For fuck’s sake!” Arkay immediately interrupted. “All you fucking evil cunts with your stupid fucking children? Am I going to have the kids of every single fucking evil asshole I’ve killed coming here to try and kill me in revenge? Have none of you fucking considered that maybe I wouldn’t have killed your fucking parents had they not tried to kill not just those I care about, but have massive body counts on the same scale as a death god in a smaller universe? Of course someone with a sense of justice and a bit of power is going to some day going to fucking kill them!”
Skeftofayos didn’t respond at first. It telepathically whispered to its siblings, then seemed to sigh.
“That… is a very fair comment, Arkay. We came here for revenge, yes. We assumed that you would be an easy kill, to make us all feel better.”
“You didn’t realise I’m a Synaisthyn, I’m borrowing powers from the Anti-Realist Psion your dad tried to kill a while back and that I’m in a really bad fucking mood. You’ve also been trying to read my thoughts, trying to work out why I haven’t fucking murdered you all yet.”
“You have the power to do so. You have the power to murder many, many beings. Anyone who gets in your way. Anyone who ever slighted you. But you do not.”
Arkay closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Ugh. There are too many beings out here who have no sense of basic fucking decency. If I just kill everyone who slights me, I become a monster. Just like you. I mean, I already consider myself a fucking monster, but I at least try to not kill too many innocent people. You clearly didn’t give a fuck until I made you pause and think about things, under the threat of being killed yourselves!”
The siblings all telepathically whispered at Skeftofayos. They were scared. Even Tah, with his rather weak and useless telepathy, could tell that they were panicking. They had realised that Arkay had just turned off their main telepathic powers. The mind-controlling fog was gradually lifting from everyone’s heads.
“I’m going to be blunt. I was going to just murder all of you. Remove your heads, remove your limbs, leave your body to rot, the same way I did with Myalotroph. That’s the easy route. But I try, I FUCKING TRY to be a half-decent person. I’m giving you a chance to leave peacefully. You have until everyone wakes up to make that decision, before I take the easy route I thought I was above.”
The younger serpent beings didn’t need telling twice. They immediately let Talok and Tah go, then slithered through a murky orange portal that one of them had summoned. Skeftofayos was a little more hesitant. It looked Arkay up and down, then bowed.
“Thank you.”
“No. Fuck off. Now.”
Skeftofayos hissed sadly, then slowly turned around and disappeared through the orange portal. Once they were clear, the portal snapped shut.
“See, mister Sini’s Shadow! You are good person!” Talok beamed as she rushed to Arkay’s side and hugged his leg tightly.
“She’s right. You could have-”
“I know!” Arkay snapped, not letting Tah finished, and gently trying to get Talok to let go of him. “I know. I know. But I’m not that good. I… I need to go sort myself out. I’ve already asked Eksi to start cleaning up. I… I need some space. I’ll be back soon…”
After taking a deep breath to steady himself, Arkay stepped back and disappeared in a puff of black smoke.