“Soooo, you’re a mimic?”
Arkay eyed Orion briefly, then tutted. “You’ve had this conversation before. With Elkay.”
While Ziital and Eta were busy with the rest of the Thantir, Eta mostly just chatting with the Decaylings and Ziital watching as the older Thantir worked, Orion was busy interviewing the second Amalgam Mimic he’d ever met. Mostly because Orion was a tad more discreet than his companions. Sitting with both Arkay and Orion was Litvir, who was keeping Arkay company. Orion was pretty sure that Litvir was making sure Retvik could listen in as well, while he was busy with some paperwork elsewhere.
But Orion was also aware that Litvir was silently listening in telepathically. The last time they had met, they’d been in Orion’s territory, which meant Orion had a slight psionic edge. Here at Savepoint, Litvir was in charge (despite Eksi calling himself the Master Psion of the Thantir) and, worse, he was backed up by not just Eksi, but two of the Decaylings as well. So Orion needed to be careful.
“I have, yes. But you’re the second Amalgam Mimic I’ve ever met, and you’re the first to be an official Decay Lord under Deathven’s rule.”
“Huh… So Everlord was never a proper Decay Lord? And… I think they were called Elementalsoul and Novastar? They were killed while they were Decaylings?”
Orion nodded. “Unfortunately. Novastar in particular… kinda blew themselves up.”
Arkay frowned. “I assume it was because they were an emotionally unstable, tortured soul who was in a lot of pain, twisted beyond recognition, and saw death as their only way out?”
“Um… I guess so.”
“Guessed as much. There’s always been something off about folks like me. Things just beyond our control. Always something up. Although, really, I didn’t realize something was up, that I wasn’t welcome, for a long time. You know, I have absolutely no memory of the time I spent in Deathven Sector Ypsilon?”
“You spent two year-strings there.”
“Yep. Apparently, for a bit, I found a boyfriend, changed gender and swapped out my chest plating for some breasts. I have three vague memories of when I was there. The first was me hanging out with some ACTUAL Life Goddess hybrids, the four of us in separate rooms but playing a video game together. The second is Vikalos congratulating me after I got the keys to my first rented apartment, where I was living solo. The third is me sitting in said barely furnished apartment, completely on my own, isolated from everything, not getting check-ins from the new social nurse who was supposed to look after me, reading a message from someone I thought did actually care about me and I believed needed help.”
“That… is unfortunate. You should have gotten the care you needed.”
Arkay tutted. “I was getting the care I needed, for a bit. That was Vikalos’s job. On and off, because Deathven kept on getting in his way. He’s spent the last year and a half blaming himself, because he couldn’t get me the help I needed. He also got suspended from a job he enjoyed even though my disappearance wasn’t his fault. However, turns out, despite all my suffering, it all turned out to be fortunate.”
Orion eyed Arkay somewhat. He could sense some odd emotions. Arkay was also silently communicating with his partners. Something about asking “whether he should tell the Deathven spy or not”.
“Is something going on here?”
“That is a funny thing to ask, when Deathven sent you here to gather data for him!” Litvir grunted. “You are not here to do a wellness check on my poor, battered partner, to welcome him back to the ranks of the Decay Lords, you are here to assess whether Arkay is a threat to Deathven or not.”
“Well, yeah, of course. Because, no offence, Arkay, but you are terrifyingly powerful.”
Arkay tilted his head to one side. “That’s the thing though. I’m not that powerful, really. Stronger than most, sure. But I can’t create life, my manipulation of time is weak and there are limits to my power. I’m one person with two cute, very reassuring boyfriends. Deathven has, well, everything at his disposal, if he wanted me truly dead. And you’ve all already done enough to weaken me, by constantly fucking with my identity.”
“I don’t follow.”
Arkay tutted some more, then leaned forward. “I don’t know who the fuck I am. I’m getting better, but I’ll forever be a mishmash of personalities. And that weakens me. Because the power of a Synaisthyn comes from three things: the emotional and physical state of those around you, how others perceive you, and how you perceive yourself. The first is pretty simple, that’s the “mimic” part of things mostly. The second two though, they define my identify. Everyone else sees me as a pretty powerful guy who just wants to help others, but I struggle to perceive myself in a good light. I don’t even know what my name is sometimes, and the fact that some see me as a hero, some see me as a friend and others see me as a threat makes that worse.”
“Are you a threat?” Orion asked.
“No. Because I don’t know what I am, outside of the identity the Thantir are giving me. They call me their guardian, Litvir and Retvik here call me their partners, so that’s what I am…”
“I sense a ‘but’ though.”
Arkay nodded past Orion, to where Elkay was roaming around, helping the Decaylings with some sort of lesson.
“Yep. Elkay there, he has the potential to be stronger than me, because he does have an identity. He forged his own path. Elkay decided that he was a Decay Lord, that he loves Teekay more than anything and that he IS Elkay, and no one else can change that. At the same time, Elkay has decided that he is a wholly good person. He defends the weak, he protects the innocent, he guards against injustice towards those he loves. That makes Elkay very powerful, but in a good way. And you should be fucking thankful for that.”
Orion didn’t quite get what Arkay was on about, so he started purring, to try and calm Arkay down. It clearly wasn’t working though. Orion picked up a thought from Litvir, suggesting that Arkay not get too aggressive. That did seem to work, and Arkay took a deep breath and settled down.
“Elkay and I were turned into freaks by the same person. Her name was Kinisis. She was a Life Goddess. According to the Phantai, she was the Final Mother, the last Life Goddess to have had a universe in the Goldtorn Remains. Kinisis had, as far as I’m aware, four daughters. The first, no one knows who they were. The other three were Epani, Sini and Phovos, who you’ve met before. The same fucked up corrupted shit that got me ripped from Epani’s new universe is what got Sini kicked out as well.
“Sini saved me, and brought me back here, but she’s gone off adventuring and looking for answers. Right now, I think she’s actually with the Phantai, finding out more about the Holy Mothers. But in the mean time, she’s also been looking into Kinisis’s past.
“It turns out, Kinisis was experimenting on others before working on herself. She wanted to become eternal. She managed it, but not how she intended to. When Epani and I killed her, when we rebuilt, we destroyed a LOT of Kinisis’s experiments that would have resurrected her, but not all of them. Kinisis turned herself into her own strain of Corruption, becoming the new Nekro-Kinisis strain that we’re still fighting.”
“We’re aware of this strain, but it is easily combatted.”
“Yeah, I know. Because I killed her main sentient host, and most of what’s left isn’t intelligent. But that wasn’t Kinisis’s intention. She was a long way off from it, but her eventual plan was to turn herself into a perfect Synaisthyn, with an army of adapting slaves. But because Kinisis was an evil bitch with full control over who she was, she would have been unstoppable.”
Orion hesitated, then blinked. “I appreciate this information, but this Kinisis didn’t become a Synaisthyn. She’s dead, basically. You killed her. You said so yourself.”
“Yeah, I did. But my point is, Elkay and I turned out alright because we believe ourselves to be good people, and because those around us ALSO believe us to be good. We both just want to be normal Decay Lords and protect our kin. But if Deathven and his minions start trying to convince us otherwise, if they start convincing everyone that Synaisthyns are evil, that’s going to make us change.”
Litvir put an arm around Arkay, which made him instantly relax. “What Arkay is trying to say is, simply put, do not push us and we will not push back. Also, if you do find any more Synaisthyns, please send them our way so we can make sure they become good beings too, because Deathven is incapable of doing so himself.”
Orion relaxed a little as well. He hadn’t expected Arkay to be as intense as Elkay was, but he’d quickly understood why. Arkay was an ancient being who had been through a lot.
“Well, I get that. And I am sorry for being a spy. I didn’t want to do this.”
“So why did you?” Litvir asked.
“Because… good point…” Orion paused, then blinked his eyes slowly, his version of a smile. “But now we’ve got some stuff to report back to the Overlord, we can keep the heat off you lot better. And I’ll make sure that folks start using your, uh, new name. Where did it come from, anyway?”
“Vikalos suggested it, I think?” Arkay shrugged. “Elkay decided he liked it, I felt it was better than “amalgam mimic” and that was that… Oh! Babe! Are you done with your work?”
Arkay suddenly leaped to his feet and wrapped his arms around Retvik. Retvik immediately hugged Arkay back, and Litvir got up and joined in on the hug as well.
“Not completely, but I felt things were getting a little too tense around here, and wanted to come and cheer you up.”
Orion floated off the ground, so he was more at eye level, and purred very loudly. “I honestly don’t know why folks are so scared of the Missing, you three are an adorable trio.”
“It is probably the trail of dead Voidborn cults we have left in our wake…” Litvir shrugged. “But yes, enough questions now. Go and annoy someone else for a bit. We are going to go and de-stress before doing something more fun.”
The cat god blinked some more, waved a fluffy paw, then span around and vanished in a puff of sparkles. Once the coast was clear, Litvir dropped his friendly expression almost instantly.
“Deathven is a right bastard.”
“Agreed…” Retvik sighed. “But we will keep his dirty claws away from here, right, Arkay?”
“Yep. Especially if I can get my mimic safe space plan off the ground. Then he won’t ever bother us again.”