Vekeus glanced at the clock in the corner, then sighed. He should have been enjoying himself. He had a cute little Threan-type-like being standing behind him, giving him a great massage, and, sitting next to him was his half-brother, who Vekeus had thought was dead for years, happily petting someone who was shapeshifted into the shape of a bright blue cat. By Vekeus’s side was a delicious, half-finished ice cream and a glass of perfectly chilled cola, and now that Vekeus was thinking about it, the temperature of the room was just right. Not too hot, not too cold.
“Is something wrong?” the cute guy giving Vekeus a massage asked.
Vekeus peered over his shoulder. “Eh, kinda. You alright there, Kayel?”
“Why you asking?”
“You’ve been massaging me for a while.”
“Only for about fifteen minutes!” Kayel smiled. “I’ll give you another fifteen minutes, then I’ll swap and massage Elkay-En while you pet Tenuk.”
Vekeus paused, then glanced at the cat. “I thought his name was Tanos?”
Kayel shrugged, then altered his position so he could massage Vekeus’s shoulders better. “It’s kinda the same thing that we have with the Retviks. Elksia’s Tenuk, he was kinda here first so we call him Tenuk, but his real name was Tahnahos or something like that. My Tenuk, his real name is Tanos, but we call him by the name he likes when Elksia’s Tenuk isn’t around. Right, mate?”
Tanos didn’t answer. Both Kayel and Vekeus glanced over to Elkay-En’s seat, only to realise that Tanos had fallen asleep in cat form because of Elkay-En petting him. And Elkay-En seemed pretty sleepy as well.
“Does… does he normally do that?” Vekeus wondered.
“Sometimes. I’ve caught Ret petting a sleeping Tenuk a few times. And when we were mortal and before Ret met Kuta, Nyssi and I once came back from the shops to find them both asleep on the sofa, Retvik cuddling the heck out of a super fluffy Tenuk.”
“Is Tanos aware-”
“That his fluffiness is cute as fuck? Yeah. But also I’m pretty sure Tanos can hum at a frequency that makes people calm down. A sort of gentle noise generator.”
“Huh…” Vekeus trailed off. “That… that’s pretty neat. You four have some neat powers.”
“I guess. I think it’s also that we’re pretty creative with our powers. But mate, something seems wrong with you. You’ve tensed up.”
Vekeus frowned. “Yeah, I have. Because it’s occurred to me that… well… looking at the clock… it’s all about to go down. In less than an hour.”
“Are you worried?” Kayel asked.
All of a sudden, Elkay-En sat up straight and glared at Vekeus. “You ARE worried! You’ve been lying about being steadfast the entire time!”
Vekeus blinked. Kayel blinked. Tanos blinked too, but only because Elkay-En had woken him up.
“Who is lying about what?” Tanos sleepily muttered as he stretched out, spun around a few times then settled back down.
“Vekeus is just as fucking scared and nervous as I am!” Elkay-En hissed.
“I’m not though?” Vekeus was still confused.
“You are! You are terrified!”
“I… uh…” Vekeus turned to Kayel, hoping that Kayel had some sort of answer to Vekeus’s confusion. “What are you on about?”
“You’ve been pretending to be all happy and all that all along!”
“It… uh… um…”
“It’s not a competition?” Tanos suggested.
“Yeah, it’s not like Vekeus is lying or anything!” Kayel decided to be a bit clearer. “It’s just the realisation of what’s about to happen.”
Vekeus nodded in agreement. “That’s basically it. Sometimes these things just sneak up on you. I never thought I’d get a chance to become a Decay Lord and I’m also… I don’t want to say that I’m worried, it’s just that sometimes the uncertainty of what’s going to happen gets to you. It’s literally just uncertainty being uncertainty. Also, it’s not a fucking competition, I don’t know why you’re angry at me.”
Elkay-En very suddenly fell silent, then settled down and sighed. “I’m sorry. I… I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“You probably have untreated PTSD?” Kayel shrugged. “I mean, considering what’s happened to all of us, I wouldn’t be surprised if we all had PTSD in some way. Or at least some sort of mental illness. Or all the mental illnesses in Litvir’s case.”
“Is it wise for them to do a trial then?” Tanos pondered.
“Well, considering all the shit we’ve been through and we still did our trial? I’m sure it’s fine. Especially since it’s confirmed that Elkay-En and Vekeuss trial 100% won’t be as stupidly hard as the trial Arkay, Retvik and Litvir did, and all three of them are fucked up in their own ways.”
Vekeus just shrugged some more. “I’m just slightly concerned that I might have to kill another Voidborn that knows me or something, but, like, I’m also pretty sure that won’t happen. And if we have to fight Corruption, then I don’t care, I do that all the time anyway, and Elkay has also fought Corruption before.”
Kayel nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. You’re just uncertain. Nothing wrong with being uncertain. But also, like, Elkay-En, Vekeus, you’re both way stronger than Arkay when he did his trial anyway.”
“That… that is true, I guess…” Elkay-En sighed some more. “I’m sorry. Something came over me. I don’t know what…
Elkay-En trailed off, then glanced at the clock in the corner, sighing yet again. Vekeus made the mistake of looking at the clock as well.
“Huh. We got half an hour.”
“We do.”
“Well!” Vekeus smiled as he got up. “Time to get ready and put our armour on! I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
“You are sure, brother?”
“Of course. What’s the worst that can happen? We get a few boo-boos. Who cares? We’re a Voidborn and a Life Goddess and we instantly recover from most injuries anyway. Plus, bro, you have me by your side. I’ll protect your stupid Zontanian ass. Like I did when I was mortal. You won’t need me to, though, I bet.”
“That is a good point!” Elkay-En seemed a tad more confident now. “Let’s get this shit over with…”