“So, uh, what’s going on?” Arkay felt more and more uneasy as he, Ret and Kuta climbed off the ship and approached Savepoint, where Litvir was waiting for them.
“A lot, unfortunately…”
Standing with Litvir were Elkay and, oddly, Kayel. Arkay was doing his best not to peer into the future or read minds, but it seemed someone accidentally did that for them.
“You saw my sibling, Kyr Elkay?” Ret blurted, only to rub his eyes then sigh. “Sorry. I did not mean to borrow telepathy and read your mind.”
Arkay glanced at Ret, then turned back to Litvir, a hint of panic in his voice. “What the fuck happened?”
“To cut a stupid story short, while we were at Sini’s oasis fixing Elkay up, the old Shadow and a baby teenager Rethan from our universe crash landed, told us that Kairos corrupted himself with the Nekro-Kinisis strain in a bid to resurrect Kinisis and take over the universe, so me and a bunch of people also called Elkay went back to the universe, all tag-teamed up and, uh, killed him!” At least Kayel was chirpy, despite what he was saying. “Oh and Sini went back to the universe to replace him as a Time Drake, and it turns out Ret’s sibling Relkir is badass and dealt the final and also adopted a baby deity called Litvir and kinda turned into a Time Drake because Relkir was the one who struck the final blow and killed Kairos.”
Arkay stared blankly at Kayel. Kuta and Ret also stared blankly at him.
“Relkir adopted a kid? One called Litvir?” Kuta asked. “They are still partnered with General Gath?”
“Yeah. And they have a kid on the way!” Kayel explained further. “Which is why Relkir went proper unstoppable angry stance. Even though they’re the father. But they also genuinely believe that little baby Litvir is 100% their kid and so that REALLY pushed Relkir into going proper angry stance.”
“Hang on, go back a bit…” Arkay was struggling. “Kairos is dead?”
“Uh… yeah.”
Arkay blinked. “Like… properly dead?”
“Yeah.”
“As in… gone forever?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah…” Arkay fell silent, clearly lost in thought. He had no idea how to respond, or even how to feel.
“Are you alright, dear?” Litvir asked, putting a hand on Arkay’s shoulder.
“No. Not really. That… that is… a hard pill to swallow… I… I don’t know… I don’t know what I should be feeling right now.”
“Do you want some suggestions?” Kayel smiled. “Because I think you should be happy.”
“Why… why would I be happy about the person I spent three universes alongside being dead?”
Kayel started counting on his fingers. He only had two fingers and a thumb per hand, which greatly reduced the effect of what he was about to say, but he had a lot of thoughts. “Well, firstly, he constantly sexually harassed you and I’d go as far as saying that he sexually assaulted you by forcing you to sleep with him. Secondly, he passively allowed every single Life Goddess owner of yours to hurt you in a myriad of ways. Thirdly, he objectively allowed Life Goddesses to hurt you, and he always took Epani’s side even when she was wrong, often just so he could hurt you. Fourthly, he basically made you do his job for him because he couldn’t handle things like death and decay. Fifthly, he routinely broke promises to you, and left you in a coma for a month because he broke a promise to you. Sixthly, he also routinely harassed your friends, and he stalked Phovoula for ages. Seventhly, he was just all-round a bastard who routinely made your life miserable. And that’s just all the stuff I’m aware of.”
Arkay frowned. “Well, when you put it like that…”
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Yeah. You are. But still, I can’t help but feel… some sort of negative emotion. After all, I spent a lot of time by his side.”
“Do you need more reasons?” Kayel asked.
“I can offer a few,” Elkay added. For a moment, Elkay’s eyes glowed blue. “He allowed Elkay-En to be given to the Unending Ancient One, he sexually assaulted your mother and left them egg-ridden with four kids they could not handle, and he routinely killed or manipulated people called Elkay because he had an insane prophecy about them, to the point that he ruined Ret’s life and forced him to be an exile to avoid making Relkir into another Elkay… Although that plan backfired because Kairos’s direct actions led to his death. I mean, it is unlikely that Kairos could have predicted that Relkir would have been present when he put his insane plan into action, but still…”
Arkay took a deep breath, then settled down. “Well, when you both put it like that… you’re absolutely right. Far too right. I think I just need time to digest all of this. Especially since I literally just got back from a trip to meet with my original Dessaron friends, with whom I went back in time in order to defeat another dumb deity and their stupid plans…” Arkay paused for a moment. “Huh. I guess all the… the original gods are dead now. Kenon, Kinisis and Kairos. All dead.”
“Good. They were assholes!” Elkay tutted.
Litvir nodded in agreement. “Indeed. Everything has turned out well in the end. Elkay-En is now running Sini’s oasis, Sini is now working with Epani back in the universe she actually cared about, Epani seems less evil and more humble now, no one important got hurt in the long term-”
“Well, Kairos was kinda important…” Arkay interrupted.
“He was, but Sini will replace him without issue. She clearly never wanted to leave and now she gets to return to her true love!” Litvir continued. “Either way, we have made new friends and everyone is fine.”
Suddenly, Ret raised his hand. “Uh, Kyr Litvir, can we go back a bit, please?”
“Of course, Ret. What is wrong?”
“Did you three say that… that Relkir not just killed Kairos but… also turned into a Time Drake? Or did I just mishear that bit?”
Litvir shrugged. “Because Relkir dealt the killing blow, yes, they did somewhat become a Time Drake. But Sini has assured us that Relkir’s new powers have been contained and Relkir is otherwise unharmed.”
“Huh… Can I… can I go to the Pink Paradise so I can message Relkir?”
“You have been messaging Relkir?” Litvir asked back.
Ret held out his communicator. “When we go to the Pink Paradise, we are close enough that I still get messages on General Talks, the Rethan text message app.”
Litvir thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure. I am planning on sending Akah, Fengar and the Vohra there to assist Elkay-En while the six new Decaylings come back here to train, you and Kuta can accompany them. Tanos can also accompany you, if you wish.”
“I would like that, thank you!” Ret smiled.
“No worries. I will gather everyone up and let them know what is happening. Take an hour to get yourselves sorted. In the mean time, Arkay, go take a nap. You need it. You too, Elkay and Kayel.”
Kayel grinned and grabbed Arkay by the hand. “Come on, let’s go have naked snuggles.”
Before Arkay could say anything, Kayel pulled him through a nearby shadow. Kuta and Ret took this as an excuse to leave as well.
“Hmph… That was… a messed up adventure…” Elkay eventually muttered.
“It was. But as I said, we all came out of it happy in the end…”