Arkay rubbed tears from his eyes as he sorted through his few remaining belongings, throwing whatever wasn’t worth keeping onto a small fire. Really, he was throwing away his entire existence. He was going to be tortured, turned into Corruption and forced to undo all the good he had done over the millennia, as Epanophovon would manipulate him into corrupting others and being an all-round monster.
Sure, a million years wasn’t that long, especially for someone who had technically been alive for 16 billion years, but Arkay was well aware that he wasn’t going to make it this time. This was it. This was the end.
All Arkay could do now was make sure that others could carry on in his place. He had gone through his collection of weapons and destroyed most of them, apart from his anti-Corruption weapons. He had four differently shaped blades, two of which he was giving to Sini, leaving one for Epani and Kairos. Pretty much everything else had been donated anonymously or was currently being burned in the fire, apart from a handful of personal belongings. His old laptop, some of his old plushies and his favourite gunstaff, he’d left all that to Sini.
Now that his possessions had been sorted out, Arkay realized he still had some time left. But there were things Arkay was putting off. He didn’t want to say goodbye. Instead, Arkay started writing things down. How to kill Corruption. How to identify and deal with Voidborns. How to deal with plagues and wars. How to bury the dead. But Arkay had written separate notes too. Messages of pain and regret, begging future readers to not end up the way Arkay did. The multiverse had beaten Arkay down. He’d never been free. He’d never be free. The least he could do was leave some final notes about how to live for oneself.
A knock on the door distracted Arkay. He’d requested to be left alone. He’d been sobbing to himself the entire time, watching his final hours tick down. He didn’t want his friends to see him like this. He didn’t even want them to know. Arkay knew his fate was to be tortured, torn apart and turned into Corruption, his friends didn’t need to know the truth.
“Arkay? Can we talk?”
It vaguely annoyed Arkay that he didn’t even have a true home. He’d been living in a back room in one of Sini’s labs for a while. Still, Sini was in pain too. Sure, she wasn’t going to be experimented on for a million years, but she was soon to be exiled from her own universe, forced to abandon her beloved mortal races and millennia of hard work. Worse, Sini wasn’t that powerful of a Life Goddess. She didn’t even know if she could make a new universe on her own, and she’d never wandered out into the Periuniversal Void before.
“Yeah, sure…”
As Sini stepped into the room, Arkay noticed that she looked flustered. She was carrying a vast amount of paper. Clearly she’d had the same thoughts Arkay had.
“I have a plan! A plan to save you, Arkay!” Sini was clearly struggling. “Well… more of an idea. But… Arkay… I…”
“It’s alright, Sini. I’ve accepted my fate. You need to work on yourself.”
Sini looked Arkay up and down, then immediately burst into tears. “It’s not fair! I promised. I promised you’d be free one day. You won’t ever manage it though!”
Arkay realised he was crying too. He wiped away his own tears, then hugged Sini tightly. Somewhere along the line, Sini had changed. She’d become a better person. It turned out, Sini did actually care. Sini hugged Arkay back, then let go.
“I know. But there’s freedom in death. At some point, the pain will stop, and I’ll finally find peace.”
“You won’t though. You’ll be turned into a Corruption. You’ll spend eternity being something you hate. If I don’t do anything, you’ll never be free. It’s not right, it’s not fair, you never deserved any of this…” Sini trailed off. She had a lot on her mind.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t deserve any of this. But the universe will be safe. Epani and Kairos can continue on without us. And you’ll survive. That’s more important than some silly old death god. Have you… sorted out my friends, yet?”
Sini hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m taking them with me. I’ll probably make them all Divine Guardians or something, like Kinisis did. If not… I guess I’ll find your old buddies and deliver them there. Got a… vague idea of where they are.”
“Yeah, they’re… kinda… south, I guess? If you run into anyone, just ask where the Athata Rift is, they’ll point you in the right direction.”
Sini sighed. “Alright… Have you… have you said goodbye to them yet?”
Arkay shook his head. “I… I… I can’t. I don’t want anyone to know. And if anyone asks, I want folks to think I died heroically, rather than handing myself over to a monster. I’ve put my friends through enough pain. I’m in enough pain. Saying goodbye just… cements it, I guess. Sucks that I’ll never fulfil my promises, I’ll never see anyone ever again, but oh well. I can’t see myself lasting longer than a month before I get properly corrupted at least, so perhaps the torture will be brief.”
Sini started crying again. She was heartbroken. She was scared. But there was a strange flash of determination in her eyes. Sini placed her hands on Arkay’s shoulders, a snarl in her words.
“I promise, I’ll get you out of there. You’ll be free. I swear. On my own life. I’ll find a way to save you, so you can taste true freedom. I have a plan. It will take time, but I have a plan. I just need you to hold on, for as long as possible.”
Arkay grunted, then shook Sini off him. He then summoned the nearest fabric, which happened to be a small butterfly plushie, to wipe away Sini’s tears. “Don’t, Sini. You can’t. We made a deal, and that deal will protect you and everyone else. This is just how things are. I’ve never actually been free, I’ve always been enslaved in some way. I don’t know what I’m missing. Just… I’d rather you conserved your strength and kept yourself safe. You’re more important than I am, and you have the chance to actually be free yourself. You should take it, make the most of it.”
“But… what about you?”
“I don’t matter.”
“You do matter. You matter to me, to your friends, to this universe. We wouldn’t be here, if it wasn’t for you and your sacrifices.”
“This is the last sacrifice. It’s… an awful sacrifice, but this is the last time I have to do this. And maybe, just maybe, that monster will just kill me and corrupt me quickly. It’s unlikely, it will probably drag my agony out as long as possible, but one day, a million years from now, it’ll end. In the mean time, I need you to make my sacrifice worthwhile. Do something for you.”
Sini let out a rather defeated breath. “I don’t… I don’t even know what to do now. Epani and I have traded our knowledge, but I never had her power. I don’t think I can make a universe. What else is even out there? The only thing I can think of is making a Life Oasis or something. Epani’s given me a ton of antiphthoric hemostasin, that stuff made from Kenon’s blood and your anti-Corruption crap, as well as some gold and other heavy metals, so I have resources to work with. But… I know you want me to be free. It won’t be the same. I…”
Sini trailed off, then rubbed her eyes some more. Arkay hesitated, then hugged Sini.
“I feel so bad thinking and feeling this. You’re going to be tortured for a million years, I’m just going to be exiled. But… I’m giving up all my hard work. Two universes’ worth of life. And I won’t ever see where it all goes. It hurts more than I expected.”
“Yeah, I know. It hurts. It hurts a lot. But the pain will pass, Sini. I promise…” Arkay paused, then checked his watch. “Ugh. We don’t have long left. I need to… sort myself out.”
“I get that…”
Arkay hugged Sini some more. “I appreciate you caring though, Sini. You did some fucking horrible things to me, but… you got better. I love you, big sister.”
“I love you too, little brother… I… I guess I’ll see you in a few hours then, at the top of the universe? I… I don’t want to say goodbye quite yet. I want to leave when you leave.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll see you there. I’ve got a few things to give to you before you head off anyway.”
Sini smiled, just a tiny bit. She patted Arkay on the shoulder, then stepped back and disappeared in a puff of pink sparkles.
Arkay took a deep breath, then turned to the one item he hadn’t dealt with yet. His communicator. He opened it up and started deleting apps and photos, doing factory resets and things like that. But as he reached the last app, he paused, then decided to send one last message.
Deathbringer: Hey Litvir, hey Retvik. Things aren’t doing too great right now. Nasty bout of Corruption. The universe is safe, everyone’s safe, but we’re locking everything up and closing everything off while the girls work on repairs. That means no more access to Deathnet, so I’ll be gone for a while. Don’t know when I’ll be back.
Deathbringer: I love you. Always have done. Speak soon.
Deathbringer is now offline.