“Hey, uh, mister Arkay?”
“You don’t need to call me mister.”
Helkas had finished his lesson with the big scary Decaylings and wasn’t really sure what to do with himself. But he had seen Arkay walking around with that really big pointy weapon of his, and he’d decided to go and talk to him and ask him questions. But there was something about Arkay that made Helkas feel awkward.
“Why? You are my superior, right? So you’d be a mister.”
Arkay tutted. “Doesn’t matter. Us Thantir don’t really do that whole “having to show superiority” thing. We’re all equals and you don’t need to suck up to the people in charge. You can just call me Arkay.”
“Oh. Okay… So… what are you doing right now?”
Arkay glanced around, then slowed down. Helkas was just floating next to him, not walking.
“I’m doing guard duty.”
“Guard duty for what?”
“I patrol the area and keep an eye out for any threats. But I am also a deterrent and something to make people feel safer.”
“How comes?”
“People like feeling safe, and having someone powerful wandering around to scare baddies off makes them feel safer. But the real protecting is done by Elksia and Thassalin. They are Time Drakes, they can see stuff happening before it happens. They can then immediately communicate to whoever is on patrol and fix things before visitors notice.”
Helkas paused, then looked up at the tower. “But there is no one there right now.”
“Thassalin and Elksia are currently in the middle of switching shifts. So either Elkay or I do guard duty during those times, since we can mimic their time powers and do their job for them while we patrol.”
“Oh…” Helkas seemed unsure still. “Can… can I mimic time powers? I am a… a mimic thingy, right?”
“Yeah, probably. But we’re going to hold off on the hard mimicy stuff for now. You need to take your time, and we’ll introduce these things slowly, when you’re ready.”
Helkas looked Arkay up and down some more. “You… you really are making a lot of effort for me.”
“Kid, you’re two things: firstly, you’re a Synaisthyn. You have the potential to be properly eternal, properly godly, properly good and perfect. At the same time, you have the potential to be a weapon of mass destruction, to be a complete monster. As a Syniasthyn who was briefly the latter, I can’t allow someone else to end up like me. I don’t want you to end up like me, broken and hollow and still trying to fix myself.”
“You… you are broken?”
“Yeah. I… I haven’t had a good life. It’s only been the last year-string and a half that I’ve been… alright. But you, I have a chance to make sure you don’t suffer the way I have. Doubly since I KNOW you were made not long after I was killed then fucked up.”
“What do you mean by that? You… you know me?”
“Somewhat. We met once. After Kinisis made me into a monster, after something… awful happened… yet another awful thing… Kinisis wanted to speak to her sisters. And I briefly met you. You’d just been made. But we didn’t speak for long. I guess you went back to your duties and Syklas looked after you properly. I didn’t get that. I got perpetual torture and suffering. I escaped it briefly, that was when I become a Decay Lord myself, but I fucked up, I became a monster, I became estranged and then I was dragged back into a universe to suffer some more.”
“You are better now though, right?”
Arkay shrugged. “Yeah, I am. And Elkay turned out alright too, but he had some very rough moments as well. Our lives, our souls were shattered. Elkay got himself together. I’m still occasionally picking up the pieces, even if I am doing far better now. We can’t let what happened to us happen to you. You’re our chance to prove that a Synaisthyn can be happy and healthy and safe and satisfied and not ever be a monster.”
Helkas frowned. “But I was the Bloodied Lord, the god of death in my universe.”
“That’s not being a monster though. I guarantee that you were only violent to those who deserved violence, and you led most of the dying to a peaceful end. There is nothing monstrous about that. Many Decay Lords were also gods of death, in fact, the original Decay Lord society was aimed at giving death gods their own form of peace.”
“So… I am not a monster?”
“I won’t allow you to become a monster. You will grow into your own person, however you wish to be.”
“Ah…”
Helkas fell silent, lost in thought. Arkay hadn’t really noticed and went back to his patrol, patiently waiting for Thassalin to head to the main guard tower, so that he could turn off his own time powers. After a moment though, Helkas raced up back to Arkay and spoke again.
“Uh… Arkay… I have a problem.”
“You do?”
Helkas nodded, then tugged at the collar around his neck anxiously. “Um… I think you… you are really… really hot.”
Arkay was about to snort, but quickly caught himself and straightened himself out. “I appreciate the kind thoughts, but unfortunately, I am already technically taken, you are a bit young for me, we have a thing about not really letting Synaisthyns sleep with each other and, well, you are a bit young in general.”
“I am really old though! I just reverted back to being a kid!”
“Yeah, I know. But every time a Synaisthyn tries to sleep with another Synaisthyn, really weird stuff happens. Elkay and I agreed to put those thoughts to one side, and, to spare you from distress, it’s better that we just be friends.”
“Aw, okay…” Helkas frowned. “But can we still chat?”
“Of course!” Arkay smiled. “I’m fine with being friends, I just don’t want to put you through the horrors of romance with me. But for now, I think you should go chat with someone else, since I do have to keep up with my guard duty.”
“Fair enough!” Helkas perked up as he floated off. “Have a good one, mister Arkay!”
“You too, kid, you too.”