“I won’t lie, that was too easy.”
Arkay and Retvik looked out of the window in the cockpit as the two other ships disappeared into the darkness. Litvir would have joined them, but he was busy in the kitchen, having a rather unusual urge to make food before they headed elsewhere.
“What was too easy?”
“That whole meeting.”
Retvik grunted. “It seems a lot of beings out here are selfish and single-minded. If they have a goal or desire in mind, they struggle with alternatives.”
“Apparently, sharing a massive open space is too extreme a solution, and splitting the area in two wasn’t even something they bloody considered!”
“I guess…” Retvik shrugged. “Although this may have just been a very easy outing so that Deathven could let us test the waters or something. I doubt we will get things as easy as this again.”
“Don’t jinx it, babe!” Arkay tutted. “We want all the easy missions. But still, those Time Drakes and Voidborns were millions of years old and couldn’t work out that they could share?”
“Age does not automatically equal wisdom.”
“Yeah but it helps massively…” Arkay paused. “Huh. Those Time Drakes could have predicted the future and seen this all happening, but they didn’t.”
“One of them did not even speak. I think that one was picking through time strings, doing what Elksia does.”
Arkay shook his head. “I think they were more like Thassalin than Elksia. They were looking at different branches and cutting off ones where things went bad. Elksia’s very unique when it comes to her manipulation of time, but Thassalin is a very standard Time Drake, same way Kairos is.”
Retvik went back to shrugging. “Fair enough. I did notice though, that Pretisiasa, from the tone of their voice, I think they may have been a female Voidborn.”
“Possibly. They do exist. That would be… the third female Voidborn we’ve met?” Arkay thought for a moment, then pulled out his communicator. “I’m going to message Phovoula and tell her we met a reasonable and female Voidborn. I think she’d appreciate it.”
Retvik didn’t answer straight away. “Who… who is the second female Voidborn?”
“My half-brother Veekay. He’s a Threan-type Retha like me. He has or had a vagina at some point.”
“Oh. Good point.”
Arkay and Retvik both trailed off, staring at the void beyond their ship. The Time Drakes and Voidborns were long gone. They were probably returning home to their allies to tell them the news.
“Do you think they’ll stick to what we discussed?”
“I do not know. I do hope so. The alternative is violence. But the void they were arguing over is quite large as it is. They will both have plenty of space to do whatever it is these beings do. However, it is unusual that there is no Decayon or Life Goddess presence here. It really is a vast void.”
“Maybe, given some time, both sides will clear the area completely and Life Goddesses will move in…” Arkay went back to frowning. “Most of the void is empty and begging for some sort of life to appear. It can happen spontaneously via godless universes, but only Life Goddesses can create existences as and when they please. I hate saying this, but Life Goddesses make the void worth living in.”
“Hmph. I can understand that. While being a powerful entity living out here is fine, there are… moments… where I somewhat wish I lived inside a universe again. I would not give up my immortality or anything for it, but those were simpler times.”
Arkay looked Retvik up and down, then tutted. “Retvik, babe, your life wasn’t simple in the slightest. The last time I saw you before I was turned into a nuclear bomb, you were nearly beaten to death by a Voidborn. Inside a universe.”
“You get what I mean though.”
“Not really. It’s been so, so long for me that there’s no way I can remember a normal, mortal life. And even when I was mortal? I was still doing insane stuff, like apparently being a bodyguard for the Vice General, BEFORE all the Exaron stuff happened.”
“Now you are being pedantic.”
Arkay frowned, then shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I am a little. But what you’re suggesting does explain a lot. Universes are safe and comfy, especially if they have a Life Goddess and some children deities looking after them. Out here, it’s stupidly rough unless you go and pretend to live a mortal life in a Deathven sector or something.”
“Do you remember the time you spent in a Deathven sector?” Retvik asked.
“Nope. Just a few stupid memories. And stuff Vikalos has told me…” Arkay trailed off again. “Fucking sucks how I’m reliant on others to tell me about my stupid past.”
Retvik put an arm around Arkay. “It does, as you say, suck. But Litvir and I want to help you make new memories. And, slowly, slowly, we will.”
“We already are!” Arkay smiled a bit, appreciating Retvik’s optimism. “Although, speaking of Litvir, what the heck is he doing?”
“I… actually have no idea…”
Having heard his name being mentioned, Litvir suddenly appeared in the doorway to the ship’s central corridor. In his hands were two plates, both of which were full. Tucked under Litvir’s arm were three metal cans and three spoons.
“Hello, my dears! I have brought food!”
“I thought you didn’t like food any more?” Arkay asked. “You normally don’t eat anything at all.”
“Normally, you would be completely correct, my little yellow friend! But I thought we should celebrate our first little mission! I have made cheese toasties and what I think you might call cheese cake, but I am uncertain on what it is, I just followed a recipe I found.”
Retvik took the plate of cheese cake out of Litvir’s hand, then took a spoon and gave the dessert a try.
“Hm. Sweet cream cheese?”
“I believe so, yes!” Litvir exclaimed as he handed Arkay the cheese toasties. “Please tell me I have made these correctly…”
Arkay stole a cheese toastie, then shoved the entire thing into his maw and quickly swallowed. Litvir and Retvik both eyed Arkay, feeling a tad uncertain.
“That’s a really tasty cheese toastie!” Arkay grinned. “Can I have more?”
Litvir handed the entire plate to Arkay. “Sure, but maybe try chewing a little…”