The last meeting had lasted forever, and by the time Tahnaiious had managed to escape and reach the stone balconies in order to take a breather, he was absolutely furious. He admittedly didn’t want to be here, all Tahnaiious wanted was to get his hands on some extra firepower, but the appearance of another Decay Lord had completely thrown him off. And the more that Retvik, one of the leaders of the Thantir, who worked in purification, had spoken during that meeting, the more concerned Tahnaiious had gotten.
So he’d asked Retvik to meet him privately. That was why Tahnaiious was here now. And, thankfully, Retvik had accepted that request to speak privately.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Retvik. I… I have a lot of questions.”
Retvik and Tahnaiious both took a moment to better inspect each other. But Tahnaiious quickly sighed, realizing he was wrong about something. Instead, he decided to just ask his questions.
“So the… Necro-Kinisis strain… was really made from a Life Goddess who failed to resurrect herself?”
“Yes. Her name was Kinisis, she was, apparently, one of the major Life Goddesses in what used to be called the Phovon Gap.”
Tahnaiious frowned. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“Is Kinisis… dead?”
Retvik worded his answer carefully. “I cannot answer that for certain, but she is no longer a Life Goddess, or properly conscious.”
The look on Tahnaiious’s face immediately dropped. “Well… fuck… I had hoped… Ugh… Alright, fine, I have other questions.”
“May I ask a quick question before you continue?”
“Uh…” Tahnaiious hesitated. “Sure, I guess?”
Retvik eyed Tahnaiious some more, then took a deep breath. “You are not a Beh’evok. You are a Kronospast, yes?”
Tahnaiious blinked, unable to respond. “H-h-how… do you know? Wait, how do you even know what a Kronospast is? I haven’t met anyone who is even close to my kind, and here you are, directly calling me out!”
“Funnily enough, one of my oldest friends is a Kronospast. A shapeshifter like you are, but… admittedly somewhat better. Your…” Retvik paused briefly. “Alright, I do not have telepathy, but I can pick up on some telepathic networks. You are not on the Beh’en telepathic network, but you seem to be on a… frequency similar to the old Rethan secret.”
Tahnaiious blinked some more. “You… You are a Retha? An Ethran-type?”
Retvik shook his head. “No, I am an old-universe Rethavok. Which, now I think about it, is an odd name because I think the Retha came from a universe before mine.”
“You… know what a Retha is though!” Tahnaiious may have been in shock. “You… you know things! Kinisis went on to create a new universe! She… her universe… you…”
“She did create a new universe, yes, but she neglected both it and her deities. Epani killed her and built a new, apparently better universe in its place, and trapped Arkay, mine and Litvir’s lost Third, inside it.”
Tahnaiious opened his mouth to speak, but found himself unable to do so. Instead, Tahnaiious turned away, staring out into space. Retvik suddenly realized who this person was. They were from the same universe that Kaytee, the former Phantai member that had joined the Thantir, had come from. And from the sudden shock and pain this Decay Lord was clearly feeling, Retvik guessed that maybe he had struck a nerve.
“Arkay… didn’t die?”
“No. Arkay is alive.”
“What… what happened to him?” Tahnaiious stuttered. “I thought he was dead… I… I saw what was happening to my universe, that corruption was consuming it. I didn’t know what to do though, I mean… what could I have done? I was a Deitic, I was long-lived, immune to the cold of the void. No one else was. I didn’t act fast enough either, I couldn’t get enough stasis pods in time. Pretty sure almost all of those I sent off into the Eternal Darkness were consumed by the corruption before they could escape, and if anyone did make it, the vast times in stasis would have destroyed their memories.”
“Unfortunately, that… is a common fate… You though, you knew Arkay when he was mortal, yes?”
Tahnaiious turned back to Retvik and inspected him some more. “What you’re saying suggests Arkay was… deified. He was a Veth, the Veth Prime, forced to serve Kinisis. But when she abandoned the universe, he stayed behind, to try and save it. I… I begged him to run. He had a chance. He didn’t take it because he wanted to protect everyone. I… assumed the corruption claimed the poor thing I considered to be my child, and I ran…”
Retvik sighed. “Well, you are… not exactly alone in that feeling. From what we can tell, Kinisis pulled both Arkay and Kairos from the remains of that universe, created two female deities to go alongside them then made a new universe with the bastard Voidborn Kenon as her husband and Arkay, Kairos, Epani and Yisini as their underlings.”
“She just… left everyone else to die?”
“Apparently, yes.”
“Figures… She was horrible. I thought she was nice, that she cared, that she loved me for some reason. Was all a lie. She was a monster, manipulative and cruel, and I fell for it.”
Retvik nodded in agreement. “She was a monster, yes. But you are not alone when it comes to being manipulated. Galyn, one of the Tattered Navigators, he had the exact same thing happen to him when they split up briefly. Same thing happened to Kenon, I believe, he was driven to insanity and death by Kinisis because he no longer wanted to be bound to her and wished to be bound to Epani and Yisini instead. As far as I can tell, Kairos, our old Whenvern, was also manipulated by Kinisis and bound to her too.”
“I suppose though, if she reused the same Time Drake, your universe probably had quite a few repeats. Which is why your name is almost the same as that of my oldest friend. Except you are, weirdly, an Ethran-type. Or, like one.”
“Hah!” Retvik snorted. “It turns out, if you turn a Rethavok into a Decayon, they get random growth spurts. I was 2.7m tall when I was mortal.”
“That… is only just within the limits of standard-type Retha…” Tahnaiious frowned, then took a deep breath. “So I take it your universe was better? Was Arkay… was he alright?”
“I, uh…” Retvik hesitated. “I do not know if it was better. And I would not say that Arkay… he was renamed to Arkadin… He was not alright. The other deities did not like him, he had limited rights, he just wanted to be left alone…” Retvik paused. He wasn’t sure how to put his words in a way that wasn’t too crazy or inflamatary. “Um… one day, Arkadin was pushed over the edge, he attacked Kenon and Kinisis sealed him away in some sort of coma. Not long after, our universe was invaded by Voidborns, and, rather than wake Arkadin up and have him fight off the Voidborns, Kinisis decided to turn him into a nuclear bomb and blow up 99% of the universe.”
“But he… survived?”
“Part of him did. He went back to calling himself Arkay and became a Decay Lord alongside Litvir and myself, while Epani, Kairos and Yisini took what was left of their universe and started rebuilding. Except Kinisis wanted to retake her universe and threatened her daughters, so Epani tricked Arkay into helping her kill Kinisis, remade the universe completely and… trapped Arkay inside it as her slave. We get… occasional text-based contact from him, but it seems he is forcibly given regular memory wipes to keep him subservient, and I am pretty sure he would not remember you.”
Tahnaiious didn’t say anything. Not at first. He turned away and gazed out into the eternal darkness, allowing tears to drip from his eyes.
“Because Kinisis had a… thing for me, she used to allow me access to Kinigi, the Great Rivers where souls flowed, where they were recycled and sent back into new bodies. After Arkay was killed and he became a Veth, I caught him once, doing shore patrols. He asked me if he was cursed forever. I smiled at him, patted him on the back and told him that a forever curse was silly. I… I think that was the second to last time I saw him, and I lied to him.”
“I assume you lied to him to try and make Arkay feel better. He would have understood…” Retvik suddenly had a thought. “I am certain Arkay would not know who you are, but he does occasionally come online on Wyvern. Perhaps you could add him as a friend and talk with him? I think he may appreciate the friendship and just having someone to talk to.”
“You… you have his contact details?”
“Of course. Arkay is bound to me, he is one of my Trio, we try to talk when possible. Although we normally stick to voice chats because Litvir is a Psion and his voice tends to accidentally cause Arkay to remember things, and not always in a good way…” Retvik grabbed his communicator and started tapping on it. “Your name is Mimicblade, yes? I have sent you a friend request and a message containing Arkay’s codename. And perhaps, after this stupid Pentathax stuff, we can arrange a meetup so I can introduce you to Litvir, and I can meet your Trio.”
Tahnaiious smiled. “The distances are pretty damn vast, but I guess we could meet in the middle?”
Retvik shrugged. “That is not a problem. I apologise for upsetting you.”
“No, no, you gave me some sort of closure…” Tahnaiious trailed off. “Also, excuse my bluntness, but you are also pretty hot.”
“Ugh, you really ARE a Kronospast!” Retvik tutted. “Seems like the permanent horniness continued between universes!”
“It did, yes. But also, out here, most folks don’t get laid. At all. Female Decayons that aren’t horrible bitches and are willing to sleep around are basically non-existent, and if Rethavok are new-universe Retha, then I know you have both sets of working parts under that loincloth.”
Retvik crossed his arms and tutted some more. “I am so glad I came here and not Litvir, because Litvir probably would be in your bed already… If he were not already in Psehon’s room. Or trying and failing to flirt with Peacebringer.”
Tahnaiious snorted. “You have a history with Psionic Beh’ens then?”
“Oh, no, Litvir is a Rethan like me. He is just… easily tempted… Still, while I am not that way inclined, I suppose we could get a drink and chat. Would be good to share stories.”
That smile increased. For once, Tahnaiious wasn’t filled with his permanent discontent. He was vaguely happy for once. “That sounds awesome. We should get going now though. I have no idea when those Doom Drums guys are going to call us back…”