“Ser? We have concluded our investigation. These items are harmless.”
The Skyavok Astynomeer, a member of the local police force, handed two envelopes back to Kohra, sealed inside plastic wallets.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. There are messages inside. We have scanned them but not opened them, for your privacy.”
About three hours ago, Kohra had noticed strange smells in his house. A combination of hot chocolate and fossil fuel gas. Scents that should not have been present in Kohra’s home. He’d swiftly realised that the smells were coming from two envelopes that had mysteriously appeared while he’d slept. Fearing some sort of chemical or bio attack, Kohra had called the Astynom to come and check everything out.
The Skyavok force were the ones to arrive. They were closest. Literally just around the corner from where Kohra was renting. They swiftly sealed off the building, went in, grabbed the offending items, took them down to the labs while they had staff check Kohra’s home and managed to get everything done in a couple of hours.
“We had the scent-generators inside the envelopes analysed. They were designed to induce panic, nothing more.”
“Uh. Okay then…”
Really, Kohra was impressed. The Skyavok had handled the situation calmly and professionally.
“Is there… anything else I need to do?”
The Skyavok shook his head. “You may return home. We’ve provided a scent neutraliser in your house to help cover up the bad smells.”
“Thank you.”
Kohra turned to look at his home. Several officers were finishing up, removing barricades and stuff like that. He didn’t want to go back inside quite yet. He could still smell that sickly sweet scent. For some reason though, the plastic wallets in his hand didn’t smell at all. The officers had separated the letters from the envelopes that contained them.
Hesitantly, Kohra decided to open up one of the letters. He didn’t know which one was which. From the looks of it, they were both the same anyway.
The paper was pink, a bright, hot pink. The writing was in a metallic purple. Kohra glanced around, making sure no one was watching him, then started reading.
“Dear Kohra, son of Avra…”
That was a good start.
“I know you’ve been having a hard time lately, and I’m glad you’ve tried to make a new friend in the form of my brother Arkadin…”
Immediately, Kohra began to worry. Ignoring the rest of the letter, he raced down to the bottom to see who had sent it. To his surprise, it wasn’t the Whenvern.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Kohra read the rest of the letter.
“I know you like him, but as the Goddess of Life, I must warn you of the dangers of being friendly with a Death God. I’m not going to tell you to not be friends with him, but I care deeply for the well being of most of my creations, no matter who they worship.
“That being said, being with Arkadin puts your own life in danger. The Thantophor is a wholly unstable being, capable of killing solar systems on a whim. He may seem friendly to you now, but his attitude will suddenly change. When, not if, that happens, you will most likely be destroyed in the process.
“I really do not want this to happen to you. I admire your courage. I admire your existence.
“So I have an opportunity for you. I want you to come and visit me. And be my friend. Or at the very least pop by so we can work something out.
“If you want to get in touch, simply write a response, seal it inside the envelope this letter came with then burn it with a match. Don’t worry, I’ll get it. Oh, by the way, the other letter is the same. I just wanted to make sure you got this.
“I look forward to hearing your reply!
“Lots of love, Yisini!”
Kohra stared at the letter, making sure he’d read it correctly. He then put the letter away, back inside the plastic wallet.
“I don’t get this…” Kohra sighed as he walked up to his front door and let himself in. “Why am I so special all of a sudden?”