It had been a while since Elkay had returned to his actual home. Since Elkay was the All-Ksa, he technically had multiple homes, the All-Ksa’s villa, which he hated, a large penthouse apartment in End One which was close to work, and his own little apartment on the edge of End Seven Thirteen, where Elkay had grown up, which Elkay had bought from his foster parents so they could move to a ground floor place in their old age. Now that he was no longer All-Ksa, Elkay no longer lived at the villa, and his belongings, what little he had, were all moved to his apartment. But at the same time, Elkay had mostly been spending his time switching between his End One penthouse and the Great Library Near The Centre Of The Universe, where Elkay worked, doing his new duties as the God of Shadows and Knowledge.
Today though, Elkay was taking a break. The Great Library was close to stage one completion, and was soon to be open to select groups on a case by case basis. After some trial runs, it would eventually open to the greater public, but before that could happen, Elkay needed to hire staff, and he wasn’t looking forward to the hiring process, even if Aster, Valksia and Maresia had all offered to help. Still, Elkay was glad to have a few days off to spend on his own, away from the younger, more annoying deities. Well, mostly away from Litvir. Yes, Litvir was kind and admittedly very smart for only being just over a month old, but they did talk far, far too much for a Rethan.
Weirdly though, Elkay had a lot of post. A lot of it. Most of it was letters, thanking Elkay for his work as All-Ksa. But there was a package as well, wrapped in black paper, with a yellow ribbon tied around it. It was somewhat heavy, there was definitely something hefty inside it. But it lacked a return address, and the gift tag on it read “To My Shadow”, which bothered Elkay greatly. Sure, everything had been cleared by security before being delivered, but there were too many unknowns.
After taking a moment to make sure he was alone, Elkay sorted through the rest of his post, leaving the package until last. He made himself a cup of hot chocolate before considering opening it. But eventually, Elkay did stop putting it off, and sat down in his comfy chair to open the package.
Inside the package was a portable games console, a Spast-made one called a Game Tickle Lite, but adapted to be usable in Skyan hands. The console was already fully charged, and, upon turning it on, Elkay realized a player account had already been made, and a single game had been pre-installed. There were no game chips included, but the console did come with a nifty charger with a multi-socket adaptor on it. The lone game wasn’t one Elkay recognized, and the title screen was in a language he didn’t recognize.
Also in the box was a handwritten letter. Silver gel pen on black paper. Before Elkay played with the console, he decided to give that a read first.
“My Dearest Shadow… Oh… that is not a good start…” Elkay muttered to himself. It was clear as day who the letter was from: Elkay’s master, the Silent Blade. Now known as the Dead God by most folks. For somewhat obvious reasons. He quickly checked when the letter was dated. The 25th of Noem, 2024. A… while ago. A little too long ago. Which immediately made Elkay feel bad.
With a sigh, Elkay read on.
My Dearest Shadow,
If you are reading this, I’m long gone. Not dead, but close enough. Epani and Kairos will have spun some sort of story that I sacrificed myself to save the universe. That’s kinda true. Not completely. In reality, Sini and I traded ourselves for this universe and its safety. In exchange for leaving not just the universe, but the entire pentacluster and many other universes, Sini was exiled, forbidden from ever returning, taking any anomalies with her, and I offered myself to Epanophovon. A million years of torture, during which I will most likely be torn apart and turned into the same thing I have spent my long existence trying to destroy.
Before I meet my damned fate, I wanted to leave notes for those I care most about. You are someone I care deeply about, how could I not leave a note for you?
Elkay, you have always been my favourite Shadow. Sini and Epani made sure that you’d survive this apocalypse, and I’m pretty sure Epani wants to deify you, for when she makes deities to replace Sini and myself. I hope you accept Epani’s gift of divinity. You deserve it, as you are kind, dedicated and selfless. And a sassy charmer when you want to be.
Since I’m, well, technically dead now, I sadly can’t free you from your duties as the Shadow, because Epani will make you continue them. You’ll be the Shadow forever. But I know, deep down, you always wanted to be A-Class. And because of this, I wanted to leave a gift to you that no one else can: knowledge. Knowledge of what’s outside the universe. Sadly, you can’t share this with anyone, Epani and Kairos won’t allow it. And since you’re a (perhaps former) mortal living inside a universe, you’re also kinda not allowed to know either. But fuck it. You deserve this gift.
Outside the universe, there is a vast, stupid ecosystem, mostly run by asshole beings called Life Goddesses. Beings that have the power that Epani and Sini have. But a small sub-system is run by a group called the Decay Lords. Deities more like me.
This society is where the anomalies will hopefully be going. Sini went and collected up my eight immortal friends and will hopefully be delivering them to some of my exo-universal allies. I admittedly wanted to send you along as well, but Epani said no.
Because you are an intra-universal entity, you aren’t supposed to have contact with the Periuniversal Void and Decay Lord society. And, in all honesty, as a universe-bound Deity, even if I was a Decay Lord before this universe was made, I wasn’t allowed to either. But I found a loophole, via this video game.
I’ve created an account for you, so you can have a look around, so you can experience something cool and new and interesting. And, maybe, if you can work the game out, you’ll get to talk to Kayel again, who I know you wanted to replace you one day. Just don’t tell anyone you’re a mortal inside a universe. You’re not supposed to be there.
But I leave you with one last gift. My real name. I told you I was mortal once. I came from a society kinda like that of the Threavok. I was a failed abortion, born from rape, taken from my mother and trained to be a super-soldier. Not in the vaguely decent Phantasma way either. I was born as RK0019K, common name Arkay Theanon. I was part of a species that looked a bit like the Rethavok but split into a multitude of sub-species, in my case, I was a Threan-type and had an appearance similar to a more angular Skyavok.
That’s all long gone now. In a few hours, I will hand myself over to the Corruption. I am dreading my fate, and I have requested to most that I be forgotten, that I be allowed to disappear. This letter is my last trace within this universe. I sacrifice myself for you all, one last time. Because you are more important than I ever was.
I wish I could do more. I wish I didn’t have to abandon you. And I am sorry that I never got the chance to truly free you, or to let you join my eternal embrace. The least I can do is leave you these last few gifts of knowledge, and the eternal truth that I always cared, despite my dark duties.
Thank you, my Shadow. I love you. I love all of you.
My deepest sympathies, my eternal regrets,
Arkay
Elkay rubbed his eyes, not realizing he had been crying. He felt particularly bad knowing that this box had just been sitting there, unopened, for nearly two months. Sure, Elkay knew that his beloved master had sacrificed himself to save the universe, but he didn’t know how it had all happened.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Elkay put the letter down, then inspected the console again. He needed a distraction from the sadness he was currently feeling.
The screen had gone dim, so he turned it back on, then pressed the A key three times as the console instructed. He then pressed the A key again, to select the lone game. An account was there, labelled LK0044K, matching Elkay’s Skyan alphanumeric code name. Weirdly, it didn’t ask for a password or anything, he was logged straight into the game.
As to what the game was, he had no idea, but some of it was in Panlex, which Elkay could actually read. While the tutorial and game in general was mostly untouched outside of a character having already been picked out for him, Elkay did notice that he had some messages in his in-game inbox. It also seemed that Elkay had been invited to some sort of clan, at least, according to the weird text that was popping up in the “clan chat” in the bottom left hand corner. He couldn’t type any messages himself though, he needed to unlock that ability
Feeling far too curious, Elkay pressed all the buttons to see what they did, then decided to continue with the game’s tutorial, desperate to satisfy his hunger for new knowledge. And, if the names in the clan chat were who Elkay assumed they were, maybe he’d… meet someone familiar.
“Thank you, master…” Elkay smiled weakly as he opened up a strange menu and selected a new mission. “I hope we speak soon…”