Arkay had been hanging around the throne room, hiding in the shadows in the ceiling, for about an hour now. Despite being an utterly ancient being, he was never really sure how to approach beings of power. Banikans were easy to approach because they respected him, but most other creatures? It was always a toss up between them cowering in fear, running away screaming, falling completely silent or, very rarely, acting like a normal being but stuttering over their words. Arkay understood why, he was the God of Death, but still, it was a little annoying.
Eventually, the throne room cleared out, and the High General, the ruler of the Rethavok, was alone. And, weirdly, mostly unguarded. Sure, there was a small legion of soldiers, the 47th Legion specifically, guarding outside, but there was no one else in the room. Arkay decided this was a good time to approach, but not before altering his shape, making himself appear as a perfectly normal Rethavok.
Of course, the fact that he’d just fallen from the ceiling and landed elegantly in front of the High General wasn’t normal in the slightest, but Arkay wasn’t normal.
“Hello, High General Rethais! A pleasure to meet you!” Arkay smiled as he introduced himself. “We’ve not met in person before, but I’m Arkay, the Lord of Decay.”
Rethais looked Arkay up and down. Arkay patiently waited for this muscular, red and gold-plated Rethan in black and red armour to make their first move. To Arkay’s surprise, Rethais decided to act like a normal being with a bit of stutter.
“Lord Arkay, it is a, uh, pleasure to meet you too, I guess… What brings you to my home and to the Rethavok in general?”
Arkay smiled. Rethais was clearly a little nervous, but they remained strong, almost desperate to not show weakness.
“For once, I’m actually here with good news! Unfortunately, the good news isn’t that Epani has apologized for what she did to your city, nor is she in any way apologetic for the beings she harmed.”
Rethais glanced downwards, staring at the floor. Arkay took this as a chance to properly inspect Rethais. Despite knowing a lot about them, Arkay had truthfully never actually met Rethais, but he knew Rethais’s siblings rather well. In fact, Arkay had gone and met one of them just before meeting the High General.
“Oh. So… so my sibling’s deranged ramblings were correct. The Lady of Light HAS forsaken us. I thought that Relkir was just talking nonsense because of their head injury, but I assume maybe they were telling the truth when they said the Allbirther had visited them and asked them to date one of the Below Twenty Generals…” Rethais shook their head. “I will be honest, having my High Advisor, plus Generals Hasvik, Kuta and Lysar all out of action and Kaldoran up to their neck in work, keeping things steady has been difficult.”
“You’ve done an insanely good job so far.”
“Only because you assisted us. Why have you been assisting us, Lord Arkay?”
Arkay shrugged. “You don’t need to call me ‘lord’. As to why? Well, aside from the fact that what happened with the earthquake should not have fucking happened, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Threavok and I never liked how Sini split you all up. Sure, you’re distinct, separate races now and the Skyavok and the Rethavok are allies once more, but…” Arkay hesitated. “I never actually told you the good news. It’s good news for me, but you might not see it as such. After a bit of an argument, Epani relinquished her control on her three races.”
Rethais glanced up at Arkay, clearly confused. “The… Lady of Light… did… what?”
“Well, Sini kinda forced her to. We had a bit of a meeting, we all agreed that Epani was treating the Lanex and the Rethavok poorly, while being totally biased towards the Torr, Sini said that Epani didn’t deserve to have mortal races worshipping her if she wasn’t going to be fair and just, and, well, I thought Sini was going to adopt all of you, but she gave the Lanex to Kairos and she gave the Rethavok to me.”
The High General blinked, not really understanding what they had just heard. “So… you are our… matron deity now?”
“Uh, kinda yeah…”
“Do we have to worship you?”
Arkay raised his hands defensively. “Oh no! Not at all! I don’t want you worshipping me! Not in the slightest!”
“What do you want then?” All things considered, Rethais was being very calm. Arkay realized that Rethais had lost their faith in Epani a long time ago, and that they were more concerned in the well-being of their fellow Rethavok than anything else.
“I’m here to offer you the exact same deal that I offered to the Banikans, Ksithans and Skyavok. You’ll be treated the same as them. Mostly hands-off from me, because I don’t like to interfere too much, but I’ll be around to offer advice, help keep the peace, and, if you’re good, I’ll point you in the right direction towards some untapped resources. I just want three things in return.”
Rethais took a deep breath. “What do you want from us?”
“Well, the first is pretty simple. I want you to promise that you will not go to war against another race, unless it is in self-defence or in order to aid one of your new fellow Arkidetelian races or the Lanex.”
“I can promise that, yes. Although I find it odd that you request that we remain allied with the Lanex.”
Arkay shrugged. “I’m sure Kairos will treat the Lanex fine, but they’re a curious, lonely race, they need all the allies they can get.”
“Understandable. We will continue our alliance with them. What else do you ask of us?”
“My second request is also pretty simple. I want you to end your bloodlines. Not just the Rethianos Tradition, but the Ethranios, Threaniou, Hertanos and Trehavon Traditions too. And the more… experimental ones. All of them.”
“General Vaksavar will not be pleased, but I will definitely do this, I have wanted a true reason to end the bloodlines for a while, and you have given me one. But, again, I ask why.”
“I thought Kuta already explained this one to you?” Arkay asked back. “You’ve managed to breed in these awesome genetic traits, but you ain’t using them. Let General Vaksavar’s kids have a bunch of offspring, let your sibling Relkir have a relationship and potentially children and remove the burden from yourself to find a perfect partner and have kids. Because you don’t want to lay, do you?”
Rethais squirmed somewhat, not liking how this rather personal question was being directed at them specifically. “No, I do not. I wish to be a father, not a mother. And I wish to find a partner on my own accord.”
“Is there someone you like?”
“Yes.”
“Can I ask who?”
“I… I find General Lysar to be… overly pleasant. But as per the Rethianos Tradition, I cannot…”
Arkay smiled, then patted Rethais on the shoulder. “Go for it, Rethais. End the Traditions and be happy. Because, as strange as this sounds, I know exactly how you feel, and it’s only been VERY recently that I’ve managed to get around a similar problem.”
Rethais calmed down briefly, then fell silent. “May I… May I ask a very… personal question?”
Arkay checked around the room, to make sure no one else was present, then nodded. “Sure.”
“Do you find Rethavok attractive?”
“Yeah. I find both Rethavok and Skyavok attractive. It’s why I’m dating one.”
“Oh. May I ask why? And why you are dating General Kuta of all beings?”
Arkay snickered. “I mean, look at me, I spend most of my time as something Threanic. As for why I’m dating Kuta? There’s lots of reasons, many I can’t tell you about, but I do genuinely find Kuta both cute and attractive. However, this does bring me onto my last request.”
Rethais swallowed nervously, not sure whether they had upset the Thantophor or not.
“I want you to make your sibling Retvik not an exile. He deserves repatriation. He helped save the damn universe, he deserves to live a normal life.”
“Our laws-”
“Your laws can be changed. And you and Relkir both owe Retvik, he sacrificed himself so you two could live normal lives. Retvik’s my friend, and now I have a way to actually affect things, I want you to help him. Alright?”
Rethais straightened themselves out, then nodded. “I will do as you ask, Arkay. But I have the capital to deal with first.”
Arkay patted Rethais on the shoulder again. “Yeah, that’s fine, and I’ll help you rebuild. However, I can’t really stick around, as much as I’d like to, since I need to speak to Elkay, Kindyna and So’Matis and let them know about you lot. Is there anything you need right now?”
“No, Arkay. Thank you.”
“No worries. Look after yourself, Rethais.”
The Thantophor smiled, then left the room, leaving Rethais on their own. Rethais hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do. After some thought, they decided to go to the hospital, to visit their siblings. They were certain that Relkir would love to hear the good news.