Something beeped.
Relkir’s eyes flicked open. They yawned, stretched, then rolled over to one side, to the small table by the side of the bed. Relkir’s communicator was the source of the beep. Getting beeps in the middle of the night wasn’t that uncommon, Relkir was an important Rethan with a vital job, but it was strange that it was only one beep.
Most of Relkir’s contacts would send two messages. A greeting followed by a request. Unless Litvir was messaging them, Litvir always sent a random amount of messages because they would regularly hit the enter button too much. The fact that it was only one beep concerned Relkir.
Relkir rubbed their eyes briefly, then inspected the message. Immediately, Relkir felt unnerved.
“This has to be wrong…”
They read the message again. It had just arrived, a few moments ago. Relkir read it a few times, not sure whether it was real or not.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: Hello, Relkir. I do not know if you receive this message or not, but I hope you are safe and happy, and that life is treating you as you deserve to be treated. A lot of things have happened and I do not know if I can tell you what is going on. I miss you very much.
Relkir read the message a few more times. After the seventh read, Relkir quietly cursed to themselves.
“This cannot be real.”
Not really sure what to do, Relkir sat up properly, cursed under their breath, then decided to send a message back.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: Hello. Are you really Retvik? If this is some sort of sick joke, I will find a way to hurt you.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: I am sorry for scaring you, Relkir. I will try and send a picture to prove I am who I say I am.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: You better! You MUST be a fake! My dearest sibling was taken from us nine months ago!
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: I understand your confusion. I am trying to send an image now but the connection is poor.
Relkir paused, then took a deep breath. Maybe they were a little angry. But Relkir was scared more than anything else. They were worried that someone had hijacked Retvik’s account and were sending fake messages. Maybe they wanted something from Relkir. Maybe this was a phishing attempt or something. Relkir had no idea.
At the bottom of the screen, the text “Retvik-Rethianos-116902 is writing a message” flicked on and off. As if the person on the other end was hesitating or didn’t know what to say. Eventually though, the text disappeared. And in its place, an image appeared.
Relkir gasped. They were about to shout, but managed to cover their mouth with their hand before they did anything too loud. Not that it mattered, Gath was fast asleep next to them and had hardly moved. But the image was legitimately terrifying, despite being so simple. It was a badly taken selfie of two beings, a Rethan and a Temthan, standing near some strange plants, underneath a completely black sky with no stars in it. The image was followed by a message.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: I am sorry for the picture quality. I do not know if it sent. Nyssi says hello.
“What the actual fuck…” Relkir finally managed to speak. They decided to send that same statement in text form.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: What the fuck.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: Retvik? You are alive? And so is Nyssi?
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: We are, yes. Allbirther Sini took us with her when she was exiled from the universe.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: Really?
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: Darn. I must apologise to Lesii. They were completely right about you.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: Who is Lesii?
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: Gath’s mother.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: I have a lot of… explaining to do. A lot has happened in these last 9 months. The universe was put back together. Everything is somewhat fixed now. And more peaceful. The universe nearly being eaten made us mortal races become nicer to each other, and everyone agreed that the sacrifices of the Allbirther and the Oath Keeper need to be honoured, as they suffered to allow us all to live.
Relkir paused, then thought for a moment. They were clearly talking to their big sibling. A sibling that had not seen Relkir in a very long time. After checking that they were vaguely decent, Relkir shifted over towards Gath, then took a few photos. They picked the photo that didn’t look the worst and sent that to Retvik.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: Also I am marrying Gath, I have been made a General of my own Legion and have recently adopted a youngling who has just finished Junior Stratos. Gath is asleep right now.
There was a long pause. Relkir wondered if they’d said too much.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: I am glad you are happy with Gath, congratulations! I did not expect you to adopt a kid though. That kid must be very lucky to have you looking after them and teaching them!
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: Thank you. Litvir is very young and somehow a deity, but they are a very sweet kid. Gath and I hope to get married on Thresisa sometime in the winter.
Another long pause.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: You adopted a deity kid called Litvir?
Relkir hesitated some more, then quickly searched through their images and found a group photo, which they sent to Retvik. They noticed that all of Retvik’s replies were slow, and Relkir wondered if they had a poor connection or something.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: The Panelix and Whenvern picked out a mortal from each race and deified them. Us Rethans were given Sini’s last experiment, made all grown up. Litvir though has proved themselves to be a caring little guardian.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: They… look like Kuta. Like Kuta but tall and skinny.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: I am sorry about Kuta, by the way. They died a hero. Rethais had a park built in their honour.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: Uh.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: Kuta is alive and well. We live together now. We are going to get space-married soon.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: I have a lot to explain.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: And, somewhat annoyingly and almost predictably, I think I need to leave.
Relkir panicked a little and quickly typed a new message.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: Will you be back?
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: I hope so. Nyssi says that we are just close enough to our old universe that I only just managed to get a connection. I do not know when we will be close enough to get a connection again. I will try though.
Retvik-Rethianos-116902: I miss you, Relkir. I am glad you are happy and safe.
Relkir-Rethianos-116903: I miss you too, Retvik.
Relkir waited for a response. But after a few minutes, they didn’t get one. A handful of tears dribbled down Relkir’s face, as they didn’t know how to feel. Part of them wanted to wake Gath up, to tell them everything they had just experienced, but it was very early and Relkir wasn’t really sure how to even begin to describe what had just happened. Doubly so as it was all so strange.
With a sigh, Relkir put their communicator down, then nudged Gath. It took a few pokes, but Gath did wake up.
“Ugh… Relkir, dear, are you alright?” Gath yawned.
“Not really…” Relkir sighed. “I had… a bad dream… Can we snuggle, please?”
Gath immediately rolled over and pulled Relkir into a big hug. “Of course, my little angel, of course…”