Elkay didn’t know if he was awake or not.
The last thing Elkay could remember was having a fever and passing out. Right now though, he was sort of… lying down but also floating, in a very dark nothingness that was punctuated by the occasional coloured light. None of the lights were white, they were a nice rainbow of colours. It was otherwise pitch black though, and oddly silent. Except for a voice.
“Skota… Tha dei ola…”
The voice sounded a bit like Elkay’s voice, except it was singing. Not very well. Sort of half singing, half murmuring to themselves. It was coming from behind Elkay. But before Elkay could investigate, he noticed something was off about himself.
“Skota… Dos meh…”
Elkay flapped his wings to orientate himself, but he flapped too hard, and definitely accidentally did a flip or two before he was properly upright. His wings were much larger than normal. Elkay’s tail was also very long, drifting off on its own. But his armour felt lighter and smoother.
“Tha vrei sou….”
The voice faded, ending with a tired sigh. Elkay twisted round and immediately caught a glimpse of who had been singing. A creature that was floating on its back, its tail twisting around it. They looked almost exactly like Elkay. Same size and shape, same massive, black wings. But their armour plating was yellow instead of dark green.
“Uh…”
Elkay’s stutter made the creature immediately turn around. They eyed Elkay, scanning him with beautiful golden eyes.
“Huh. I always knew that this place was a real, physical place, but no one ever believed me, and this is the first time I’ve seen someone else here…” The being trailed off, then abruptly righted themselves and flew over to Elkay, putting their hands on his shoulders. “Are you alright? You… you shouldn’t be here!”
“Uh…” Words weren’t really working for Elkay. “Uh… hello Arkay…”
Arkay continued to look Elkay up and down. “What happened? We need to wake you up and send you back home, back to your body!”
Elkay continued to stutter, not sure what was going on. Was he really looking at Arkay, the old Thantophor?
“What is going on?”
Arkay tutted, then let go of Elkay and fluttered around him a few times.
“You’re in a coma and you’ve astral-projected to a safe spot while your body recovers. Sini used to think I was mad when I told her I’d travel to a weird, dark space whenever I passed out too hard, but I thought it was a space I’d created. No, turns out, it’s a… meta-physical location? Not sure. I did briefly see one other us-sized being here once, but they popped in, shouted some sort of curse word then disappeared again.”
Elkay blinked, then shook his head, trying to clear his head. He needed to try and comprehend what Arkay was saying, but all he could think about was how attractive the Thantophor was. Elkay was never someone to suddenly fall head over heels in lust, but there he was, staring at this yellow-plated version of himself, thinking lewd thoughts.
“Uh…”
“Elkay, are you alright?”
The mention of Elkay’s name snapped him back to… well, not reality, but wherever this place was.
“No, I, uh, apologise, Arkay, but I am very confused. Is this… real?”
Arkay sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, this place is real. We’re both clearly in some sort of coma right now, and I think this is just a place us… mimick-y folks go whenever our bodies are healing and our minds get bored.”
“Is there… anything else here?”
The Thantophor shrugged. “I’ve been here quite a few times, the place seems to loop back in on itself, but the only physical thing I’ve ever stumbled across was the colossal, sleeping, black and gold version of me… us… I guess… and, whatever it is, it seems to phase in and out of existence…” Arkay trailed off. “You look good, Elkay. All things considered.”
Elkay glanced down at himself again. “This is not normally how I look. My wings are bigger, my tail is too long and… Well, it is pretty close to how I look, but not exactly… Uh, do you feel weirdly… uh… horny right now?”
“Um… While I will admit that, firstly, you do look good, and, secondly, back when you were mortal, I think I had a bit of a crush on you, no, I’m not horny right now. Plus, you have a partner. I don’t want to get between you and Teekay.”
Arkay backed away somewhat, then sighed.
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
Elkay shook his head. “No. Just ill. Before I passed out, Teekay thought I had the same thing that Retvik and Litvir had, a fever from some sort of implant. I thought he was insane, but, well, I did have all the symptoms. And Litvir went comatose because of his illness. I take it you are not well either?”
“No, not really. Kairos promised he wouldn’t interfere. Then he interfered. He thought I had killed Epani when all I did was lock her inside a box. Did to her what she essentially did to me. So Kairos attacked me and is basically holding me hostage until Epani frees herself.”
“How long will that be?” Elkay asked.
Arkay shrugged. “A month. About 720 hours for you, I guess. But, well… I’m considering not bothering.”
“What? Why?”
“Hah. It’s quite simple, really. Everyone would be better off. I can still do my work subconsciously, Epani and Kairos don’t need to communicate with me, I can stop disappointing all my mortal friends and I can just sleep away the billions of years until I can break free from this universe and return to you lot…” Arkay paused, then sighed again. “And if I did manage to come back, you’d all get sick of me and I’d be getting between Retvik and Litvir. Bet things are great for their relationship while I’m not around.”
Elkay frowned. “Well… you say that, Retvik… somewhat had a bit of an argument with Elksia over what happened. With you… being sent away.”
“What… what do you mean?” Arkay lowered his voice, quite clearly shocked. “Why… what does Elksia know?”
“So, uh, we were all going to buy a new ship for the Thantir, but Kal instead found some cheap land and have started building a base for us, as a surprise. Elksia worked out the surprise early and wanted to help, so they took her to the land they bought. It turns out, they bought the floating island where you turned into Arkidetelos, and Elksia’s Time Drake powers kicked in and she saw everything that happened.”
“… Oh…” Elkay’s words did nothing to make Arkay feel better. “So now everyone knows?”
“Uh, not really. But Elksia got very angry at Retvik, claiming that a large part of your change into Arkidetelos was because of Retvik’s inaction, that he did not do enough to stand up for you, and you became trapped and believed becoming a monster was the only way out of the Life Goddess trying to make you create a universe with her.”
“I… I can understand why Elksia would think that-”
Elkay tutted. “Elksia is a Time Drake and, according to Overlord Deathven, an oddly powerful one, she sees things we cannot. I may not have been there, but I would trust Elksia’s past-vision over Retvik’s angry, fading memories.”
“I guess, but…” Arkay sighed some more. “There’s been all these little things people have told me since… it happened. The fact that she was intentionally triggering me, that Arkidetelos was always a fail safe against other Life Goddesses, and now this thing with Elksia… None of it takes away from the fact that I fucked up, majorly, and intentionally threatened those I cared about. I won’t ever forgive myself for that. It’s part of the reason why I’m just considering… staying here…”
Elkay hesitated, looking Arkay up and down again. The last time he had seen Arkay, he’d been quite small, but also chirpy. He’d been free of the duties of being a deity. Now though, Arkay looked tired. Old, almost. Beaten and worn down. Eventually, he gave Arkay a big hug, something Elkay very rarely did. Arkay struggled at first, then relented and hugged Elkay back.
“I understand the self-hatred, but at the same time, you have to forgive yourself at some point. Because we have forgiven you.”
“Still… I feel like the multiverse could do without my presence right now.”
After a quick pat on the back, Elkay let go, giving Arkay a little space. “Well, that is… a little harsh. You are not a bad person. You are just having a bad time. Again. Do you… mind if I make a small recommendation?”
“What sort of recommendation?”
“You want to be on your own, you feel like you deserve to be on your own. I will not be here for very long, I assume, but we should take this time to just…” Elkay hesitated. “Well… we should make the most of our time together right now. Just two… whatever the fuck we are… talking and being friends.”
Arkay eyed Elkay suspiciously. “Is something going on?”
“I think I may have fallen and given myself a concussion when I passed out. You know what Rethans with concussions are like. But also, well, no one has seen you in so long, Arkay. And here I am, talking to you. Assuming this is… real.”
“Hmph…” Arkay snorted. “It’s only kinda real.”
“Still, I am happy to keep you company. Even if it is brief. I am pretty sure the Phantai medics will wake me up soon. Plus, there are things I wish to discuss with my fellow…” Elkay paused, then grunted. “I hate the term ‘mimic’. We really need a better name for ourselves.”
“We really do.”
Arkay fell silent, then crossed his legs and sat in a floating, resting position, then turned to the distance points of light. Elkay did the same, then put an arm around Arkay.
“Thank you.”
“No worries, dear. You really are not as bad as you think you are. The multiverse just has a habit of conspiring against you.”
“I guess…”
The old death god sighed, then glanced to his left. Elkay had disappeared, taking his warmth and kindness with him.
“It was nice seeing you…” Arkay muttered as he gazed off into the darkness, alone with his cold, comatose thoughts once more.