Arkay yawned as he stretched out his arms. He had intended just to have a quick nap, but frankly he had been exhausted from all that rushing around, all those tests and things like that. Now he had had a proper rest though, Arkay was ready to enjoy his brand new (yet somewhat solitary) new h…
“Wait… This is not where I went to have a nap…”
Staring at Arkay were several familiar beings, all of whom Arkay was not sure he’d ever see again. Saahrotar, a red and gold, heavily armoured dragon, was holding various instruments over Arkay, while Seimeni and Vikalos were mostly just being rude and staring right at him.
“Uh, this isn’t my room!” Arkay exclaimed somewhat cheerfully. “What happened? Did you guys bust me out or something?”
“No…” was Vikalos’s blunt reply.
Arkay shrugged, then looked at himself up and down. He felt… different. He LOOKED different. He was still Arkay, but he felt as if he had grown. There was more muscle on his arms, his armour was better defined and he had more of it in some places. His claws had grown out into proper chitin, rather than being weird, bony stumps. But more importantly, the bits of black matter that had clung to his body were gone. The last traces of Arkay’s universe had finally left him.
“Alright, seriously, what’s going on?” Arkay asked. “You’re all scaring me.”
“You became a Decay-Lord!” Seimeni only half explained. “A really fucking attractive one. Like, sexier than Vikalos here.”
“…And?” Arkay blinked. “Surely there’s more to it than that!” The newly awakened Decay-Lord looked around, observing his surroundings. He was 99% sure he wasn’t in that solitary apartment of his and he was 99% sure he was on some sort of ship, but he wasn’t completely sure whether it was Vikalos’s Deathven Vessel or not, the ship that had originally picked it up.
Saahro turned to the others, then sighed. “Are you not going to tell him?”
Seimeni shrugged. Vikalos grunted, muttered something under his breath to Seimeni, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. It wasn’t just Arkay who thought that was a bit rude, Vikalos’s actions had made Saahro tut as well.
“You should tell him.”
“Why? You’re better at telling people bad news!”
“What bad news?” Arkay butted in. “Because I’m confused as fuck right now!”
Again, Saahro glanced at Seimeni. Seimeni tutted, then turned back to Arkay.
“You know we took you to Deathven, right? Well the place got fucking blown up by a Voidborn cult a few aeons ago. Whole places was gutted, we went and rebuilt a new Deathven, but occasionally we go back to see if anything is salvageable. We found you in your room, pretty much intact and I think the whole thing has Vikalos in shock.”
“… Huh…” Arkay wasn’t sure what to say. “Did that… happen not long after you left me there?”
“Nah, it was aaaaages after we dropped you off!” Seimeni was smiling now. Arkay assumed she was just amused by his reaction. “Like, fucking ages. We went through like forty other Decay-Lords and a couple of Decaylings too, but now it’s just me, Saahro, Thaed, Ostos and our captain.”
“And you, if you want to stay…” Saahro added.
Seimeni glared at Saahro, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him to one side. “Dude, Vikalos might not let him stay. Not while there’s the thing between him, O-D and TK…”
“TK?” Arkay interrupted.
“Shush!” Seimeni snapped, then immediately apologised, walking up to Arkay and hugging him. “Wow… you smell amazing, considering you’ve been sleeping in a black bag for the last few gogools…”
Saahro shook his head. “Let’s just put it this way, buddy. Things are a bit… hit and miss right now. Vikalos is going through some things and he might not want you to stay.”
“Why?” Arkay asked as Seimeni let go of him and he finally managed to climb out of bed. “What is going on?”
Saahro tutted, leading Arkay out of the medical bay and down the main corridor, towards one of the media rooms. “It’s all a bit messy right now and frankly I don’t get it myself. But we should just chill out a bit and celebrate, since you’re back!”
“Yeah, good idea!” Seimeni beamed. “You want anything to eat? Cheese toasty, maybe?”
Arkay smiled as the three of them sat down. “That’d be lovely…”