“What part of “no contact with the Decayling” does your Life Goddess not understand?” Vikalos snarled as he answered the video call. “You need to back away from this immediately!”
The tiny little deity on the other end of the line was visibly shaken, having jumped out of his skin from how loud Vikalos’s words were.
“You do realise that your Life Goddess has left 200 messages for us today, all asking when she can have this Decayling back, yes? You also realise that she has consistently gone above standard protocols and is supposed to speak to our communication department first, rather than contacting Decay Lords directly?”
“I-I-I’m sorry… but… we were thinking… Maybe Kinisis will stop pestering you if…” the little deity was beginning to stutter. Vikalos eyed the being, patiently waiting for it to sort itself out. Divine Guardians were always weird creatures, but this one was particularly weird simply because it was so small. “Maybe if you let her… have a video chat with him?”
“A video chat?” Vikalos grunted, calming down. His doing so seemed to make the Guardian calm down too. “Is that all?”
“Yes. Maybe, if she can just see him, at a safe distance, say hello and then that’s it… maybe she’ll stop bothering all of us.”
“Let me discuss this with the other Decay Lords and I will call you back.”
Before the Guardian could mutter a thank you, Vikalos closed the line. The amount of work he was doing for one damn Decayling was far too much. Immediately, Itaviir entered the room, in the same foul mood Vikalos was in.
“That was HER again, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was…” Vikalos grumbled. “One of her Guardians suggested a video conference call between the Life Goddess and her desired Decayling, completely ignoring the fact that the little bastard needs to recover while he is doing Basics. Perhaps it will get Kinisis off our backs, but I informed the Guardian that we would ask the Decayling first.”
“How is the Decayling doing with Basics anyway?” Itaviir asked as the two of them teleported out of the small office and into the main medical wing.
“Far too well, all things considered. One can see why he would be wanted. Already capable of working as a deity and he has Life Goddess potential. If only he was more mentally stable…” Vikalos glanced down the hall, and realised that the being they were talking about was looking at them. Granted, all the other medi-cells here were empty, but that wasn’t the point.
Itaviir grunted, then made his way to the last medi-cell, where the Decayling known as Arkay was happily floating around in regenerative fluids.
“Hi!”
“Hello Arkay. How are you feeling?” Vikalos asked.
“I’m alright. You wanted to talk to me?”
Vikalos nodded. “Yes. Life Goddess Kinisis wishes to speak to you via a video call. Are you willing to speak to her via such a method?”
Arkay drifted down to the bottom of his cell, sitting on his bed. “A video call?”
“Yes.”
“She won’t… actually be near me or anything?”
“We can request that she be at a specific distance away, if you wish.”
Arkay seemed to frown, and took a very long time to answer, twiddling his thumbs and looking anywhere except at the two Decay-Lords. “I really don’t want to talk to her. But maybe, if I do, she will leave me alone… Can I have Retvik here with me?”
Again, Vikalos nodded. “Of course. Whatever you need to make this go smoothly, we shall provide.”
Vikalos’s offer seemed to make Arkay cheer up again. “I appreciate that. When will I be able to leave this cell?”
This time, Vikalos glanced at Itaviir. Itaviir grunted, not really having an answer. “Unfortunately, you will have to wait a little longer.”
“Why? Because, like, I’ve already healed from the nasty thing in my chest…”
“These cells are designed to extract very small amounts of harmless yet persistent Corruption. Normally one would only spend a few mere hours in these cells, asleep and unaware. But you are… a special case.”
Arkay frowned some more. “I don’t like being a special case. I want to be done with this and start being like a normal Decayling.”
Vikalos placed his hand gently on the glass. “Do not fret, Arkay. It will not always be like this.”
“I guess… When do you want me to make this call?”
“As soon as possible would be preferable. But we will not rush you.”
Arkay closed his eyes, sighing. “Alright. Can I have a little bit of time on my own, then we can do it?”
“Of course.”
Vikalos and Itaviir both waved goodbye, then left the Decayling to his own devices.
“I still do not like this…” Itaviir hissed.
“No, me neither…” Vikalos muttered back. “But if we remain calm and take this small request, hopefully we can get rid of Kinisis. At least for a while…”