“How are they doing?”
“I mean, we’re gods. We heal fast…”
The overall mood among the Twelve Anew was rather negative currently. While yes, they had technically completed their mission of getting rid of the Episkeft, in doing so, they had been forced to allow Kairos to get close to the anomaly, and several of the Twelve Anew were now injured. While Litvir had bared the brunt of the majority of nuclear-caused injuries, Dalosisaar had burnt areas across his chest from where he had tried to redirect the nuclear winds out of the universe, some of Aster’s armour had melted to his skin while he had tried to do the same and Kohra had burnt off all the fur on his arms while teleporting Aster and Dalosisaar to safety.
And because almost all the Twelve Anew had been exposed to radiation, they were all currently quarantining themselves in the fortress at the centre of the universe. Only Nanik and Maresia weren’t present, and Nanik was very nervous about the diplomatic stuff she now had to do in Aster’s and Murum’Va’s places, since she was a tiny little Vohra.
But on top of that, none of the Twelve Anew could understand what went wrong, and now both the elder deities weren’t talking to them. Which was particularly awkward because Syksis needed a little help when it came to healing Litvir, and she couldn’t get that help.
“I get that, but how are they doing?” Elkay had asked a few times and Syksis had been mostly avoiding the question.
“Well… Kohra’s mostly just annoyed about his fur, but that’s already mostly grown back. Dalosisaar is healed up and a bit sore, but Aster’s suffering from radiation sickness and is struggling to keep food down. He also seems to absolutely hate plain soup, which is making things harder because Aster’s being grumpy and not eating anything.”
“I noticed that you didn’t mention Litvir.”
Syksis sighed. “Litvir… isn’t doing well at all. They got the complete brunt of it all and… well… Litvir was barely responsive but also in a permanent state of panic. But… I don’t get how, you giving Litvir that stuffed animal calmed them down enough to go to sleep. You… you didn’t put something like happynip in that stuffed cat, did you?”
Elkay blinked. “Uh… I should know this but… what is happynip?”
“It’s a stupidly common herb that grows in mountainous areas in Ksithan territories, that makes Ksithans calm and relaxed and happy. And sometimes horny. It’s one of only a handful of recreational drugs we allow because it grows pretty much anywhere, doesn’t have any major negative side effects, ise a really useful plant not just in medicine and overall isn’t worth the effort trying to stop.”
“I see… Happynip just seems to be another name for what we call Ksithan Weed. Also, no, I didn’t put anything in Litvir’s plushie. The stuffed animal is called Arkay, by the way.”
Syksis also blinked. “Litvir has a stuffed cat named after the Dead God?”
“Yeah. Turns out, Litvir’s adopted dad was a strong follower of Arkay’s more peaceful teachings. Relkir is also one of the few people who could recognise Arkay whenever he took the form of a cat, and clearly they thought it’d be a good idea to but a cat-shaped toy, call it Arkay and give it to their kid as some sort of protection charm. But either way, Litvir loves that toy, it reminds them of home and they believe the cat protects them, so it was enough to calm Litvir down and help them sleep.”
“I see… No, wait, I don’t see… Litvir’s dad is that short-ass super intelligent Rethan who is the advisor and sibling of the High General and also the sibling of that Rethan Triumphant Champion guy who disappeared?”
“Basically?” Elkay shrugged. “Yeah. I think, because Arkay was friends with Retvik and Tenuk, he also kept an eye on their siblings. Kohra had no idea he’d actually met Arkay because Arkay routinely disguised as a cat to keep an eye on him. Honestly, don’t know why you called him the Death Wolf when he much preferred cats.”
Syksis shrugged. “When we were lesser beings, before we became omnivores and apex predators ourselves, we were hunted by the black wolves of our original home worlds. Since Arkay was the god of death, we associated him with the largest things that most obviously killed us, and believed that making offerings to the Death Wolf would protect us from smaller things. Our worship towards the other deities only really cropped up when we became part of universal society proper, and I guess we never really changed our images of Arkay when we got to know him better, because they were part of tradition…” Syksis trailed off briefly. “We got really sidetracked from talking about how our injured deities are doing.”
Elkay nodded in agreement. “We did, yes. But… everyone is doing better now, right?”
“Kohra is fine. Dalosisaar will be fine. Aster needs some time to get over the radiation sickness, and that’ll take at least a week. Litvir is physically okay, but they also have radiation sickness and… are admittedly slightly blind right now. That will heal too, in about a week, but all we can do is keep Litvir and Aster comfortable.”
“Wait… Litvir was blinded?”
“Litvir unwillingly looked at a nuclear explosion up close. Their eyeballs nearly melted. If Litvir wasn’t the Deity of Light and Protection, they’d probably be in a far, far worse state. And… this sounds horrible, but I’m not sure an of us apart from Aster or Dalosisaar would have survived had we been in Litvir’s place. Because Litvir, and I’m sorry for saying this, is pretty stupid and doesn’t know when to back down.”
“But Litvir will get better, yes?”
“Yeah. They all will. My bigger issue is that I haven’t been able to do a quick check-over on Kairos or Epani. Sure, they’re primordial entities, but they also stepped into a looping nuclear inferno. And… I don’t know where either of them are.”
“None of us do. The universe is still spinning though. So we’ll just do what we always do and make sure it does keep on spinning.”
Syksis frowned. “I’d like to admire your optimism, Elkay.”
“It’s not optimism. It’s the truth. It’s our duty. We’re gods now. We have to act like it.”
“I guess…” Syskis paused. Her ears twitched. “I need to go and check on Aster. Do you mind staying with Litvir for a bit? Your presence keeps them calm.”
Elkay sighed. “Sure thing. Stay calm, Syksis. We’ll be fine.”
“I guess…” Syksis frowned some more as she rushed off. “Bye…”
Elkay’s eyes lingered on where Syksis once stood. With another sigh, he stepped through a nearby shadow and headed back to work.