“Welcome back, my Missing.”
Arkay glanced down at himself. He was naked again. He was just about to have a shower. Retvik was dressed, he had been in his office, finishing off some work, but Litvir had been halfway through switching between work armour and sleeping clothes and he only had some of his armour on, mostly just leg stuff. And the three of them were no longer at home, they were back in that familiar, dark, candle-lit space, and overlooking them was a familiar armoured face.
“I swear, sometimes you teleport us when we’re not dressed just to fuck with us!” Arkay hissed, crossing his arms then clicking, summoning himself some armour. He then handed Litvir some fabric, so he could cover up his bare stomach.
“I apologise, Deathbringer, my poor timing was unintentional. But I do need to speak to you urgently. Also you just summoned armour onto yourself.”
Arkay grunted. “I can do that because I have bullshit Life Goddess levels of power. Litvir here wears clothes and armour like a normal person. You forget that those two are former mortals!”
The Overlord bowed slightly. “Again, I apologise. Most of my Hidden Trios are standard deities, not uplifted mortals. I do genuinely need to speak to you right now though…” Deathven paused briefly. “Actually, I am not sure if I completely require you, Souldrainer and Flamebearer.”
“That is rather rude…” Litvir muttered. “You dragged me away from bed for nothing.”
“Well, again, I am sorry. But I do need to urgently speak to you, as it is about what one would call Thrice-Torn-Spirits.”
“Does he mean Synaisthyns?” Retvik whispered.
“He does, yes. But I don’t have a problem with that name, as long as no one calls me a hybrid or amalgam mimic…” Arkay whispered back, before relenting somewhat. “Alright, fine, I am your resident Synaisthyn expert, how can I help?”
The Overlord bowed a little once again. “I appreciate your willingness to assist. Before I explain the admittedly rather silly task, I have a simple question for you. Have you heard of the Rainbow Ruin?”
Arkay blinked, thought to himself for a bit, then blinked some more. “Uh… no.”
“Have either of you heard of it, Souldrainer and Flamebearer?”
Retvik and Litvir both shrugged. “No, not that I am aware of.”
“It sounds like something that Tenuk would call “gay as fuck” or something silly like that!” Litvir smiled a little. “But no, I have not heard of such a thing either. Could you please give us a clue?”
Deathven grunted and smiled a little, vaguely amused by Litvir’s comment, mostly because he was pretty sure Litvir didn’t really understand what the word “gay” meant in that context. “Of course. It is the name of a prophecy.”
Litvir glanced at Arkay. “Our friend Elkay just dealt with a silly prophecy, right?”
“No, that wasn’t a prophecy, that was Kairos removing himself from the gene pool by working so hard to stop a fake prophecy from happening that he instead got killed by something that looked prophetic but was in fact just dumb luck.”
“You mean Unender, yes?” Deathven asked.
“Yeah. Although, now you mentioned him and now I’m thinking that Elkay is just me but taller, Retvik’s brother and green, I’m going to guess that this Rainbow Ruin thing is about a bunch of colourful Synaisthyns… Which, now I think more about it, makes even less sense because Elkay and I can both be any colour we want.”
“You are somewhat on the right track, Deathbringer. The Rainbow Ruin is a prophecy believed by the various Plated Voidborn cults, that nine Synaisthyns will come together to destroy them.”
“Nine?” Retvik tutted. “That is silly. There are only seven colours in a normal rainbow. And I was under the impression that the Plated Cults were utterly gigantic?”
Deathven seemed pleased. “I am glad that you see this prophecy the same way I see it, Flamebearer. You are correct on both counts. Their prophecy says “the seven colours of the rainbow plus white and black”, and, as you said, the Plated Alliance is huge, potentially equal to my own society. They are also not particularly friendly, but I keep an uneasy truce between them via the Vast Voids and their leader, Skotadision. Skotadision was at one point a Plated Voidborn up until he forged his own path, but while he has removed most of his Plated traits, he does still believe in the Rainbow Ruin.”
“Well, he’s kinda stupid then!” Arkay rolled his eyes. “There’s only, what, four known Synaisthyns? Me, Elkay, Panton and Vryda, and most folks think Vryda was a Life Goddess anyway. And even if you include my little team, who are NOT Synaisthyns because they can’t do true Time Drake, Voidborn or Life Goddess things, then we both still don’t have enough folks AND we have two overlaps, with me and Kayel and Elkay and Nyssi. And Panton was gold and black anyway, wasn’t he?”
Deathven glared at Arkay briefly.
“What? Too soon?”
“Somewhat.”
“My bad… But, like, it’s clearly a stupid idea, what does this have to do with us?”
Deathven took a long, drawn out breath. “I received a message from Skotadision earlier. He claims that “Red” has been awakened. Since you are my wrangler of Thrice-Torn Spirits, I need you to check upon your own and make sure nothing is going on.”
Arkay blinked. Retvik and Litvir blinked as well.
“Lightbearer is not a Synaisthyn, if that is what you are suggesting…” Retvik muttered.
“Um…” Litvir was a little more hesitant. “We may need to get Ret to do a pregnancy test.”
“Again, he is not a Synaisthyn.”
“Still, as much as I hate what I am about to suggest, perhaps his half-Synaisthyn genitalia could work alongside my sibling’s genitalia and accidentally make one.”
Retvik stared at Litvir. So did Arkay. Deathven did as well.
“Alright, maybe not…” Litvir changed the subject. “But, well, do you have anything for us to go on? Because what you have suggested is vague.”
Deathven grunted. “For now, I have no useful information. I will try and pry some from Skotadision and get back to you. In the mean time, I request that you check over your fellow Thantir, check in with your fellow allied sects, and make sure nothing is wrong.”
“We can do that!” Arkay perked up. “Can you send us home now, please?”
“Of course. Stay safe, my Missing.”
With a snap of his fingers, Arkay, Retvik and Litvir disappeared. Once the dust had settled, all Deathven could do was sigh.
“I wish I did not have to waste my time with this nonsense…”