“Hello, little ones!”
Vikalos was waiting for his partners to finish their duties, so, to pass the time, he had decided to join the four little half-Synaisthyns, who were chilling out in the canteen.
“Heya, Vikalos!” Kayel beamed. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much. What are you four up to?”
Nyssi shrugged. “We’re not doing much either. Just chilling, I guess.”
Tanos shrugged too. “We’re all besties, sometimes we just sit here and do nothing together.”
“Fair enough!” Vikalos smiled. “You four have been best friends for a long time.”
Ret thought for a moment, then grunted. “Actually, I think we have only really been best friends for a year and a half.”
“Wait, really?” Kayel exclaimed. “Feels like way longer.”
“Considering what we have been through, that is understandable. But as far as I recall, I met Kayel, Nyssi and Tenuk in the Arksini hospital in December 2024. According to my watch, it is some time in August 2025 now.”
Nyssi blinked. “Wow… Feels like forever… And, like, you immediately let us three idiots stay in your house, Retty.”
More shrugs. “To be fair, I was mostly in mourning because I had lost the only two Rethans who could stand talking to me at the time… Really, we were all in shock. Horrible things happened to all of us.”
Kayel’s smile faded. “Yeah, no, don’t remind me, Retvik. That was all… horrible…”
“What happened?” Vikalos asked.
“A lot. The hotel Tenuk was staying at blew up, massive fires destroyed the whole area Retvik was in with his work friends, a ton of monsters rampaged through Nyssi’s village and the family planning centre I worked at was shot up. We all kinda met at the main hospital in the area. Retvik guarded my room because someone tried to move me when I was unconscious.”
“That was the first time we met Arkay too, right?” Tanos added. “We were in the pharmacy and this cultist tried to blow the place up and Arkay turned them into ash.”
The others all glanced at each other, then nodded.
“So you have not been together long?”
“Technically, no.”
“Still feels like a long time though!” Nyssi smiled. “I think we’ve all changed though. Especially you, Retvik.”
“What do you mean?” Ret seemed confused. “Have I changed that much?”
Nyssi nodded. “You had a bit of a… a persona or something. You were more gruff, grumpier and put on a bit of a face.”
“I do not follow.”
“You were sterner.”
Ret grunted some more. “I guess? But if I am honest, you three allowed me to open up and relax a little bit. Before I met you, I basically did not have friends or speak to anyone outside my work.”
“You became a great person!” Tanos grinned. “You made friends.”
“I think we all became better people, actually. I settled down, Tanos found himself, Kayel relaxed and Nyssi, you no longer hide your intelligence.”
“All four of you grew as friends and as individuals!” Vikalos had a few words to offer. “The universe brought you together for a reason.”
“Actually, Arkay kinda brought us together by accident when he accidentally made us immortal. Something about us dying in the second that Arkay was technically dead so he kinda… forgot about us?” Nyssi tried to explain. “Basically the same thing happened to Phovoula but with Sini. We got immortality by accident.”
“And then proceeded to do a ton of weird things together. Like stabbing Corruption and being kidnapped by other deities!” Kayel added. “Like, we were using our blood to kill Corruption before it was cool.”
Vikalos blinked. “Really?”
“Yeah. Arkay asked us to find some Corruption and stab it. We ended up finding this Kinisis person-slash-corruption thing who was using a Spast cult to make herself more physical. We helped fight it, and Epani managed to kill it by stabbing it through Arkay.”
“And then, when we got home, Retvik suggested we become a gladiator team!” Tanos perked up. “We were really, really good gladiators.”
“We did some really weird stuff…” Kayel muttered. “And now we’re out here. Outside the fricking universe, spending our time helping people from the universe which came before ours. And, uh, well, helping you…” Kayel trailed off. “Uh, question, Vikalos, were you a god or something?”
Vikalos nodded. “I was the god of the underworld in my universe. It came to me as a surprise that a lot of universes did not have afterlives.”
“And what about your girlfriends?” Kayel asked further.
“Girlfriends?” Tanos blinked.
“Hah, I find that hilarious!” Vikalos laughed. “Galyn was a deity similar to how Arkay was a deity. Itaviir has always been a Decay Lord.”
“Always?”
“Well, technically he was a Decayling first. There are many races that are born in the void but aren’t actually Voidborns.”
“How do you tell the difference?” Ret asked. “Because… like… for example, if Kuta and I had a kid… would that be a Voidborn?”
Vikalos thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Most Voidborns are not ever actually born. They just appear at some moment of time as a spirit with a physical form that crystallises over time. I don’t think a kid between you both would be a Voidborn, but it might end up being a Synaisthyn-like being like you, Ret.”
“But what about Phovoula?”
“Honestly? I don’t know about Phovoula. I think it was a combination of things for her – both being born outside the universe and being born outside of a Life Goddess’s presence.”
“Voidborns are weird…” Nyssi muttered.
“They are, yes. But you four are weird but also very interesting!” Vikalos smiled some more. “And you have been doing well with your Corruption purging stuff.”
“We have enjoyed it!” Ret admitted. “It is fun killing black stuff.”
“And we don’t need to fear being corrupted or anything as well.”
“Indeed!” Vikalos nodded. “Either way, you four are an amazing little team. You are making a name for yourselves.”
“We’ve been doing that for ages!” Nyssi tutted. “Still, Retty’s right. The Corruption murder is fun. And we’re a great team. Probably a better team than you and your girlfriends!”
Vikalos grunted, but went back to smiling. “Honestly, I think you’re right…”