Reasons Not To Visit

“I want to meet him!”

Kayel couldn’t understand why no one in the room was as excited as he was. They were all giving him that annoying “Kayel you’re being dumb again” look and he hated it.

“Alright, instead of staring at me like I’m some sort of retard, one of you please explain to me why I can’t go and meet him!”

No one spoke at first. The silence was more annoying than the dumb looks.

“Are you all just going to give me the eye for a bit?”

Finally, someone stepped forward. Teekay, the former leader of the K-Class Ksa. Kayel knew that Teekay hated him, but he at least had the courtesy to keep his emotions at bay.

“All-Ksa, he is literally the god of death. Taking you to him might be dangerous, and none of us want you to be harmed.”

“That… is pretty shitty of you all, actually!” Kayel snapped. “Firstly, I’ve met him before, secondly you seem to think he’ll just instantly kill me and thirdly I bet you’ve gone and stuck him in a cage or something, right?”

Teekay nodded slowly.

“What good will a cage do?”

“To be fair, he was originally arrested for desecrating a grave. Then we discovered that he had only desecrated the grave because he had clawed his way out of it. We have since moved him.”

Kayel tutted. “Moved him to where?”

“A secure location.”

“As in?”

Teekay glanced at his fellow K-Class.

“As in a safe, comfortable location away from prying eyes, from which the Thantophor is currently unwilling to leave.”

The All-Ksa tutted some more, getting up from his desk and pacing across the room, straight to where Teekay was standing.

“Tell, me, dear Teekay, you’ve met the Thantophor, or should I say Arkay, before, yes?”

“I have, ser.”

“Then tell me, Teekay, how was Arkay when you met him?”

“He was not Arkay when I met him. He was Arkadin, the Thantophor, taking the shape of a yellow-armoured Rethavok, hiding away from his siblings.”

Kayel tilted his head to one side. “And why was he hiding away from his siblings?”

“I am not sure. Probably because he may have accidentally harmed one of them? Or maybe because he is the Lord of Decay, the God of Death, something pretty much everything in this universe opposes?”

Teekay was clearly trying to make it look like he didn’t care much for the presence of a divine being in Skyan territories. But he and Kayel both knew the truth. He didn’t want to admit out loud that he had previously worshipped the Thantophor in private.

“When you did meet him though, did he try and kill anyone?”

“Uh…” Teekay hesitated. “No. No he did not.”

“And did he try and kill anyone yesterday?”

“No. Although he did make us all feel uneasy.”

“Doesn’t everyone feel unease in the presence of a god anyway?” Kayel asked.

“I… I guess… I have not… personally met the other deities…” Teekay muttered.

Kayel put an arm around Teekay, smiling. “Is there any actual reason why I can’t go and talk to this fella? I mean, he came here, didn’t he? Peacefully and calmly? And he took our form, rather than that of another race. And he hasn’t specifically killed anyone yet, has he?”

“FINE YOU CAN GO AND SEE HIM!” Veear, the leader of the Arbiters, shouted as he stormed into the room. “Why can’t you just let us do our job first?”

“And what do you need to do first?” Kayel asked.

Veear grunted. “Safety tests. Medical tests. Identification tests.”

Kayel let go of Teekay, smiling happily. “Ah good. Well, you get those things done. Then, as soon as you’re sorted, I want to meet our new friendly deity, alright?”

Everyone else in the room sighed.

“Yes, All-Ksa…”