“Things are too good right now.”
Litvir looked up from his bowl of meaty stew to where Arkay was standing. He was in the middle of making himself a sandwich, but seemed to have just frozen in place. However, the emotions emanating from the little Decay Lord were anything but still.
“Arkay, is something wrong?” Litvir asked, not sure whether he should get up or not.
“No. Nothing is wrong. And that’s the problem…” Arkay slowly picked up a knife and went back to making his sandwich. He half-heartedly scraped some butter across both slices of bread, stuck some cheese in the middle, then proceeded to butter the outside of the sandwich as well, before sticking it in the toasting machine on the counter.
Litvir eyed Arkay for a moment, then shrugged and returned to his stew. “So you feel sad because things are not bad for once?”
Before Arkay could answer, they were interrupted by the appearance of Retvik and Kuta. Retvik grunted a greeting to everyone present and sat himself down at the kitchen table. Kuta, despite looking very sweaty, immediately frowned at the sight of his brother, but instantly perked up and started smiling as he saw Arkay.
“Heya!”
“Hi, Kuta…” Arkay’s response seemed far less chirpy. “How was the combat training?”
Kuta glanced at Retvik, and they both shrugged. Kuta though was still smiling.
“I am very glad that Retvik is on our side!” Kuta beamed, making his way to the nearby fridge to grab some food. His choice of meal was a handful of sliced ham. He didn’t fancy much else. “He hits like a lump of concrete that is on fire.”
“Everything I do can be described by a metaphor that is on fire…” Retvik grunted. “But yes, it went well. Kuta could do with more training, but we will get there. However, Arkay, you do not seem too… happy right now.”
“Am I that obvious?”
All three Rethans nodded. “Yes, very obvious.”
Arkay tutted, then turned his attention back to the cheese toasty he was supposed to be making. As the small timer on the top flicked off though, Arkay decided he wasn’t hungry. Nonetheless, he took his sandwich and sat down at the kitchen table with the other Decay Lords.
“Why are you upset, Arkay?” Kuta asked, eyeing Arkay’s sandwich.
“He is sad because things are not bad for once!” Litvir answered in Arkay’s place.
“But… why?”
Arkay pushed his plate of food to one side, towards Kuta, then let out a small snarl. “This is how it always goes. Things calm down for a bit. We’re promised something good. I find myself attracted to someone. And every time, without fail, a shitstorm of bad news comes and tears it all away. Not always at once, sometimes it’s a slow, steady drip. But it’s always there and it always tears me down. Then I have to rebuild everything from scratch. I’m… not looking forward to having to do all that again.”
“You seem… quite certain about that…” Kuta’s smile faded a bit.
The former death god simply rolled his eyes. “I’ve been alive for a pretty long time. The patterns are always there.”
Arkay’s rant was interrupted by a knock on the kitchen door. Galyn was standing in the doorway, holding several sheets of paper.
“Decaylings, I need you all in the cockpit. We have received some job offers, and I need to discuss them with you.”
Litvir and Retvik both shrugged, then got up, following Galyn out of the room. Kuta got up as well, but glanced back at Arkay.
“You alright?”
“I’ll be with you in a second…” Arkay sighed.
“You have a bad feeling about this?”
Arkay grunted, then got up, accompanying Kuta into the main hallway. “Yes, but I always have a bad feeling about everything these days…”