“So, uh, time to send you four home…”
Arkay turned to the four mortals, then sighed. The term ‘mortal’ felt wrong. These four, they had been born as mortals, but now, they were… something else. Unkillable. Immortal, perhaps. All because Arkay had… broken at the perfect time. Here they now were, standing in front of him, braving the cold depths of space and an atmosphere that would suffocate all other mortals.
Weirdly though, the first thing one of these beings did was apologize.
“I am sorry, Arkay.”
The Thantophor stared at Retvik.
“What are you apologizing for?”
“If I had not killed that cultist, they would not have completed their ritual and this… mess would not have happened.”
Retvik’s response was met by a slap from both Tenuk and Kayel.
“Mate, we already told you, it’s not your fault.”
Arkay closed his eyes, agreeing with the Spast. “It’s really not your fault. I should have been keeping an eye on things, I should have picked up on this sooner, I should have snuffed out that cult before they even began to kill people, let along managed to kill hundreds… You are just normal folks caught up in all of this. I should be apologizing to you. In fact…” Arkay paused. “I am sorry. You shouldn’t have seen any of this.”
The mortals glanced at each other, then all seemed to shrug.
“I kinda don’t think it’s your fault either, Mister Arkay!” Tenuk smiled a little. “There’s four gods, not one. And you all do different things. And we… got to see all four of you. Speaking of which, you kinda got stabbed, are you okay?”
“I’m… fine…” Arkay lied. He’d been lying a lot lately. “I just… need to work out what to do with you. Normally, if I ever have to use a normal vok for something, I get what I need done, wipe their minds then send them back home. That ship of Temthans and Vrekans you saved from Sini’s lab? They’ll remember that they were saved by a weird team of, well, you, but they won’t remember the pain. I can’t seem to do that with you four.”
“Why not?” Nyssi asked, raising an eyebrow, before noticing that only she and Tenuk had eyebrows to raise. And even then, Nyssi’s eyebrows were drawn on with makeup.
“I don’t know. I just… can’t. Like, I can’t properly… affect you guys. But at the same time, I can’t really let four immortal beings run around unattended!”
“Who says we’ll be unattended?” Kayel shrugged. “You live, like, literally down the road from my apartment. We could just check in once a week or whatever.”
Arkay raised a finger, then stopped, thinking to himself. After a while, he finally spoke. “I… guess that could work… Plus, I kinda didn’t really want to put you through any more pain or anything. I do like you guys.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Thantophor!” Nyssi smiled. “But can we get out of here now? I’m… kinda hating all this unending darkness.”
“Oh!” Did Arkay also smile? None of the four were sure. “Yeah, sure, hop in and I’ll jump you guys back into Portalian airspace.”
“What about the Skyans and this ship?”
Arkay tutted. “You guys getting home safe is more important. Get in.”
Everyone did as they were told. Rather than waiting for them to get into the air though, the ship immediately reappeared in Portalia, specifically in front of Retvik’s house. His small garden was kinda ruined now, but everything else seemed intact and weirdly untouched.
“Thanks, Arkay! Oh… he’s already gone…” Tenuk seemed somewhat dismayed. “Was gonna ask him if he wanted to come in for drinks. You alright, Ret?”
Retvik muttered something to himself, reaching under a small, thankfully undamaged plant pot for his spare key. The same way the outside of his house was untouched, so was the inside, with the furniture all strewn up, just how they’d left it when the Allbirther kidnapped them.
“What day is it anyway?” Kayel asked as everyone stepped inside.
Kayel though didn’t get a response. Retvik and Tenuk were already rearranging the furniture so they could sit down, while Nyssi had helped herself to several bottles of beer.
“I do not care, I just wish to get methied…” Retvik grumbled, taking a beer from Nyssi and almost downing it in one. “I am just thankful to be back home.”
“You mean drunk.”
“Yes, drunk. More than drunk.”
“With us idiots?” Tenuk smiled playfully.
“Idiots?” Retvik snorted, as Nyssi handed him a second bottle. “No, we are not idiots. We are blood-bound now. Brothers in arms, as you Temthans would put it.”
“I’ll be honest, it was nice… seeing some actual combat though, even if we were fighting for our lives!” Kayel found himself admitting. “Uh, you got anything that isn’t beer?”
The heavy Rethan got up, pushing past the little Skyavok. He wandered into the kitchen, grabbing a chair as he did so, which he leaned against the counter. He then opened a top cupboard, which was filled to the brim with alcohol.
“I thought you said you didn’t drink much?”
“I get given… a lot of gifts.”
“Ah…” Kayel smiled, picking up what looked like a honey-flavoured vodka.
Retvik grabbed a selection of bottles and some glasses, then headed back to the sofas, where Nyssi and Tenuk were getting comfy. He then placed a particularly fancy bottle down on the middle of the table, and poured four shots, handing one to each of his friends, before sitting down himself.
“Is that… blood-mead?” Nyssi’s eyes widened.
“Yes…” Retvik also smiled, the first time he had smiled in a while. “I feel like celebrating. After all, the four of us, we have survived much. We escaped multiple deities, and lived to to tell the tale. We have a bright future ahead of us. Cheers.”
“Cheers!”