Kuta couldn’t help but panic as they opened their eyes. They could not remember anything that had happened in the last 24 hours and they couldn’t feel their legs. Kuta was also in a lot of pain, but, being a Rethan, that didn’t bother them nearly as much as the lack of feeling. As Kuta’s vision began to clear, they realized they were in a hospital, their own private room, various medical equipment attached to various parts of their body. In the corner was a TV screen playing scenes from a news channel, showing what looked like the aftermath of an earthquake. There was no sound, but the ticker at the bottom was providing Kuta with information.
There had been an earthquake. In the city of Phos. Where Kuta lived. Which Kuta had clearly been caught in.
That made no sense. Phos wasn’t built on any fault lines. The location of the great Rethan city had been specifically chosen to avoid natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and avalanches.
So how had there been an earthquake? What had happened? How many were hurt or dead? And how did Kuta end up in the hospital?
“How are you feeling, darling?”
That was another good question. But Kuta hadn’t asked that question. As they turned their head to the left, Kuta realized they were not alone. Sitting on a stool by Kuta’s bed was… the most perfect Rethan Kuta had ever seen. That thought was a pretty scandalous one, since Kuta had met several almost perfect Rethans before, including the High General and their overly attractive, exiled sibling. And… Kuta’s poten-partner. Who was almost perfect aside from their height and their weird yellow plating.
This Rethan though, they were absolutely amazing. The perfect shape, the perfect height and weight. A perfectly toned body with perfect muscles and perfect claws and perfect eyes. Sure, their eyes were green and their natural plating was pink, but they were essentially perfect in every other way. They were also naked.
“Uh, who are you?” Kuta stuttered, their mind too confused and addled to know what else to say.
“I’m Sini, the Allbirther.”
“Oh…” Kuta fell silent, then tried to squirm, but realized they couldn’t really move much. “Are you here to take me, or some part of me away? You were… supposed to… On the tenth of the twelfth.”
Sini smiled, looking Kuta up and down. “I did consider that, but honestly, that’d be unfair of me. Also kinda boring. Genetically, you are way, way more interesting the way you are than if you would be if I took away your Decayling-i-ness.”
Kuta glanced back at the TV screen. The scene had changed. The ticker at the bottom was reading out stats, mostly a list of the dead and injured. 44 deaths seemed like a lot, but half a million Rethans lived in Phos, it was a miracle that so few were injured.
“It’s a miracle indeed, little one!” Sini chirped. Considering she was the Goddess of Life, she seemed far too happy. But Kuta could sense a secondary emotion buried underneath. Not sadness, but anger. “We couldn’t save everyone, but between the advances in medical and search and rescue technology, my silent manipulations and Arkay literally lifting buildings and digging people out of rubble, we did our best.”
“Is… is Arkay alright?” Kuta wasn’t sure why they asked that. On the TV screen, they could see rescue efforts being carried out. Among them, Kuta spotted that familiar yellow plating, those weird, black, tattered wings.
“He’s…” Sini hesitated. “He’s heartbroken. He doesn’t know you’re awake yet. As far as I can tell, Arkay wasn’t here when the earthquake struck, he was on the other side of the universe, dealing with a spot of Corruption that was trying to break in. First thing he did was zoom back, make sure you were alive and started trying to save as many Rethans as possible. He’s done a good job so far.”
“Why did this happen?” Kuta asked. “It… makes no sense. This city-”
“Isn’t built on a fault line. I know. It’s… not a natural disaster. It’s an unnatural disaster. Because Epani caused it. She’s upset with the Rethavok and has left a horrible mess for me and Arkay to clean up.”
Kuta swallowed nervously. Epani, the Lady of Light, was the matron deity of the Rethavok. What had they done to upset Her?
“Is this because of my relationship with Arkay, with the Thantophor spending time with me?”
“It’s… a lot of things. The Rethans have been letting Epani down in the Great Arenas as of late, they have tried to break treaties with the Torr, you’ve all been slowing down your worship, a lot of you have stopped your worship completely and some of you are worshipping Kairos, Arkay and myself and, well… Arkay has always liked the Rethans, he considered them his fourth species. Epani saw a chance to hurt Arkay and to punish the Rethans and she took it. You were just icing on the cake.”
“You seem… angry about this. I would be angry too but I cannot concentrate.”
Sini patted Kuta on the head. “Yeah, you’re currently heavily sedated and on a LOT of drugs. The good news is that you’ll be able to walk again in a week. And, in more good news, the other Below Twenty General who I think was also targeted in all of this, your General of Foreign Affairs, they are alive as well. In bad condition, but alive…”
Sini trailed off. She did that thing that Kuta noticed Arkay would occasionally do, just randomly stopping and staring in some specific direction, before snapping back to attention.
“I think Epani is pissed at the Lanex as well. They just suffered a small earthquake. Only four dead, a lot of injured folks, but they’ll be fine. Arkay will be upset as well though, because he can’t be in two places at once. Well, even more upset…”
Again, Sini trailed off. She took a deep breath, then turned back to Kuta.
“I really hate to ask this of you, but I need your help.”
“My help?”
“Yeah. I like to think I know Arkay pretty well. He’s going to blame himself for this. It’s not his fault and it’s certainly not your fault. But he’ll think that this all happened because he fell in love with you, and he’ll almost certainly try to end your relationship. He’ll probably also stop talking to his two Decay Lord friends.”
“You… know about Litvir and Retvik?”
Sini nodded. “I do. Never actually met your twin sibling, but I knew Retvik when he was a mortal and boy oh boy, I can see why Arkay was infatuated with him. Definitely wanted that fine specimen to retire and have lots of kids but he was too tied up in stupid honour to do so… Anyway, I’m getting distracted. What I need of you is pretty simple. If or when you see Arkay again, I need you to convince him to stay with you, and to stay in contact with Retvik and Litvir.”
“Why?” Kuta was too confused and delirious to say much else.
“Because you make him happy. And a happy death god is a good death god. I think we can all agree that the God of Entropy can’t really go and do whatever he wants, but we can’t just chain him up either. You three Decaylings give Arkay goals and reasons to not go mad and kill everyone. That, and, well, it’s nice seeing Arkay genuinely happy for once.”
“I will try my best, Allbirther.”
Sini patted Kuta on the head again. Patting them anywhere else would have probably been painful. “Thank you, darling. I don’t know if Arkay will come back to you. He might just leave you a letter and never come back at all. Honestly, I think he’ll probably go into hiding again, like he used to, utterly terrified of hurting those he loves…” Sini sighed. She was clearly hiding her pain. Her mind may have been completely foreign to Kuta and their (currently rather wonky) telepathy, but her true emotions were obvious. “If Arkay doesn’t come back, I’d… I’d like to ask something else of you.”
“O-of course.”
“If Arkay ends his relationship with you, I want you to date Relkir Rethianos. I know there’s that stupid Rethianos Tradition thing, but I’m gonna make sure that and all the other stupid bloodlines get ended because you Rethans need to spread out your fancy genes, not restrict them to certain families. That and I really want to know what your kids would look like.”
Kuta didn’t like this new request, but it wasn’t like they could say no. “I… I will… try and do what I can…”
Sini smiled once more, then got up from her seat and made her way to the door. “Thank you, little Kuta. I wish you a speedy recovery, alright?”
“T-thank you, Allbirther.”
The Lady of Love hesitated for a moment. “No, Kuta, thank you, thank you for making Arkay happy. And, more importantly, thank you for not dying.”
“I… I do not follow.”
“Darling, if you had died, well… Epani would probably be dead too…”
Before Kuta could say or do anything, the Allbirther disappeared, leaving them alone with their thoughts.