Deathbringer: Hey, Retvik, Litvir, I’m sorry, I was a real bastard when we last spoke. I’ve… been thinking a bit and I want to say something. Actually, I want to type something, so you two have evidence of this.
Flamebearer is now online.
Souldrainer is now online.
Flamebearer: Evidence of what?
Flamebearer: Also, hello Arkay.
Souldrainer: Hello, dear.
Souldrainer: Sorry for not being online, it seems the Phantai get attacked by Voidborn soldiers on the regular.
Deathbringer: It’s fine. Things happen. Not your fault. You all alright?
Flamebearer: Elkay got stabbed somewhat but he is recovering no problem.
Deathbringer: How do you get ‘somewhat stabbed’?
Flamebearer: He did a very Rethan thing and immediately ripped the spear from his stomach.
Souldrainer: He also borrowed Elksia’s Time Drake abilities.
Deathbringer: Oh damn, that’s… that’s… I want to say ‘bad’ but I’m leaning towards ‘impressive’, because I’m a seasoned mimic and I still struggle with borrowing time powers.
Souldrainer: Elkay did not have many problems, but he is having identity issues.
Deathbringer: You need to reaffirm him on that then. Identity issues have fucked me up in the past and are why I still have issues. If Elkay can keep hold of his identity, he’ll be fine.
Flamebearer: Would I be able to give you Elkay’s contact details, and you have a chat with him? Because I love you dearly, Arkay, but I do not want my brother to end up like you.
Deathbringer: Totally fair. What’s his codename?
Souldrainer: Unender.
Deathbringer: Who the fuck gave him that name?
Flamebearer: Galyn did.
Deathbringer: Did he run out of cool codenames?
Souldrainer: He picked ones that fit. Elkay has repeatedly proven that he can take a huge amount of punishment before cracking. He can tolerate temperatures similar to what Retvik can tolerate, despite not being essentially a lump of hot sex like Retvik is.
Flamebearer: I am not that attractive.
Souldrainer: You are literally Rethan perfection, dear. And you probably would have ended up as one of Kinisis’s perfect guardians had Arkay not nearly killed her husband when Kenon attacked you.
Flamebearer: Fine. You have me there. But still, Elkay’s codename may be a bit silly, but it is certainly accurate.
Deathbringer: Ah. Alright. I’ve just sent Elkay a friend request. Anyway…
Deathbringer: When we voicechatted, we brought up promises. How I’m the only person who really seems to keep them. What you guys said has been bothering me. While I can’t break my promises, I could… theoretically twist one to my advantage.
Flamebearer: I do not follow. Are you, like, bound to any promises you make or something?
Deathbringer: Basically, yeah. I think, because my becoming a deity was built on a hideously broken promise, that kinda makes promises made by me kinda… not broken but… weird.
Souldrainer: You cannot break the promises you make. And as you said last time, the promises you do break tend to, well, break you in return.
Deathbringer: Yeah.
Deathbringer: But at the same time, the promises I keep remain kept, and I’m kinda bound to making sure promises are kept. In fact, the mortals around here, I’ve noticed that some of them have a new name for me, Oath Keeper. I swear I am just a god of decay, but I am tied to promises and oaths too. If I make a promise, it sticks. Whatever I promise happens. Eventually.
Flamebearer: I still do not follow. Are you saying that a promise you make and keep is functionally almost like a wish but with more effort?
Deathbringer: Basically? Yeah.
Souldrainer: Are you going to make a promise that you cannot keep?
Deathbringer: No. I know I can keep this one.
Deathbringer: Retvik, Litvir, I promise, I will find a way to reunite with you both. I promise you’ll both be alive for me to reunite with you. None of this “reuniting in death” nonsense. One day, the three of us will embrace, the way we embraced each other when we completed our trial and became Decay Lords.
Deathbringer: I’ll break reality if I have to, to keep you both alive long enough for us to be reunited.
Flamebearer: That is certainly a promise.
Deathbringer: It is, and I’m going to keep it. I swear.
Deathbringer: I would write it down on paper and sign it with my own blood, but my blood doesn’t have much value since Sini keeps gallons upon gallons of it in her labs.
Souldrainer: Blood does nothing to a promise anyway.
Souldrainer: Also… why?
Deathbringer: My blood has anti-corruption properties. Something Sini and Epani did to me when they resurrected me.
Souldrainer: Wait, resurrected you? You have actually died?
Deathbringer: Yeah, for about ten minutes. You really think Kinisis would let me kill her and not make my existence misery? Of course not.
Deathbringer: I mean what I say though.
Souldrainer: We believe you. We have never doubted your words, Arkay.
Flamebearer: Well… Admittedly, I have. But at the same time, I believed you when you spouted words of rage that you did not truly mean. And I know now that you do definitely mean what you say.
Flamebearer: I suppose then, we owe you a promise.
Deathbringer: You don’t owe me anything.
Flamebearer: Yes we do. We owe it to you to make it easier to keep your promise. Litvir and I, we will help you however we can.
Souldrainer: And we will try not to get ourselves killed. Because keeping a promise to someone who is dead is a little tricky. You did promise that you would somehow stop us from dying, but, well… You get what I mean.
Flamebearer: That being said, what can we actually do to help?
Deathbringer: Honestly? Not much. Apart from not dying. And there’s kinda not really much I can do either, because I can’t purposefully let this Cycle be harmed or die or anything. Although I suppose you could help me with one thing.
Souldrainer: Oh?
Deathbringer: I really like Kuta. We get on really well. But I feel bad because they’re stuck inside this universe too. I’ve helped them set up his Wyvern account so they can message you both, but I want to know if it’s possible to pull them out of this universe and get them back into their Decayling training or something. I can’t really get that information in here, and I want to make sure I have an out for Kuta in case Epani or Kairos get funny with me.
Souldrainer: Is Kuta in danger?
Deathbringer: Apart from a small misunderstanding with Kairos, no, they’re fine. And much more like you, Litvir, now that Kuta has lived their own life without whatever the fuck you did to him in the old universe.
Souldrainer: Kuta was always like me. He just became more submissive after he killed the majority of the old 11th Legion before I took over.
Flamebearer: Neither you nor Kuta ever mentioned that to me.
Souldrainer: Why would Kuta mention the reason why I turned him into the central hub of my matrix? He wanted to sound pure and innocent compared, he tricked you into thinking that, but he was anything but.
Deathbringer: Um I haven’t accidentally dug up some bad memories, have I?
Souldrainer: Oh, not at all. Retvik and I have agreed on numerous occasions to put our mortal pasts behind us, but sometimes these things do need clarifying. Kuta’s claws are not bloodless. But the deaths us psionic twins have caused are nothing compared to the many beings Retvik killed in the war against the Whenvern, and, well, Arkay, you ARE a god of death. Again.
Deathbringer: Kinda ironically, during that stupid war, I actually personally killed far less beings than normal.
Deathbringer: But yeah, if things get… dicey, can you guys pick Kuta up or something and take him with you? Or maybe get Kal to pick him up or something. They did say that it’d take a few weeks for them to get back to this universe but you can do that, right?
Flamebearer: Of course.
Deathbringer: Alright cool. Glad to have gotten all of that off my armoured chest.
Souldrainer: Have you been thinking about these promises a lot?
Deathbringer: It’s all I’ve been thinking about, between looking forward to my short dates with Kuta and begrudgingly doing all this time-based work for Kairos while he’s on holiday.
Flamebearer: Why is Kairos on holiday?
Deathbringer: He took Seimeni’s death really, really badly.
Deathbringer: I don’t mind covering for him, I’m just annoyed that I got two days ‘off work’ because I got brutally stabbed and still did my work because no one will cover for me, but he gets a month off because he’s sad.
Souldrainer: I hate to sound obvious, dear, but have you tried asking for time off?
Deathbringer: You’ve never met Epani. But at least she’s cold and to the point with her cruelty, rather than offering fake compassion and care the way Kinisis did.
Souldrainer: Fair enough.
Souldrainer: An unrelated question, did you manage to translate those messages in the Life Goddess language we sent you?
Deathbringer: Oh. One sec.
Deathbringer has sent an attachment – Translated_Life_Goddess_Language_Messages.txt
Deathbringer: I’ll put it bluntly, it’s a trap.
Flamebearer: Clearly. The Phantai will not be happy, but that does confirm our suspicions.
Souldrainer: We have had to have Galyn keep an eye on Phovos because the Phantai are… funny when it comes to Life Goddesses. Unfortunately, we have picked up more messages and may have to send them to you to be translated.
Deathbringer: That’s fine. I’d rather you send them to me than fall into a trap.
Deathbringer: Oof, I have to go. More time-based work stuff.
Souldrainer: A shame.
Flamebearer: Speak soon, Arkay.
Deathbringer: Yeah. Love you guys.
Deathbringer is now offline.