The walls were beating. Echoing. Banging. As if they were concussive instruments, playing in their own, steady rhythm.
“Of course it was you…” Kinisis’s words bubbled as she began to reform inside the protective sphere that contained her heart. “Why am I not surprised that you are here to finally end me?”
Arkadin had been caught unaware. He had just been about to increase the gravity in this strange chamber when the doom drums had started and Kinisis had begun to appear, rebuilding her body. She was clearly weak but also clearly a bit upset.
“How did you talk Epani into this? You were free, at least for this cycle.”
“She talked me into this,” Arkadin admitted, trying to decide what to do. “We’re all your slaves.”
“Well duh, I created you all. You are mine to use.”
The banging was getting louder, but Kinisis’s form was still mulching itself together.
“You do realise what I’m going to do now, right? Can’t have Epani getting ideas. She’ll need to be punished, same as you. At least Kairos is loyal, as always.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Destroy this universe, of course. Then I’m going to torture Epani for a little bit before making her into a death god or something. As for you though, you clearly need to suffer more. I haven’t had someone to personally break, twist and rape for a long, long time.”
Arkadin closed his eyes and put his hands to his ears. Why was he listening to this? Kinisis knew she had struck a nerve and began to list off what she was planning to do to not just Arkadin, but the large collection of beings he loved and cared about. Most of it involved torture, followed by eternal servitude to the Allmaker.
Suddenly, Arkadin snapped. With a flick of his wrist, the star inside Kinisis’s sphere began to shrink. He applied as much gravity as he could to the sphere, slowly crushing it with Kinisis still inside.
“No, you can’t!”
Kinisis had worked out what was going on. She phased through the sphere and attacked Arkadin directly, clawing at him with unformed limbs. Arkadin snarled and threw Kinisis off him, ignoring both her and the heavy beating echoing around the room, becoming more intense. A bit more gravity, and the star halved in size.
“You’ll kill everything if you kill me!”
“Epani has it all under her protection.”
“You won’t walk from this. I won’t let you.”
“If I die, so be it. They all deserve their freedom.”
Kinisis screamed, lunging at Arkadin again, throwing him off. This time, she summoned golden blades, many of which were deflected off Arkadin’s armour, but plenty pierced his black, scarred skin. This didn’t dissuade the Thantophor though. He increased his concentration, expelling the blades, and the star shrunk down even more, collapsing under its own weight, until it was nothing more than a pin prick.
“You… are actually killing me…” Kinisis stuttered. The banging, the beat, the doom drums, pounded harder than ever. There was fear in Kinisis’s voice.
“It’s a shame your death will be quick…” Arkadin snarled.
Another wave of blades flew at Arkadin. While most did nothing, one dug deep, impaling Arkadin through his stomach and into his chest cavity.
“Your death won’t be! I’m not letting you get away from this. I’ll be dead, but you’ll be trapped. One more miserable cycle for you! One more eternity of pain and death! As you deserve, you monster.”
“I wish I knew what I did to deserve your pain.”
“Arkadin, Arkay, RK0019K, Arkohra, C’ttak, Ambris, Arkidetelos, Thantophor Eternal, you have no idea the loops you have served me for. You were always my little plaything. You ALL are. Always have been.”
“Not any more!”
Arkadin closed his eyes, sucking the energy from the spinning singularity, slowing it down and causing it to evaporate. As it did so, Kinisis’s form began to fade away. Ugly, molten, twisted, her beauty long drained away.
“You think you’re free. They’ll just use you too. You will never have freedom, Arkidetelos. As my dying breath, you will never have peace.”
“Maybe, but perhaps everyone else will.”
The Allmaker smiled as her body disintegrated, knowing what she had done. The singularity vanished, disappearing into nothingness. The doom drums fell silent, leaving Arkadin all alone, broken and exhausted.
With a sigh, Arkadin removed the spear from his side, then picked up his communicator. Shimmering black blood ran down his body.
“Epani, I did it. It’s over now.”
“Thank you. I am sorry, brother.”
The line went dead as the ground beneath Arkadin’s feet began to crumble. Arkadin however never noticed. Death itself claimed the Thantophor, if only for a brief moment.