Sini didn’t think her little brother was much of a hugger, but Arkay had been hugging Sini for a little too long now.
“Thank you so much, Sini. Thank you.”
Finally, Arkay let go, and Sini patted her little brother on the head. “You don’t need to thank me. I was just keeping my promise. But I want to leave now. I have… thinking to do. And I don’t want your purple-plated fanged boyfriend looking into my head. Also, I don’t want to cramp your style.”
“That is mean!” Litvir tutted from behind the two former deities. “I am an ethical psion! I ask permission first. Most of the time. But I also agree with Arkay. Thank you for bringing our little yellow-plated boyfriend back to us.”
Retvik nodded in agreement. “We have had our problems in the past, but, Sini, you have bettered yourself. Are you sure there is nothing you need before you leave?”
Sini smiled, then gestured behind her. “You guys gave me one of my mum’s ships and a ton of purple paint to make it the colour it should be. I was going to head out there on my own, but this is great. I really don’t need anything else.”
“Are you sure?” Arkay asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Are you suuuuuuuure?”
Sini stared at Arkay. Arkay giggled. This made Sini giggle a little as well. She was glad that Arkay was so happy now. In fact, he was both mentally and physically doing better, his eyes were brighter, his armour had smoothed out somewhat and Arkay himself seemed ever so slightly taller now, taking on the form of his original, mortal race.
“I’m sure, little brother. You’re back home with your friends, back on your original, proper path. It’s time for me to find my own path, to be properly free. Both of us are now masterless, but we need to travel in different directions now.”
Arkay shrugged, then hugged Sini again. “Yeah, I get that. But still, my promise to you is over, but we’re family. If you’re ever in trouble, you let me know, right? If I can’t come and help you directly, well, I have resources I can send your way. Worst case scenario, I steal Litvir’s ship and come and find you.”
“I appreciate that, Arkay. I’m gonna head off now though, before you keep me here forever.”
“Hah!” Arkay smiled, letting go. “Fair enough. Stay safe, sister.”
“You too, brother…” Sini pointed at Retvik and Litvir. “You two look after my brother, alright? Or I’ll be back.”
“Hmph!” Litvir crossed his arms and snorted. “We are keeping Arkay by our side forever and ever, also forever. Do not fret, Allbirther.”
“I appreciate that. Goodbye, little ones!” Sini smiled properly, then waved and climbed into her new ship. Arkay and his two cute Rethan boyfriends waved too, then backed away, out of the ship parking lot.
Thankfully, the ship was all weirdly familiar to Sini, and she’d already spent some time checking it over and learning how to fly it. In all honesty, it mostly flew itself, and just needed a little assistance in directions, take-offs and landings. It only took about a minute for Sini to get the ship started and into the air. She waved out of the front windscreen, and she was pretty sure Arkay saw her, even from down there, because he waved back.
Feeling more confident now, the ship, which Sini had temporarily named “The Little Sister” (since the other two Life Goddess ships the Thantir were owned were called “Yisini” and “Epani”), drifted off into the deeper darkness. Sini’s plan was quite simple. She wanted to head north first, to a small Decay Lord pit stop, so she could do some ship customization that she couldn’t do at Savepoint, and then Sini was going to head towards the Goldtorn Remains. Apparently, that sector was much safer than the Kinigian Wilderness. Mostly because the Thantir, before they settled down at Savepoint, blew up the local Voidborn cult.
Sini wasn’t planning on staying there though. She wanted to head to the Happy Blade Void Mall to convert some of her possessions into usable currency, then start looking at material costs and prices, to get a feel of how life in the Periuniversal Void was like. And how much it cost. Once she was done in the Goldtorn Remains, Sini wanted to tour the other local sectors, mostly the edges of the Justarian Circle and the Ventra Expanse.
After that though, Sini’s plan was to return to the Kinigian Wilderness and set up her own business. While she hadn’t been certain at first, once Sini discovered that there wasn’t a single nearby Life Oasis, that the closest one was in the far edges of the Ventra Expanse, Sini realized that building her own Life Oasis would be a nice distraction and source of income and materials, while she worked on a much longer, more complicated project.
Now that Sini knew she was a true Life Goddess, she wanted to focus on something new. She could create life, but she wanted to create life that was resistant to Corruption. And now she was free and on her own, following her own rules, Sini had a chance to at the very least make some progress on this new desire of hers.
Once the ship was clear of the Athata Rift, Sini set a course to the small pit stop, then put the ship on autopilot. After taking a moment to admire the view, Sini left her captain’s chair and headed to the large space behind her, where a throne was. Since this used to be Kinisis’s ship, clearly Kinisis would have sat in the throne, with her minions standing before her. Sini however didn’t have minions. Yet.
With a smile, Sini opened up one of her pocket spaces, then pulled out six familiar crystals. She laid each one on the floor and sprinkled them all with water. Immediately, the crystals expanded then shattered, revealing six old friends.
“Well, that was shitty…” Vexer grunted as he picked himself up and rubbed his arms, causing his Vrekan arm blades to extend. “Hello, Allbirther Sini.”
“It’s just Sini now!” Sini beamed. “I owe you all an apology. You all no longer serve Epani, you serve me. But I… I’m sorry, I kinda decided that for you.”
Fragiir shrugged and stretched himself out. “Wasn’t aware we had choices. Thought Epani was just going to kill us all to satisfy that corrupted cunt.”
“Well, I put a stop to that. But I could have also offered you the chance to become Decaylings and I didn’t. Mostly because I didn’t want the people who used to guard Arkay’s chains being stuck in the same place as Arkay was.”
Vokulunaax and Lissandra both blinked, but Atteh’Kus, the colossal, death-god-worshipping Banikan that he was, clapped with joy.
“My Lord Arkadin found out a way to escape the Darkness?”
“Mhm. Was a bit touch and go, but Arkay escaped and I kept my promise to him. But…” Sini paused for a moment. “Well… I was going to just, like, make you serve me. But I can give you some options.”
“Like what?” Lissandra asked.
“The first option is that I drop you off at a Decay Lord sect and you become Decaylings. Not the Thantir, Arkay doesn’t need you lot around. But I could find someone. Or I take you to a Divine Guardian school, where you’d be trained up to serve some other Life Goddess.”
Fragiir shrugged some more. “Those sound like shit options compared to just serving you. You always treated us pretty well, all things considered.”
“Yeah, I’m with Fraggy!” Lissandra beamed. “We’re happy to stick with you. Right, guys?”
Everyone nodded, except for Atteh’Kus.
“What… what would we be doing anyway?” Atteh’Kus worried. “Just protecting you?”
“Yeah, mostly. But we’re gonna go exploring and shopping and stuff. It’ll be fun.”
“Oh. Alright then…” Atteh’Kus felt less concerned now. “Where are we going anyway?”
“To a pit stop, then a mall.”
“Oh. Cool.”
Sini smiled some more, then clapped her hands together. “Anyway, we’ll be travelling for a bit, but since you’ve all just woken up, feel free to sit around, chill out, have something to eat and maybe have a nap. Enjoy yourselves. Alright?”
“Yes, Sini!” the six Guardians all shouted back. “Whatever you say, Sini!”
“Wonderful…”