“What did you just say?”
Retvik looked up at Kuta. They had just finished filling out the paperwork, signing Kuta up as a bonafide Decayling, complete with brief physical assessment and a cool little code name. This sudden outburst was that, sudden.
“I… did not say anything?” Retvik blinked.
“You said something about having intercourse with Litvir!” Kuta hissed, pointing a finger angrily at Retvik. “You are sleeping with the damn enemy! You traitor!”
“I did not give you permission to read my thoughts,” Retvik grunted back. “And who are you to judge who I sleep with?”
Kuta was about to start shouting about how evil Litvir was, but before he could say anything, Retvik grabbed hold of him, threw Kuta over his shoulder and carried him out of the observatory. They swiftly moved four doors down, into what looked like a small medical bay. Retvik rather delicately placed Kuta on the patients’ bed, then immediately turned around and left, slamming the door shut behind him.
Confused, Kuta got up and tried to open the door. It was locked, from the outside. Kuta peered through what he assumed to be the keyhole, attempting to assess what kind of lock was being used and how he could telekinetically unlock it. But, again, before he had the chance to do so, he was interrupted.
“Kuta, we need to have a word.”
Litvir pushed the door closed but didn’t lock it. He sat down on the bed, then waited patiently for Kuta to do the same.
“I AM in a simulation, am I not? How could I NOT be in a simulation, when you are laying with Retvik Rethianos of all beings!” Kuta snarled, refusing to sit down. “It is small-scale, yes, a single tube with a simple environment, but-”
“This is not a simulation of either yours or my creation…” Litvir sighed. “I do sometimes wish it was, but we are two very small beings in a vastly dangerous landscape that has no real laws. And the last thing we should be doing is antagonizing the very beings we live with, who can all kill us in a heartbeat.”
Kuta crossed his arms, still snarling. “I could take-”
“Trust me, you could not take Retvik on. I have vastly more control than you do, and I have done the calculations. He would incinerate you before you could even attempt to give him a blood clot or aneurysm, not that it would actually do much. And Retvik, in the grand scale of things out here in the Periuniversal Void, is not very powerful at all.”
“I… I…” Kuta hesitated. “I do not follow.”
Litvir frowned. “You need to learn self-control, and fast. Because you invaded Retvik’s mind and he took it very well. If you had done that to Galyn, he would have killed you or severely harmed you. And, honestly, I have no clue how Arkay may have reacted, but you could have seriously harmed yourself, peering into his deranged mind.”
Kuta eyed Litvir for a moment. “I guess you are… hang on, are you suddenly concerned for my well-being?”
Litvir calmly nodded.
“Why?”
“Things are different now. I am different now.”
“But… why?” Kuta repeated himself.
Litvir sighed some more. “I realised I was, well, wrong. About most things. When I ended up here, I was cold, bitter and angry like you were, and I tried to lash out, only to be put firmly back in my place. But Retvik showed me compassion, despite my hideous list of crimes. He did not have to, but he did. And that made me change my ways.”
“And that somehow translates into… caring about me?”
“Yes. Would be unfair of me to allow you to make the same mistakes I did. It means little now, but I am genuinely sorry for what I did. I let the ends justify the means. ”
Kuta paused for a moment, then sat down next to Litvir.
“So the universe exploding, everyone dying… that… all happened?”
“Mhm. From what I have heard, a good chunk of the Rethan population was saved… but billions died. And we cannot go back to the ruins, as we have been… tainted by the darkness.”
“Alongside the god who killed them all?”
Litvir nodded. “Yes. But… Well, Arkay is more complicated than he seems and… was used more than anything else. Arkay is… you would be better off asking him personally. But that is neither here nor there if you do not reign in your powers.”
“Can you…” Kuta paused again. He thought to himself. Was he really about to ask his corrupt brother for help, despite… everything? “Can you help me control my powers?”
Litvir bowed his head. “Of course, if you allow me to help.”
“Yeah… I allow you…”