Everything was dark. This surprised Arkay as, until then, he had always been able to see something. It was almost as if he was… trapped inside that cold, dead, inky universe of his again. But no, things were just dark.
Weirdly, as well as not being able to see anything, Arkay couldn’t really hear anything either. There had always been some noise on this strange ship. Most of the time he’d be able to hear the Decay-Lords chatting, but even when they were quiet, the ship would calmly hum and murmur to itself. Right now though, Arkay couldn’t hear anything.
“Do not move.”
The voice was inside Arkay’s head. He didn’t appreciate the sharp, telepathic message. But it was coming from Vikalos, the ship’s captain. So he did as he was told. Arkay remained where he was, staring into nothing.
Where was Arkay anyway? Last time he had been conscious, he was lying in bed, trying to get bad thoughts out of his head and listening to some rather peaceful music. He must have fallen asleep. How long ago that was though, Arkay had no idea. He still wasn’t used to how… fluid time was around here.
A loud thud echoed deeper in the ship. As if something colossal had bumped into it. But the thud was temporary and wasn’t followed by any other noises.
Feeling somewhat lost and worried, Arkay tried to reach out to the Decay-Lords. None of them responded though, all remaining eerily silent.
Suddenly, everything burned bright white. Arkay slammed his eyes shut and covered his face with his hands, but the light seemed to beam through everything. As if it was travelling through Arkay’s whole body. As quickly as the light had bloomed, it faded away, leaving everything feeling far darker for a moment, before returning to normal amounts of visible light.
“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” Arkay couldn’t help but shout, reaching for a pillow to cover his eyes again. Everything was bright and blurry. Weirdly, his skin felt tingly and irritable, as if he had been bathed in a light acid. “WHAT WAS THAT?”
The door to Arkay’s room burst open, revealing Vikalos and Saahro, the Murdragon and the one Decay-Lord Arkay genuinely liked.
“You alright, Arkay?” Saahro asked as he brought in a large tub of cream and placed it next to Arkay. “Didn’t have time to warn you.”
“What WAS that?” Arkay repeated himself. “And why does everything look slightly green? And…” The Decayling paused, looking at the cream. It was sweet, whipped cream. One of Arkay’s favourite things. He looked up at Saahro, drooling ever so slightly. “Can I… can I have some?”
“Of course…” Saahro blinked, pushing the tub towards Arkay. Arkay immediately scooped a handful of cream into his mouth, happily licking it off his hands. Saahro glanced at Vikalos, not really sure what to say.
While Arkay continued to eat, he noticed the strange, irritable sensation on his skin going away. In fact, everything felt better already. He could see again, he could hear again, his skin felt nice and he felt genuinely quite happy.
“Arkay, are you well?” Vikalos asked.
“I’m fine now!” Arkay beamed between mouthfuls of cream. “I hadn’t realised how much I missed whipped cream…” The Decayling slowed down a little. “Uh, what is all of this about?”
“Oh, nothing…” Saahro shrugged. “It was just a fricking Corruption getting way too close…”
Arkay immediately stopped. “A… A Corruption?”
“Yes.”
“And that… happens often? Like, on a regular basis?”
“Isn’t really anything regular out here…” Saahro sighed. “But yeah, it happens.”
“I apologise for not informing you in advance,” Vikalos calmly explained. “But we needed to remove the Corruption before it became an immediate threat. The Burning Beam emits a bright light that burns the flesh of Corruptions, incinerating them. We all have protocols that we must follow when engaging with Corruptions and Voidborns, and we did not inform you of them.”
Arkay shrugged. “That’s fine, I guess. But why does my skin feel tingly?”
“Your skin…”
“Feels weird. Like I was slightly burnt too…” Arkay and Vikalos both fell silent. Saahro awkwardly looked away.
“Ah…” Vikalos muttered somewhat nervously. “You are… one of those types of Antifthor…”
“Those… ‘types’?” Saahro asked, looking almost as worried as Arkay did.
“This… doesn’t change anything, does it?” Arkay asked, immediately feeling worried again. “Like, you’re not going to… change your minds or anything?”
Vikalos grunted. “We… No. All this means is that we should be more careful.” Vikalos gently patted Arkay on the head and left the room, closing the door behind him. Not feeling particularly certain, Arkay turned to Saahro, who was still just sitting there, not saying much.
“Be honest with me, Saahro… should I be worried?”
Saahro sighed, helping himself to some cream. “I don’t know, Arkay… I really don’t know…”