Epani blinked as something clicked beside her and everything was flooded with light. After twenty days trapped inside an old, phthoric container with barely enough room to move, the Panelix was free once more.
“Oh. Hello, sister.”
“Epani! Are you alright?”
Two very different responses. Two understandable responses. Kairos was glad that Epani was able to return to her duties as the Goddess of Space. Sini seemed rather annoyed, borderline angry.
“Hello.”
Epani stretched out her arms and legs as she stepped out from her former prison. She was currently Temthan-shaped, with smooth, red skin and her familiar lure dangling to one side. It took a moment for Epani to orientate herself and work out where she was. The three of them were at her fortress at the centre of the universe. Weirdly, Arkay wasn’t present. Epani had expected the little death god to be there. After all, he was the one who imprisoned Epani in the first place.
Sini snarled, then turned to Kairos. “Arkay kept his promise. Wake him up now.”
“But-”
“Shut up and give Arkay back his consciousness!”
Epani blinked some more. She closed her eyes and reached out, inspecting the universe. Everything seemed to be in one piece, but she could sense holes in the universe’s outer membrane, tears at the universe’s poles and bits of dead Voidborn that hadn’t been removed.
“Uh, why is Arkay unconscious? Have you two really been running the universe on your own while I was trapped?”
Sini and Kairos both nodded.
“I thought Arkay had killed you, so I was going to kill him. Sini stopped me, and I put Arkay into a coma until you were released.”
“You need to wake Arkay up!” Sini hissed some more. “He promised he wouldn’t kill Epani, he didn’t kill Epani. You promised you wouldn’t interfere with mine and Arkay’s plans and you did. Stupid promise-breaker.”
Epani turned back to Kairos. “You… knew about their plan?”
Kairos nodded again.
“And you… did not tell me?”
Kairos hesitated, then nodded a third time. “I, uh, did promise Arkay that… uh… um… I wouldn’t…”
“Still broke your promise!” Sini continued to hiss. “Fucking wake Arkay up. Don’t break another promise.”
The Whenvern frowned, then opened a portal and dragged both Sini and Epani through it. They reappeared in the atmosphere of the abandon-world of Kolasi, above a large, purple forest. Underneath the trees, Arkay’s motionless form could be seen. Scattered around were mortals on patrol, and many of them had looked up to see the three deities.
“Come on.” Sini was quite impatient. She was very angry at everyone present.
Kairos swished his tail, and the heavy, icy chains around the Thantophor’s wrists and ankles faded away. However, Arkay remained motionless at first. After a few seconds, Arkay shivered and shook, then shrunk down to his normal size, to about 2m tall. Several mortals tried to approach Arkay, but he glanced at them, sighed, then took off into the air to greet his fellow deities.
“Hello, Arkay!” Sini smiled weakly. “How did you sleep?”
“Hello…” Arkay sighed again. “I… didn’t sleep great. I’ve been out for a while, haven’t I?”
Epani and Sini nodded in agreement. Kairos grunted, then crossed his arms and turned back to Sini.
“I freed him. I kept my end of the deal.”
“You didn’t. You interfered…” Arkay tutted. “You hurt me quite badly. But, well, I’ve been thinking…”
Sini patted Arkay on the head. “Thinking about what, deary?”
Arkay hesitated. He glanced back at the mortals, then sighed yet again. “I promised to Kairos that, when all of this was over, that everything would go back to the status quo. We never discussed what status quo. While I was unconscious and trapped in my own mind, I realized that, well, the status quo we should go back to is the status quo we had back before the Kinisis-Corruption attacked, back in December.”
Sini gasped. Epani frowned. Kairos shrugged.
“So let me get this straight, we went through all of this for nothing?” Sini stuttered.
“No. Not nothing. I realised I was wrong!” Epani countered. “I was acting like Kinisis. I shouldn’t have let myself get so bad. I was a monster, and I deserve the pain Arkay dealt to me.”
“You did, but at the same time, I’ve come to realise that I’m better off being a servant, without mortal acquaintances. I hurt all mortals who come into contact with me, on top of my killing everyone and everything. After weighing everything up, I have come to the decision that I need to be reset back to the way I was in the past, when I was more of an attack hound than, well, a deity with actual rights.”
Kairos shook his head and growled. “Well, that is what Epani and I have been saying all year. Glad to see that you finally realise it yourself.”
“However, resetting you IS a one-way process…” Epani warned. “I reset you, you go back to as you were, completely. I will give you back some freedoms, so you can continue to better fight Corruption and repair universal walls, but a reset is a reset.”
“I know. It’s for the best.”
“Alright. Kairos, please follow me back to the fortress at the universe’s centre, so I can set everything up. Arkay, feel free to take a little time to say your goodbyes, then join us when you are ready.”
Epani and Kairos both disappeared in puffs of smoke. Sini though stared at Arkay, her jaw hanging open.
“You… you’re throwing everything away! After all this time, after everything you’ve gained?”
Arkay shook his head in disagreement. “I’ve gained nothing but suffering. And, worse, I’ve made other people suffer. Everyone who comes close to me suffers. If I go back to being cold, then less people suffer. Surely that’s a good thing?”
“But… what about you? What about your own personal joy?”
“I’m the God of Death. I don’t deserve joy. Never did, never will. Going cold will mean I’ll forget the brief sunny moments. I won’t know what I’m missing.”
“How about your friends? Your-”
“Mortals are better off without me! All mortals are!” Arkay snapped. “And Retvik and Litvir are certainly better off without me. They all are. Their homes and families and lives are all gone because of me and my actions. Meanwhile even the semi-immortal beings I tried to make friends with, they’ve all had their lives uprooted because of me! But if I go back to being your stupid little pet, then everyone suffers a little less.”
“Except you.”
“Except me. But I’m the Lord of Suffering, so that’s to be expected.”
Sini took a deep breath. She knew she couldn’t convince Arkay. He’d made up his mind, and he was going to go through with this no matter what Sini said. Instead, she decided to try a slightly different course of action.
“Are you going to say goodbye to your friends?”
Arkay tutted, glancing back down at the gathered mortals below. “No. I don’t need any more pain. I’m already dead to most of them anyway.”
“Oh. Will you at least continue living in the little bedroom I set aside for you in my secondary lab?” Sini asked. “I know you’re going back to being a servant deity, but you still deserve a place to live and to rest, and you let that cute little immortal Vohra live in your old place.”
Arkay hesitated, then shrugged. “I guess I will, for a bit. Until I can set up a new place for myself. Either way, I’m going to head off now. I want to get this all over with. Got to go back to the status quo, as I promised.”
Sini didn’t say anything. She watched as Arkay drifted off, then disappeared into a shadow portal. After briefly watching the mortals below disperse, she sighed to herself.
“Well, here’s hoping we can still keep this universe safe, even if you’re essentially neutering yourself…” Sini tutted as she too faded away. “Sorry that you feel you have to do this…”