“Hello…”
Retvik wasn’t really sure how to assess this current situation. The lost Decayling that he and the other members of the Thantir had been chasing unsuccessfully for the last few days had suddenly appeared… in Retvik’s bed. It was just sitting there, hiding in the corner, covered by Retvik’s blankets, pretending Retvik couldn’t see it.
“Uh, are you… alright, little one?”
The tiny creature, not even half the size of Retvik, peered out from underneath the blanket and shook its head.
“Oh. What are you doing here?”
This time, there was a little more movement. The critter rummaged around and appeared to grab a small white board and a black marker. A note was scribbled on it.
“Hiding.”
“From who?”
“From her.”
“I assume you mean Kinisis.”
The creature nodded, then buried itself in Retvik’s bed again.
In all honesty, Retvik was completely stumped as to what he should do. Really, he should have called Lord Vikalos immediately, but this creature was so small and seemingly scared that doing so would probably cause the Decayling to flee again. He could have called Seimeni, who was a lot smaller and a lot less scary, but again, it might flee. Instead, Retvik decided to sit down on the bed and try to talk to the being.
“Are you Arkadin?” Retvik asked.
The creature’s head popped up through the blanket pile again and stared at Retvik. It shook its head and grabbed its little board.
“I’m just Arkay.”
“What happened to you?”
With a silent whimper, Arkay hesitated, then rubbed out what he had written and began to scribble rather erratically.
“Arkadin died. Scattered across space. Torn to atoms. I am just a fragment of what he was.”
“Do you know what happened to, well, everything?” Retvik asked. “Like, how the universe died, and why Kinisis wants you?”
Arkay erased his words, thinking to himself. He started writing some more. “She wants to remake her universe, as it was. Using me as the catalyst, reversing what happened. Doing so would kill me completely. I don’t want to die. Not like that. Not again.”
“I… I understand…” Retvik shuffled closer to Arkay, putting an arm around him in a gentle embrace. “I will not let her harm you.”
“Will they?” Arkay scribbled on the corner of the board.
“The Decay Lords? No. They… Well, as far as I can tell…” Retvik hesitated. “They just want to rehabilitate you. You went through something awful. They want to help you. There was also something about you being corrupted or gilded or whatever but I never really understood any of that.”
Arkay silently sighed, as he erased his words once more and wrote something new.”Are you a Decay Lord?”
“No. I am a Decayling. Just like you.”
“How? You were mortal. All of this…” Arkay stopped writing and rubbed his golden eyes, then tried to continue. “Happened because I tried to save you.”
“Well… apparently, according to the Whenvern, I was one of the many, many beings that were made into Demi Gods to help fight off the Void Lords. Somehow, in the mess that followed, I was classified as a Decayling and now… I live here.”
“Is it nice here?”
Retvik nodded. “Yes, it is very nice. Everyone is friendly and I am mostly free to roam when I am not working.”
“You work?”
“I… My job is to track down other Decaylings and guide them here, so they can be rehabilitated.”
Arkay shrugged, then snuggled up next to Retvik, clearly becoming more comfortable. Retvik patted him gently on the back.
“So… is it alright if I inform the Decay Lords that you want to stay and be rehabilitated?” Retvik eventually asked, having allowed Arkay to get comfortable.
“Yes.” Arkay wrote on his board.
“Very well. I shall go and inform them. You can stay in my room, if you like. But I do have two questions for you.”
Arkay added a question mark to the end of his last word. “Yes?”
“Firstly, why did you come to me, and secondly, why can you not speak?”
Arkay trembled at those questions. He didn’t write anything, instead pulling his blanket tighter around himself. After a little persuasive head pat from Retvik, he decided to write something down.
“I can trust you. There is something stuck inside me. I can’t get it out.”
Before Retvik could respond, a siren began to blare. The bedroom door burst open and several Decay Lords appeared, charging into the room, all of them wearing hazmat gear. One of the larger Decay Lords, wearing heavy gloves, grabbed Arkay by the arm and immediately (yet somewhat gently) placed him inside a glass cage, sealing it shut.
“Wait!” Retvik shouted as the Decay Lords wheeled Arkay away. “What are you doing!”
One of the Decay Lords turned around while the others charged off.
“Report to quarantine right now. Do not touch anything on the way there. We need to make sure everything is clean.”
“What is going on?”
“We will explain when you get there.”
Retvik sighed, watching as other Decay Lords appeared, brandishing cleaning apparatus, then headed down the corridor, doing as he was told…