Epani tutted to herself as she sailed through the cosmos. She was currently in her monstrous, sea creature form, with two sets of clawed flippers, a long, finned tail and colossal jaws, and a dangling, glowing lure jutting from her head. She was currently looking for her errant fellow deity, the Thantophor, so she could tell him off for communicating with mortals again. He wasn’t supposed to do that. He was the god of decay, he was supposed to keep his mouth shut and just do his job decaying and recycling things, and currently he wasn’t keeping his mouth shut. But to Epani’s dismay, she hadn’t been able to find Arkadin, he had been hiding for a while now, ever since he’d gotten uppity the other day.
To be fair, Epani knew why Arkadin had gotten uppity. He was upset about not being able to talk to mortals. Epani didn’t like the fact that Arkadin was wasting time with a mortal partner. Sure, Arkadin had been doing his duties no problem, in fact, he had been working more optimally. But Epani was concerned that a romantic relationship would both distract him and open him up to blackmail. Which Epani swiftly proved with a simple false nightmare. But Epani couldn’t understand why Arkadin was so angry this time. He hadn’t ever bothered with things like girlfriends or friends in general in the past, and now, suddenly, he cared. Why couldn’t he just go back to his old, subservient self?
Giving up on her search, Epani twisted round and headed to her nearest home. That being the Diamond Asteroid Belt, which was, really, exactly what the name suggested. An asteroid belt made of diamonds. At the centre of the belt was a hollow, diamond sphere, filled with cushions and screens, where Epani would lie back and watch her favourite things, mostly her beloved Torr worshipping her, or pretty light shows from stars and nebulae.
However, as Epani danced her way through the asteroids, she noticed that the diamond sphere was… wrong. The cushions were all missing, and the screens were all smashed up. As Epani entered the sphere to further inspect what had happened, the crystal door behind her sealed shut. Then locked itself. Epani immediately tried to force her way out, but the sphere abruptly started shaking, completely disorientating her, covering her in shards of broken glass.
To Epani though, this was a mild inconvenience. She flipped herself over and floated in the middle of the sphere, nullifying the shaking effect. She then immediately created a portal to one of her other homes and flew through it… only to find herself still trapped inside the diamond sphere. No. A different diamond sphere.
Growing suspicious (and ignoring the shards of glass that were flying around), Epani changed her shape back into her more upright form and snapped her fingers in an attempt to summon her fellow deities. But nothing happened. Sure, Sini and Arkadin were often slow to appear, but Kairos almost always instantly answered her summons. The fact that the Whenvern hadn’t appeared was genuinely quite concerning.
The shaking continued for a bit. The glass was cutting Epani’s skin, but it didn’t really bother her, her skin would just instantly and perfectly heal. The sudden bolt of electricity that surged through Epani’s body though, that did hurt. At least, it hurt enough for Epani to get properly concerned.
Getting sick of this insolence, Epani expanded in size, exploding out of the diamond sphere. As she did so, she was pummelled in asteroids, some of which tore through the fin on her tail and ripped holes in the cosmic flames Epani decorated herself with. Again, Epani snapped her fingers. Kairos still didn’t appear. However, both Sini and Arkadin did poof into existence. And, very worryingly, Arkadin seemed to be missing one of his sets of metaphysical chains.
“What is going on?” Epani snapped.
“Oh, nothing much, sister. I decided that you were getting too Kinisis-like, so I’m letting Arkay have some fun.”
Epani eyed Sini. “You traitor.”
“Me? A traitor?” Sini snarled. “You’re the one driving our poor fellow Life Goddess insane. You’re the one who’s been attacking us all. You’re the one making us miserable, interfering with my goals. You’re the one making Arkay sad, when he doesn’t deserve your scorn. After all, we’ve sacrificed plenty for you.”
“This is my uni-”
“It is OUR universe!” Sini clearly wasn’t going to let Epani speak. “We built this place together! But you act as if you do everything, as if we should bow to your every whim! Well, I’ve had enough. You need to be put in your place. And, to do so, I’ve let go of my side of Arkay’s chains. He’s going to… spend some time with you. Remind you of your place.”
Epani grunted. She eyed Sini some more, rolled her eyes at Arkadin then summoned a portal and travelled through it. Or so she thought. She reappeared exactly where she had started, floating in front of Sini and Arkadin.
Panic flashed briefly in Epani’s eyes. She better inspected her environment. The asteroid field she was supposed to be in was gone. Instead, vast, electro-magnetic and gravitational barriers had been erected, stopping Epani from properly leaving, from properly using her normal, space-based powers.
“You are really going to do this to me, Sini?”
“I am, yes. You completely deserve what Arkay is going to do to you.”
Epani paused, then laughed. “What are you going to do to me? Hurt me? I don’t care. Kill some mortals? Sini’s problem. Destroy some planets or stars or whatever? I’ll just make more. After all, little Arkadin is nothing more than a recycler of unwanted materials. He’ll just be doing his normal duties at his own expense. And I know for a fact that neither of you actually like destroying things.”
Sini glanced at Arkay. Arkay just shrugged.
“I also know that you’re above torture, Arkadin. Are you really going to put your sense of morality to one side just to hurt me?”
Arkay’s shrug turned into a smile. That smile made Epani slightly uneasy.
“You know what? Normally, I’d say yes. I’m normally a better person. But sometimes, one has to… lower themselves down to your level.”
Cold, electrified chains wrapped around Epani’s arms, while crystal walls enclosed her. Epani swiftly realized that Sini wasn’t doing this, Arkadin was. He was using his Life Goddess side. His forbidden side. The side that he normally refused to even acknowledge. Worse, that power was being bolstered by Sini. Sure, Epani was more powerful than either of them, but her power was being completely neutralized by their combined efforts.
“I will not break under torture.”
“HAH!” Arkay laughed. “You’re talking to the Lord of Suffering, a being who was tortured by Kinisis before you were even a twinkle in her eye. Sure, in the past I’ve avoided torturing mortals, but you’re a deity, that’s different. And you’ll definitely break. I’ll make sure of it.”
Sini patted Arkay on the shoulder, then wandered over and gently stroked Epani’s cheek.
“This was all avoidable, you know!” Sini tutted as she disappeared, leaving Epani at Arkay’s mercy.