Iatre stretched only to find that something was next to and on top of him. He panicked only for a moment, but luckily it was just Arkay, who had clearly fallen asleep and fallen off his little hammock. A hammock made out of the skin of some unlucky creature they’d found. Really, it was Iatre’s fault that Arkay had fallen on him, because he was the smart person who decided to sleep directly underneath Arkay. There were plenty of other spots to sleep.
Then again, they were all resting inside the carcass of a slowly rotting monster. Something they hadn’t killed. None of them knew how the monster had died, but they didn’t really care. It was quite, calm, safe and, most importantly, tasty.
Iatre tried to move, but Arkay was squishing him a little. He decided to prod Arkay in the arm a few times to wake him up.
“Hmm?” Arkay muttered. “What do you want?” After a few blinks though, Arkay realised he wasn’t in his bed any more. He sat up straight, looking as embarrassed as someone with a reptilian-looking face could look. “Oh Light. I’m so sorry!”
Iatre smiled as he sat up too, making more space for them to both sit properly. “Light? Is Light an insult for you? Normally people say things like “oh my god” and dumb things like that.”
Arkay rubbed his eyes. “Uh… Pardon? Oh. Um, Rethans never really believed in gods. We were sun worshippers before we became anti-religious.”
“Anti-religious? I wish more men were like that. The stupid wars we fought over non-existent gods, when the beauty that is Death exists. I assume she’s… much nicer when she’s not insane.”
The Veth Prime growled. “As if I know. All I’ve seen from her is malice and pain. And now we’re out here in some shitty place hiding inside a dead monster…”
“A tasty dead monster!” Iatre tried to lighten the mood as he ripped off a random piece of nearby flesh and shoved it into his mouth. “I’m not sure why this is so tasty…”
Arkay sighed, then fell silent. Iatre finished what he was eating and decided to take this as an opportunity to properly chat with Arkay. After all, the other Veth weren’t listening. Syklos had insisted he be on guard and Continuity just wanted to sleep. Luckily he wasn’t much of a snorer.
“So, Arkay… You never really told me much about you.”
Arkay blinked. “I thought everyone was sick of me going on about myself.”
“Welllllllllll…” Iatre carried that on for way longer than he intended. While Continuity and Syklos were indeed sick of Arkay, he wanted to dig deeper into the insane Veth’s mind. Mostly out of curiosity, but he didn’t want to seem rude. “I don’t know. You’re an interesting guy. I bet you have a lot of stories. Maybe a plan for the future…”
“You just want to find out why I’m insane, don’t you?” Arkay growled.
Iatre leaned back, just in case. “Well… yeah… You’re not a very healthy person, Arkay. I’m just curious about you. You see, I was a healer when I was alive. I don’t remember much about my life, but I was someone who helped fix people.”
“I know that,” Arkay tutted. “I know you were a medic. But my problems, we all know what they are. I’m a fucked up, over-tortured mess, tormented by the fact that Death betrayed me and I’ll never achieve what I truly want.”
The Veth Prime tutted again, then decided to climb back into his hammock.
“What do you want then?” Iatre asked. “Maybe if you told us, we’d be able to satisfy you.”
Arkay looked away. He seemed upset. Almost ashamed of himself.
“You’re not suicidal, are you?”
A weak smile flickered across Arkay’s face. “If only I had the strength for that. I’m too cowardly to actually want to die, to return to the Cycle like everyone else… I just…”
Arkay paused, then faced away from Iatre, curling up into a ball. Iatre was right, Arkay did feel ashamed.
“What do you want, Arkay? To be loved? To have a partner? To have lived a fruitful life?”
“No… What I want is stupid, really. It will never happen though. Never. I’m bound to this stupid universe. I’ll never get what I truly desire… I want the pain to go away. I don’t want to die, never did…” Arkay sighed as he closed his eyes. “I just want to sleep forever…”