There was a weird snake creature sitting in front of Arkedetelos. The Thantophor had been nomming its way through various solar systems when the snake creature first appeared and now it was… in the Thantophor’s way.
“Hi, brother…”
The snake creature had been saying things. Whispers and moans above the understanding of Arkedetelos. Words that went unheeded, misunderstood and ignored. The serpent had been saying things for a long time now, and it was only now that the Thantophor began to take notice. After all, Arkedetelos’s jaws were getting a little tired.
“I know you can’t understand me right now. Whatever I say, you simply don’t get.”
The Thantophor eyed the snake creature nervously. It was quite a big snake creature. About the same size as Arkedetelos. But it had seen other big creatures and they had all tried to hurt Arkedetelos. This one wasn’t trying to hurt him.
“I’m going to be honest, and I’m saying this even though you have no idea what I’m saying, but I fucked up. I fucked up massively. I basically did everything wrong by you.”
Arkedetelos inched closer to the snake creature. It expected the snake creature to snap at it or try to hurt it, but the snake creature stayed where it was.
“I would ask you for forgiveness. But you don’t understand forgiveness. You don’t understand anything. Not love, not peace, nor hate or jealousy. All you understand is hunger.”
Again, Arkedetelos inched closer, until it could smell the snake creature. Still it didn’t move. But Arkedetelos noticed something. A shiny thing. A hurty thing.
“You are also capable of sensing threats to yourself. You are probably wondering if I am a threat to you right now…”
The snake creature raised its hand, showing Arkedetelos the shiny object. It was a hurty object. But unlike the black and gold creature, the flying creature and the sea creature, the snake creature didn’t hold the blade as a threat.
“This universe is dead. We killed it. I killed it. I… I killed my sister. I… This is all my fault, little brother. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t… If I had treated you like a decent being, if I had treated you not as some monster that was below me, none of this would have happened. I broke you, Arkadin. I ruined you. And now you’ve ruined me. Actually, that’s not true. I ruined me.”
The snake creature reached towards Arkedetelos’s claws, stroking them gently.
“Kenon is dead. Epani is dead now… Arkadin is dead. I killed Arkadin…”
The snake creature stopped. She wiped something from her eyes. Tears? Arkedetelos couldn’t understand what the snake creature was. Was it a threat? Was it food?
“Please, Arkadin, I want you to kill me. As painfully as possible. It is what I deserve for murdering this universe.”
Arkedetelos stared blankly at the snake creature.
“Please. Kill me.”
Still nothing. The snake creature began to get angry.
“KILL ME!”
The snake creature was getting angrier. The words though made no sense. The snake creature took the blade and thrust it towards Arkedetelos. The Thantophor dodged out of the way, not sure what was going on.
“KILL ME, PLEASE!”
Arkedetelos blinked as the snake creature kept on lunging for him. They became more and more aggressive, roaring and hissing. Arkedetelos didn’t want to retaliate at first, it just wanted to go and eat things, but the snake creature was forcing it to react.
Suddenly, the snake creature’s blade struck. It didn’t hurt much but it caught the Thantophor by surprise.
This snake creature was a threat. Arkedetelos snarled and grabbed the snake creature with its claws, stopping its vicious attack.
“Yes, kill me! Kill me Arkadin! Destroy me!”
Arkedetelos looked at the snake creature. Not sure what to do and not wanting to be hurt any more, the Thantophor gripped the creature more tightly, then effortlessly crushed the creature’s head. The creature fell silent, no longer spewing its strange words.
For some reason, the Thantophor felt strange, now that the creature was dead. A feeling it didn’t understand. Arkedetelos cradled the creature in its hands, then delicately placed the body on its shoulders.
In the far distance, something glowed. Arkedetelos gazed at it. After a moment, the Thantophor instinctively began to fly towards the glow, taking the snake creature’s corpse with it.