“We need to rescue him!” Yisini was crying as she followed Kinisis around the castle. “We need to get Arkadin back! He’s my brother! We can’t abandon him!”
“We may have to…” Kinisis finally admitted as they flew towards a large pool. Epani was nearby, mixing cosmic dust with various materials in a bucket. The pool was filled with dark matter, bubbling gently. “You nearly ready, Epani?”
Epani glanced at Yisini, then shook her head. “A few more hours.”
“You said you would have it done in a day.”
The Goddess of Space shook her head again. “Kenon wants to inspect the hole, work out what did it and how, so I can create a special mixture to avoid this happening again.”
“And to give Arky time to get back?” Yisini’s eyes lit up briefly.
This time Epani shrugged. “We can… give him some time. Assuming he is even still among our ranks.”
Yisini leaped at Epani, twisting round her and clinging on tightly. “DON’T SAY THAT! HE’S ALIVE!”
Epani shook Yisini off her and went back to work. “Then send someone after him. Or go and save him yourself. You are a Goddess, yes?”
“We can’t afford to spend time and resources sending any being, god or otherwise, to another place that we know nothing about…” Kinisis explained. “We just can’t, Yisini.”
“We cannot send mortals?” Epani asked. “It would be risk free for us. If they die, so be it. We lose nothing.”
“We…” Yisini rubbed her eyes as she picked herself up. “We can’t send mortals through. They would die. Most other universes are too dangerous to them. Even a change in gravitational energies could screw them up, twist them inside out and destroy them. Us Deities have some sort of protection simply because we are parts of universes ourselves…”
“You have been thinking hard about this, haven’t you, girl?” Kinisis smiled ever so slightly. “You really want him back. Despite all Arkadin has done to you.”
“I love my brother…” Yisini sighed. “He is the best Entropic Being I could ask for. And the thought that one of you lot… taking his place… Because that is what will happen if Arkadin doesn’t come back. One of you will become a god of death as well as your own thing! And it’ll be horrible.”
Kinisis shrugged. “Well, there’s not much we can do. We need to close the hole. That is more important than Arkadin. We can work around his disappearance, as stressful as that could be. But we have a gaping hole in my side and I need that fixed before I do anything else. The last thing we need is to get an infection via this wound.”
A massive black being interrupted the conversation, stabbing the ground with its staff.
“Kinisis. We have finished testing. We were punctured by anoter universe, infected by corruption.”
Kinisis stared at Yisini and Epani. Yisini lowered her gaze, looking at the floor.
“They most likely stole him to infect him…” Epani sighed.
“You don’t know that!” Yisini screamed. “You don’t know! He specialises in killing Corruption! Maybe they took him to get him to save them! You don’t know!”
“You don’t know either…” Epani growled.
Yisini curled around Kenon’s legs, tears running from her eyes. “Please. Give Arkadin a chance to get back home.”
Kinisis glanced at Kenon. Kenon grunted.
“25 hours…” Kinisis finally relented. “We start closing the hole. It is finished in 25 hours. If Arkadin is not back, there is nothing we can do.”
Yisini sighed. “Fine…”