“Arkay?”
“I know.”
“You see it too.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry. I’m trying.”
“I know. I’m not angry at you.”
“It’s my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Sini. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“I’ve done plenty wrong.”
“This isn’t your fault though. Just… just do your best.”
Arkay and Sini trod carefully as they made their way into the fortress at the centre of the universe. The Corruption had already made itself at home, creating a physical form for itself, sitting proudly in Epani’s throne and covering both it and Epani herself in horrible black goo. Thankfully, Epani hadn’t actually been corrupted yet, and she was struggling, both her and Kairos fastened to either side of the table. While Epani was trying to fight back, Kairos was barely there, staring blankly ahead and focused solely on not being consumed.
“Hello!” the Corruption seemed to smile. It was a pure black, slimy entity, but, weirdly, it was the shape of a Temthan, with soft, glowing blue eyes, and four spikes on its tail, and horns similar to a Ksithan. “My little friends, please, sit down, won’t you? We have much to discuss.”
Sini growled, then pulled her throne around so she could sit next to Arkay.
“What the fuck do you want?”
The Corruption was unbothered at Sini’s anger. “My name is Epanophovon, but most know me as the Unending Ancient One. I am one of the oldest active strains of Corruption in the Periuniversal Void. Please, Khrajahu, Oull, introduce yourselves, won’t you? I already know who little old Kairos and the Kinisian Child Epani are, I can see their thoughts. You though, you’ll talk, won’t you?”
Sini glanced at Arkay, then sighed. “I’m Sini, the Allbirther, Life Goddess and Time Drake, second child of Kinisis. This here is my brother Arkay, the Thantophor, a Decayon with mimicking abilities.”
Epanophovon tilted his head to one side, then smiled some more. “That is not quite true. You are the third child of Kinisis. And Arkay here is not a Decayon. He is an Oull. A Null. An All of the Above. And one of Kinisis’s few surviving experiments.”
“How am I not the first daughter of Kinisis?” Epani suddenly shouted, trying to free herself and failing.
“First daughter, yes. You see, Kinisis is an ancient being. I have met her before. Kinisis, the Stolen Voidborn Prince Kenostaton and the Afated Time Drake Kairos here, you all fought me back before. But Kinisis was somewhat wise. She offered a compromise. She gave me a child, a demi-male Zontanian, something rather unique, in exchange for sparing her and her universes, present and future. However, since Kinisis is a fine young Corruption now, the deal between us is now void.”
“This is still technically Kinisis’s universe…” Arkay muttered. “We rebuilt it from the universe she made, over her bones.”
“You have a point, Oull.”
“My name is Arkay.”
Epanophovon looked Arkay up and down. That smile faded briefly, but quickly got bigger. “You have many, many names. But I will be blunt, you are somewhat the reason why I am here. I came to this universe because it breaks Natural Order. As determined and agreed by the Zontanian Elite, the most powerful of the Life Goddesses, there is to only ever be one of each of the Three Main Types per universe. One Zontanian, one Voidborn, one Time Drake. This universe breaks that rule. You have three Life Goddesses and three and a half Time Drakes.”
“Since when has that ever been a rule?” Sini asked. “Why the fuck are there rules to building universes?”
“It keeps the Three Main Types in order. And, as a Zontanian who has gone too far, I have been… tasked with doing as the Zontanian Elite demand. Normally, that means I go and consume and destroy universes that break their rules. But I like you. You have the same spirit Kinisis has. You put up a good fight. So I want to make an offer. Listen, won’t you?”
“What… sort of offer?” Sini asked. “Does it involve leaving our poor universe alone? We’re just minding our own damn business here!”
“Why yes. I will leave this universe alone. In fact, I will offer you the same protections I offered Kinisis. Epani, Sini, the universes you create, present and future, will be spared from my hunger, as long as you follow the rules of the Zontanian Elite. But in order to do so, I need two things from you.”
“And they are?”
“The first is the simplest. One Life Goddess must leave this universe in their entirety. You must also remove or destroy ALL demi-deity entities. That includes the old Time Drake that is still trying to fight me, despite the slowing of time, and the last six demi-deities Kinisis made. Once you have reduced all godly emissions to one Life Goddess and one Time Drake, I will leave and you may make new demi-deities to assist in the maintenance of your universe. But one of you, Epani or Sini, you must exile yourself.”
“And…” Sini hesitated. Her glances into the future were hurting her, so she tried to focus on the present. Doubly since she knew she was the one to be exiled from her own creation. “What is… the second thing?”
Epanophovon turned to Arkay. “I want the Oull. This Oull has done much damage, especially for something so, so, so rare. I have only ever encountered one other Oull. Give the Oull to me, so I may experiment on it for all eternity, then turn it into part of myself, part of the Unending Ancient One, and I will leave this entire sector, this entire eniapent, forever.”
“No!” Sini shouted. “That’s unfair! All Arkay has ever done is try and help us! I’m not giving up my little brother forever!”
“Sini… I’m… I…”
Sini snarled, not letting Arkay finish. “No! I’m not having it! Forever is too fucking long! Arkay is bound to a promise, that he would serve one last cycle within a universe, before finally earning his freedom! I won’t let you force us to break that promise.”
“And if Arkay is as rare, then us handing him over forever doesn’t seem equal in value…” Epani added. “Between Kairos and myself, this universe will only last another two billion years, and even if I go on to make two other universes that last for 4 billion years each, Arkay’s enslavement for ‘forever’, which could easily mean over a trillion years, is vastly unfair. If we’re to make a fair deal, we need to put solid, agreeable numbers and timelines on this offer.”
The Corruption thought to itself, then shrugged. “You do raise some very, very valid points. The terms of our deal need proper numbers. So, let me clarify, won’t you?”
Epani, Sini and Arkay all sighed. Kairos was no longer participating.
“Fine. State your offer…” Arkay growled.
“Very well!” Epanophovon smiled once more, then summoned a sheet of black paper and started writing on it in silver ink. “In exchange for my leaving this universe, plus your next ten universes each, ten for Epani, ten for Sini, and in exchange for leaving this eniapent entirely for the next 10 billion years, one Life Goddess will be exiled from this universe, the old, abandoned former Time Drake will be either destroyed or removed from this universe, all demi-deities are to be destroyed or removed from this universe, and the Oull is to be given to me and placed under my control for one billion years.”
“One million years!” Sini hissed. “Then after that, you let Arkay go free!”
“You know what, my dear? I would argue, but a million years is plenty to learn all I can about the Oull, before I turn him into myself…” Epanophovon erased the one billion he had written and replaced it with one million. “Very well. One million years it is. Whether the Oull is still an Oull or not after the one million years is to be seen… I doubt it, most under my control become corrupted after a few days, but after the one million years, I shall free what remains. Do you all agree to my terms?”
Sini glanced at Arkay. She expected him to be upset or angry, but he was hiding his emotions, trying to stay strong.
“I agree, on one condition…” Arkay eventually spoke. “If you break any part of your end of the deal, I know I can’t kill you, but I promise, I will find a way to seriously hurt you.”
“That is fair. I take it, Sini, little one, you will be the exiled Life Goddess?” Epanophovon asked.
“Yes.”
“Very well! We are all in agreement. Please sign your names on this document, won’t you?”
The Corruption signed the contract, handed it to Epani to sign, then slid the sheet of paper and the pen across the table, towards Arkay and Sini. They both read through what had been written, then hesitantly signed the contract themselves.
“Thank you for being civil!” Epanophovon was filled with joy. “It will take me 25 hours to completely remove myself from this universe. Please take that time to fulfil your end of the deal. Little Oull, meet me at the top of the universe when those 25 hours are up, won’t you?”
“Yeah. Sure. That was the deal…”
Satisfied, Epanophovon released its grip on Kairos, and freed both him and Epani from its inky grasp. The Corruption then slithered away taking the darkness with it. Already, Epani could feel the Corruption leaving the universe, the way it came.
“Well…” Epani exhaled, somewhat painfully. “We… we had better get started… I will collect those the bastard Corruption wants removed. Sini, Arkay… do either of you want help with anything? Before you go?”
“I want to discuss a few things with you, Epani, if that’s alright…” Sini sighed. “I’ve got some books and instructions you might need, since you’ll be basically running things yourself. I also want to help with the… demigods. We need to work out what to do with them.”
“Alright…” Epani frowned, before turning to her little brother. “Arkay, is there anything I can do for you?”
It took far too long for Arkay to answer. He looked up at Epani, tears forming in his pretty golden eyes, before getting up from his seat and wandering off. “I… I just… want to be left alone… I… I have things I need to work out… I’m sorry…”
The Thantophor took a deep breath, then disappeared through a shadow, knowing his fate had been sealed.