“Who’s knocking on the door?”
“Guess.”
“Probably someone you don’t want to see?”
“Nah, just a little awkward…”
Vekeus grunted as the knocking on the door to his private quarters continued. He was going to get changed since he was naked currently, but instead just decided to revert back to his Voidborn form. Which was also technically naked, but Vekeus never considered it to be naked at all.
Once he was satisfied, Vekeus opened the door.
“Hi, Arkay.”
“Hiya, Veekay. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Arkay asked politely.
“Oh… fuck…” Kayel muttered from the bed behind Vekeus. “Um… sorry…”
Vekeus turned around, and Arkay peered in.
“Uh, why are you apologising?” Arkay asked.
“I’m… uh… fucking your brother…” Kayel blatantly admitted, before throwing a blanket over his head and hiding beneath the covers, clearly rather embarrassed and slightly afraid.
Arkay though just thought for a moment, then shrugged. “To be honest? I’m used to it.”
“What do you mean by that?” Vekeus grunted.
“Geekay ditched me for you, a multitude of Teekays ditched me for various people called Eksi, Kass started dating brother Psiksi when I died… Yeah, I’m used to it. Plus, like, I have two lovely partners already, and Kayel and I only ever agreed to friends with benefits. I’m totally cool with you two being friends and all that.”
“You are?” Kayel suddenly reappeared from beneath the blankets.
“Yep!” Arkay smiled. “I’m fine. But I did want to speak to Veekay about something important.”
“Do I have to leave?”
“No, it’s not private. I was going to wait until Elkay-En got back but he might be a while, he’s busy trying to learn a few extra bits off Sini and Phovos. I just wanted to let you know that a date for your Decay Lord Trial has been confirmed.”
“Oh!” Vekeus perked up immensely. “Finally! I’ve been excited for this! What happens now?”
“Well, we’re getting a package in a few days,” Arkay explained. “The package will contain a set of bands that you and Elkay-En will have to wear, that will track you and… track some other stuff as well, I guess. Twenty four hours after putting the bands on, you’ll be teleported into your trial, and you’ll do whatever it takes to fuck things up and beat the trial.”
Vekeus smiled. “That sounds pretty damn simple. I genuinely can’t wait to do murder to prove myself to Decayons rather than Voidborns for once.”
“I mean, you don’t need to prove yourself to us, you’re just proving you’re strong enough to be a Decay Lord to the person in charge of making people into Decay Lords…” Arkay shrugged. “But yeah, it should be pretty simple. You’re going to be absolutely fine, assuming we don’t have any funny business with Deathven like last time.”
That smile faded slightly. “What… what do you mean by funny business?”
Arkay gestured towards Kayel. Kayel rolled his eyes and tutted.
“They put me, my team and Phovoula inside stupid glass canisters and wanted to seal us away because Phovoula is a Voidborn and they thought us four were full Synaisthyns the same way Arkay is. We’re not. We’re fucking not full Synaisthyns like Arkay or Elkay.”
Vekeus blinked, not sure what he was more bothered by, what Kayel had said about the other Thantir Voidborn or the anger in Kayel’s voice about him definitely, 100% not being a full Synaisthyn.
“You don’t want to be like Arkay?” Vekeus decuded to try and settle Kayel down first.
“No. Because Arkay has stupid time powers and personality problems and a ton of other negatives alongside the long list of super powers. Outside of that Deathven prick seeing us as a threat, the only odd thing that’s happened to us is that some Periuniversal Type Entity scanners pick us up as Life Goddesses instead of Decayons. And as long as us four keep on insisting that we’re not Synaisthyns, that both stops everyone else from thinking we’re Synaisthyns and stops us from slowly turning into Synaisthyns over time.”
“Fair enough?” Vekeus shrugged. “But… am I going to have a problem with this Deathven guy putting me in a canister?”
“Nope.”
Vekeus turned back to Arkay. “You seem pretty damn certain about that.”
“Because I am. I won’t let Deathven fuck you around. I’ve warned him, in person, that if he fucks with your trial, like he’s fucked with other Thantir Decaylings in the past, I fuck with him. With no mercy. But in all honestly, I don’t think we’ll have a problem. Mostly because Elkay-En is a Life Goddess, and most folks know not to fuck with Life Goddesses.”
“Elkay-En is a kinda shit Life Goddess though.”
Kayel snickered a little.
“They don’t know that,” Arkay smiled a bit as well. “They just know that Elkay-En is a “somewhat young” Life Goddess. Even if he’s technically older than Epani, Sini and Phovos-”
“How does that even work?” Kayel interrupted. “Like, Kaytee and all the other Teekays are a day older than you, Arkay, and Veekay is a year younger than you, but you’re billions of years old!”
“I… I don’t know. There’s an absolute time or a true time that goes underneath and runs alongside all actual time, but… Like, Time Drakes naturally understand these things but can’t explain them.”
Kayel and Vekeus glanced at each other, then shrugged.
“Time Drakes are nearly as weird as Life Goddesses!” Kayel teased.
“I mean, us Voidborns are pretty weird.”
“You’re only weird because Voidborns somewhat exist without the boundaries set by universes. But yeah, I don’t think you or Elkay-En will have any problems with your trial.”
Vekeus started smiling as well. “That’s good. Very good. I can’t wait. But also, Arkay, you mind fucking off? Kayel and I were kinda busy.”
Arkay paused briefly, then realised what had been happening before he had knocked on the door.
“Oh. My bad. I’ll leave you guys to it. Let me know if you need anything.”
Vekeus patted Arkay on the shoulder. “Nah, I think I’m good. See you later, bro.”
Before Arkay could say goodbye, the door slammed shut. Arkay smiled to himself briefly, then wandered off, glad that at least one of his half-brothers was doing well.