Mastakon had no idea how many were dead. All he knew was that he was to blame. The rest of society didn’t know yet, but they didn’t have to know. As far as everyone else was concerned, this was a freak incident, a sudden solar flare that had caused massive electronic issues across large parts of the planet. None of them knew that the solar flare had in fact been a godly intervention. An intervention against something Mastakon had started.
Using a grenade was a messy way to go out, but Mastakon didn’t really care. He had got everything in order. His death would look like the death of all the other Rethans in this bunker, like an accident. After all, this small base was powered with a miniature nuclear reactor using micro-fission, so explosions were almost… guaranteed. Really, Mastakon wasn’t sure how the whole facility hadn’t collapsed on him yet.
Oh well, there was no more time for thoughts. The data had been sealed away. The plans had been burnt. The witnesses had been dealt with. Mastakon was the only one left. With a long, drawn out sigh, Mastakon pulled the pin from his grenade and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
“Did you really think I’d let you go that easily?” a voice laughed from the gloom. A large, heavily armoured Rethavok wearing yellow and gold armour stepped forward, kicking rubble aside as it did so.
“You did all this, Thantophor, did you not?” Mastakon hissed. “All I wanted to do was protect my fellow Rethavok and here you are, murdering goodness knows how many are dead because of you!”
The disgruntled deity simply tutted at Mastakon’s remarks. “No, I didn’t do this. Just as I had warned you, some other deity retaliated against you all. Although I am surprised that it was Kenon rather than Epani, and he decided to go with the “send them a message” route rather than targeting you directly…”
“So what are you planning now, monster? More death? More destruction?”
Arkadin paused, then burst out laughing. “Really? Me? A monster? You’re the one who seems to think no one needs privacy. And that’s before we go into all the worrying things the 9th Legion has done under your command! No, all I am planning now is to get the truth out there and make sure that everyone knows what you did.”
Mastakon glanced down at the grenade, which had clearly failed and wasn’t going to blow up any time soon. “You are a harsh deity.”
“Me? Harsh?” Arkadin suddenly snapped, spitting on his words. A small globule of saliva landed on Mastakon’s cheek, burning ever so slightly. “I WARNED YOU. I TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN AND YOU IGNORED ME. You are entirely to blame for this.”
“You have no proof.”
“You recorded the conversation.”
“I deleted the conversation.”
“I created a backup before I left.”
Mastakon froze. “You…”
“I went and made a backup of our conversation. Also grabbed as many files as I could. There’s going to be a nice little data leak and all this information is going out there. They’ll find you down here, put you on trial and deal with you however your fellow Rethans feel fit.”
With a curious smile, Arkadin flicked the grenade out of Mastakon’s hands, then pushed him to the ground. The Thantophor then sat down next to him, placing a heavy arm across Mastakon’s back.
“You know, you should consider yourself lucky. I was going to take you and punish you for your… stupidity. After all, I’m a good being, I give everyone second and third chances. The other gods don’t do that. But then I thought that Kenon or Epani or whoever would grab you and punish you themselves before I could get to you, and that would have been really horrible. I mean, Yisini’s torture rooms are horrible and I’ve been inside them, but you can’t even really IMAGINE what Kenon’s imprisonment areas are like…”
Mastakon shuddered. He tried to hide his nervousness. The Thantophor smiled a little more, enjoying the fear emanating from this mere mortal.
“But no, I am a kind deity. And what kinder punishment is there than to let a bad being like you be punished by his kin. For the whole of Rethan society to know that what happened, that the Great Blackout and all those who died… it was all your fault.”
“You… you cannot do that…”
“I already have…”
There was sudden movement in the darkness. The sound of heavy Rethan footsteps. Arkadin smiled proudly, patting Mastakon on the back as he stood up.
“Be thankful that you dealt with me, Mastakon!” the Thantophor waved as he faded away. “Because torture at the hands of a deity is only slightly worse than what your fellow Rethans may do to you…”