“You are not supposed to be here!”
Arkay didn’t find the colossal purple and black Thraki particularly threatening. Yes, Vokulunaax, one of the Six Divine Guardians and the protectors of this fortress hidden within an asteroid field, was absolutely right, Arkay wasn’t supposed to be here. But Arkay had been looking for Sini all day, and it turned out, she had been hiding at Alysides Keep, one of the two fortresses where she and Epani regularly met at, and it was very much a Girls Only place.
“I know, I know, but I really need to speak to Sini, and she’s been busy and it’s kinda urgent. Also, hi, how are you?”
The sudden change in tone caught Vokulunaax off guard.
“Pardon?”
“How are you?” Arkay repeated himself. “Actually, uh… hi, I’m Arkay, nice to meet you. I don’t think we’ve spoken in a very, very long time. If ever.”
Vokulunaax hesitated. “You are being oddly civil, considering that, firstly, you killed our mistress, and, secondly, we guard the physical manifestation of the chains that keep you bound to this universe.”
“I know, yes. But me getting aggressive just gets my memories removed and my teeth ripped out. I don’t want that. I just want to speak to Sini on a few things, about the safety of the universe and the safety of one of my friends. She’s been here for ages though and I’m getting impatient, so, to temper my annoyance, I’m being friendly to you. It’s not your fault Sini’s holding me up. And it’s definitely not your fault that you’re here. If anything, it’s entirely my fault you’ve all been doomed to serve my sisters for all these years.”
“Hm…” Vokulunaax thought for a moment. His wings were getting tired from keeping himself airborne in the very thin atmosphere. “Well… Uh… Um… Do you promise you will not try to break into the main chamber?”
“I am not promising anything, but right now, I don’t need access. I just want to talk to Sini.”
“Well, okay… Come with me, please, so we can keep an eye on you. I do not know how long the Goddesses will be, but you can wait on the balcony with us.”
The ancient Thraki made his way over to a watch tower and landed on a specially designed perch. Also present were Vexer and Atteh’Kus, a huge, 6m tall Banikan. Unlike all other Banikans, Atteh’Kus had strange, white eyes, and his horns were decorated with gold rings.
“What is HE doing here?” Vexer immediately snarled.
“The Old Thantophor wishes to speak to Mistress Yisini. I told him to come here and wait with us. Better than having him trying to get in or something!” Vokulunaax explained.
Arkay hovered in the air in front of the watch tower. “I would be insulted by you calling me old, but, well, it’s true. I’m technically older than both Epani and Sini.”
“How?” Atteh’Kus asked as he bowed somewhat. Back when Atteh’Kus was mortal, he worshiped the Thantophor. Sometimes he would mutter the odd prayer in Arkay’s direction, but only after checking that no one was listening.
“I came into existence technically at the same time Kairos did, since I’m the end result of forward-flowing time. But I was mortal before I became a god, and that means I had to have existed before Epani and Sini did, in a universe before theirs.”
“You have witnessed… three different universes?” Atteh’Kus gasped.
“Yeah…” Arkay frowned. “So, uh, what are Epani and Sini doing?”
Vexer crossed his arms and grunted. “Therapy, to treat Epani’s Dispa.”
“Dispa?” Arkay was confused.
“The evil banikanshit that makes Epani and Yisini want to hurt people,” Vexer explained, ignoring Atteh’Kus’s unamused glare. “Mistress Kinisis gave them both an affliction that makes them addicted to controlling, subjugating and torturing others. Yisini deals with it by fucking things. Epani used to deal with it by hurting you, but that stopped working, so she started hurting you more, until Yisini realized what was wrong and started teaching Epani the ways of edging and the orgasm.”
Arkay blinked. The three Guardians all understood his confusion. Vexer decided to change the subject.
“So, uh, why do you want to speak to Yisini?”
“Universal security. There’s been another increase in intruding Corruptions, but also a lot of stuff all coming from the same direction. I want to discuss something with Sini, to get some mortals to patrol the points of impact for a better early warning system.”
“Oh…” Vexer thought for a moment. “Is that, like, maybe something we can help with? Or, well, mostly Vokulunaax, since he has wings and can fly through the depths of space.”
“I appreciate the thought, but I don’t think Sini or Epani would allow it.”
“Shame… Would have liked a reason to leave this place for once…”
Atteh’Kus glanced at Vexer, then frowned as well. However, a thought came to Vokulunaax.
“Thantophor, may I ask a question?”
“Sure.”
“What happened to the other six?”
“Oh!” Arkay perked up. “You guys remember them!”
Vokulunaax nodded. “Yes. We were told they were killed, but Epani never told us anything further.”
The Thantophor smiled. Vexer found that somewhat endearing. “No, no, they were picked up by the Thantir, the Decay Lord sect I belonged to before I got stuck here.”
“Is… Is Relkir alright?” Vexer asked. “I always felt bad, being here, since I swapped places with him because he hated Yisini and we didn’t want to leave the smaller folks without any heavily armoured protection, and then we got trapped in here and I thought they got killed. Also I felt extra bad because Mistress Kinisis was 100% experimenting on him.”
“Well, good news, they’re all fine. They did a Decay Lord trial and they’re fully fledged Decay Lords now. Also, Elkay and Teekay got married.”
Atteh’Kus turned to Vokulunaax. “I told you! He WAS the old High General!”
“Ugh, fine, you were right, I was wrong… So they are happy? And free from Mistress Kinisis’s influence like us?”
“Yep!” Arkay smiled, before suddenly getting distracted. He had spotted Sini leaving the main fortress. “Thanks for chatting with me, guys, but I gotta go. Stay safe!”
The three Guardians all waved goodbye, and Arkay rushed off, chasing after the Allbirther. It wasn’t too hard to catch up with her.
“Sini!”
“Oh, hello Arkay. What’s up?”
Arkay growled slightly, his cheerfulness suddenly fading. “What did you do to Kuta?”
Sini shrugged. “Kuta had cancer. Now Kuta doesn’t have cancer.”
“But…”
“But what?” Sini tutted. “You’re not the only one concerned about the little Decayling! I noticed Kuta had a… problem, I made sure Kuta actually got the treatment they needed. Kuta is now cancer-free, with no adverse side effects to their fertility, and I got a sample of Kuta’s genetics without actually taking any of Kuta’s genetics!”
Arkay calmed down somewhat. “Alright, fair. But you should be upfront with Kuta. Kuta has spent their entire life trying to make sure no one steals their genetics to experiment on them, and you went and did that without their consent.”
“That is fair, but it’s more important to me that Kuta does actually have kids. Back in the Before, I tried very, very hard for a second generation Kaldieridos to have kids, and I failed… mostly because most of them were killed by Kuta and Litvir, and the ones who survived exiled themselves or killed themselves out of shame. I got a second chance though, thanks to Kuta. While sure, Retvik and Kuta having kids probably won’t give me an immortal mortal-born being like I want, but the data, Arkay, the DATA! There was something there, back in the Before, that I missed. Sure, Kuta being a Decayling, tainted by the Void, skews things, a Kaldieridos is being slowly convinced that they want kids, and I am 100% for it…”
Sini paused, then stared at Arkay.
“Are you… annoyed that I pretended to be a famous Rethan oncologist and cured Kuta of a nasty teratoma?”
“No, I’m just upset that you went behind my back AND Kuta’s back. Kuta deserves to know that you are keeping an eye on them and want them to have kids. Yes, I know you want information towards your goal of immortal life coming from mortal life, but I don’t want you to abuse Kuta in the process.”
“… Fair…” Sini shrugged. “And I should have let you know. You’ve kinda been too busy lately dealing with all these break-ins from the north… Although, I do owe you a secondary thank you! Thanks for telling little Relkir to have kids.”
“I think Relkir decided that on their own, but, uh, cheers, I guess. I’m glad you brought up the break-ins though. I wanted to ask if I could nudge some mortals, namely the Rethans and the Ksithans, to assist the Lanex and the Spasts on their border patrols?”
“Is Epani’s early warning system not enough?”
“It sucks. Too many false positives, and too many false negatives too. Mortals helping mean I can deal with the actual threats more quickly without dealing with false positives.”
Sini shrugged some more. “Okie! Not a problem! Do have a quick chat with Kairos though, see what he thinks and if he can help you.”
Arkay bowed slightly. “Will do. Thanks for talking with me, Sini.”
Sini patted Arkay on the shoulder. “No worries. Thanks for remaining pretty calm, considering I fucked with one of your friends. I gotta get back to my lab though, I have some anti-Corruption vaccines I need to work on.”
“Alright. Bye, sis.”
“Bye, Arkay!”