“General, I must tell you…” Arkadin skidded to a halt physically and verbally as he poofed into existence in the middle of the fancy bedroom. “Oh. I am so sorry. I completely forgot you had a partner.”
Rethais sighed as he lifted himself off Lysar and rolled out of bed, straightening himself out and wrapping a robe around himself. Both he and his partner were used to being interrupted during vulnerable (and fun) moments, but this was the first time he had been interrupted by a death god.
“Lord Arkadin, how may I be of assistance this fine… evening…” Rethais had never been too sure how to greet the Thantophor. Every meeting they’d had was brief and normally between the Lord of Decay and the former High General, never Rethais himself.
“I am so sorry for interrupting, I can come back later when you two are… done…”
Much to the Thantophor’s surprise, Lysar found himself laughing, while Rethais simply shrugged. Lysar’s laughs turned into a swift apology, realising he had just laughed at a divine being.
“Oh, I am sorry, I cannot help but laugh. A deity apologizing? I did not know such things ever happened! Normally deities seem to… to put it in a rather crude manner, have their heads stuck up their own urethra…”
The Thantophor giggled at Lysar’s remarks, then tutted and sighed, his tone becoming far more serious. “Honestly, you’re completely right. Us gods are massive assholes. Myself included. But that is why I’m here, because one other deity has… well, I don’t know how to say this, but Kenon is planning on claiming the Rethavok as his own.”
Lysar glanced at Rethais, not sure how to react. Rethais was having similar difficulties of his own.
“The Rethavok do not follow the leadership of any deity, not even you, Thantophor.”
“Yeah. I know that. You know that. Kenon knows that. But… he is insistent that he will be to you what Kairos is to the Kronospasts and what Yisini is to the Temthans. And I don’t know how he is going to do it, but it will somehow involve Photeianos.”
Rethais blinked. “You mean the traitor we executed?”
“The traitor that Kenon created a clone of which he switched places with and had you execute…” Arkadin sighed to himself. “I am sorry, I don’t really know how to… explain this better. I’m not even supposed to be here telling you this, Kenon warned me to not interfere and frankly I think he’s pissed off because I’ve been too nice to both the Rethavok and the Skyavok… but… I felt like you needed to know. I didn’t want one of my favourite races to be caught off guard.”
Rethais nodded and bowed. “Thank you for… uh, what is it, Lysar?”
“Ask him about the Collapse.”
“Hm… Yes…” Rethais straightened up. “Lord Arkadin, we thank you for this information. Would you be able to help us in one last thing?”
The Thantophor shrugged. “What is it?”
“Sapiapathy Collapse.”
“Oh…” Arkadin fell silent. “Oh no…”
“What?” Both Lysar and Rethais suddenly felt incredibly worried. Arkadin took a deep breath, then spoke slowly.
“There isn’t much you can do, aside from try and get Rethans to understand individualism as much as possible. You need to get everyone thinking and discussing and forming their own opinions on anything. But that… that is how Kenon will get you all…” Arkadin closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have realised sooner.”
“Is it… really that dire?” Lysar stuttered.
“It depends on how early you caught it. And how quickly you react…” Arkadin paused again, seemingly distracted by something, something that neither Rethais or Lysar could detect. “I have to go. You need to keep yourselves safe, alright?”
“Yes, Lord Arkadin. Thank yo-”
Before Rethais could continue, the Thantophor suddenly disappeared, the same way he had appeared. Both Rethais and Lysar remained staring at where the Thantophor once stood.
“I… I know you will want to react immediately…” Lysar muttered as he put an arm around Rethais. “But… I think we need a few moments to… digest what just happened…”
“I could not agree more…” Rethais sighed, hiding the panic that was building in his mind. “I could not agree more…”