The Rivers of Kinigi seemed more… bloated than usual. The waters were overflowing, carving through the silvery sands and pink grasses, flowing at a fast pace. Tenuk had visited Kinigi quite a few times, but he had not seen this before.
“Why are you here?”
A dark, cold something flew above Tenuk and landed in front of him. A monstrous being, smaller than Tenuk was, but far more terrifying. All tooth, claw and shadow.
“Arkay? You look really, really bad…” Tenuk stumbled on his words. “Like, holy crap you look like your body was pulled out of a rotting swamp after a few years lying in the black, muddy waters. Actually, on second thought, you look great kiddo. Not hideous at all.”
The creature grunted, shaking its wings. It stuck its tail in a nearby flowing river and sighed.
“I assume that is you, right Arkay?” The fact that the being had not answered straight away was worrying Tenuk. “Arkay?”
“You did not answer my question, Deitic.”
Now Tenuk was scared. If that was Arkay, he would have probably recognised him. Yes, Tenuk had put on a couple of kilos in weight, but still.
“Uh, I’m here to speak to Kinisis, or whoever is in charge of killing things. I have… vital things I must ask. About the lives of my friends.”
“No.”
Tenuk was tempted to run now. Whatever this being was, it seemed angry and pissed off.
“I… I just wanted to know why Kinisis always kills Retvik and Gath’s unborn children!”
The creature stepped closer to Tenuk.
“What did you say?”
“She’s intentionally stopping them from having kids, isn’t she?”
The creature reared up, charged at Tenuk and grabbed him by the shoulders. They flew high into the air, then back down towards the ground, through the entrance Tenuk used to get to Kinigi in the first place.
Eventually, they came to a halt. Tenuk struggled to regain his posture. He was scared and shaking. What had happened? This had never happened to him before. The creature stood in front of him, its form shifting and changing. After what seemed like an hour of horrible gurgling and moving body parts, the creature turned into something more recognisable.
“I’m sorry, Tenuk…” Arkay sighed as he pulled himself together. “Days like this, I have no idea who I am. It’s worse in Kinigi,with the souls of the freshly dead. Their beliefs are at their strongest when mortals are on the brink of death, so it fucks me up and twists my mind.”
Tenuk shuddered. The sight of all that transforming and stuff had made him feel a bit ill.
“Yeah, it’s not nice…” Arkay continued. “At least here, on this little world, the screams and prayers are quiet enough for me to think straight…”
“I guess…” Tenuk muttered. “But…”
Arkay immediately covered Tenuk’s mouth, shushing him. “Because she doesn’t know.”
“Mmmhy?”
“Because she shouldn’t know. She doesn’t know about right now. She has insane, crazy ideas. Like the idea that Retvik isn’t destined to have kids with Gath because Gath’s not powerful enough! So I’ve been desperately trying to keep everything on the down low so SHE doesn’t find out and doesn’t end up killing any future kids…”
“Really?” Tenuk was confused. And still feeling queasy.
“Yes…” Arkay sighed, then sat down on the ground. “I hate all of this. It’s all a convoluted mess and I am very slowly trying to, well, fix things. To the point where…” Arkay paused. “I don’t call myself Arkay now. I am Telos. Lord of Death. Thantophor. The Grim Reaper. Anything but Arkay. I have to fix things. And it means keeping myself out of things and not telling Kinisis.”
Tenuk remained silent as Arkay explained.
“It is taking time. And you coming to Kinigi is just an excuse for Kinisis to… find out about things she shouldn’t.”
“So you want me to stop going?”
“Just…” Arkay hesitated. “Ask me first. And keep your secrets to yourself. Alright?”
“Of course!” Tenuk smiled. “Thank you for not killing me and explaining things.”
Arkay tutted as clouds of black smoke billowed around him, and a pair of dark wings sprouted from his back. “Don’t mention it.”
The smoke blew around, hiding Arkay. As it faded away, the Veth Prime was gone.
Tenuk breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad…”