Itaviir grunted as his communicator rang. Like pretty much every other Decay Lord in Deathven Sector Ypsilon, he had a splitting headache, achy limbs and a gurgling feeling in the space where his stomach would have normally been. After a moment, the communicator turned off, before starting to ring again a few seconds after.
“Who the hell is calling me?” Itaviir grumbled some more, not wanting to take the call. However, when he glanced at the name underneath the call, he changed his mind. Swiping the screen on his wristband to one side, Itaviir accepted the call. “What do you want?”
The voice on the other end sounded rather surprised. “My apologies, Itaviir, are you busy or something?”
Itaviir tutted. “Oh no, we are doing greaaat…” he replied sarcastically. “Just a whole new adventure with a Life Goddess being a bitch to everyone here! Unlike you, sitting pretty on your little damn ship, Galyn.”
“Do you want me to call you back later? Is this a bad time?” Galyn calmly responded.
“No, no…” Itaviir’s annoyance turned into sadness. “I am sorry, my friend. We have not had a good time here at Sector Ypsilon. Everything was absolutely fine. It was all good up until an overly aggressive Life Goddes decided to mentally enslave us and turn us into her brutish, hungry and beastly bodyguards. And of course, the asshole was defeated by that damn little yellow hybrid and a strange being that no one has been able to find or chase down.”
“Oh no!” Galyn exclaimed. “That sounds awful!”
Itaviir sneered. “Awful and memory-impairing. Most of us do not remember what happened over the last few hours. The side effects are painful though.”
“In my honest opinion, you sound like you need another holiday.”
“What do you mean by that?” Itaviir asked. “I have not been in Deathven for that long now!”
“You seem really upset about-”
“It was upsetting. And it struck us all down so quickly. But I am fine. The way you are talking, it is as if you want me to join you again on the Thantir Two.”
There was a hint of vague amusement on the other end. “Hah, well, we are doing fine here. In fact, we have settled down nicely. You are free to join us, if you please.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The former… mother of our little yellow friend has stepped forth and created a Life Oasis, the first in that sector. Maybe you could stop by, have a few days in the calming gardens, relax a little bit. Both you and Vikalos.”
“Those are some rather honeyed and tainted words, coming from your mouth, Galyn.”
“I can see why you may think that, but a firm truce has been made here already. In exchange for a part-time guarding and protection duty, Kinisis offered Retvik, Litvir and myself a place to start anew, perhaps even rebuilding the Thantir.”
Itaviir hesitated slightly. “That seems like… an awfully convenient arrangement. Could she not hire or create her own guards?”
“She wanted to use ‘home grown’ protection. Beings from her old universe. Both the fledging Decay Lords fit that criteria. And, in all honesty, although we still do navigation duties, having a place to call home has been mentally a very good thing…” Galyn paused. “Apologies, I am potentially over-sharing and over-selling this. But you two could at least have a small break and relax with me for a short while.”
“An actual holiday?”
“Yes. If it makes things easier, I can pay for everything aside from travel to and from the oasis.”
Itaviir thought to himself for a moment. “Hm… I cannot give you an answer now, but I will mention this to Vikalos. You are right, we could do with a small break… Let me get back to you on this.”
“Wonderful! I shall leave you to it, Itaviir. I wish you a speedy recovery.”
“You stay safe too, Galyn.”
“Will do. Good bye…”