“I think you can sense what the issue is already…” Psehon grunted as he almost dragged Litvir down to the bottom level of the Shimmering Blade.
“I can, yes, but I am unsure why you need me.”
“You will see.”
The floor was mostly only three things: a large meeting hall, so large that it could contain every member of the Phantai (just over a hundred Decay Lords all over 3m tall) if needed, a vast cargo hold with just a couple of telekinetic Psions and a Grav-Mag looking over it and… some oddly small maintenance shafts that seemed to criss-cross everything.
Psehon was going towards those maintenance shafts, but as they got closer, Litvir swiftly noticed the problem. There was one person sitting outside of them, and they didn’t look too great.
“Loopblade-5, status report.”
This Decay Lord was tiny. Not even 2m tall. Litvir recognised them as one of the six Loopblades, one of whom had joined the Thantir over a year-string and a half ago. The Loopblades were all called Teekay, somehow copies of each other. And they were all the same original species that Arkay was.
“Did you bring Souldrainer down here so you could fuck him in private?” Loopblade-5 asked.
Psehon glared at the short Decay Lord.
“Sorry, boss, but I can’t fucking take it. I’m so fucking horny I am legitimately thinking of teleporting upstairs and fucking one of the four other copies of me. And I’m only here because I’ve been hit by the horny thoughts and not the angry thoughts, the restless thoughts or the suicidal thoughts. It’s really fucking bad. It’s so bad that we tied One to his bed and knocked him out so he didn’t try and slit his own throat.”
Litvir blinked, then turned to Psehon. “What in the name of the Light is going on?”
“Just before you three got here, the Loopblades discovered some sort of Voidborn device that is messing with all our senses.”
“And you… chose to not just tell us?” Litvir hissed. “Arkay is both stupidly powerful and literally upstairs right now, if you had told us, he could have fixed this problem in an instant.”
Psehon rolled his eyes. “I just told you, it is messing with our senses. And our thoughts. None of us are thinking clearly. Not even you. I did NOT want to bring the all-powerful former death god and experiment of the Final Mother down here where the stupidly scary device that makes some people want to kill themselves is hiding…” Psehon growled, then trailed off and turned back to Loopblade-5. “Little one, have you at least pinpointed the exact location of the device?”
Loopblade-5 nodded, then rummaged through a satchel hanging off his side. “Yeah. We know where it is. That’s why One is unconscious and tied to his bed right now. He got into visual range, backed off then started stammering that he was a monster and tried to stab himself. Thankfully, Three managed to get him out of there, but he got hit by the horny and is currently desperately flicking his tip in a bid to relieve himself.”
After some more rummaging, Loopblade-5 pulled out a rather scrunched up piece of paper and handed it to Litvir.
“You want me to go in there?” Litvir frowned.
“Yes. Souldrainer, you are probably the only person around capable of getting past the… whatever it is.”
“And why do you think that?”
“You instantly knew something was wrong as soon as you got here, and you-”
Psehon and Litvir both paused, then glanced upwards, having picked up some incredibly intense emotions from two floors above them.
“Well… Retvik is enjoying himself…” Litvir muttered, shuddering slightly. “Fine. I will fix this mess. But you should have told us as soon as we got here. You put everyone at an increased risk, keeping this secret.”
Psehon snarled, getting too close to Litvir. “Did you not hear me when I said that this device is messing with everyone’s thoughts? You believe that I am thinking straight right now? I cannot fix this and I NEED YOU TO-”
Something zapped Psehon. He turned to Loopblade-5, who wasn’t quite sure what he had done.
“Dude, you need to chill. Also, can we, like, do something? I am so horny right now. Also I can just show the cute vampire guy where the thing is.”
“Please do!” Litvir hissed.
“Alright, follow me!”
For reasons not even Loopblade-5 understood, he randomly took off some of his armour then headed into the maintenance hall. Litvir had to duck down a little bit, but he was mostly glad to get away from Psehon.
Thankfully, Loopblade-5 seemed to know exactly where he was going, but after a few twists and turns, he paused to open a hatch. That hatch led to… outside the ship. And, more annoyingly, the little Decayon refused to go any further.
“It’s literally just on the underside of that panel. Big gold lump thing. I would follow, but I really, really need to jerk myself off right now, before I decide to bend over and try and persuade you to fill me up.”
Litvir stared at Loopblade-5, then tutted. Loopblade-5 backed off then sat on the floor, playing with his loincloth, watching as Litvir examined the situation. After a few moments, Litvir decided to just stick his head through the hatch and look around.
Literally right there where Litvir had stuck his head, there was a small, gold, beeping object. Litvir could reach it with his hand. With a bit of effort, Litvir detached the object and dropped it. Now it was no longer connected to the ship, it was no longer affected by the ship’s magnetic and gravitational pull, and the object seemed to drift off harmlessly into the void.
Satisfied that the object was no longer a threat, Litvir pulled himself back inside, then locked the hatch. Loopblade-5 hadn’t noticed and was rubbing his thigh.
“The object is gone…” Litvir grunted.
“What object?” Loopblade-5 blinked in confusion.
Litvir grunted some more, then helped the little Decayon to his feet and led him back out of the maintenance halls. Psehon was waiting for him.
“It is over, yes?” Psehon growled.
“You did some memory nonsense.”
“Amnesia is better than what they just went through.”
“You… did not do that to everyone, right?” Litvir asked, feeling rather concerned as Loopblade-5 fell asleep in his arms. “Because, well, Phos and Retvik are currently-”
“I know, I know. Selective amnesia, applied as needed. I am sorry for not being forthright with you, Souldrainer. I was scared of causing panic, of upsetting people and… well… Telin… I think he is genuinely feeling better now. Everyone else will calm down over the next few hours.”
“Alright, good…” Litvir felt himself settling down as well. “So, Telin and Arkay are just having a nap, and Phos and Retvik might be a while… what do we do in the mean time?”
Psehon sighed. “I am going to get drunk, since I cannot apply amnestics to myself.”
“May I join you? After I have returned this Teekay to his friends?”
“Sure, why not. I do not like drinking alone anyway.”