“Welcome to the Nest.”
The convoy of ships slowed down to a crawl as they exited the shimmering, golden portal, which snapped shut behind them. Docked on the top of the Thantir Two wasn’t just the sister ship Thantir Three, but the narrow, striped ship known as Shield Six, which belonged to the other half of the Thantir Decay Lords. However, all of them were currently inside the Thantir two, except for Koh, the white-painted Cleanser, who was perched on the very front of the ship, weakly clutching a large, golden mask that clearly didn’t fit anywhere on Koh’s person.
In a flicker of electricity, Tah teleported Koh back inside, then helped Decayling Tenuk land the Thantir Two on a small landing pier jutting out of what was otherwise visually nothing more than a large meteor.
“I thought you destroyed the Nest!” Mator, the tiny little Genera who had formerly been Kanuva, the Imperator of Light, shouted angrily. “You said it was sealed away! That no one could access it! What are we doing here?”
“We need to go somewhere safe, just for 150 hours!” Tah explained. “The Nest is safe. No one can access it apart from us.”
“But there are hordes of Cleansers in there!” Mator clearly didn’t feel safe. The other beings present, the Decay Lords Litvir and Seimeni and three Decaylings Eksi, Tahvra and the aforementioned Tenuk, didn’t say anything, which didn’t make Mator feel better. “Explain yourselves, Cleansers!”
“I just did. This place is safe. The Cleansers are all sealed away, sleeping… well, technically…” Tah trailed off and Koh seemed uneasily silent. Normally Kal were less hesitant with their words. “They can’t be activated any more, they did their duty and promptly went into permanent hibernation. As far as the multiverse is concerned, the Cleanser Hordes are, well, as dead as the rest of our stupid universe.”
Mator glanced at Tah, but Tah silenced him before he could say anything.
“You forget that we have emotions too. Not for the first time. Anyway…” Again, Tah trailed off, but he changed his tune. “Being Cleansers and not having ever needed to eat or drink or breathe, there’s kinda nothing here apart from the nice view and some makeshift sleeping areas, but the whole place is secure, nothing knows we’re here, no one can get in without Olmeic powers and knowing exactly where to go. So there’s no way Ahkron can follow us.”
With that, Tah led the way out of the cockpit, taking everyone with him. Koh followed first, still clutching on to the golden mask, but remained unusually silent. As they walked down the main corridor, stopping to let everyone know to come along, Mator prodded Koh and asked him a question.
“Where did you get an Olmak anyway?” Mator queried. “I had Olmeic powers forced into my Canoh, there were only three other Olmak-wearers in the empire, and we kept Brutak imprisoned under Met-Nu.”
“We got it off Brutak!” Tah answered in Koh’s place. “When we finally activated the Hordes, there was very little left to resist us. One of the only things we had to step in and deal with, and he… basically begged us to kill him… He asked us to take his mask first though, and we never worked out why.”
“Is that why Koh is silent right now?”
Koh nodded, a wordless answer.
“We’re not designed to use Canoh. It drains us. Mator, do you have any more questions? Because they are somewhat starting to get to us. It turns out, 17000 hours isn’t long enough for the memories to settle.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
As everyone reached the cargo bay, Tah drew everyone’s attention to him to make an announcement. “Alright, everyone, you’re free to wander around, it’s all perfectly safe, just don’t go near the pools of energized deuterodermis. If you fall into it, you will die and we won’t be able to get you out. Even you, Mator, before you get any funny ideas.”
“That is not at all troubling…” Litvir tutted. “Why do you keep it around then?”
“It’s immune to the effects of gravity!” Nuh tutted back. “Literally can’t move it in any way.”
“Fair enough…” Litvir knew not to press further. Instead, he turned to his fellow Decay Lords and Decaylings. “We will be here for a while, at least until Galyn wakes up. Until then, we will take it in hour shifts to keep an eye on Galyn. I do not mind taking the first shift while the rest of you take a break, I will summon one of you when needed.”
“Thanks, Litvir!” Tah’s perkiness seemed to return as he patted Litvir on the leg. He would have patted Litvir on the shoulder but Litvir stood at 2.7m tall and the Cleanser was just over a meter tall. Litvir smirked, then made his way back down the hallway to Galyn’s personal quarters. “You can all follow me inside.”
The large group of beings followed Kal outside, down the narrow pier. They approached a large, steel door, and Tah went to one side of it. A panel was present, a panel which Tah abruptly headbutted. This seemed to activate the door, which slid upwards into the ceiling. This revealed a large chamber, split into nine with glass walls. Said walls stretched upwards, impossibly high, with no ceiling in sight. In the centre of the chamber is a pit of shimmering liquid, with short metal railings around it.
Six of the chambers were colour-coded, matching the colours of Kal, except with no traces of silver. The walls were lined with glass canisters, each one filled with what everyone assumed to be normal, sleeping Cleansers. These chambers were clearly personalized to each of Kal, but their belongings were very mismatched. Two of the other chambers were also full of confusing objects. Whether they were meant for something else, Kal didn’t say, but now they were clearly being used for storage.
The last chamber though was… nowhere near as clean and tidy. It was also barricaded off, sealed with a sheet of steel. In front of it was a vast pile of pillows and cushions.
“Feel free to look around!” Nuh beamed. “Just ask before you touch anything. I’m going to take a nap.”
Gah and Pah nodded in agreement and went to their respective rooms, before curling up into balls and swiftly falling asleep. Leh went to his room and started fiddling with what looked like a games console. Tah remained where he was, but Koh left back the way he came, taking the Olmak mask with him.
“Is he alright?” Eksi asked, watching as the rest of the Thantir began to wander around. Relkir, Teekay, Tenuk and Elksia had all immediately gone to the large pile of cushions at the back of the room, while Tahvra joined Leh in his personal quarters. Mator started rummaging through one of the storage rooms, as if looking for something, while Akah kept him company. Phovos stood in the middle of the room, staring at the shimmering, silver liquid.
Tah nodded, watching the two Decay Lords, Seimeni and Retvik, who seemed to be having a hushed argument. The argument ended with Seimeni slapping Retvik across the face, before making her way over to Phovos’s side and putting an arm around her.
“The Olmak is… somewhat alive. A lot of powerful Canoh are, and they tend to bind themselves to beings. Koh doesn’t like it, but it’s bound to him and he’s the only one who can use it. Do you mind if I ask a question of my own?”
Eksi shrugged. “Sure.”
“What is going on with Decay Lord Retvik?”
“Uh… he has a concussion.”
“A temporary head injury?” Tah looked confused. “Shouldn’t he be resting then?”
“Rethans are weird, they don’t like resting, makes them feel weak. But also they get weird when it comes to head injuries. Say things they don’t necessarily mean, makes them want things they don’t normally want.”
“Huh.” Tah didn’t seem to understand, but nodded politely anyway. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Was worried about Litvir after he shut off his telepathy and went cold but we talked about it and we’re all cool now. Speaking of which!”
Eksi and Tah both turned around as Litvir appeared behind them.
“For once, I have good news. Although that good news is not that Galyn has woken up yet.”
“What is it?”
Litvir was smiling, his teeth bared and his silver fangs sticking out. “I received a message from Theocydes, our new Voidborn ally. Apparently, Ahkron got greedy and was killed while trying to enter and damage a universe with a “No Voidborns” rule. He said he is doing some quick scans of the sector, but it should be safe to return.”
“Ah, good…” Tah hesitated. “Still, we should stay for a while. We all need a break.”
Litvir bowed, agreeing. “Indeed. I will go back to keeping an eye on Galyn. Speak to you all later.”