Vekeus hesitated as he stepped onto the quiet Stardawn Straights Life Oasis, and pulled his cloak around himself. This particular oasis was open to all Periuniversal Void entities, including Voidborns, but today, the only important beings hanging around were a couple of Life Goddesses and their small group of eight Divine Guardians, deities programmed to protect the two Life Goddesses with their lives. All but two of the Divine Guardians were lounging around in the large swimming pool area, while the Life Goddesses sat at the in-pool bar, happily getting drunk. There was also a long, serpentine Time Drake curled up in one corner, sleeping off a hangover, and two separate Divine Guardians, one running the pool bar, the other at the bar inside the more sheltered pub area where Vekeus had entered.
Normally, Vekeus wouldn’t have worn anything. He was a Voidborn, he was covered in shimmering metal armour, in his case a combination of gold, silver and red. Sure, Vekeus was a small, young Voidborn, but Voidborn entities in general were generally considered to be dangerous, and there were few places they were welcome outside of their own territories. This Life Oasis was one of the few exceptions. That being said, recent events had caused a rather dramatic shift among Periuniveral Void politics, and Vekeus currently didn’t feel safe.
As he scanned the pub area, he spotted the reason why he was there. He had been invited to the Stardawn Straights by a fellow Voidborn. A fellow cult-less, Adogtic Voidborn. Vekeus didn’t spend much time with other Voidborns, he considered his duties as a destroyer of Corruption to be more important than what either a Voidborn cult or other Voidborns could offer. But recent events had… disturbed Vekeus. To the point that he was wearing a black cloak to somewhat disguise his appearance.
Granted, Vekeus was odd-looking for a Voidborn, lacking the extra arms, mask and antlers or horns that most Voidborns carried, but he was still concerned.
“Vekeus, you made it without any trouble, I hope?”
Theocydes was probably one of Vekeus’s few allies, who had recently ditched his Voidborn cult and essentially gone rogue. It was via Theocydes that Vekeus had heard a lot of recent, somewhat troubling news, and he wanted to meet up and discuss things further in person.
Vekeus headed to the table where Theocydes was sitting. There were already four drinks at the table, two cans of the chemically, fizzy fruit drinks that Vekeus normally ordered, and two drinks that were both fruity, brightly coloured and stank of alcohol. Theocydes had already started on his alcoholic drink, despite being blatantly aware that Voidborn entities couldn’t get drunk in any way.
“The journey was fine, but I did so under stealth, so it took longer than I would have liked…” Vekeus sighed as he sat down and cracked open one of the cans. “Frankly, I’m really worried right now…”
“So you heard about the Crystal Doom then?” Theocydes was smiling. Vekeus didn’t like that.
“I did!” Vekeus exclaimed. There was nervousness in his voice. “There’s no one left! Every single Voidborn cult in the pentacluster has been destroyed! We’re completely alone!”
Theocydes sipped his drink. “Indeed.”
“And you’re not concerned? What’s stopping the Phantai Decay Lord sect from expanding their reach, from attacking Adogtic Voidborns like us? Or Decay Lords attacking Voidborns in general? We no longer have any territories in the local pentacluster, I don’t even know who or what the next nearest Voidborn territory or cult is!”
“It wasn’t the Phantai who destroyed the Crystal Doom. And, in all honesty, who actually cared about the Crystal Doom? Krystahamos was running a broken crusade and only rose in importance because the Golden Protectors started raiding universes looking for their Stolen Sons and were nuked by a particularly suicidal Life Goddess. And you were only with the Golden Protectors for about five minutes before you ran because you hated them so much.”
“Why are you so calm about this, Theocydes? We now have a massive target on our backs. Nowhere to go where we can be safe. We no longer have territories, nowhere to fall back to! The Goldtorn Remains, the Shadevern Straits, the Kiniseon Wilderness, people might even start wandering into our tiny safe corner zones in the Ventra Expanse!”
“They won’t.”
“They MIGHT.”
“When was the last time you actually communicated with another entity from the Space Between Universes that wasn’t a Corruption or someone asking you to kill a Corruption?” Theocydes asked. He was completely fine, almost happy about the destruction of yet another Voidborn cult, of his own kin, and Vekeus couldn’t understand why.
Vekeus thought to himself, trying to answer Theocydes’s question. “Uh… I think it was the last time we spoke.”
“And before then?”
“You know I keep a low profile, that I keep to myself, because I’m a former Golden Protector.”
Theocydes shrugged, then took a large glug of his drink. Not that he could taste it. “You’ll be fine. You have two traits that most of us Hollowsouls, myself included, lack. You have a use and you have a vague hint of charisma…” Theocydes paused, looked Vekeus up and down and smiled. Not that anyone could really see that smile. “You are also vaguely shaped like those useless Phantai… Actually, you are more shaped like the Thantir Decay Lords, but I think they are just younger Phantai.”
Vekeus blinked. “What?”
“I think they are called Beh’evok? That weird entire species that got uplifted by the Life Goddesses in the old Golden Paradise before the Golden Protectors and their ilk got all pissy. You could pass off as, I don’t know, maybe a baby one?”
“Apart from my head and lack of second arms, I am obviously a Voidborn. I stink of the Eternal Darkness. The Phantai would shoot me on sight. Not that I have ever gone to the Goldtorn Remains, and I don’t plan on doing so… Wait, you don’t see the Phantai as a threat?”
“As long as I stay away from the Goldtorn remains, they can never hurt either of us. Now, the Thantir, they definitely ARE a threat-”
“Who are the Thantir?” Vekeus interrupted. “I thought they were one of those sects like the Ventra and the Metrum that disappeared?”
“They did, but they reformed and are under new management. They also killed Krystahamos and blew up the Diamond. Very tiny sect. Used to only be four of them left, but they are slowly increasing in number again. I’m in contact with one of their leaders and they let me know what happened.”
“Are they the ones that made you respawn and leave the Goldblessed?” Vekeus asked, still feeling concerned and confused, but for different reasons. “Because… We’re not supposed to have prolonged contact with Decayons. Especially not Deathven-aligned Decay Lords.”
“Yes, and they are the first entities I spoke to, warning them about Ahkron, as they were the crew that came to assist that ship of purifiers that I saw Ahkron attack. Feisty little bunch, very unwilling to die, very capable of killing things that threaten them. Which is weird because I was under the impression that the Thantir were just a navigational sect.”
Theocydes finished his first drink, then stared at the glass, before putting it down and opening the can of drink. He sniffed it, trying to discern its flavour, before turning back to Vekeus.
“We are fine, Vekeus. We are not in trouble, as long as we keep to ourselves and do not piss anyone off. And as long as we avoid obvious territories that are filled with beings that will harm us. I assume you are not considering a trip to the Goldtorn Remains or the Justarian Circle, yes?”
Vekeus sighed. “I still feel uneasy about all of this.”
“Understandable. Things were stable, until the Golden Protectors got greedy, and it seems like our kin wanted to fill the gaps left behind and got killed in the process…” Theocydes trailed off. “Hm. Maybe it is worth you getting in contact with the Thantir. From what Souldrainer has told me, they already have a Time Drake and a fledgling Life Goddess with them, maybe they could do with a proper Voidborn ally, one that didn’t try to murder them in the past.”
“I am not contacting a Decay Lord sect that has killed so many prominent Voidborns. No. Not risking it.”
“They are reasonable.”
“No. I have duties here anyway. The Ventra Expanse isn’t clear of Corruption, and I need to finish that before I move on…” Vekeus sighed some more, then calmed down and started sipping his drink. “Still, I am… kinda glad that the Crystal Doom are gone. No one liked them.”
“Indeed!” Theocydes agreed. “But I think this is a good thing. A chance for us Adogtic Voidborns to… improve our reputation somewhat.”
Vekeus glanced at Theocydes. “What do you mean?”
“I am thinking of getting into Corruption extermination, full time. Like the Ancient Voidborns of old.”
“Huh…” Vekeus trailed off, then smiled, no longer feeling worried. “Well, I could always do with more company…”