“What do you think, boss?”
Kinisis crossed her arms, listening carefully to the recording, rewinding it and playing it again. She had done this a good twenty or so times now, carefully examining each little sound and crackle.
“Hm… Curious…”
“We’re gonna need more than just the word “curious”, boss. What is it?”
The Life Goddess finally turned to her little guardians, smiling suspiciously. “Well, at first glance, I would totally agree with your original opinion on this strange, strange signal. It definitely sounds like the sort of distress signal an aggressive being would send out to lure in innocent beings. But at the same time… I genuinely want to go and see what sort of being is sending out ancient Voidborn signals.”
Tahnahos, Teekay and Tahvra all looked at each other and sighed. They were often considered the “brains” of the entire operation. Even if none of them actually believed that themselves. Their sighing was met by cold, stony grunts from Kinisis’s right-hand Guardian, Phovos, who was essentially the middleman between Kinisis and the Guardians themselves.
“Let me get this straight. You want us to go and take the bait?” Phovos tutted. “You do realise you literally just said that this is probably a trap, yes?”
“Well, actually, I said it’s potentially a trap. But what we are hearing is Kainic, the language used by the Voidborn ranks before they became a society of shadowy assholes. This sort of thing… well, it’s older than me. A lot older. Which is why I’m so curious about this thing.”
“Yeah but…” Tahnahos interrupted. “Firstly, it might be a trap. Secondly, that doesn’t explain why Akah could understand some of it. What does that even mean?”
“Means it’s more likely to a trap…” Teekay frowned. “We’ve had this sort of thing before. Sounds and echoes designed to catch us Guardians off guard, so they can get through us and towards Kinisis.”
Kinisis thought for a moment, then shrugged. “That’s very true. But Kainic is such an ancient language that, well, it’s nearly forgotten by the Voidborn themselves. Almost traitorous to actually use it. So it’s possible that the source of this sound isn’t actually Voidborn. Or it’s such an ancient Voidborn that they are unaware of modern Voidborn ways.”
“Which could mean that the sound is something pretending to be Voidborn to lure people in and eat them…” Phovos snarled. “It is quite clearly some sort of trap!”
“But it might not be.”
“But it clearly is!”
“But it might not be.”
Phovos crossed her arms, growling angrily. “It’s almost certainly a trap. Kinisis, I can’t allow you to be put in harm’s way.”
The Life Goddess shrugged some more. She knew Phovos was right, but she was very curious. “What does Akah think, Tahnahos? I see you intentionally didn’t bring him in here.”
“He wants to know what it is, but he’s dubious. And heavily biased, as he’s longing to meet someone or something that is more like him and less like the rest of us. Being out here, we’ve met a few beings that are like him, and they’ve all been evil except for Kanuva.”
“And Kanuva buggered off to have fun with those Decay Lords…” Teekay added. “Why ARE all these beings…”
“… picking on Akah?” Kinisis interrupted. “Quite simple. The Lanex were designed by Kenon, who gave them a lot of Voidborn traits.”
“They’re basically mini Voidborns…” Phovos sighed. “But seriously, Kinisis, are you REALLY considering doing this?”
Kinisis nodded. “Yes. Well, kinda. I just want to go in the general vicinity of where the signals originated from. Nothing too close or serious. Just to satisfy my curiosity.”
Phovos closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Fine. But the INSTANT we are in any sort of danger, we are going to get the fuck out of there immediately, alright?”
The Life Goddess beamed. “Of course, Phovos. You Guardians really know how to protect me…