Deathbringer: Hey guys, you two alright? It’s rare to see you online, Retvik.
Flamebearer: Considering what is going on, I felt like I needed to hear a friendly voice. Or at least read one.
Deathbringer: Fair enough. Is everything alright?
Souldrainer: No. Something possessed Galyn, made him attack us to the point of nearly murdering everyone on board, then whatever possessed Galyn then took over Seimeni’s body, before making her brutally stab me in the chest.
Flamebearer: Seimeni then fled, and we do not know where she has gone. But Litvir and I believe she was possessed by Kinisis, and that she is heading your way.
Deathbringer: Considering I apparently killed Kinisis, she doesn’t seem to like staying dead.
Souldrainer: Not at all. While everyone is alive, we are planning on leaving the sector and meeting with another Decay Lord sect. Galyn is unfit to lead, he handed leadership to us and we do not know what to do. Also, I have a burning desire to know what Kinisis/Seimeni said to me before she stabbed me.
Deathbringer: Do you have a recording?
Souldrainer: I only have a transcribed memory. For reasons unknown, most of our collective memories of the event are scrambled. Eksi managed to pull something out of my mind, enough for me to write it down. I shall send it as an attachment.
Souldrainer has sent an attachment – transcribed_memory.txt
Deathbringer: Alright, one sec.
Deathbringer is offline.
Flamebearer: Arkay? You have been gone a while.
Deathbringer is online.
Deathbringer: Sorry about that. Had to get a second opinion.
Souldrainer: So, what did Seimeni say to me?
Deathbringer: I’ll be honest, it’s a little hard to translate since it’s transcribed. Also I thought it was Theoglossa but Sini and I both agree that it’s kinda not.
Flamebearer: Sini?
Deathbringer: Uh, Yisini shortened her name. She also kinda found out I’ve been talking to you two, but when I admitted to her that I loved you both, she seemed weirdly overly fine about it. But I asked her what Seimeni said to you, Litvir, and we both agree that it’s Theoglossa but it’s corrupted. Like, Corruption-corrupted.
Flamebearer: You mean actual corruption?
Deathbringer: Yeah. You’re with Kal, right? Get them to check you all out. And themselves. And, like everyone.
Souldrainer: We already had Kal check us over, once they welded themselves back together. Galyn literally tore them apart. Sliced through us as well. But what did Seimeni say?
Deathbringer: Wow, you guys are having it bad.
Deathbringer: Alright, so, rough translation: “Thank you, my little Litvir, but you are too late. This female form is better for me. However, little friend, tell me the truth. You let my daughter kill me, didn’t you, yes? Don’t worry, I’ll leave you alive, you let me see from your eyes. I cannot say the same about my children.”
Deathbringer: I should point out, Sini is fucking terrified and Kairos is fucking furious. We haven’t told Epani yet and I have no idea how she’s going to react, but I’ve been doing non-stop patrols since you last messaged me.
Flamebearer: Do you want us to come back to your universe and help you?
Deathbringer: You could but there’s kinda fuck all you two can do. Kinisis tore you apart but left you alive on purpose, she’ll just tear you apart again but kill you this time. Plus, if you step foot into our universe, you’ll lose your divinity and turn back into plain old normal Rethans.
Deathbringer: Currently, that’s the only thing that I think will protect us. Our universal rules state that only the four of us can hold divine power, so anything that breaks in is automatically weakened and no longer immortal like we are.
Flamebearer: So you do not want us to come and help you? Because I do feel we are to blame for this.
Deathbringer: How the fuck were you to know? I fucking murdered Kinisis and she’s…
Souldrainer: She is not?
Deathbringer: Did I accidentally turn her into a Corruption?
Flamebearer: Is that even possible?
Deathbringer: I don’t know. And I kinda need to go. Need to find a way to gently break this to Epani without her losing her mind because I’ve been talking to you two.
Souldrainer: She is hiding something from you, Arkay.
Deathbringer: Yeah, probably. You both know I have a lot of missing memories. I’ll speak to you later.
Flamebearer: Stay safe, Arkay.
Deathbringer: Will do. Love you guys.
Souldrainer: Love you too, Arkay.
Deathbringer is offline.
…
Leafblade: Hello.
Shatterblade: Where the fuck have you been?
Leafblade: I have been busy.
Firestorm: Too busy to check in and tell us you are alive? It took little Flamebearer to get in touch with me and let us know you still existed!
Leafblade: I am sorry.
Shatterblade: Shove your apology down your own damn throat. You fucking abused our emotions. We are supposed to be a Trio, Galyn, and you hurt us.
Shatterblade: What the fuck happened? The last time you messaged me was to invite us to that stupid Life Oasis you set up on, and then you went silent!
Firestorm: And you did not tell us that you were in contact with tiny little Deathbringer, who we all assumed had disappeared and either been kidnapped or killed!
Leafblade: I know. Again, I am sorry. I have not been able to think straight for months. Kinisis was using me. I was not aware of my own actions.
Shatterlord: You… fell for a Life Goddess?
Leafblade: Yes. I let my base desires get ahead of me, and Kinisis took advantage of my emotions. And when I thought I was finally free to think again, she took over my mind and my body and drove me insane. To the point that I attacked everyone on the Thantir Two.
Shatterlord: What are you doing now?
Leafblade: Retvik allowed me to have a conversation with you both, to explain my actions and apologise for what I have done. I am currently welded to the wall of the cargo bay using a voice-to-text processor to message you.
Firestorm: Why are you welded to a wall?
Leafblade: Like I said, I was possessed and I attacked my own crew. Kal have been unable to completely remove all traces of Life Goddess influence from my mind, and, for the safety for everyone on board, I am being constrained and am under constant surveillance. Mostly by Relkir, who worries me the same way Arkay did.
Shatterlord: Who is Relkir?
Leafblade: One of Kinisis’s former Divine Guardians. Now training as a Decayling. Also apparently genetically related to Retvik…
Leafblade: I should clarify, Kinisis had twelve Divine Guardians. Half of whom survived when Kinisis was killed. I believe she hid a part of herself inside each of them as some sort of fail-safe mechanism in case she was harmed, those pieces… got out and… entered me.
Firestorm: Are you hurt?
Leafblade: Yes. But I will heal. In all honesty though, I do not wish to heal. I wish to no longer be conscious. In my agony, I asked Litvir and Retvik to kill me, and they refused. They are taking me to the Phantai.
Firestorm: How long have you been possessed for?
Leafblade: I do not know. I fear that Kinisis planted seeds of corruption in my mind when I first set foot on her damn Life Oasis.
Shatterblade: Vikalos, what are you suggesting?
Firestorm: Maybe that Life Goddess is why Galyn has not been in touch. After all, we all know how… infectious Life Goddesses can be. And we both have met this Kinisis being before…
Shatterblade: Are you really suggesting forgiveness after Galyn has not contacted us in 16 evs? Especially after he abandoned us for those three damn fledging Decay Lords?
Leafblade: They needed our help. You abandoned them.
Shatterblade: We could have raised them in Deathven together.
Leafblade: They would have taken Arkay away from us.
Firestorm: You sent Arkay to me anyway. You also sent Kalis and Letharus to me but they have both turned themselves around.
Leafblade: I apologise about Arkay. His… siblings have forced him into being an intra-universal deity again.
Firestorm: A shame. She was turning her life around. She did have a relationship and a messy breakup but she was doing well until her siblings interfered.
Leafblade: Either way, I will blatantly admit, I have, as Litvir would put it, fucked up majorly, and repeatedly. You deserve better. I should have been better. And I have no idea what the Phantai are going to do to me. But in all honesty, I have betrayed everyone’s trust, I have ruined multiple lives and I feel I do not deserve to be conscious any more.
Shatterblade: That… is going a little far, Galyn. Yes, I am furious with both you and your behaviour as of late, but death is too much.
Firestorm: I think we should go back.
Shatterblade: Wait, what?
Leafblade: Vikalos, what are you suggesting?
Firestorm: While I understand our little Decaylings turning to the Phantai for assistance, I honestly do not want the Thantir to disappear.
Leafblade: To be fair, apparently Kal suggested it to Retvik and Litvir and they both agreed. Kal are… a little angry at me.
Firestorm: What the fuck did you do to Kal for them to be angry at you? Aside from us not helping them acquire new bodies?
Leafblade: I invited them to join the Thantir, they accepted, then I was possessed and… broke them. They have fixed themselves, but I feel genuinely awful about it. I feel awful about literally everything I have done in the last few months. Even though I have spent the last few weeks unconscious after the ancient Voidborn Ahkron attacked us.
Shatterblade: You were attacked by fucking Ahkron? The one Voidborn the Phantai could never keep down?
Leafblade: Yes.
Shatterblade: We are coming back. You need help.
Leafblade: It is a little late for help.
Leafblade: Uh, Litvir has just come to check on me and make sure his telepathic bolt is holding. Apparently Ahkron is dead.
Leafblade: Also, somehow, Litvir and Retvik have managed to establish a new connection with their Lost Third.
Leafblade: And somehow it was Arkay who killed Ahkron.
Shatterblade: … The fuck?
Shatterblade: How?
Firestorm: Literally one of the first things Retvik and Arkay did as Decaylings was blow up a Voidborn mothership, alongside a Time Drake and a Divine Guardian.
Shatterblade: True. But still…
Leafblade: Apparently some sort of anti-Voidborn law within the universe. Litvir is not 100% sure either. I would be angry at them both for not telling me that they were communicating with an intra-universal deity but in all honesty, I am insanely impressed with them both.
Shatterblade: Either way, we are coming back to assist you. As much as I respect our little Decay Lords’ decision, I do not want the Phantai to swallow them up. The only problem is, it will take at least two evs for us to reach you.
Leafblade: I will…
Leafblade: Litvir is not happy with that.
Shatterblade: You have not even spoken to him.
Leafblade: He is standing right here.
Shatterblade: We are coming either way. They can remain in charge, I just wish to advise them in person.
Leafblade: I shall discuss this with them both, and I shall discuss it with Kal as well, since I made them Thantir as well.
Leafblade: I, uh, must leave now. Litvir wishes to check my mind for something.
Firestorm: Stay safe, and please do not be a fucking idiot. We want messages from you at least every 20 hours. More regularly if possible.
Leafblade: Very well. So long.
Leafblade is now offline.