“WE’RE UNDER ATTA-”
Teekay’s telepathic message cut out as a storm of spears penetrated the hull of the Thantir Two, concentrated on the cockpit. This was followed by a crashing sound as a golden entity entered through the tattered hole where the cockpit’s main viewing pane used to be, a being that immediately turned to Seimeni, who was trying to take control of the ship and fly it out of the region. However, her attempts were quickly halted by the creature snapping its fingers, summoning a gold and white box which trapped Seimeni inside.
With the biggest threat on the ship dealt with, the being ran its claws across a console bringing the ship to a halt and doing as much electrical damage as possible, before turning its attention to the flames that were now running across its chest. Retvik was the first being on the scene, and had instantly attacked the creature, melting plates of its armour while being careful not to damage anything else.
“You must be Ahkron!” a voice hissed as toxic claws scratched across the creature’s back. The Voidborn reached forward and grabbed Retvik by the throat, throwing him into the nearest wall, before turning its attention to what appeared to be a second Life Goddess, one that had rather impressively disguised its scent.
“You would be correct, Kinisis!” Akhron smiled underneath his golden, antlered mask. “It find it interesting that you now serve a group of weak, errant Decay Lords.”
“I’m… not Kinisis…” The creature hesitated, before attacking Ahkron again with her claws. The Voidborn noticed that there was some sort of sedative in those attacks, causing Akhron to briefly slow down. Enough for a Time Drake to freeze time around him completely with a blast of icy breath. This would not last long though. Already, Ahkron was adapting to the Time Drake’s power, heating himself up and manipulating the sub-atomic particles around himself, breaking the Time Drake’s bonds.
“Um…” the Time Drake began to panic, doubly so as Ahkron became intangible, walked through the Time Drake’s body and calmly ripped its wings off, before kicking them down the hallway and turning his attention back to Kinisis.
“I was content on just adding the young universes in this sector to my collection, but you, Kinisis, we have a past. Something I must rectify. Where are your little universe, your dedicated little Voidborn and your pathetic little deities?”
“I have no idea who you are!” the Life Goddess hissed, rushing to the Time Drake’s side, biting her finger to make it bleed and using her blood to close the Time Drake’s wounds. “I’m not Kinisis! She’s dead!”
The being’s statement made Ahkron pause. However, he didn’t get a chance to get any answers as Retvik staggered back to his feet and pulled Ahkron away from not-Kinisis. Ahkron managed to break free, snapping Retvik’s arm in the process, before repeatedly smashing Retvik’s head into a nearby door frame. As Ahkron finished up with the fiery Decay Lord, he was swiftly attacked by three more heavily armoured beings. Relkir forced a gunstaff through Ahkron’s stomach as Tenuk, shapeshifted into a Rethavok, used stretched out arms to wrap around Akhron’s limbs, stopping him from fighting back. The Voidborn’s senses were suddenly clouded by Litvir’s telepathic prowess, forcing him to come to a standstill once more.
However, the Decay Lords had made a fundamental error. Ahkron tutted as he ejected his consciousness from his body and forced himself into the psionic Decay Lord’s mind. He immediately severed the telepathic link the ship’s occupants were using to communicate, before sending a sharp blade of psionic energy through the heads of everyone onboard. Unfortunately though, before Ahkron could finish them all off, Litvir regained enough control to cut Ahkron out, by plunging himself into unconsciousness and sealing his mind shut.
Returning to his own body, Ahkron inspected his surroundings again, removing the blade from his stomach. Retvik and Tenuk were both out cold, as was Elksia, the Time Drake. Relkir was still clinging on, his adapting powers keeping him awake. This did briefly impress Ahkron, and if he was the sort of Voidborn to keep slaves, this Decayling would have been a good prize, but Ahkron had no need for insignificant, living, breathing beings. At least, not beings as hideous as whatever race this adapting Decayling came from. Now, a young, attractive Life Goddess? Ahkron could have a… use for that.
A swift kick in the head took Relkir out from the battle, allowing Ahkron to focus on this being that certainly looked like Kinisis. A being who immediately tried to attack him again, somehow managing to rip off a plate of armour. Still, the stolen psionic attack had disorientated her, so she was barely a threat. Wrapping a golden claw around the weakened Life Goddess’s neck, Ahkron lifted the being into the air and tasted her scent. It turned out, she was telling the truth, she was far, far too young to have been Kinisis.
“What is your name, child?” Ahkron smiled, changing his tone. It had been a long, long time since he had met a Life Goddess with actual fighting spirit. He found it attractive, almost.
“Why do you want to know?” the creature spat. Ahkron tightened his grip, forcing them to answer. “M-my name is Phovos…”
“Hello, Phovos. You must clearly be Kinisis’s child. What happened to her, her Voidborn guardian and her other children?”
“I d-don’t know. I just know t-that they’re d-dead. Whole universe is dead. We’re just… what’s left…”
This statement pleased Ahkron more than it should have. Sure, it would have been nice to add the universe to his collection, ever since Kinisis’s Time Drake had destroyed part of it the last time they’d met, but a twisted universe being dead was good enough.
“Good. You though, I like you. Occasionally I take little Life Goddesses like you as wives, and I would like to make you that same offer.”
Phovos briefly tried to flail, a desperate bid to escape. “Not in a million years!” she spat, trying to free herself.
“A million years is not very long. Especially for me.”
“Not in a trillion years then! Why the fuck did you even attack us anyway? We’re just navigators, all we do is create maps!”
“Oh, no real reason!” Ahkron allowed himself a small laugh. “Decay Lords should remain where they belong, in Deathven or dead. Doubly so when they take advantage of pretty little Life Goddesses like yourself.”
“I joined them willingly, I don’t want to be a Life Goddess!”
Phovos’s statement shocked Ahkron for a moment, but he suddenly found himself very much amused. “A Life Goddess who doesn’t want to create constant, decaying cycles? You, my dear, have much more… wife potential than you think!”
“I’d rather fucking die than marry you.”
“That can also be arranged.”
Ahkron paused. He sensed the presence of another being, another telepath. Phovos rather abruptly passed out, her body going limp. Dropping the corpse, Ahkron turned around to face this new presence, summoning a golden spear, which he immediately plunged through the leg of the small, yellow and cream-armoured being that was standing behind him.
“We’re all dead, you can go now…” Eksi spluttered, not even trying to hide his pain.
“You are not dead.”
“Will be in a moment.”
The ancient Voidborn smiled with unwarranted satisfaction, before vanishing. “Very well. Rest in peace, little one.”
Nothing happened at first. Eksi waited a couple of seconds, before awkwardly removing the spear from his limb. As he did so, consciousness started returning to his crew mates, starting with Phovos and Litvir. Phovos staggered to her feet and immediately rushed to Eksi’s side, holding him tightly, before biting her finger and letting her blood fall onto his injury, slowly healing it.
“You guys alright?” Eksi asked, feeling better already. Tenuk and Relkir both started to move, and Relkir went to check on Retvik, who was slumped in a heap, one eye open, the other closed. However Litvir remained silent and made his way to the remains of the cockpit.
“Phovos, I need you here, right now!”
Litvir’s voice was uneasy as he started pulling on a colossal blade that was embedded in Galyn’s chest. The elder Decay Lord was barely responsive, and Litvir was only picking up the faintest of brain signals. To his right, Teekay was slowly waking up, panicking slightly as he realized his arm had been skewered to the chair he was sitting in.
Phovos appeared in the doorway and froze briefly. It took a moment for her senses to kick back in, and she helped Litvir remove the golden blade. She then took some more of her own blood, pouring it across the gaping wound. Litvir removed his stomach wrap and bundled it up, applying pressure on the wound in an attempt to slow down the bleeding, before using his cape as a bandage to hold everything in place.
After telling Phovos to keep the pressure, Litvir darted off back down the main hallway, stepping around and over his crew, making his way to the medical bay. On the wall to his left was a large cupboard filled with pink syringes. Litvir grabbed a handful and rushed off again, back to the cockpit. He quickly opened three syringes and injecting them into Galyn’s arm.
“What are those?” Phovos asked.
“Stabilizers…” Litvir grunted as he raised his hand and suddenly realized his telekinesis wasn’t working. Instead, he turned to Teekay, who now seemed oddly calm as he had removed the spear sticking out from his arm, took one syringe and injected it into Teekay’s neck.
“Ow.”
“You are fine…” Litvir turned back to Phovos, as well as Tenuk and Relkir, who were standing in the doorway. He did a quick headcount and realized someone was missing, before noticing the white and gold cube lying on the ground in front of Teekay. He could only just detect Seimeni’s mind inside the box, but saw no way of opening it.
Worse, Litvir noticed how cold the ship was. The Thantir Two’s support systems were offline, meaning no heating, unrecycled air and most likely destroyed comms and security as well.
“What do we do now?”
“We get back on our feet…” Litvir sighed, knowing he had to take charge. “Since we do not have Seimeni’s normal instant healing capabilities, Phovos, you will have to deal with that. Get Elksia, Eksi and Teekay to the medical bay and patch them up. Relkir and I will move Galyn to his personal quarters, where, hopefully, he should form one of his protective healing cocoons and eventually wake up. Tenuk, I want you to help Phovos get Retvik’s arm fixed, then close him in his bedroom until he gets over the concussion he currently has. After that, I want you and Teekay back here, getting the ship repaired, while I will try and send out signals on every frequency we can muster, to warn anyone we can about that Voidborn. We all clear?”
Everyone nodded. Litvir tutted, dismissing everyone, before he and Relkir started lifting the still comatose elder Decay Lord from his current resting place.
“We are lucky to be alive, you know.” Relkir whispered as they worked.
Litvir grunted in agreement. “Yes, we are…”