The second Tenuk stepped outside, a massive, furry, clawed hand wrapped itself around his throat. Ct’Era, the heavily-built tank of flesh that she was, sneered as she lifted Tenuk off the ground
“You violated us.”
“I-I-I j-j-just wanted us all to be happy…”
“By violating our minds?”
“It was just dopamine…”
“Means nothing. You betrayed our trust.”
Tenuk tried to look to the others for help. Kohra and Levik were both lying on the floor, being checked on by Elkay. They were alive but clearly Ct’Era had gotten to them.
“I promise I won’t ever dare do it again…”
Ct’Era hissed some more, then smashed Tenuk into the ground. Tenuk was pretty sure he felt something snap in both his legs but he was too scared to scream. If he did, there was a chance it could drive the Banikan into a murderous frenzy.
“YOUR PROMISES MEAN NOTHING!” Ct’Era shrieked. She was about to slam Tenuk into the ground again when Elkay got in the way.
“Ct’Era, stop.”
“They deserve to be killed.”
“You broke his legs. That is punishment enough.”
The Banikan lifted Tenuk up again and inspected him. As she did so, Tenuk reverted back to his normal Kronospast form, his legs quivering, tears streaming from his eyes.
“I broke his legs. He could have broken my mind. He could have broken all our minds!”
Ct’Era hissed, then dropped Tenuk on top of his siblings. Behind them, everyone else was getting uneasy, not because they were worried about the Kronospasts but because Ct’Era was obviously getting a taste for blood. Thankfully, Phovos and Timik were on hand to pull Ct’Era away.
“You can always hand out more punishment later!” Timik falsely smiled, tugging at Ct’Era’s tail while Phovos nudged her to one side.
“We are not judge, jury and executioner, either of you!” Phovos snapped.
Ct’Era glared at Timik, then accepted, moving out the way so that the Skyavok could get the fallen Kronospasts out of the way. “Very well. I do not want to get too… angry anyway. Anger leads to hunger, after all.”
“If anything, we have gone too far…” Retvik sighed as he helped Psiksi and Kayen move the Kronospasts. Levik had passed out from the pain and Kohra was subconsciously groaning, but Tenuk was silently fuming in both anger and pain. “Phovos is right, we’re not jury or executioner. We are but judges. We have made our judgements.”
“You say that!” Elksia snarled, putting herself between Retvik and Tenuk. “He fucked with our minds. The three of them did. Goodness knows what else they did!”
“Physically abusing them will not change that.”
“Makes us feel better though!”
Suddenly, a door slammed open. In it stood the Thantophor. He didn’t look particularly happy.
“You all done yet?”
The mortals all stopped and looked at the Thantophor.
“Arkay…” Elksia was the first to speak. “They did mind things to us. Like you had happen to you.”
“I know. And I’m furious at Tenuk for doing that. He hurt your mind, you hurt his legs. Yes, it’s not fair. Yes it’s sucky and wrong and…” Arkadin sighed. “I know you’re all pissed off and I apologise. It’s my fault that you’re here. So why don’t you all take some time off?”
Everyone blinked.
“Time off?” Retvik asked.
“Yes.”
“We all get to go home?”
“For a day, yes.”
More confusion emanated from the mortals.
“Why?”
Arkadin shrugged. “You’re all stressed out and angry at each other and the worst thing I can do is force you to spend more time together.”
“Do you have the… authority to do that?” Phovos whispered.
The Thantophor growled. “I’m the fucking god of death, I can spend a day on my own without messing up. As long as most of you are back before Kinisis is here in the evening, just go and have fun. Chill out. Because you need to rest.”
The mortals all continued to blink in confusion. Arkadin sighed and snapped his fingers, teleporting everyone away apart from the three Kronospasts.
“You’re… not sending us away…” Tenuk grunted in pain.
“No, you three are going to the hospital.”
Arkadin snapped his fingers again and the Kronospasts disappeared. Once the coast was clear, Arkadin grinned and started taking his armour off.
“Ahhh, free at last…”