“Thank the Light, you are back!”
Retvik didn’t expect Litvir to immediately jump at him and hug him tightly, but that was exactly what Litvir did. Most old-universe Rethans wouldn’t dare so openly hug each other or even so blatantly show brighter emotions, but Litvir had always been an odd, overly emotional Rethan, so this wasn’t too out of character for him.
“Hello, dear, I take it things were… not great?” Retvik asked as he wriggled free, then patted Litvir on the shoulder.
Litvir shrugged. He put an arm around Retvik and walked him to the open-air canteen, ignoring the large boxes of goodies and the teleporter pod in the middle of the main area. Savepoint was relatively quiet, main operations had shut down an hour ago and half the Thantir were currently asleep. Those who were awake were either on guard patrol or chilling out and having something to eat.
“Actually, things were mostly fine, apart from another rather traumatic removal of an Unending Ancient One strain thing, someone accidentally dropping a ship on Elkay and the fact that we had to purify something that the younglings thought was a Walkymon. I have no idea what that is, even after Akah explained popular video game characters to me. Either way, I am happy to have you back. Doubly so since Arkay sent me a message, calling you a bastard, and had me worried sick!”
“Um… What do you mean, someone dropped a ship on Elkay?”
“Ah, it was nothing. Teekay was helping repair a ship. One of the ship’s supports broke, ELkay teleported Teekay to safety but did not teleport himself in time. But Elkay is as unkillable as always!” Litvir snorted. He sat Retvik down, and they were immediately greeted by Galyn, Vikalos and Koh.
“Retvik! Welcome home!” Vikalos waved. “How was it?”
“Was interesting. I had no idea you were so highly ranked among the Justar, Vikalos.”
“Ah…” Vikalos’s face fell a bit. “You met one of the Claws of Justice…”
“Psionic Beh’evok leading sects seems to be rather common around here!” Retvik smiled a little. Litvir handed him a fresh bottle of mead and sat down next to him, a little too close. “But yes, Erin was perfectly courteous with me, and, apparently, after Deathven screwed over the old Thantir, they screwed over the Justar too and they had to restructure. Erin actually said you were “welcome home” if you wanted to go back to the Justar. I assume though you are perfectly happy here.”
Vikalos grunted. “You would be right, yes. The Thantir are my home, friends and family. Working for the Justar, it was nothing but work and professional friendliness. Did you meet anyone else interesting? You saw Psehon, our Phantai friend, I assume.”
Retvik nodded. “I did, yes. I also met the leaders of the Alsyr, the Nuvox, the Kshana, the Aniko and the Ekthris. And, of course, I met the Doom Drums and the majority of the Pentathax. Most of them seem to either be dragons or elemental beings wrapped up in inorganic shells. Quite curious.”
“Who… I have heard of all of those apart from the Ekthris… The Nuvox and the Kshana aid the Divine Guardian colleges in the Matanesian Void, the Aniko are a sect that the Justar occasionally talk to and the Alsyr, they are somewhat similar to the Justar except more mobile, but the Ekthris are new to me…” Vikalos muttered. “Who are they?”
“They are a reasonably new sect founded about five year-strings ago.”
“Oh, so they are VERY new!” Galyn exclaimed. “No wonder we haven’t heard of them.”
“Indeed. They are a Corruption-purging sect that works on the edges of the Alsyrian Sea, in the Kentarasa Pentacluster. Also, one of their leaders is a Kronospast who spends their time shapeshifted into a blue, four-eyed Beh’evok and knew Arkay as a mortal.”
“The same way Kaytee does?” Litvir blinked.
“Better than Kaytee, I believe. Also his name was… uh… He called himself Tahnaiious, but he also changed his name to Tenuk at some point, before going back to his original name when he became a Decay Lord,” Retvik explained further. “It turns out, what Telecharm told us is all correct, Kinisis’s previous universe, the one Arkay was mortal in, she left it to die to Corruption, let everyone die then plucked Kairos and Arkay from the remains to build a new universe with them as slaves. Tahnaiious said that he was one of the last few beings to flee, and hardly anyone else made it.”
“Huh…” Litvir stared at the floor, before looking up at Retvik. “So, speaking of Arkay, why did he message me, calling you a bastard?”
Retvik hesitated. “Um… Well… The abandoned fortress the Pentathax had taken over, it got attacked by some, uh, smart Corruption. Corruption that knew to attack anyone with fire powers. Arkay, uh, saved me. Again. And apparently I ruined his Wards and Wyverns session with his mortal friends.”
Galyn and Vikalos blinked and Litvir rolled his eyes. But Koh, who had been listening in and not saying much, seemed to just shrug.
“Huh, neat. Explains what Elkay did the other day when he accidentally saved Teekay. I wonder if all Amalgam Mimics bind themselves via a promise to the people they love, forming a symbiotic relationship? The promised gets protection from harm, the promiser gets some level of mental and physical stability. Might also explain how that Helkas guy who keeps on coming back here to be fixed up keeps on surviving all these accidents, because he made a promise to Syklas and her universe or something.”
Vikalos grunted. “I don’t think so. Helkas is a universe-bound deity with a caring Life Goddess. The rules are different.”
“Arkay is universe-bound and he saved Retvik!” Koh countered. “Helkas might be some sort of Amalgam Mimic as well. Elkay seems to pick something up every time Helkas and Syklas come by, Helkas has that same slightly Skyavok-y look to him, he can survive being outside his universe better than most AND Syklas apparently knew Kinisis better than most, because they were sisters, to the point that Syklas hinted that she and Kinisis shared information. Sure, it’s not concrete evidence, but we found two Amalgam Mimics, both connected to Kinisis, a third isn’t out of the question.”
Not really having a counter-argument, Vikalos relented. “I guess. Still, I bloody well hope Deathven Proper doesn’t hear about that poor blighter. And, should Syklas’s universe come to an end, hopefully we will be able to pick Helkas up and give him a good home here…” Vikalos trailed off briefly. “Is Wards and Wyverns Arkay’s in-universe version of Traps and Thraki?”
Retvik nodded. “I assume so. Not really my cup of tea though.”
“I quite enjoyed the sessions we did as Decaylings!” Litvir smiled. “Maybe it is something worth revisiting… Actually, I take that back, I do not want to get Akah obsessed with something even more nerdy than his video games. Anyway, did you bring back any goodies, Retvik? I see there are some boxes we left over there.”
“Oh, I have some great news!” Retvik grinned. “Litvir, you remember when you, Arkay and I went inside that strange lump thing as Decaylings?”
“Was that the time where we got attacked by Voidborns, your old Time Drake Kairos trapped us in a time loop, and Litvir forced us all, Decay Lord and Voidborn alike, to experience an intense orgasm while Galyn killed the Voidborns?” Vikalos asked. Koh stared at Vikalos, but as he glanced at Galyn, he realized the elder Decay Lord wasn’t lying.
Litvir nodded. “We had those cool force field suits that we have not been able to find since.”
“Well, the Pentathax gave me fifty of them. And they are going to speak to their contacts, to see if we can get a machine that makes more of them.”
Galyn’s eyes lit up briefly, but that joy was quickly replaced with a long sigh. “Those omnishell packagers are very expensive. Pretty sure the one we had cost few million, uh, Deathvenbucks. Itaviir, Vikalos and I saved up for a LONG time to get one for the Thantir One and it upsets me that Deathven confiscated our flagship.”
“It’s alright!” Koh clicked as he patted Galyn on the knee. “Let us six save up a little bit, let us get properly settled down and established, and we could probably get one in time.”
“You have spent enough as it is, Koh. You and your siblings have been far too kind…” Galyn grunted. “We cannot rely on you constantly.”
“Yes, but you Thantir are now embracing and helping us with our duties in ways we could never imagine. All of this, having an entire sect working towards our goals of actually helping others and curing them of infections rather than killing them, and the fact that the Thantir look after us and took us in rather than pushing us aside like the Justar and the Phantai did? We WANT to help. Like Tah said the other day, you’re our nest now, and if an omnishell packager will protect you all? We’ll work towards it. And also, it’ll be helpful for us as well. Saves Pah from washing us down with plasma after an operation.”
Galyn smiled and patted Koh on the head. “You six are the best.”
“We are the best!” Vikalos corrected his partner. “We are making a name for ourselves. And Retvik went and put our name on the map. Again.”
Retvik nodded in agreement. “We are the best, yes. However, I am a tad dizzy and want to relax a little. Can we do that?”
“Of course, dear!” Litvir grinned as he nuzzled up to Retvik. “Good to have you back, Retvik.”
“It is good to BE back!” Retvik smiled as he raised his bottle of mead. “Cheers.”