Their request had been odd, but considering how the remaining members of the L-Class Ksa had treated him lately, Psivee-En had no choice but to do as they asked. Behind him was a heavy, stone door, held shut with a pile of equally heavy rocks. Behind that door were the five Ksa, all meditating in silence, sealed within a cold, otherwise empty room.
Why they were doing this, Psivee-En wasn’t sure. Kayel had explained it to him several times, but he just didn’t understand. From what he gathered, they were doing something with their minds, something like creating a backup of their personalities and memories or something. It was clearly an ability the Ksa possessed, but he’d never heard Kayel mention it before. If anything, he was surprised Kayel hadn’t used this ‘burying oneself’ technique in the past. There were plenty of times where he could have needed that. Times when he should have, but he didn’t. Perhaps it just wasn’t as simple as Psivee-En imagined.
Either way, they were doing it all now.
Perhaps Psivee-En should have been preparing himself. After all, this ritual had the potential to turn them all into something bigger. But at the same time, there was a chance that the ritual could turn them into mindless predators, constantly craving for their next meal. The chance was small, small enough for the others not to worry about. Certainly small enough for Kayel to have left that detail out.
But the worry was there.
What if something went wrong? What if-
Psivee-En calmed himself down. He was in good hands. The Ksa were currently in good hands too. He was protecting them. Just needed to wait for them to knock on the door so he could let them out. A quick, panicked thought of whether they had air in there or not flashed though his mind, but then Psivee-En remembered that there was an open window in there. Just a small crack, to let the breeze in.
After a moment of silence, Psivee-En’s mind wandered back to the ritual. The problem was, even if they were successful and they were all healed, they had no idea how they’d look. They were basically combining the genetics of several types of Panvok that could all interbreed anyway, but what if something messed up? What if he ended up being more Rethan than Trehan?
That thought bothered him at first. But slowly Psivee-En realised that it didn’t matter. There would be no more Trehans. He couldn’t have any more kids. He was… neutered. Chemically sterilized. He deserved that. Not that it would have mattered anyway, the one kid he did have was no longer among the living, and even if Psivee-En ended up with grandkids, they would have been more Rethan than Trehan anyway.
With a sigh, Psivee-En reached for a couple of smaller rocks. One flat one, one sharp one. With the sharp stone, he started scratching into the flat one, carving letters and numbers into the surface. But as he did so, he could hear a faint knocking.
“Are you done?” Psivee-En shouted.
“Yes, we’re done!” Zitel answered from the other side.
They sounded tired. Psivee-En quickly started moving rocks away and opened the door for them. One by one, the Ksa stumbled out, half awake, looking exhausted.
The last Ksa to leave was Kayel, who looked only slightly less exhausted than the others. Psivee-En closed the door then went back to scratching into his rock, while Kayel leaned against the wall.
“You look knackered.”
“I am,” Kayel smiled weakly. “But we buried our parts. Shouldn’t need them or anything, but it’s always good to back things up. Kinda wish everyone could do that, but it’s very hard on the mind…” Kayel glanced at the rocks that Psivee-En was messing around with. “What are you doing?”
Psivee-En sighed. “I’m making a gravestone.”
“What for?”
“The last Trehan,” Psivee-En smiled. “After all, come Friday, the Trehavok will be extinct. And we’ll be a new race…”