“What do you think you are doing?”
It turned out, not all of the Golden Protectors had been destroyed. Some of them were scouts, located far, far away from the main cult, when the universe they had singled out had gone nuclear, taking out the Lord of Blessed Gold and his Golden Warriors with it. Phanokason was one of those Golden Protector scouts, and after having lost connection to his cult, he wanted to find out what had happened. But he had been a long, long distance away, deep within what the locals called Kentarasa. And somehow, as he returned to the Golden Protectors’ main territory, the entire sector was completely different. Empty almost. And no longer under the control of Voidborns or Life Goddesses.
So Phanokason had headed to the one place that stood out, a Life Goddess oasis with an odd scent to it. And, upon finding out that the Golden Protectors were dead, he had immediately lashed out at the Mother-like weirdly masculine Life Goddess and the red-plated, weird-smelling creature guarding it.
But before Phanokason could go on a righteous rampage and start destroying stuff, as he threw the red guardian creature to the ground, Phanokason found himself unable to move.
The cause of that inability to move was approaching. It looked like the weird-smelling creature, same shape, but it was clearly just a standard Decayon, right?
Well, maybe not. Phanokason could no longer move.
“What do you think you are doing?” the angry being repeated.
“I… I am… getting revenge, I think?” Phanokason answered. “I am a Golden Protector. The Golden Protectors are no more. I need to find out why and then maybe avenge them… But…”
Phanokason’s words were abruptly paused by icy white and blue chains appearing out of nowhere. They wrapped themselves around Phanokason’s body while the angry creature approached.
“Well maybe you should reconsider that!”
The chains tightened. But they were also hideously cold. Or were they warm? While Phanokason was a Voidborn, he was a hollow metal shell mostly, but the chains felt like they were burning that plating. The chains were in fact slowly cutting through Phanokason’s body via friction.
“I… I already… I already am…”
Phanokason realised he wasn’t winning this fight. He made himself incorporeal and phased through the chains, before swiftly backing off and kicking himself up into the air. The white-plated being though decided they weren’t done and summoned a new tendril of energy, one that failed to wrap around Phanokason but instead passed straight through his head before disappearing.
All of a sudden, Phanokason froze in his tracks. The armoured being floated up to meet them.
“You made a mistake coming here. You hurt him.”
Phanokason shuddered. This being wasn’t too large. Definitely not as tall as Phanokason or most Voidborns in general. But Phanokason could feel a wall of wild anger bubbling beneath the mind of this being. More worryingly though, the being was in his head. It was a Psion. A very powerful one.
“What are you doing?” Phanokason asked.
“I am going to hurt you.”
“Why?”
“Because you hurt him!”
“Fair. Before you hurt me though, who are you?”
The creature snarled. “My name is Kuta, you hurt my beloved partner, and I am going to be the last thing you ever see! I am going to tear you apart! Tear you down until you cannot respawn!”
Phanokason blinked. “You are going to kill me, because I pushed over your partner?”
“Yes.”
The Voidborn paused, suddenly realising something. The absurdity of that statement. This armoured being was willing to utterly destroy him just because he had briefly hurt someone. But at the same time, Phanokason was there to hurt people for minor offences. Really, he and Kuta were no different. Angry monsters lashing out over minor things.
In a split second, Phanokason did something that few Golden Protectors ever got a chance to do. He had realised he was wrong. It took a risk to his own existence for him to realise this, but he had realised nonetheless.
“Well… I am sorry.”
“I do not care! I am still going to-”
Kuta froze. There was a new presence. A purple glimmer.
“Kuta, you are not thinking straight. Retvik is fine. He is on his feet and he is worried about you.”
The purple glimmer turned into something more visible. Another similar being, but in purple and black. But it wasn’t truly present, it was a ghostly presence.
“This monster hurt him!” Kuta growled, rage burning in their eyes.
“I know, I know. But you are normally above the death penalty. Punish the Voidborn yes, but you do not like killing.”
Kuta took a deep breath, then settled down but didn’t say much else. The purple creature turned to Phanokason then snapped its fingers in front of his face.
“You see the error of your ways. You will go on to do only good. Lest I unleash Kuta’s rage upon you once more.”
Phanokason immediately nodded, silently agreeing to the phantasm’s demand, then, as soon as he could move again, he flew off, disappearing into he darkness.
Kuta though was still quiet.
“Litvir… You… you stopped me…”
“I did yes. You are going Defensive Stance. I felt your anger and wanted to step in before you did something you would regret.”
Kuta rubbed their eyes, hiding tears. “I… you… you were always right. I am uncontrollable.”
“No, you are not. You are just hurting right now. Your adrenaline is spiking. Everyone has moments where they lose control, but we learn to stop ourselves and we learn to help others. Now, go back to Retvik and give him a hug. He is worried about you.”
After a moment, Kuta settled down properly. “You are right, Litvir.”
“Of course I am. Kuta, my dear, remember: whenever you may turn, I will be there, to pull you back. I broke that promise once and abandoned you. I will not do so again.”
“Thank you.”
Litvir wanted to pat Kuta on the shoulder, but as far as everyone else was concerned, Kuta was on their own, only Kuta could see Litvir’s ghostly form and hear his psionic voice. So instead, Litvir made some little purple sparkles.
“Go on. Go back to Ret. He wants to look after you.”
“I will…”
Litvir’s presence faded away. With a sigh, Kuta headed back down to solid ground, where they were immediately hugged by Ret.
“Kuta! You are alright, we are safe, you do not need to go Defensive Stance!”
Kuta hugged Ret back, those bubbles of rage fading away completely. “I know, I know… I love you, Ret. We are safe now…”