The third observatory on the Thantir Two was weirdly small and, more weirdly, very rarely used. Since most of the ship was now empty and free from more bossy Decay Lords, Litvir and Retvik were now sitting around in the third observatory, wondering why it had been locked the entire time. As far as they were aware though, the room was… mostly empty. Like the other observatories, there was a large, glass window used for staring out into the abyss. But there were no chairs or tables in here, just a bunch of cushions.
However, those cushions were really comfortable, so the two fledgling Decay Lords were quite happy to sit down and chill for a bit. Especially since they were only at the start of a long journey through the Periuniversal Void.
As time passed however, neither Decay Lord really spoke to each other. They just had questions welling up in their minds but never actually said them out loud. It took far too long for either of them to break the silence, and Retvik decided to do so with an odd question.
“Litvir, why are you, uh, so much more… normal now?”
Litvir grunted as he sat up, struggling to find a comfortable spot. “What do you mean?”
“Well…” Retvik stuttered, not sure how to put his next few sentences politely. “You used to be a massive asshole. Murderous, selfish, narcissistic. You would sacrifice anyone to save yourself and the only value others had was how much they could benefit you. The perfect example of a villain in a cartoon show aimed at younglings. Now though, you seem like a normal Rethan, somehow even picking up some selflessness from somewhere. You have almost completely changed. My question is, how and why?”
“Hm…”
Litvir pondered Retvik’s words, not at all offended at how Retvik had phrased his question. After all, every single word was accurate. As a mortal, Litvir had been a horrific being, taking advantage of the less well off and using them to enrich himself. All in the name of science though, as Litvir used broken Rethans to try and find a path to immortality. Now that Litvir was an immortal being, he had changed. But his changes weren’t completely because of his immortality.
“Well?”
“It is hard to say, if I am honest…” Litvir grumbled. “Of course, partially solving my biggest fear, my fear of dying, has helped quite a lot. The fact that I cannot wither and die has lifted a huge weight off my chest. But… that is not the entire truth.”
“What is the truth then?” Retvik asked.
Litvir sighed. “I would have liked to say that you and Trismit, working together to free my sibling and murdering me, was a catalyst for my change. It was not. You simply forced Kutah and myself to swap places, but his battered, unhealthy body have up almost instantly, while I became trapped in my own digital landscapes.”
“The fact that Trismit and I defeated you did nothing?”
“If anything, it made me want to take revenge. When I realised I was stuck with no physical form, I did spend a couple of days trying to cause some sort of catastrophe, until I realised I was trapped inside an intranet with no connection to the external world.”
“So what made you change?”
Litvir sighed. “When the Void Lord discovered me, he did… something… that messed up how my brain is wired. His alterations of the digital landscape I was in broke me and changed my personality. I simply did not realise the extent of these changes until I woke up as a Decayling.”
“Huh…” Retvik trailed off, mostly satisfied with Litvir’s answer. “And what did you want to ask of me, Litvir?”
Litvir didn’t answer. Something had caught his attention. A flash of light, in the corner of his eye. Retvik seemed to have noticed it as well.
“Did you see that?”
“I did…” Retvik grunted, picking himself up. “We should report this to Galyn immediately…”