“So is this a new Thantir Tradition now?” Itaviir asked as Vikalos dragged him, Galyn, Retvik, Litvir, Kaytee and the Thantir Eight (as they were calling themselves) into the large, cheap, fast food burger restaurant at the back of the mall.
“Yep.”
“You… know that, four hours ago, I treated you and Galyn to a nice meal, yes?” Itaviir asked some more.
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Firstly, I want to make sure everyone is well-fed before we start our somewhat long journey through the Goldtorn Remains to our new home on the edge of the Kinigian Wilderness. Secondly, I like cheap burgers. And so does Galyn.”
“Please do not drag me into this…” Galyn muttered. “Just let Vikalos buy everyone a vast amount of burgers.”
Itaviir relented, then let Vikalos push him into a booth in the corner. He then shoved Galyn next to him. Kaytee and the Thantir Eight sat all together on their own, but Itaviir was somewhat surprised that Retvik and Litvir had chosen to sit with the Tattered navigators while Vikalos went off to order.
“Did you do this last time you were here?” Itaviir asked. He was full of questions.
“Well, last time, Retvik and I sat separately!” Litvir smiled. “But Vikalos wanted to sit the adults and the kids separately. While yes, Retvik and I are technically in charge now, you three are still our mentors and advisors.”
Retvik snorted. “You call them kids, half of them are older than us.”
Itaviir glanced over to the table where the former Decaylings were sitting and chatting. He was trying to work out which of them were older, but he quickly gave up and decided to ask. “So, hm, which of them is the oldest? I would assume Phovos, as she is a Life Goddess.”
“Tenuk is slightly older, but he IS a Kronospast, they were a very long-lived species,” Retvik began to explain. “Phovos is only ancient because she is a Life Goddess. We originally thought it was the other way around, we thought Akah was older than Tahvra, but due to how Tahvra regenerates when he… dies, he is technically about 500 years old, but is currently about 45 years old? We are not certain. Akah is about 300 years old, he does not know himself. Old for a Lanex, from what we can tell, but, like Phovos and Tahvra, he regenerates and de-ages whenever he takes a fatal injury.”
“Well, they used to…” Litvir added. “We do not really know if their Kinisis-given mortal protections are overriden by Kinisis making them into Divine Guardians.”
“I think what bothers me more is just how powerful Eksi is, but he seems incredibly young!” Itaviir exclaimed. “That tiny thing has not even lived for 30 year-strings yet he outshines you, Litvir.”
“You sell Litvir short!” Vikalos beamed as he returned with far, far too much food. “You didn’t see how effortlessly Litvir just waltzed through all of Deathven Sector Alpha’s anti-psionic security when we went to save Elkay. Speaking of which, I do have a couple of questions about Elkay that I do no want to trouble him with right now.”
“Yes but…” Itaviir had far too many questions, and the appearance of 30 small burgers and a large blue milkshake in front of him didn’t shut him up. “Why IS Eksi so damn powerful?”
“Probably because Sini made him into a deity…” Litvir shrugged. This got an odd look from Retvik.
“I thought-”
“Kinisis and Kairos are the reason why the majority of us who were uplifted to fight the Golden Armies are as we are, why you and I are deities, and why Elksia was made into a Time Drake afterwards…” Litvir explained. “The majority of us though, we were sent back to live mortal lives. Eksi was one of them. But when he was given his divinity back to work at the stupid oasis, that power was given to him by Sini. Who, at the time, was maintaining both life and death within that old universe. And, according to Arkay, also happens to be some sort of hybrid.”
Itaviir raised a finger, then glanced at Vikalos, who was halfway through eating a burger.
“No, don’t look at me like that.”
“But-”
“He made bodies for Kal, yes, but he was adamant that he could not and would not make conscious beings, nor was he willing to give anyone divinity. We asked him. He said no. The fact that we asked him in the first place was retarded.”
Litvir also raised a finger. “Was this when the Golden Defenders attacked?”
Vikalos nodded. “You were still in processing. And I think we had you in solitary because your telepathy was going haywire and you kept on randomly teleporting through shadows. Admittedly, your early days as a Decayling were pretty rough.”
“I try not to think about that…” Litvir frowned. He turned his attention to the drink Vikalos had given him and took a sip. “Anyway, you had questions about Elkay?”
“I do, actually. He seems a lot younger than you two.”
Retvik shrugged. “I am only five years older than Elkay. But Elkay is a short Rethan, and all short Rethans are considered to look younger than they are.”
“He might also have the Kaldoric Gene. Named after good old General Kaldoran, who looked like he was in his 70s but in fact was still working at the age of 135. A lot of the Kaldieridoi had the gene as well, which is why Kuta always looked like a kid when he was mortal. General Kaldoran was a nice vok though.”
“You knew him?” Retvik asked.
“Of course I did, he fixed my fang after I was punched in the face by the Master of Generals for daring to suggest that elections and term limits would be a good idea for all positions, not just the main two, and that maybe General Vaksavar was getting a little old for his duties.”
Everyone at the table stared at Litvir. Litvir simply shrugged.
“You all know I have a blunt, grating personality that quickly gets on the nerves of other beings of power. I am surprised I was not punched in the face more while I was mortal. Or in general.”
Vikalos smiled. “You never met some of my old fellow Justar Decaylings. You are not nearly as bad as you think you are.”
“These days, I know my place. I used to be much more of an insufferable asshole. I also, weirdly, used to be taller, and my conversations with Kuta have not managed to solve this strange conundrum.”
More stares. Retvik was quite amused at how Litvir was really throwing himself into the fire.
“You were taller?” Itaviir blinked.
Litvir nodded. “I used to be what we called Ethranic, a massive brute of a Rethan, the way Tenuk is when he shapeshifts into a Rethan. Not as tall as Retvik’s ex-partner Gath, or as tall as Tenuk… In fact, I was about as tall as Retvik is now, but less muscular.”
“It is possible that, when you were made into a deity, your body was forcibly changed. Doubly so if you spent 48 hours fighting Voidborns nonstop. You probably lost a lot of weight and mass from re-growing lost limbs…” Galyn thankfully had a partial solution. “I mean, I definitely changed when I became a Decayling, I, uh, turned leafy, I am pretty sure originally I was less green and more black and silver when I was mortal. But even then, you deified Rethans seem to grow in spurts, and you and Elkay are both taller now than you were when your universe blew up the second time. It is something that happens to all beings that grow continuously as they age.”
“Hm…” Retvik thought for a moment. He ate several burgers, then thought some more. “Well, out of the younger ones, I think only Vrekans do that, but Elksia is a Time Drake and somewhat… shapeshifts herself. Is that a normal ability for Time Drakes?”
Vikalos shrugged. “Kairos could form-change somewhat, so it doesn’t surprise me that Elksia can too… Litvir, you are not eating?”
Litvir shook his head. “Now I am essentially a god, I do not really see a need to eat much. Never had much of an appetite as a mortal either.”
“Mostly because you fed on other people’s negative emotions. Can I have your burgers, dear?” Retvik asked.
“Oh, of course, darling!” Litvir nudged his pile of burgers towards Retvik, but he did keep a couple for himself. He unwrapped one, inspected its contents then nibbled on the edge. “I assume this meat is all lab-grown or something, yes?”
“Certainly. Actual fresh meat is insanely rare, which is why I ate so, so much when we were at Kinisis’s oasis…” Galyn frowned. “I wonder if she was fattening me up or something? Kinisis was always constantly insisting that I have something to eat or drink.”
“We did warn you about Life Goddesses in the past, Galyn!” Itaviir lowered his voice. “You always had a… thing for them.”
“To be fair to Galyn, Kinisis was intentionally fucking with his head, above and beyond what a normal Psion like myself would do!” Litvir immediately leaped to Galyn’s defence. “Kinisis was screwing with all of us, in ways that we could not detect. I mean, she was literally stealing Elkay from his bed and experimenting on him and none of us noticed.”
Itaviir fell silent and muttered an apology, then sighed. “You have a good point. Kinisis was clearly… far worse than most Life Goddesses we ever came across. Going back to Elkay though, since you mentioned him again, I don’t understand his relationship with Teekay. He is quite clearly male-leaning, but the little ones, Teekay specifically, all treat him as if he is female.”
“We bend both ways,” Litvir shrugged. “But in Elkay’s case, Teekay saved him when he was at his lowest. When a proud, powerful Rethan is saved by someone they consider weaker than themselves, it is very common to pronounce oneself honour-bound to them. Elkay is honour-bound to Teekay and will protect Teekay with his life. But Skyavok gender traits are different to most other races, and, despite Elkay being masculine to us, he is considered female-leaning to Skyavok.”
“That seems so strange…” Galyn muttered. “The majority of Periuniversal ‘races’ like the Behe’vok, Melek-Glatoras, Mataniaioi, Void Wyrms and Cetai Asteri have larger males or are equal in gender and size.”
Retvik grunted. “You thankfully have never met adult Vohra. Tahvra is neutered and is permanently an adolescent, and he is somewhat large for a Vohra. Adult males, Vahrga, were the same size as us, but females, Vahyra, they were colossal, 5m tall egg-laying monsters.”
“They are intra-universal species though, not uplifted beings designed to live outside universes! Life inside universes can be far less uniform, they have far more niches…” Itaviir trailed off again, then glanced at Retvik and Litvir. “Technically, the Rethavok could also become a Periuniversal race.”
Retvik and Litvir looked at each other then laughed nervously.
“Unfortunately, what with Retvik and Elkay being related, there is not enough genetic material to continue our race. The Rethavok are just as extinct as everyone else here.”
“Not even if you included Kaytee?”
“Itaviir, please, stop…” Galyn growled as he threw the remains of his burger down in disgust. “Firstly, although Kaytee does call himself a Retha, he is more closely related to Teekay and Eksi than he is to these two. Secondly, Litvir and Retvik are not in a position to look after a kid, they are not like us Beh’ens who have the Beh’ena and their specially made automated nurseries to raise younglings. Thirdly, Litvir’s got a very, very good reason as to why he does not want to go through the birthing process.”
“Also, Kaytee is the same species as Arkay!” Vikalos added. “I apologise for saying this, but although a lot of Arkay’s insanity is due to what Kinisis did to him, Kaytee somewhat proves that it’s somewhat genetic as well.”
“Sorry, sorry…” Itaviir grunted. He fell silent and went back to eating. When he swiftly ran out of food, Itaviir got up and went to order himself some more, well aware of the fact that he had eaten 30 small burgers on his own.
“I mean… I could be the mother…” Retvik muttered under his breath. “But I do not think a kid between us would even be able to survive out here…”
“Did you have to just say that out loud?” Litvir prodded Retvik in the side.
“Oops…” Retvik also fell silent and started making his way through Litvir’s food. Thankfully, the awkward silence was interrupted by both Itaviir returning with more burgers, and Kaytee bringing everyone over a small ice cream.
“So!” Kaytee chirped as he sat down at the end of the table. “I’m bored of the kids. What are you actual proper Decay Lords all talking about?”
Vikalos smiled, patting Itaviir on the shoulder as he stole one of his burgers. “Oh, nothing much. How are you doing, deary?”
Kaytee grinned. “I’m so glad you asked. I’ve never, ever been happier. You lot are awesome.”