“Master, I have brought the… leader of the group.”
Retvik dropped Litvir’s unconscious body onto the cold, damp floor in front of the Voidborn’s golden throne, then remained still, waiting for a response.
“I can see…” the Voidborn smiled slightly, adjusting his position on the throne, leaning forward slightly. “Why have you brought it to me, when you should have just killed it?”
“Uh…” Retvik hesitated. “I… I assumed you would want to kill the telepaths yourself?”
“The other three telepaths are not here.”
“Yes, master. Do you want me to bring them here?”
The Voidborn smiled. “That would be nice, but they will most likely come here themselves, to try and… save this hideous little monster. So we will use this one as bait.”
“What about the rest of my team?” Retvik asked.
“You should not care about them. Once these empath demons are dealt with, I will send you to retrieve them. They will fall back into my influence almost immediately. Speaking of which, here they are.”
Retvik sighed, then turned around to greet the newcomers. “Little brother, I was hoping you would leave and not come back after defeating my fellow Dessaron.”
“You know the rules. We do not leave anyone behind.”
The Voidborn analysed the intruders. Two of them were smaller than the semi-Life Goddess that he had mind-controlled. The other intruder looked a bit like Retvik, except smaller, greener and, weirdly, winged. The smaller ones also looked a bit like Retvik, as if they were baby versions of whatever Retvik’s species was.
“Relkir, please, just go.”
“I am not leaving you here, brother.”
The Void Lord suddenly burst out laughing, stepping off his throne. “That spindly little thing is related to you, Retvik? A little green telepath demon? How pathetic!”
Retvik lowered his head. “He is my half-sibling, master…” He turned his attention over to Relkir. “Please, Relkir, take the two Skyans and leave.”
“Stop talking to them and incinerate them!” the Void Lord growled. “The others may have failed me, but you won’t!”
Before Retvik could do anything though, he was thrown back by a wave of telekinetic energy. A second wave sent Retvik spiralling backwards as he tripped over the still-unconscious Litvir. This clearly infuriated the Voidborn, who carelessly shunted Retvik to one side and stomped towards the three telepaths.
“My patience is wearing thin. I do not like having to kill things myself, it is normally beneath me. But you telepathic swine deserve a slow death.”
With a telekinetic attack of his own, the Void Lord swiped Teekay and Eksi to one side, then grabbed Relkir by the throat. Relkir tried to kick his way out, only for him to be slammed into the ground not once but twice.
“A good bludgeoning of your skulls is a good start. I would like to see you try and fight back with a crushed brain.”
Despite having been thrown to the ground, Relkir continued to struggle, managing to cast a small shield around his neck, so he would no longer start choking. At the same time, Teekay and Eksi tried to fight back, Teekay casting lightning and Eksi casting shards of ice at the Void Lord. However, the attacks simply bounced off the Voidborn’s armour.
With a snarl, the Void Lord reached out with black, inky tentacles, wrapping them around the feet of the two Skyans and lifting both of them high into the air.
“You hideous telepathic swine.”
“Bloody Light, did a telepath shit in your soup or something as a kid?” Eksi asked as he hung upside down rather awkwardly. “You really seem to hate us when you have telepathic powers too! Or is that just plain old hypocrisy?”
“Definitely hypocrisy!” Teekay replied, also hanging upside down. “If you really hated telepaths, you wouldn’t mind-control others or anything like th-”
Before he could finish his sentence, both Teekay and Eksi fell to the ground, and the grip around Relkir’s throat loosened. The Voidborn’s golden eyes rolled backwards as it collapsed in front of Relkir. Attached to the Voidborn’s neck was the Raptor, her jaws wrapped around the Void Lord’s throat, oozing a thick, silver liquid. Dark claws dug deep into Voidborn skin, again oozing a similar silver goo that left a burning trail wherever it came into contact with the Voidborn’s flesh.
Suddenly, the Raptor turned her head, making an audible crunch, before twisting hard and ripping the Voidborn’s head clean off.
“What the…” Relkir stuttered, having seen all this up close. “Phovos?”
“Mhm!” Phovos grinned as she spat out Voidborn flesh. “Thank you lot for the distraction.”
“You are… welcome?” Relkir was still confused. “How did you… do that?”
“Life Goddess stuff,” Phovos shrugged. “He should be out of our heads now. But we should get everyone back to the ship in case this place starts collaps-”
The ground immediately started shaking, just as Phovos was about to finish her sentence.
“We need to get the fuck out of here, right now!” the Raptor abruptly shouted. “This place is gonna blow!”