It had been a while since Litvir felt so small. As the colossal door swung open and the three Decay Lords stepped into a gold-plated office, Litvir couldn’t help but be reminded of his early days as a Decayling, lost, confused and mostly just surprised that he was even alive and moving. No one had noticed his rise to godhood, no one even cared that he was alive. In fact, some beings were annoyed that Litvir was alive at first. Eventually, he had settled down, and when he’d grown up as a Decayling on the Thantir Two, everything felt like it actually fit. Here, on the Shimmering Blade, everything was too big again, and Litvir was trying not to let his survival instincts kick in.
Retvik was having similar thoughts as Telin Yisir, the colossal black and gold Decay Lord known as Voidblade, presented them with two chairs, before sitting down behind his desk. Although Retvik wasn’t so much thinking about himself, he was wondering how their own team of Decaylings felt. This office really didn’t help matters, since Voidblade was sitting on an ornate, gold and ivory throne, and the masks and skulls of various Voidborns lined every wall.
“Before we do anything, let me just look you both up…” Voidblade picked up a translucent tablet and a white pen and scribbled on it, before tapping a search button that appeared. Deathven-aligned Decay Lord sect leaders had access to Deathven’s databases, which, although stored mostly only in text form, contained basic information about every Decayling that became a Decay Lord under the Overlord’s no-longer-so-watchful gaze. As Voidblade typed in the codenames of the two strange yet familair beings in front of him, he really wasn’t sure what to expect. But when the search results came in, Voidblade couldn’t help but gasp.
“Um…” Litvir was about to speak, but Voidblade raised a finger, silencing him.
“You two are the Last Higher Decay Lords.”
The rather blank reaction from both the young Decay Lords wasn’t what Voidblade expected. He glanced back at his tablet, re-reading the data profiles he had pulled up. While their actual ages weren’t stated, it did show when they had been registered as Decaylings and the date on which they were declared Decay Lords. Both were worryingly short amounts of time, as was the fact that their status was currently listed as “Unknown, Missing.”
“I hate to sound stupid, as always, but what makes us ‘higher’ Decay Lords?” Retvik asked awkwardly. “We are Decay Lords, yes, we completed our trial and spent countless hours murdering corrupted monsters, but we just assumed we were normal Decay Lords.”
“You do realize, because you completed a Decay Lord Trial designed for veteran deities, and because you are among the last 50 Decay Lords who survived despite the strictest Level Laws we’ve had in hundreds of yearstrings, you have the right to sit at the Overlord’s table, yes? If anything, you two have the same rank us Three Great Blades have, and we have been running a successful sect for a very, very long time.”
“We did not realize, no…” Litvir bluntly admitted. “Although we were of the impression that Deathven wanted us dead. Honestly, it seems that literally everything wants us dead. We were in two minds to even come here, fearing that the Phantai would want us dead too, and it took Tah a lot of convincing to-”
“Who is Tah?” Voidblade interrupted.
“Uh… Spiritpurger. Although they all have their own codenames now…” Litvir sighed, feeling even more uncomfortable. He could tell that Retvik was feeling the same even without his telepathy. They were both out of their depth and Voidblade knew this.
“Ah yes, care to explain why Spiritpurger 1-6 are with you now? They were never part of a sect.”
Retvik grunted. “We asked if they wanted to join us after we helped them recover from Ahkron’s attack and they said yes. They are an excellent team.”
Voidblade smiled, although it was hard to tell underneath all his armour. “Oh, Spiritpurger are very good at what they do despite being so small and weak. I suppose it is nice that they have picked up some allies, as, while we do use their services, they do not fit among the Phantai. Still, I am not interested in some old robots. You two, you fascinate me. Not only are you powerful enough to be Higher Decay Lords, but you are also technically the same rank that we are, despite being, and I put this politely, unknowing children.”
Litvir inadvertently snorted, far too amused by this elder Decay Lord’s statement.
“Souldrainer?”
“Sorry, ser, I cannot help but agree that we are children!” Litvir quickly explained himself. “Sure, I turned 100 years old not too long ago, but Galyn is many, many years older than us, and you must be, what, millions of years old? And here you are, saying we are equals.”
Voidblade leaned forward, staring at Litvir. “How long is a year for you?”
“Um, I assume it is close to a yearstring. About 52 evs?”
“You…” Voidblade growled, then turned to Retvik. “How old are you?”
Retvik glanced at Litvir, who just shrugged, suggesting he be honest. “Younger than Litvir. Some of our Decaylings are older than we are, but most of them are former Divine Guardians who were technically immortal even before we became deities.”
Voidblade growled again, then closed his eyes, snorting angrily, but slowly calming himself down.
“Where did Leafblade find you?”
“Outside Kinisis’s old universe, which she used Arkay to blew up to kill the Golden Protectors?” Retvik attempted to answer, only for Voidblade to glare at him once more.
“You know Kinisis?”
“Why in the name of the fucking Light does everyone seem to know this one utter cunt of a Life Goddess?” Litvir suddenly snapped. “She tried to kill us for literally no reason! She was an awful being who r-”
Before Litvir could continue, he found himself pinned against the floor. However, Retvik immediately leaped to his defence, unleashing a torrent of fire that pushed Voidblade away.
“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK ILL OF THE FINAL MOTHER!” Voidblade roared, summoning a large, shimmering, black blade.
“How dare you attack us!” Retvik hissed back, creating his own summoned weapon, a fiery whip, which he used to disarm Voidblade. “All anyone ever seems to do is attack us! Kinisis attacked us and killed one of our Decay Lords. We came from her universe, we know first hand what she was like.”
Voidblade snarled, then dismissed his weapon and sat back down, not acknowledging what he had done.
“Kinisis was the last Life Goddess to live in Phantai territory, before the Golden Protectors chased all the Life Goddesses away and destroyed the remaining universes. Her mother, the First Mother, was the one who gave divinity to Phos, Psehon and myself, formed the Phantai and set us on our holy crusade to kill any and all Voidborns. Loopblade-6 is the last of the Phantai to have originated from this sector. And here you two are, claiming to be Kinisis’s kids?”
“Oh, no, no no no!” Litvir picked himself up and dusted himself down. “As far as we are aware, Kinisis only had three actual kids that are genetically related to her and one of them killed her. And then she turned into a Corruption and was, uh, killed again. We just happen to have been born in her last stupid universe.”
“Litvir, dear, you really should not call our old, dead universe stupid…” Retvik muttered.
“Well, it birthed you and I, it had to be stupid.”
“True…” Retvik trailed off. “So I take it Kinisis made lots of universes?”
Voidblade nodded. “Indeed. A whole family of Life Goddesses used to live in what used to be the Golden Paradise and is now the Goldtorn Remains. They would make small, brief universes, rarely more than 100 million years old, racing to create the fastest intelligent, space-faring race possible. They also created the Golden Protectors, a Voidborn cult, that turned against them and prompted the creation of the Phantai. Kinisis was the last to flee, and I am both glad and disturbed that she made one last universe before… is she really dead?”
“Uh, we are not 100% certain, because she, uh…” Litvir hesitated some more. Everything he had said lately hadn’t been taken well. “She turned into a Corruption after a failed resurrection attempt.”
“You dare call a holy Life Goddess Corruption?”
Retvik tilted his head to one side, looking as confused as ever. “You get angry whenever we mention Life Goddesses in a poor light.”
“They are divine, blessed beings, above all of us. Aside from Kinisis, how many have you even met?”
The two younger Decay Lords began to count.
“Hm… Yisini and Epani are Life Goddesses now, so was Athanatea, and Cahloxaa who tried to kill Galyn after he refused a cup of tea… Does Arkay count as a Life Goddess, Retvik dear?”
“I think he would kill you if he heard you say that… Especially since he killed Kinisis. Twice. And Ahkron. And a ton of other Life Goddesses and Voidborns.”
Voidblade paused, then leaned forward again. “Who is Arkay?”
“Our Missing Third.”
With a grunt, Voidblade returned to his tablet and scrolled up slightly, looking at the third last entry on the list of Upper Decay Lords. The entry contained a name: Arkidetelos, codename Deathbringer. Beneath it were several aliases, including the name “Arkay”. At the end of the list was a status that listed him as “Missing, presumed dead”.
“I… I am sorry…” Voidblade stuttered. “I know the feeling of losing part of your Trio. Nearly happened to us. What happened?”
“Oh now you suddenly care!” Litvir tutted. “A minute ago, you were ready to kill me for insulting a Life Goddess you met once.”
“I apologise for that. Life Goddesses are considered sacred to the Phantai.”
Litvir waggled a finger at Voidblade. “You put Phovos in the same cells you stuck our other Decaylings in. She is a Life Goddess-”
“One that has not created a universe yet. A child, like you both are. And, I assume, like your Missing Third?”
Retvik and Litvir both sighed.
“Actually, Arkay was a genuine deity, a god of death, at least two billion years old, at least within Kinisis’s old universe.” Retvik lowered his voice somewhat. “Arkay was… taken away from us. Tricked and used by others. He now serves as an unwilling intra-universal deity in a universe made by Kinisis’s daughters. You can see now why we do not like Life Goddesses.”
“That is… understandable…” Voidblade stood up from his seat. “I see now. Well, considering who you are, we will give you what you need. Shelter and safety. And a way to train your Decaylings. In exchange, all I ask for is a little extra assistance in fighting the Voidborn menace, since you seem to be particularly skilled in defeating those monsters, and we have admittedly not had any extra reinforcements in a long, long time. Most Decay Lords sects are in decline these days, it is not just the Thantir and the Phantai. And I hope you accept my apologies for my aggression. Despite us looking similar, we have clearly grown in very different ways.”
To Retvik and Litvir’s surprise, Voidblade bowed. The two younger Decay Lords got up and bowed as well.
“Thank you for your understanding, Voidblade…” Litvir muttered. “Would we be able to get something to eat? It has been a while since we have last had a good meal without having to worry about our safety constantly.”
Voidblade nodded his head. “Of course, Souldrainer. You two are Higher Decay Lords, you will get only the best from us.”