The Goddess of Space cruised past solar systems and star clusters, admiring what was soon to be her new empire. Hundreds, if not thousands of planets, all under the rule of the star-spanning Vohra Swarms. She wasn’t really that keen on the Vohra, she didn’t like how animal-y they were, but what Epani did like was winning any little challenges Blessed Mother gave her. Between her and Kairos, Epani would normally win, but between the four of them? And with living beings? Epani didn’t like her chances. Tussling with Yisini was always a struggle, she always had her tail wrapped around her beloved mortals, but Arkadin joining in? He was an utter wildcard, Epani had no idea what the Lord of Death’s plan was.
Still, those were worries for the future. Epani needed to inspect her new… minions seemed like the wrong word. But they were hers. Hers to create an empire as she pleased. Actually, they belonged to Yisini and Arkadin would at some point take them away to recycle them, but for now, they were Epani’s playthings.
As Epani approached a known (but otherwise rather small) Vohra base, she noticed something odd. She wasn’t picking up much in the term of signals. Or heat signatures. In fact, she wasn’t picking up much of anything. Normally a bustling collection of nests like this would be full of activity, and the heat would be noticeable from quite far away. But no, the closer Epani got, the more she realised something was wrong.
There were only two pockets of heat. One pocket was in a small corner of one of the most distant nests. There was little movement, and none at all from the surface. It seemed as though the nest’s inhabitants had all gathered in one place.
The other pocket of heat was quite a bit larger, but it wasn’t organic heat. Neat the planet’s equator was an incredibly large crater. A ring of fire circled a massive hole of molten rock. A meteor had struck the planet, causing a massive collapse in the cave systems around the central nest. It was most likely that hundreds of thousands had died, either instantly from the impact or by being trapped in the rubble. With collapsed tunnels, a huge number of Vohra would have suffocated from a lack of air.
This planet was essentially dead. Epani had an opportunity to save those last few, make them loyal to her cause, but she had to do something first.
“ARKADIN!”
“What?”
Compared to Epani, the Thantophor was tiny. As large as one of her scales.
“You killed them.”
“No, a meteor came along and smashed into their planet. I am here to simply clean up and make sure everything gets recycled.” Arkadin seemed unamused. As if he had something on his mind.
“You still killed them. Are you-”
Arkadin sneered. “Are you accusing me of things? Because I am just doing my fucking job. These idiots were Vohra. They HAVE both interstellar technology AND a way of destroying meteors and stuff like this AND they are capable of stopping most catastrophic events. It’s not MY fault that these morons did nothing about any of it!”
Epani didn’t say anything. Arkadin tutted, then disappeared off in a cloud of smoke, probably to go and kill more innocent beings.
With a sigh, Epani headed down to that one, small patch of heat. She was going to have to teach Arkadin a lesson, but first, she needed to save those poor, scared Vohra…