“Tahvra, wake up…”
Tahvra rubbed his eyes, trying to work out where he was and what was going on. He was lying on the ground, covered in blankets, tied to a chair, while a small fire flickered in front of him, held in place by a tiny gravitational generator. Normally, on the other side of the fire, his companion Akah would have been floating there, keeping the fire alive. But no, Akah was currently by his side, gently nudging him.
“I thought you wanted me to sleep?” Tahvra asked, letting out a cute yawn. “You told me to sleep.”
“Yes, I did, but, well, we seem to no longer be moving…”
Akah’s sentence both scared and surprised Tahvra. The two of them had been trapped, drifting through the void, for goodness knows how long, with very little in terms of emergency supplies. Neither Tahvra nor Akah knew what had happened, but they had originally been located at the bottom of a small universe, acting as a lookout point. Their observatory though had become disconnected from the rest of the universe, on the one day when only two people were on duty. The universe just seemed to… disappear.
At first, things hadn’t been too bad. They hadn’t been injured in any way. But they quickly realized that, since they were no longer connected to anything, all they could do was float, and slowly go through their dwindling supplies. Being Divine Guardians, Tahvra and Akah didn’t technically need to eat or drink, but they did need to keep warm. Akah was a Lanex, he was more used to the cold. Tahvra was a Vohra though, and he had definitely struggled. They’d ended up bunkering down in the main living quarters, sealing up the rest of the observatory. It was probably better that way. Less of a chance to drift off and get lost. Mostly because there was no real gravity any more.
Since then though, nothing had happened. They were alive and drifting, but that was it. No one had tried to communicate with them. Not that they could. What little power they had was used to keep the temperatures above freezing, but to also create enough power for the gravitational generator to keep that fire in one place. As far as Akah and Tahvra could tell, they’d been floating aimlessly for about a month, at least, according to Tahvra’s wristwatch. Although it turned out that the Lanex’s definition of a month wasn’t quite the same as the Vohra’s definition. At least they’d had things to talk about, since Akah was a former adventurer who would rise from icy ashes every time he died. A stark comparison to Tahvra, who had only ever been in charge of security in a large Vohra nest.
The sudden lack of movement though felt off. Gravity had shifted. As in, there actually was some sort of gravity now. Which was why Akah was sitting next to Tahvra rather than floating.
Tahvra wiggled, then undid the straps that had been holding him down. While Akah didn’t mind the lack of gravity and the cold, the whole situation had been unsettling to Tahvra. So being able to sit up was pleasant.
“What’s going on?” Tahvra asked.
“I have no idea. Feels like… something grabbed us?”
Suddenly, Akah grabbed several blankets, as well as his shield and scythe, then pulled the blankets over both himself and Tahvra. When Tahvra tried to ask why, Akah immediately silenced him. It took a while for him to notice, but he could hear voices. Voices speaking a language they didn’t quite understand. But the more they spoke, the more recognizable words began to form.
“No, there’s definitely something in there. Three heat signatures, only one of which is just heat.”
“Well get that hole cut and we’ll see what it is, Pah.”
As soon as Tahvra began to understand what they were saying, he immediately wriggled free from Akah’s grip and climbed out of the pile of blankets, towards where he had heard the voices.
“Oh they’re definitely alive. They’re moving.”
“Pah, cut the damn hole.”
“Sorry.”
A thin, glowing, orange line appeared, starting from the floor, then forming a circle about 1.5m in diameter. Not much bigger than Tahvra. He quickly stepped back, worrying that the wall would collapse on top of him. As the dust swiftly cleared though, Tahvra couldn’t work out what he was looking at. And the three creatures in front of him couldn’t work out what they were looking at either.
“Huh. An organic Cleanser.”
Tahvra blinked, trying to get used to the light. The creatures were completely mechanical, but they looked eerily familiar. As if someone had taken a Vohra and stripped it down, replacing all their organic parts with machinery. But they had the same massive eyes and awkward, overly sized lower fangs that Vohra have. “R-r-robot Vohra?”
“Robots?”
“Close enough. Are you alright, little one?”
“Y-yeah…” Tahvra hesitated, stepping out into the light, only to find it wasn’t actually that bright. There was a ship anchored to the side of the observatory that he and Akah had called home. “I’m just… cold and lost… And a bit scared…”
The closest creature didn’t smile, but its eyes did light up. “That’s okay, we won’t hurt you. My name is Gah, our plasma-cutter here is Pah and the grump over there is Nuh… Nuh, what are you doing?”
The black robot Vohra had stepped past Tahvra and was shining a torch into the darkness. “There’s a Voidborn in here. A rather organic-looking one.”
“I am not a Voidborn!” Akah shouted, blowing his cover. The second the black creature spotted Akah’s weapons though, it raised its hand and the weapons flew across the room, away from Akah and into the hands of the robot. “Why does everyone keep on saying that?”
“Because you look like one, mate. Come on, get out of there. Nice gear, by the way.”
Akah frowned beneath his mask, then did as he was told. Tahvra grabbed Akah’s hand as they both exited the observatory properly, and turned around to see the awful state the building was in.
“Huh. One asteroid and we would have been toast…” Tahvra whispered. “We should go with these robot Vohra dudes.”
“We’re called Cleansers actually!” Gah again didn’t smile, but its eyes lit up some more. “I know, sounds like a scary name, but we’re mostly harmless. Then again, the most harmless faction around here goes around calling themselves Decay Lords, so…”
“Are you Decay Lords?” Tahvra asked as they followed the three Cleansers onto their ship, via what looked like the cargo bay. The ship’s doors swiftly shut behind them. Thankfully, the ship’s interior was a decent temperature.
“Technically, yeah! It’s complicated.” Pah was trying to explain and was doing a bad job of it. “Anyway, welcome to our ship, Shield Six. I already scanned you before we landed, so you can come and have a look around. It’s mostly just this long hallway to be honest.”
Another Cleanser appeared, in red and blue. They bowed slightly as they approached. “Get yourself cleaned up, brother. I’ll take it from here.”
Pah shrugged, then disappeared back where he had come from. The new Cleanser bowed again.
“Hiya, my name is Tah, I’m the, uh, leader of this team of idiots. Come with me, I’ll explain as we walk.”
Akah and Tahvra glanced at each other, then followed. Tah took them down the hallway, then stopped about halfway through and tapped on an otherwise blank wall. A door opened up in the ceiling and a ladder appeared. Tah didn’t use the ladder, he seemed to just teleport upwards, but it was there for the two confused and fleshy beings to use. This ladder led into a glass-ceilinged room, with seven bean bags, one bigger than the other six, scattered around, as well as various entertainment devices. Tah offered them both a seat, before sitting down himself.
“Thought it’d be a bit more comfortable for you guys in here. You’re Divine Guardians, right?”
“Yeah…” Akah sighed. “We haven’t been able to get in contact with our team for about a month.”
Tah’s eyes dimmed briefly before lighting up again. “Do you have an exact date?”
“December 4th 2023. According to our in-time universe.”
The Cleanser made an odd clicking sound. “Which universe? There’s a couple around here…” Tah’s focus left Akah, turning towards the ladder. “Oh, hello Kanuva.”
By the ladder was, to Akah and Tahvra’s amazement, someone they vaguely recognized. And the being seemed to recognize them back. They were a being that looked similar to Akah, except almost completely mechanical, rather than only partially mechanical the way Akah was. Underneath Akah’s steel skin and armour plating, he had functional muscles, internal organs and a face, at least. Kanuva though was purely white and gold, while Akah was an array of colours, mostly whites, silvers and light blues.
“Ah, you two little Divine Guardians! How are you both doing? I am sorry about- Kal Wehl-Tah, why are you looking at me like that?”
“You know these two beings?” Tah asked, his emotions only shown by the new sharpness in his voice.
“Yes! They are two of Kinisis’s Guardians, before-”
“Kanuva…”
“They… do not know?” Kanuva quietened down, before awkwardly sitting in the tiny bag next to Tah. Akah realized firstly that he had sat in Kanuva’s seat, and secondly that something was horribly wrong. “I apologise. Please, Wehl-Tah, continue.”
Tah tutted, shaking his head. “Before do so, I’ll be blunt. What I’m about to say will most likely cause you both to have a panic attack, because you are Divine Guardians, and you are… kinda programmed weird.”
“Is Kinisis gone?” Akah asked, suddenly feeling rather nervous, despite having been fine moments ago. Tahvra had stopped responding completely, something Tah had noticed and had already fired off a message to his fellow Cleansers to try and fix.
“Uh, worse than that.”
“She is…” Akah found that he couldn’t finish that sentence.
“Dead, yes.”
“Ah… I… I guess… that was always a possibility…” The Lanex turned to his tiny Vohra companion and put a hand on his shoulder. Tahvra was now trembling, rocking back and forth in his seat with his eyes closed. Akah found himself struggling a little as well, but managed to regain his composure. “What… happened?”
Tah didn’t answer at first. Another Cleanser, a white one, appeared, placed a bowl of sugar by both Akah and Tahvra, before silently leaving again. Tahvra sniffed, sensed the sugar then calmed down ever so slightly, enough for him to pick up the bowl and start licking it. Clearly, his lack of energy had overwhelmed his desire to scream.
“We aren’t completely sure, we just know that Kinisis had an incident with her old universe and its deities, so they killed her physical form and her true heart at the same time, causing her to die. The event kinda broke the surrounding universe, which I think you two weren’t connected to when it happened, you guys got launched into space and the remaining deities remade the universe in their image.”
Neither Guardian spoke for a moment. To Tah’s surprise though, Tahvra spoke first.
“Told her not to mess with her son… Teekay told her not to, Tahnahos told her not to, I told her not to. And now she’s dead, by HIS hands…” Tahvra looked up at Tah. “Right?”
“Uh, yes, it was Arkay who killed her.”
Akah frowned slightly. “You knew of Kinisis’s son?”
“We helped fix him up a couple of times. And he helped us out too. Only problem was, he was prone to snapping under pressure, and Kinisis probably broke him one time too many.”
The two Guardians fell silent again. Tahvra’s breathing finally settled down. Akah no longer felt weak. But the two of them were both very unsure of both themselves and their futures.
“What about our other Guardians? What are we going to do now? Are we… gonna be punished for failing our duties?” Tahvra eventually muttered as he shifted his seat closer to Akah. They may have been very different beings, but Tahvra craved the familiarity and comfort of his friend.
“Why would anyone punish you?” Kanuva exclaimed. “You are not to blame!”
Tah nodded in agreement. “No one’s gonna punish you, there’s no one to punish you. As for your fellow Guardians, well, as far as we know, your team were most likely, uh, reabsorbed into the reforming universe and are basically lost. Not dead, but also no longer Guardians like yourselves.”
“Oh…” Tahvra let out a defeated sigh.
“That is… a shame. I will miss our smaller-sized companions…” Akah didn’t seem as upset. “Still, what are we going to do now? We have no one to protect. No duty of our own.”
Kanuva appeared to smile. Unlike the Cleansers, his golden mask did show some emotion. “You could join us on our adventures though the space between universes! You are both weirdly organic, but you look a lot like us, and we have not come across beings that look like us in a long time. They can join us, yes, Kal Wehl-Tah?”
Tah’s eyes dimmed then lit up, quite brightly. “Well, of course. We’ll have to stop at a Life Oasis and get some amenities for them, but if you two want to stay, you are both welcome to.”
Tahvra hesitated, then relaxed a little. “Eh, I’d like to. You guys seem nice. What do you think, Akah?”
Akah glanced down at Tahvra. “You want to stay here?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s what we should do.”