Things were quiet. Too quiet. So quiet, in fact, that Phovos couldn’t help but jump as someone knocked on the door of her private quarters. Awkwardly climbing out of bed, Phovos made her way over to the door but didn’t open it, instead peering through the small peep hole she’d had installed. Because Phovos wasn’t a standard Decayling, nor a Decayon, or even a Divine Guardian, the type of deity Phovos believed she had been turned into at the end of her universe, she needed the extra security. Phovos was a Life Goddess, a stupidly young one with almost no real power. But where she currently resided, Life Goddesses were considered blatantly holy beings that were worshipped by the locals, and for her own safety, Phovos’s room had been fit with extra security features.
Luckily, the being outside was one she recognized. Galyn had been the former leader of theThantir, the Decay Lord sect that Phovos now belonged to, but after some… unfortunate events, he had been injured and had relinquished his leadership. Now Galyn was doing his best to make up for what he had done, and he was acting as Phovos’s personal body guard, while also trying to help her learn to use her Life Goddess powers.
“Phovos, may I come in?”
Galyn was a very large creature. Nearly four metres tall, actually four metres tall if you included his crown of horns. Among the Phantai, his former sect, he was an above average specimen. Among the Thantir, he was the second tallest member, after his partner Itaviir. Actually, Phovos wasn’t sure how the relationship worked between Galyn and his two fellow Tattered Navigators. There was definitely a hint of romance between Galyn and Vikalos, their more fiery yet also more friendly member, but Itaviir was a rather cold being overall. Still, Galyn was very good at protecting things, and Phovos did feel safer around him.
Phovos hesitantly opened the massive door. She was a small creature and the rooms around here were meant for creatures Galyn’s size. Sure, she had arranged to get some furniture that fit her better, but the bed alone was big enough for two Beh’evok, Galyn’s species. Phovos wasn’t even 2m tall, she felt tiny.
“I thought the whole ship was on lockdown?” Phovos asked as Galyn entered. He too was somewhat hesitant, but that hesitance was different. It was as if Phovos made him uncomfortable, as if her presence dug up bad memories. She didn’t know Galyn well enough to ask though.
“Parts of it are, yes. All the ship’s telepaths have been placed in quarantine and Lightblade’s units are on patrol. However, before little Eksi was put in quarantine, he asked me to come and visit you. Some sort of… routine meetup of yours?”
Phovos glanced at what Galyn had brought with him. He was holding a plastic carrier bag with four cold, fizzy cans of drink, as well as several hair brushes.
“Yeah… Eksi tries to keep us… more freakish Decaylings company. Says he feels bad that we don’t fit in, while everyone else around here is an organically armoured monster…. Uh, no offence.”
Galyn grunted, remaining still while Phovos closed the door behind him. “No offence taken. After all, us Beh’evok and the Phantai in general mostly are organically armoured monsters. To deny so would be to lie.” Galyn paused, hesitating some more. “Eksi said that normally he brushes your mane, but I am not quite sure how to do that. Beings with fur and hair are incredibly rare out here.”
With a sigh, Phovos sat on the bed. Galyn joined her, while handing her a drink.
“It’s fine. You don’t need to brush my mane or anything. Kinda just surprised Eksi talked you into doing this. Last time he asked Akah to do so and we kinda spent a long time just talking. Turns out the Lanex are actually really nice folks.”
“I would… like to brush your hair though…” Galyn muttered.
“Really?”
Galyn nodded. “It makes you feel better, yes? You have been struggling and, despite our efforts, not much has changed.”
Phovos smiled, just a little. She took the drink and opened it up. Just like everything else, the can was massive, but Phovos had admittedly not drank much, so a cold can of what smelled like lemonade was genuinely pleasant.
“So, may I brush your mane?”
“Yeah, sure. Try not to pull too much though.”
Phovos shifted to one side, so her back was turned to Galyn. Galyn paused for a moment, struggling to hold the brush in his massive claws, before every gently pulling it through Phovos’s hair. He did so a little too gently at first and didn’t really seem to do much, but he slowly got the hang of it.
“This is actually rather relaxing…” Galyn muttered.
“Definitely.”
The Decay Lord and the Life Goddess both fell silent. Phovos closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the pampering, but she could sense that Galyn still felt uneasy. After a little too long, she decided to ask why.
“You always seem to act weird around me. Why is that?”
Galyn let out a rather heavy, almost defeated grunt. “I will be brutally honest, you remind me of Kinisis. Of course you do, you are her daughter.”
“Do you see me as a threat?”
“No, not a threat. A reminder that I am an idiot who fell for a monster. I am an idiot in a myriad of ways.”
Galyn fell silent, but continued brushing Phovos’s mane, being careful to not pull too hard.
“I don’t think you’re an idiot.”
“Oh, Phovos, dear, I really, really am an idiot. Retvik and Litvir both warned me to not get romantically involved on separate occasions and I ignored them both. Our old Thantir rules stated to not get romantically involved with Life Goddesses, and I ignored those rules. And I never put two and two together and realised that Kinisis was the Final Mother, a Life Goddess the Phantai consider a little too holy. If they found out that I… slept with Kinisis, I would be murdered on the spot.”
Phovos thought for a moment. “Okay, yeah, I kinda agree, you are an idiot. Or, well, you were an idiot. She used you, same way she made us into her guardians. Didn’t need to, she was a Life Goddess, she could do whatever she wanted, but she did so anyway. Because she liked having pets.”
“I am certain I was nothing more than a plaything to her.”
“You were.”
The elder Decay Lord sighed. He was clearly embarrassed. Phovos didn’t mean to make him feel bad. Despite the fact that Galyn had been possessed and he had attacked everyone, to the point that he had bitten Phovos and ripped out some of her flesh, he had been trying very hard to make up for what he had done. And thanks to Galyn’s efforts, Phovos had taken her first steps into being a Life Goddess proper. Galyn had taught Phovos how to create some small, flowering plants, which had made her quite happy.
After a while, Galyn stopped, and took one of the drinks for himself. The can looked normal-sized in his hands. Phovos decided to change the subject, a bid to make Galyn feel slightly better.
“So why IS everything on lockdown?”
“Hmph. Turns out Ahkron didn’t just stab me and affect my mind. Voidblade got himself stabbed and did not get himself properly checked out. It seems that, since the Ancient Collector is no longer alive to set off his mental time bombs, it took a while for Voidblade to lose control and start attacking people properly.”
Phovos couldn’t help but laugh. “These fucking ancient Decay Lords that should know better fell for the same shit that got you.”
“Well, I am somewhat ancient as well, but yes.”
“You were in a stupid cocoon though. I helped Litvir pull that giant spear out of your chest.”
Galyn bowed slightly. “And I very much appreciate you saving my life.”
Phovos smiled some more. “I wasn’t going to just let you die. Especially when Seimeni kinda proved herself to be… pretty useless…”
Galyn fell silent, then shuddered. He then went back to brushing Phovos’s mane, tutting and sighing, desperate to change the subject again. “Unfortunately, due to the nature of Voidblade’s abilities, when Lightblade and Soulblade took him to their medics, they declared the whole mess a cognito-hazard of some sort and demanded that all the ship’s telepaths go into quarantine. Voidblade’s abilities are… oddly vampiric, and the medics and Kal in particular think that the Voidborn mental attack may be infectious.”
“But why are all the telepaths in particular in quarantine?”
“There were four and a half psions in the room when Voidblade went insane, and it seems that Voidblade attacked Soulblade specifically. What better way to spread chaos than to target those who can manipulate the minds of others?”
Phovos finished her drink and put the can to one side. “I guess… wait, what do you mean, four and a half?”
Galyn tutted. “Our mutual friend Elkay somehow detected what was going on, teleported onto the third level, slowed time and used a telepathic blast to knock out everyone apart from Soulblade and Lightblade.”
“Huh…” Phovos fell silent for a moment. “I’m… kinda worried about Elkay.”
“I am too. I desperately want to protect Elkay. Same way I wish to protect you. Just because you are different, does not mean you should be treated differently. You both deserve the chance to become Decay Lords…”
Galyn sighed some more, then went back to brushing Phovos’s mane. For once, he felt somewhat calm, calm enough to lower his guard ever so slightly. Phovos didn’t say anything and just allowed herself to enjoy the peace and quiet. Eventually though, Phovos found herself asking more questions.
“After all that’s happened, do you ever regret leaving the Phantai?”
“No, not at all.”
“Why not?”
“If I had remained among the Phantai, I would just be another Phantai soldier. And most likely, a dead one. I would have never formed a Trio with Itaviir and Vikalos, I would have never helped Retvik, Litvir and Arkay become Decay Lords, I would have never met such a bizarre group of Decaylings. And I would never have met a genuinely pure, genuinely good Life Goddess like you.”
Phovos snorted. “I’m not genuinely good. I’ve killed plenty.”
“Out here, everyone has blood on their hands. But you lack that streak of cruelty that most other Life Goddesses possess. There is a reason why everyone is so curious about you.”
Galyn paused, then glanced at the communicator on his wrist and took a deep, somewhat saddened breath, putting the hair brush down as he did so. He twisted Phovos’s mane between his fingers, creating a multitude of plaits, which he held in place with some small, delicate vines. With one last sigh, Galyn got up and made his way to the door.
“My Trio needs me, I will return when I can.”
“Thank you, Galyn.”
“Thank you too, dear Phovos…”