Somewhere down the line, things had gone south. It turned out, the Voidborn that the Missing were supposed to be meeting was way more aggressive than they’d expected. And a lot larger.
Like most Voidborns, this one, going by the name of Antikathartison, had summoned a metal platform and had been standing on it, waiting for Arkay, Litvir and Retvik to arrive. But as soon as Antikathartison had spotted the Deathly Soulflame, he had immediately attacked the ship, flicking it away. While Litvir had remained on board to try and keep the ship from spinning out of control, Arkay and Retvik attempted to approach the colossal Voidborn and speak to it, to work out why Antikathartison had attacked so quickly. But that was a little bit hard to do, because Antikathartison was sixty meters tall, twenty times Retvik’s height, and was self-propelling himself through the darkness, not using a ship or anything. This meant that Arkay and Retvik had to move without their ship too, facing the frozen void.
Really, from Antikathartison’s point of view, Arkay and Retvik were more like gnats, flying around him. But they were only buzzing around because Antikathartison was trying to harm them.
“Arkay, dear?”
“Yes, Retvik?!
“What are we even doing?”
“Trying to work out what this guy’s problem is.”
“We are doing a bad job of that.”
“Fair…” Arkay trailed off. “Alright, let me make us invisible for a moment.”
With a swirl of his hands, Arkay summoned a cloak of shadows and wrapped it around both Retvik and himself. Once Antikathartison could no longer see them, the colossal Voidborn seemed to calm down a little bit, but it was still shuddering and shaking.
“Can it hear us?” Retvik asked.
Antikathartison didn’t make any movements towards Arkay and Retvik. Instead, he started picking at something on his arm.
“Is he infected with Corruption?” Litvir telepathically asked. “Also, I got the ship to stop spinning and come to a halt. Small victories.”
“Oh. Sorry, Litvir, forgot about you…” Arkay muttered.
“Not a problem. I hate being out in the pure void. I do not know how you two can stand it.”
“I am literally on fire.”
“Good point… OH! I found a button that turns the ship somewhat invisible too!” Litvir was clearly easily distracted, and his telepathic voice sounded a bit off.
“You alright, dear?” Retvik asked.
“Oh, I am fine. Just a bit nauseous. So is the giant Voidborn infected?”
Arkay and Retvik didn’t have an exact answer. They floated closer to Antikathartison but remained cautious, as he would occasionally swat at seemingly nothing. As Retvik switched to his heat vision though, he could spot globules of Corruption. There was also a spot on Antikathartison’s arm, where he had been picking, that had a similar heat signature.
“I assume so. It would explain this being’s random bouts of violence and its erratic movements.”
“Perhaps we should fix it up then?” Litvir suggested.
Arkay grunted, still inspecting the Voidborn. “We should. But this one’s a biggen. Might be a bit tricky.”
“How comes?”
“It keeps on swatting at us, thinking we’re a threat. Because, to the Corruption, we are, and we’re also potentially a threat to the Voidborn too. I mean, we ARE the Missing, and I once ate a whole Voidborn cult.”
“That is a good point…” Litvir telepathically muttered. “May I make a very silly suggestion?”
Retvik shrugged. “I have no ideas, go ahead.”
“Arkay should make himself similarly sized to the Voidborn and make himself look Voidborn-y too. Maybe that way, the Voidborn might be more friendly. And Arkay can distract it while Retvik fixes the Corruption.”
“Shouldn’t I fix the Corruption with my anti-Corruption blood?”
“No, because you need to distract it. It will trust a Voidborn more than it would trust us random Decay Lords.”
“Oh.”
Arkay frowned. Litvir picked up on his annoyance.
“You do not like my idea?”
“Not really, but I don’t have any other ideas… Alright, Retvik, step back a bit. I’m going to make myself big but keep myself invisible at first.”
Retvik did as he was told and floated away from Arkay, giving him some space. Arkay concentrated for a moment, thickening the dark veil he’d wrapped around himself. He then pressed his hands against his head, running them along his head plate. As he did that, Arkay’s armour turned black and gold, and became much thicker, covering much more of his body. Arkay’s tail grew massively in length, then the rest of him began to grow as well. He didn’t make himself as tall as the Voidborn, but he did make himself large enough to be able to fight back if needed.
“Retvik, let me talk to him first before you start burning things.”
“Understood.”
Arkay removed his shadowy veil, then slowly approached Antikathartison, who seemed very surprised by the sudden appearance of this other Voidborn.
“Eis enphthoriseseis?” Arkay asked, switching to Kenosomilia, the language of the Voidborns.
Antikathartison stared at Arkay. “Eixahese paraxenios fonionos. Omoios, nai, eim enphthoriseiasa.”
Arkay hesitated for a moment, suddenly realising what Antikathartison had said to him.
“Arkay?” Litvir whispered. “What is wrong?”
“I apparently have a regional accent in Kenosomilia.”
“Makes sense,” Retvik grunted. “I assume we all have regional accents.”
Arkay frowned, then continued talking to Antikathartison. “Mporame na sese voithiono.”
Antikathartison stared at Arkay some more. “Mporieseis?”
“Nai. Omos tha poniesai ligo.”
More stares. Arkay was getting concerned. Antikathartison floated forward, a dark glimmer in his glowing pink eyes.
“Alright, change of plan!” Arkay shouted as Antikathartison charged forward, seeing Arkay as a threat. Arkay shifted his shape into something less Voidborn-y then re-summoned the veil of darkness he had used to hide himself. This time though, he wrapped it around Antikathartison’s arms. “I’ll hold this bastard in place, Retvik, start burning shit!”
Antikathartison didn’t take this lightly. While his arms were immobilised, the Voidborn was still capable of fighting back, and Antikathartison started summoning gold spears, which he stabbed into the gaps in Arkay’s armour.
Retvik though did as he was told, and immediately got to work burning the Corruption out of Antikathartison’s arm. But he was struggling to get into all the little gaps, where the Corruption was hiding between bits of Voidborn plating.
“Can you hurry up please?” Arkay hissed as his fight with Antikathartison turned into a spear-summoning-and-deflecting contest.
Retvik grunted. “Litvir, is the ship far enough away?”
“I am not bringing the ship anywhere near you idiots.”
“Alright, good.”
With another grunt, Retvik gave up burning little bits of Corruption and decided to go to full nuke mode. Concentrating as hard as he could, Retvik let out a vast inferno, which melted off most of Antikathartison’s infected arm. It also melted much of the shadowy veil Arkay was using to keep Antikathartison still, and part of Arkay’s arm was also burnt.
All of a sudden, Antikathartison fell quiet, then pulled away and stopped struggling. Antikathartison’s eyes changed colour slightly, becoming brighter.
“Signomieono.”
“Eisiese entakse. Katalavenomai…” Arkay sighed. “You were infected. I understand.”
“I am sorry…” Antikathartison repeated himself. “We were to discuss peace. I harmed you.”
“I’ll heal. You’ll heal too.”
“We will. Thank you, strange one. I will be more careful. And destroy the Hungering Indifference here. As a way to repay my debt to you…” Antikathartison bowed deeply. “I leave now. Stay safe, strange one.”
All of a sudden, Antikathartison disappeared. Arkay tutted, then turned back to his normal size. Retvik floated over, scooped Arkay up, then carried him towards the ship. Litvir brought the ship closer and let them both back in.
“Well, that was weird…” Litvir frowned as Retvik and Arkay joined him in the cockpit. “Arkay, are you well?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just need to rest a little. Can we go somewhere nice, please?”
Litvir patted Arkay on the shoulder then smiled. “Of course. Let me find a nice hotel or something. We deserve a good rest…”