Deathbringer: Hey, Litvir, Retvik, you guys around?
Flamebearer: Hello, Arkay, it is good to hear from you. I am sorry about storming off the other day.
Souldrainer: Hello, dear.
Deathbringer: It’s fine. You guys alright? I’ve kinda been working overtime since Kairos has been taking things way worse than you guys have and admittedly kinda haven’t had time to check my messages but I don’t have any.
Flamebearer: We have been busy somewhat as well.
Flamebearer: We have travelled to a new sector and met with the Decay Lord Sect that lives there.
Souldrainer: Galyn’s old sect before he and his Trio set up the Thantir.
Deathbringer: Oh, that sounds…
Deathbringer: Cool, I guess?
Souldrainer: Well, we discovered why Galyn and Itaviir left and, frankly, it is a miracle you ever managed to become a Decay Lord, it seems the Phantai would have just killed you. They say they have changed, and they have mostly been kind to us.
Flamebearer: Mostly.
Deathbringer: Oh. What happened?
Flamebearer: They wished to put Galyn on trial. We were under the impression that he had committed some sort of actual crime, when in fact he had refused to kill ‘non-viable Decaylings’. Litvir and I were about to leave but they begged for us to stay and have offered us whatever we fancy, in exchange for helping Kal with purifications and offering some extra muscle.
Flamebearer: Also apparently the three of us are Higher Decay Lords for some reason.
Deathbringer: What does that mean?
Souldrainer: The Phantai leaders are treating us as equals. And are walking on eggshells around us. We have had a couple of problems but they have been dealt with.
Deathbringer: But, like, you two are babies in a cosmological deity sense.
Souldrainer: Technically, if we go by time spent as a Decayon, so are you.
Flamebearer: Apparently, as a rather-too-late act of goodwill, Overlord Deathven has offered the last 50 Decay Lords that survived their Level Laws and completed stupidly hard trials like we did a place at his table. Which is some sort of council thing. We are not exactly sure.
Flamebearer: Also Litvir telepathically beat up Soulblade, their telepathic leader, so they seem to want to stay on our good sides.
Souldrainer: Not my fault that everyone’s telepathy here is like the old Rethan Secret but worse. Arkay, dear, do the Rethavok in your new universe have a Rethan Secret?
Deathbringer: Yeah but it’s even fainter now and no one is aware of it apart from me and Sini, and we intend to keep it that way. Although, speaking of Rethavok, I have some amazing news!
Deathbringer: And no, it’s not the fact that I’m using a more Rethan body now.
Flamebearer: You are? What made you change?
Deathbringer: Skyavok just don’t have the same “respect me, I’m a death god!” vibe Rethavok do. Plus it pisses Epani off and, well…
Deathbringer: I found Kuta. And they remember things. Not everything, just their time as a Decayling. But they’re alive and well. And cute.
Souldrainer: Kuta is alive?
Deathbringer: Yeah. And they’re cute.
Flamebearer: You have mentioned that twice now.
Souldrainer: Well, Kuta did very much have a crush on you, Arkay. And you feel the same way?
Deathbringer: We’ve both, well, grown. We’re more stable now. We’ve relived our lives, escaped our old trauma and are actual functioning adults now.
Deathbringer: Oh also happy belated 100th birthday, Litvir.
Souldrainer: Arkay, you know we hatch from eggs, it is a hatch day not a birth day.
Deathbringer: Everyone here just calls it a birthday, even if it’s only Spasts, Torr, Lanex, Banikans and Ksithans that give birth to live young.
Flamebearer: What is a Spast or a Torr? Although Akah might be happy that the Lanex are still around. The poor thing has had constant harassment because he looks like a Voidborn.
Deathbringer: Torr are this weird long-armed muscular reptilian race Epani made. Spasts are Kronospasts, but, uh, well, your Tenuk and Elksia wouldn’t recognize their former races now.
Flamebearer: There is more than just another Retvik?
Deathbringer: I was discussing this with Kuta. A lot of people ceased to exist, but there’s, like, a mortal version of everyone on your ship. Kuta and I believe that everyone’s lives got rewritten, and Sini created beings to fill in the gaps so I’d be distracted. And I include myself in the whole being rewritten thing.
Souldrainer: Is Kuta well? Can I speak to him?
Deathbringer: Oh they’re fine, just asleep right now. Busy guy, they’re the General of Hidden Affairs.
Flamebearer: Why do you keep on referring to Kuta in the third person plural?
Deathbringer: Uh, that’s just how most Rethans refer to themselves these days. Apart from other Retvik, since he’s an exile.
Flamebearer: Your new version of me is an exile? What in the name of the Light did he do to get exiled?
Deathbringer: This time around, you, Rethais and Relkir are triplets. Other Relkir was supposed to have been killed for being the third Rethianos, other Retvik offered to take their place and they exiled him instead because of his bravery.
Souldrainer: What about your new universe’s version of me?
Deathbringer: That’s the weird thing. I can’t find any trace of you. Not a Litvir Kaldynik, not a Litvir Tieridos, not even just a Litvir. I never knew you as a mortal. I’d heard of Kuta via Retvik but I never met you until you became a Decayling. And even then, I kinda didn’t even really get to know you until the Thantir split up. And no, Kuta has found nothing either, and they are basically in charge of a lot of special ops stuff.
Deathbringer: I’d say it’s because you are twins, but you’re fraternal twins, you were two separate but connected eggs laid at once then separated. That being said, Kuta kinda looks different too. Still a bit short but they have lost the icy motif and leaned hard into the vampire looks.
Souldrainer: I would love to speak to Kuta, if that is possible.
Deathbringer: I’ll try and arrange something. Uh, Litvir, super awkward question, is it alright if I date your brother?
Souldrainer: It is absolutely fine.
Deathbringer: It’s not weird?
Souldrainer: I dated Retvik’s brother briefly.
Deathbringer: You dated… wait, which brother?
Souldrainer: Elkay and I had a brief fling after you were sent away and Retvik and I stopped talking to each other.
Deathbringer: How the fuck did you manage that? I know, after Sini ruined both my mind and Elkay’s life, he was in a relationship with the old Ksa of the K-Class.
Souldrainer: In all honesty, I doubt it would have happened had Eksi and Teekay not been incredibly horny Skyavok with a taste for meat larger than they can handle.
Deathbringer: Skyavok have always been secretly very horny.
Souldrainer: Speaking of Teekay, we actually found six beings that are the same species as you, Arkay.
Deathbringer: What?
Flamebearer: None of them are particularly mentally sound. We see where you got your mental instability from.
Deathbringer: Alright Retvik, that’s just mean. You know full well that I am a mental train wreck for a myriad of reasons.
Deathbringer: But… you found… Threan-type Retha?
Souldrainer: Yes. According to Eksi, who they all seem to think is their partner reincarnated, you were trapped in a loop where you would kill your siblings at the behest of Kinisis and Kinisis would then attempt to kill the universe, only for the Time God at the time to reset everything.
Deathbringer: But I never killed my siblings. That was… literally the whole fucking reason I gave myself to Kinisis in the first place, to protect them from her.
Souldrainer: According to the six iterations of a Threan-type Retha by the name of Teekay, your universe was stuck in a loop and, in every loop, this Teekay fellow would somehow escape into the void and become a Decayling with the Phantai. Elksia suggests that you would have no recollection of any of this, due to being the person who broke the loop, causing existence to continue as normal.
Deathbringer: Ugh
Flamebearer: Is something wrong?
Deathbringer: I remember very, very little about being a mortal, aside from all the torture, but I’m pretty certain I’m supposed to hate Teekay.
Flamebearer: Our own Teekay does not like them either. And I am sure that Eksi is not a fan but is playing along for information since five of them are infatuated with him. Do you remember why you dislike him?
Deathbringer: I… I really, really don’t want to get into it.
Flamebearer: Understandable.
Flamebearer: A completely unrelated question, can you speak the Life Goddess language?
Deathbringer: Xa Thimiouyalagi?
Flamebearer: Yes, that.
Deathbringer: I speak it better than Sini and Epani do and they’re full-blooded Life Goddesses. Still not amazing, but… uh, why you asking?
Flamebearer: The elder Decay Lords here picked up a message and cannot translate it. Lightblade has just pestered us during our alone time to ask us as a last ditch effort.
Deathbringer: Oh.
Deathbringer: I didn’t interrupt you guys, did I?
Souldrainer: Of course not. We always have time for you, dear. We had just finished up and were considering sending you a message anyway, now that we have somewhat settled down.
Deathbringer: Oh alright. Maybe one day I’ll be able to join you.
Deathbringer: But yeah I can speak Xa Thimiouyalagi, send me the message and I can try and translate it for you. This large Decay Lord sect doesn’t have any Life Goddesses of their own?
Flamebearer: The Phantai’s territories are rather devoid of Life Goddesses, and they somewhat revere them. And that includes Kinisis and her family. Phovos is genuinely struggling a little because she has no Life Goddess training at all, and, because she is a descendent of Kinisis, the Phantai expect a lot from her. They would probably bow down and worship you, Arkay, if they knew you were Kinisis’s adopted kid.
Deathbringer: More like tortured slave pet, but sure.
Deathbringer: Kuta’s waking up now, I gotta say bye to them and get back to work. Dealing with time bullshit is not fun while Kairos mourns and recovers.
Souldrainer: Say hello to my little sibling for me.
Deathbringer: Will do. Love you guys.
Flamebearer: Love you too, Arkay.
Souldrainer: Much love, dear.
Deathbringer is now offline.