“Oh! Nice place!” Arkay beamed as he followed Galyn, Itaviir and the Ventra Gales into what Arkay swore looked a lot like his clan base from a video game he used to play.
“Thank you!” Zephyr seemed to smile back, but, like most Zarians, she didn’t really have a mouth. She did kinda have eyes but they didn’t move. Instead, she somewhat telepathically transferred and emitted her emotions to everyone around her. “I decorated most of the place myself! Thyel, Kahlos and I have three separate places as well as our, uh, old, abandoned HQ. Is this your first time in the Ventra Expanse? There’s loads of dojos like this.”
“I honestly wouldn’t know. I went all over the damn place when I became a Decayling and was running away from Kinisis…” Arkay’s smile faded somewhat. “Itaviir here tracked me down using Retvik as bait. Anyway, do you have somewhere nice and clean and private where we can take Kahlos? I don’t know what his species is called, but I am certain you lot don’t like being seen without armour on.”
“How do you know that?” Thyel asked.
Arkay gestured at Itaviir and Galyn, both of whom crossed their arms and grunted. “I live with these guys. And I live with Retvik and Litvir and two other Rethavok. AND I live with a Lanex, who doesn’t even take his mask off. Literally sleeps in armour sometimes.”
“Oh. Fair. I’m… not a normal Beh’en, I don’t… really know about normal Beh’en traditions. Sure, I was a Warm Guard, but I worked on my own and spent five evs fighting off a bunch of Voidborns on my own until Zephyr and Kahlos relieved me of my duties.”
“Should I know what a Warm Guard is??” Arkay whispered to Galyn and Itaviir.
“Warm Guards have the sacred duty of protecting Warmths, which are nests for Beh’enlu, baby Beh’evok, as they grow,” Itaviir explained. “I was one briefly before the Phantai adopted me. It is a genuinely noble job, but you are often bound to a Warmth without being allowed inside, and you can only stop being a Warm Guard when a Warmth has frozen over. Which is difficult to do as you are forever stuck outside unable to pass through into the womb.”
Arkay eyed Itaviir somewhat. “Yeah, definitely sounds like the sort of thing a person related to Kinisis would do to a species… Anyway, uh, back to Kahlos… Your kind weren’t made by Life Goddesses, right?”
Kahlos stared at Arkay.
“That means no…” Thyel muttered. “Follow Zephyr, she’ll lead you to the mini medical bay here.”
“Alrighty!” Arkay went back to smiling. “Lead the way, Zephyr! Galyn and I will follow you.”
“Itaviir isn’t going with you?” Thyel exclaimed.
“I do not have medical skills the way Galyn does, and Kahlos will want his privacy…” Itaviir grunted as the others all left.
Once the room was clear, Thyel hesitated, then looked Itaviir up and down.
“So… uh… Itaviir… did you know you are very attractive?”
“I appreciate the comment, Thyel, but I am already spoken for.”
“Oh well, worth a try…”
Elsewhere, Zephyr seemed to be leading everyone down a maze of corridors and hallways. Eventually, they reached a doorway that opened up into what would have been a standard doctor’s office, if it wasn’t for the massive, meaty monster mouth covering most of the rear wall.
“Is that supposed to be there?”
“Yeah. Don’t touch it and it won’t touch you, but it’s mostly harmless. If it tries to eat you, just give it whatever is in your pocket and it’ll let go. I’ll leave you all to it. Look after Kahlos for me!”
Zephyr darted off before anyone could say anything.
“But… I don’t have pockets…” Arkay muttered.
“You have a hammer space, same thing!” Galyn tutted, then turned to Kahlos, who had already sat himself down the lone bed. “Kahlos, friend, I know you dislike talking, so I will let you know in advance that we will do our best to fix you up, but you do need to uncover the area around your injury so we can see it.”
Kahlos hesitated for a moment, then whispered a single word. “Sorry.”
“Sorry for what? You have done nothing wrong.”
“I see thoughts and truths. You and Thyel. I apologize.”
Galyn sighed. “It is fine. Now, please, show us the wound, so we can work out how to heal it.”
Kahlos fiddled around with the plating on his chest, then revealed a massive gash on his side. Galyn took a closer look and was surprised to see how deep it was. Arkay glanced at it as well, but immediately backed away, his eyes briefly glowing blue.
“Arkay, is something wrong?”
“Ugh. It’s Synaisthyn stuff. Your race… uh… I don’t know what your actual species name is…”
“Just Truthtalkers.”
“Ah… Well, you Truthtalkers… you’re part Voidborn. But you have an internal skeleton alongside the bone plating that makes up your skin, that we can’t see because you always wear armour, and, instead of organs, you’re just… full of a blood-like substance.”
Kahlos didn’t seem too surprised by this relevation. “Voidborns control void. From void first Truthtalker was born. Torn from void by Zontanian Unknown.”
Galyn thought for a moment. “That… is problematic. That means only a Life Goddess can heal you.”
“How is that problematic when I’m right here?” Arkay blinked in confusion.
“Your blood might kill Kahlos.”
Arkay snorted briefly. “No, my blood only kills Corruption. My bile kills Voidborns. But my saliva is that of a Life Goddess.”
Kahlos stared at Arkay, actually lifting his visor to show how surprised and shocked he was, and what Arkay was about to suggest.
“Alright, I know that licking the edges of a large wound like that is both weird and unhygienic normally, but you’re descended from a Voidborn, Galyn was a god of war who turned into a gardener and a spy when he left his universe and I’m a mess beyond comprehension. Sometimes we ought to try the easiest thing first, before we drag you back to Savepoint to get Phovos to bleed on you.”
Kahlos stared at Arkay some more. Sure, Arkay did have some protection from the ways of the Truthtalkers thanks to his connection to Litvir, but Kahlos was definitely looking very hard.
“I’m not saying the p-word, but I will do my best to not hurt you. As long as I don’t throw up or you stab me in the stomach or something, you’ll be fine. Worst case scenario, I get a funny taste in my mouth and nothing happens.”
Eventually, Kahlos relented, and laid down on the bed, holding his arm behind his head, so that Arkay could get better access. Arkay wondered if he should lick his fingers and then run those across the wound, but considering how severe and bloody it was, despite being ancient, he probably needed as much potency as possible.
“Do I need to do anything?” Galyn suddenly asked.
“Uh… Maybe hold Kahlos’s hand? This might sting a lot. I don’t know how good you are with pain, I assume pretty fucking good, but still…”
Galyn awkwardly did as he was told. Kahlos remained calm at first, but clenched Galyn’s hand quite tightly as he felt Arkay’s tongue make contact. Knowing that this was all very awkward, Arkay licked up the blood and the edges of the wound as fast as he could, then stepped back to see if it had made any difference. Clearly it did, because Kahlos had relaxed completely. He didn’t breathe, but he wasn’t twitching in pain. While the edges of the wound weren’t healing instantly like they would with Life Goddess blood, the bleeding did at least properly stop.
“Alright, I think it’s working, but I’d have to constantly lick it to make it heal quickly. So what I’ll do, if you’ve got, like, several jars or something, I’ll fill them with my saliva, and you can apply it with some cotton or gauze or whatever as you need to.”
Kahlos sat up, turned to Arkay and bowed.
“Thank you.”
“Heh, no thanks necessary!” Arkay grinned. “Decay Lords are supposed to help each other, I’m just doing what’s right.”
Kahlos bowed some more. “Still. Thank you.”
“No worries. Now, do you have any sterile jars or other containers?”
The massive hulking Decay Lord sat up instantly, without being in constant pain for the first time in a very long, long time.
“Zephyr knows. We ask her. Follow now.”
Kahlos stomped off. Galyn and Arkay both washed their hands in a nearby sink (and Arkay washed his mouth out too), then followed Kahlos outside.
“Well that was easier than I thought!” Arkay grinned.
“Indeed. Arkay, with you back with us and… not a complete mess any more, us Thantir are going to do even more good out here…”
“Heh. I like that. Makes a change…”