Most of the party had been rather tame. Adults standing around talking to each other. Slowly, people began to mellow out. Now, at the tail end of the party, things had calmed down a lot, mostly because the Exalted Shifters were drinking and were inviting others to drink with them. The Missing, one of the Hidden Named Trios present, had accepted. And they’d invited the Ventra Gales and a couple of the Tattered Navigators to join them. Somewhere along the line, several younger Justarian Lords suggested bringing in a large number of pillows and cushions and bean bags, and all of a sudden, one corner of the main party area was now a sea of comfort, drinking and food.
Eventually, the Black Storm and two of the Great Blades also entered what had now been called The Comfort Zone, as did Permafrost of the Doom Drums. It turned out that Permafrost wasn’t a Zarian like Ignasi and Zephyr had guessed, but he was distantly related somewhat.
What really shook things up was when Ziital and Eta Carinae joined in. Two of the Travellers, a renowned Named Trio, partaking in such silliness was an amazing sight. Admittedly, Eta wasn’t drinking alcohol, she didn’t understand it and it didn’t affect her in the slightest. Instead, Arkay and Retvik had lured her over with a bowl of melted cheese, and Ziital, amused by their antics, decided to do some “nice, old, mortal things” and have a drink as well.
Things were fine. Fun and enjoyable and relaxing. Almost everyone was happy. Sure, Orion was being a bit of a grump, but only because he didn’t like drinking. The main hosts of the party didn’t seem to mind either, apart from one person.
Truthtalker didn’t have external visible emotions. He was a gigantic suit of armour with some flesh inside somewhere. And while Lawruler and Peacebringer had been amused by the actions of the more famous Trios, Truthtalker hated that they had somewhat taken over, and, worse, they had swayed the opinions of some of his Justarian Lords too.
After a good hour of standing around, pretending to be civil with the handful of external sect Decay Lords who weren’t quite interested in the “snuggle pile”, Truthtalker decided to do something.
The final straw was the last of the Tattered Navigators deciding they wanted to join their partners. Firestorm was a former Justarian Lord who had left to help two fools who had fled from the Phantai’s ranks. While the other two Claws of Justice had originally disliked the move the same way Truthtalker did, the (at the time) new Thantir sect did do a lot of work that was indirectly beneficial to the Justar. But Truthtalker had never forgiven Firestorm for leaving. He had been in charge of a vital slice of the northern border of the Justarian Circle, keeping the Phantai’s eternal crusade against Voidborns contained.
During the party though, Firestorm had been definitely avoiding other Justar. They all knew who he was. The older Justar saw him as a fiery warrior who had gone soft, but younger Justarian Lords thought the opposite, that a terrifying monster had finally calmed down to focus on better things. Truthtalker believed the former opinion. Firestorm was so terrifyingly powerful warrior and such a good tactician that the Voidborn cults refused to even come close to his sub-sector.
Really, Truthtalker should have informed his Trio of the action he was about to take, but he didn’t want to. He was the might here, the power, the strength. He was in charge. He was the ruler of the Justar. And these… children were mocking that.
Sitting on the outer edge of the comfort zone were Flamebearer, Deathbringer and, as far as Truthtalker was concerned, one of the worst people ever, chatting with Firestorm and Permafrost, who, really, were complete opposites. Truthtalker noticed that the third (and more eccentric) member of the Missing was sitting with the other Ventra Gales and the Exalted Shifters, but Souldrainer too had noticed Truthtalker’s approach, and Truthtalker was certain the three of them had just had a quick telepathic discussion.
“Hello again, Truthtalker!” Flamebearer smiled a little. “Do you wish to join us?”
Truthtalker tutted and didn’t answer. This made the other Decay Lords all concerned. But Deathbringer shrugged, patted Flamebearer on the shoulder then climbed to his feet, before floating up so he was at eye-level with Truthtalker.
“Hiya, we haven’t really spoken. I’m sorry that you feel like we’re making a mockery of your social gathering, but we’re just trying to make everyone comfortable, right, guys? We don’t think any less of you. We’re just having fun. As friends do!”
Flamebearer, Firestorm and Permafrost all nodded in agreement. However, Firestorm noticed that Truthtalker was raising his visor, so he could better inspect Deathbringer, and climbed back to his feet, standing by Arkay’s side and holding his hand tightly. He knew this physical contact would disrupt Truthtalker’s fact-revealing ways somewhat.
“I know what you’re about to do. Don’t.”
“Vikalos, it’s fine. I know what he’s about to do too. I can handle this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Vikalos frowned, then let go of Arkay’s hand. Truthtalker raised his visor completely, revealing his past-grabbing eyes.
“You are not a Decay Lord, Deathbringer. You are Corruption. Dangerous. Worthy of Overlord’s Hatred.”
“You used the wrong tense there, friend. I WAS corrupted. I had to fight the Unending Ancient One. On my own. Of course there was a risk of Corruption. I had three choices: be corrupted by the Unending Ancient One, die and have my remains be corrupted and abused by the Unending Ancient One, or turn myself into a unique strain, so Unending Ancient One couldn’t use me. Then I went back to the Thantir and they un-corrupted me, because that’s their job.”
“You are a monster.”
Arkay sighed. “I get what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to undermine me, because you think I’m trying to undermine you. I’m genuinely not. I just wanted to meet other Decay Lords outside of my sect and have some fun. Fun that you and your two buddies offered to us.”
“Does not change your past. Does not change your sins. You will be a monster. Forever.”
“So?”
“We do not allow monsters here.”
“Wow, not only are you mean, not only are you behind a lot of things ending in -cide, but you’re a hypocrite too.”
Clearly, Arkay was unbothered by Truthtalker’s statements. He tutted, then crossed his arms.
“Alright, I’m going to make you an offer. I do that a lot. We can drop this whole thing right now. Retvik already gave you a tongue-lashing. I don’t need to give you another tongue-lashing, but I will, if you don’t drop this. We’re just having fun, being friendly, as Decay Lords should be, and you’re trying to have a power trip over us. You don’t even need to apologize, you can just turn around and we’ll drop everything. Or you can stand here, insult me and try and claim I should be killed, and then I mimic your powers and rip some truths out of your mind. It’s up to you.”
Truthtalker snarled, crossing his arms the same way Arkay was crossing his.
“Counter-offer. One truth each. We will see reality then go our separate ways. How you are irredeemable. A worthless monster kept as a pet by two ill-advised children.”
“Alright, fine. You first.”
Truthtalker’s eyes glowed as he once again scanned little Deathbringer. He took a deep breath. Whether he smiled or not, Arkay didn’t know. No one else was smiling. Or talking.
“You have killed untold trillions. We all know that. You have hurt everyone you love. You will kill everyone you love. You cannot avoid it.”
“Hmph…” Arkay’s eyes briefly glowed the same way Truthtalker’s had. “That’s ironic from someone who committed genocide against his entire race, for fear of his own son being more powerful than him. Your remaining children are few in number and sterile, but-”
“So is your extinct species.”
Arkay abruptly laughed. “HAH! Probably for the best for Synasthyns, but the Retha, my original species? They could become a periuniversal race if they wanted to. Could create a whole new species if we throw in the Rethavok and Skyavok too…” Arkay trailed off. “But that’s the thing. You said “I will”, when you already have. Kahlos wasn’t the first son you both loved and feared. He was just the first you failed to kill before others found out.”
Whether Truthtalker felt any emotion or not, Arkay didn’t know. He vanished in a puff of smoke, clearly not his own. No one spoke for a bit, until Permafrost got up and tutted.
“Well, this was nice, but, no offence, that person was a bastard. So us Doom Drums are heading home. And we will potentially invite all of you Trios to a party in the future. In the mean time, hope you have a good one.”
Permafrost waved goodbye, then stomped off to find Pentaflame and Galeforce. There were similar discussions between everyone else, and everyone slowly started to leave.
“Damn… more proof that I’m a party-pooper…” Arkay frowned. However, he perked up a little as Vikalos put an arm around him.
“You did nothing wrong. HE caused this mess, not you. But I think everyone present has your back.”
“Thanks, Vikalos.”
Vikalos smiled, then gave him a little hug and sat him back down next to Retvik. “No worries, kid. In the mean time, I am going to actually make use of these pleasantries, since no one is bothering me right now!”