Elkay was pretty sure that he had somehow blown his cover and his disguise, but as he edged down a rather cramped hallway, none of the Voidborn minions had attempted to touch him. In fact, some of them had moved out of the way, allowing Elkay to pass. Despite the fact that Elkay had been pausing occasionally, using his weak telekinesis to silently place down sticks of explosives. He was certain a Voidborn had seem him do this once or twice, but no, nothing had moved or acted against him. Maybe they did genuinely see him as one of them? Elkay had no idea.
Still, Elkay stuck to the plan. It seemed that he had travelled further than expected, since he could feel the occasional rumble. Had he really gone so far that he was now closer to the distraction than he was his own team?
Elkay didn’t have time to answer that question as he suddenly found himself face to face with four very big, scary Voidborns, all blocking his path. All of them were armed with long, golden spears and covered in shimmering, crystal armour that went over their already armoured, hollow black shell bodies. They all stared down at him, demanding an explanation for his presence. However, Elkay was pretty sure he was starting to understand what the beings were saying to each other, and that he had picked up a few words himself. How, Elkay had no idea, but he was hoping this sudden knowledge would save him.
“Em Litara…” Elkay muttered hoping that he’d spoken the Voidborn word for “I’m lost.”
The guards continued to stare at him.
“Ek P’Empremie Nabigeneis?” one of the guards asked. It took a little too long to work out what they had just said, but Elkay guessed that they were asking him where he was supposed to be going. “Polymekie Es, Topioi P’Anamixmazeis Dendo.”
That second sentence made no sense. Something about Elkay being a newborn? He wasn’t sure. And his hesitation was clearly signalling to these four guards that something was up. Before Elkay could figure out what to say though, the guards all immediately turned around, backed off and stood to attention. Another Voidborn, one with four crystal horns and a golden, halo-like disc behind its head, approached. And, confusingly, this one spoke a language Elkay understood.
“Come with me, child.”
It was clearly talking to Elkay, standing with its hand outstretched. Elkay wanted to run, but stood his ground.
“Why?”
“Because I want to make you an offer.”
Elkay hesitated some more. The Voidborn put its hand away and tutted. After a little too long, Elkay relented.
“Fine.”
“Good. Come now.”
The Voidborn span around and walked back the way it came. Elkay straightened himself out, then followed.
As they walked, everything got much darker, to the point that Elkay could hardly see. He instead focused on the Voidborn’s footsteps, using sound to navigate. That darkness though was abruptly replaced with a bright, golden light, illuminating a room that felt wrong in every way. Literally everything in this new room was metallic gold, except for the being in the middle of it. Strung up in the centre of the room was the corpse of a white and gold Life Goddess, a golden blade sticking out of her naked chest and tubes running in and out of her stomach and lower chest cavity. In front the hideous sight was some sort of viewing area, with a table and several chairs neatly laid out.
The Voidborn sat Elkay in one chair, then sat down opposite him, eyeing Elkay eagerly.
“So… uh…” Elkay really wasn’t sure what to do. He took off his satchel of explosives and placed them under the table, then leaned forward to properly speak to the Voidborn. “Who are you and what do you want?”
“Those are not very good questions.”
“They are perfectly valid questions because I do not know the answer to them.”
The Voidborn tutted again. “I am Krystahamos, the Void Lord of the Crystal Doom. You, I do not know what your name is, but you are both Voidborn and Life Goddess. And you can help me end this conflict once and for all.”
“I… I do not follow…” Elkay was confused. He decided to just keep on asking questions. If this being was the Crystal Doom’s leader, then Elkay sitting here, keeping him busy and talking, was a good thing, right?
“The Crystal Doom and the Golden Protectors seek destruction of both the Holy Mothers and their unholy Phantai, because the Holy Mothers created us to serve them, and stripped us of our ability to produce children, in a myriad of ways. While the Golden Protectors sought to destroy the creations of the Holy Mothers, we seek to sterilize them and find a way to be able to procreate again. Currently, we only do so via Sinikra, this Life Goddess corpse and child of the First Mother. Unfortunately, Voidborns created this way… are not particularly… powerful. You though, you could create Voidborn soldiers that have your intelligence. That are true Voidborns, born from the darkness we were born from.”
Elkay sighed. Had this ancient being really fallen for his disguise? Did it really consider him one of them?
“You have given me no reason to want to help you, no offers or anything. I do not care for the Crystal Doom, or any Voidborns.”
“And why not? You are one of us.”
“I… am not a Voidborn.”
“Yes, you are.” Krystahamos leaned forward, staring at Elkay, but weirdly not in a menacing manner. “You delude yourself. You are as much a Voidborn as you are a Life Goddess, as you are a Time Drake, as you are a Decayon or a Corruption. But the Corruption will devour you, the Life Goddesses will tear you apart, the Time Drakes would not even consider you a valid being and what of the Decayons? They will imprison you, considering you too dangerous, or a curiosity to be studied. But as a Voidborn, you could rule by my side, lead your own army, do whatever you desire.”
“I do not want that though. I want to become a Decay Lord, I want to marry my partner and I wish to serve the Thantir, working as a purifier!” Elkay exclaimed. “I am not a Voidborn!”
Krystahamos sneered, then grabbed Elkay by the arm, lifting him into the air. “Show me what you really are then.”
A wave of dark energy surged through Elkay’s body. His disguise immediately disappeared as Elkay’s wings and tail regrew and he turned back into his normal, lithe, Rethan form.
“Hm. Not what I thought. Not good enough.”
Elkay tried to kick and flail, to break himself free, but another surge of energy flooded his body. Again, Elkay’s body began to change. Before Elkay knew it, his body had turned into that of a Voidborn, complete with a second pair of arms. The forced transformation caused Elkay to panic, and he unwittingly created a blast of telekinetic energy to push himself away. However, Elkay’s freedom was brief as Krystahamos this time grabbed Elkay by the neck.
“Much better. How you should be. Will you help me now, little one?”
“No! We’ll destroy you! We’ll destroy the Crystal Doom!”
“I care not. You and I, we will build a new cult. You will be the mother of a new army.”
“I refuse!” All Elkay could really do was shout. His body was refusing to do as he wanted it to. Elkay desperately tried to reach out, to borrow the powers of one of his fellow Thantir, but was finding their presence worryingly foreign. His own body was beginning to feel foreign. It occurred to Elkay that Krystahamos was turning him into a real Voidborn.
“Oh well. You do not need to be willing.”
Krystahamos seemed to smile, Elkay couldn’t tell. The Void Lord raised his free hand, and one of his fingers extended and sharpened. He ran his claw across Elkay’s face, before stabbing Elkay in the chest, in a gap in his now Voidborn armour plating. Elkay desperately held in his pain as a hideous heat was pumped into his veins. The Void Lord then dropped Elkay onto the table, watching as Elkay writhed in agony, before slowly peeling off the armour that wasn’t attached to Elkay’s body.
However, Krystahamos paused, spotting movement behind him. A tiny silver and orange Decayon had teleported into view. They fired something into Krystahamos’s back, but it didn’t seem to do anything, the electricity-amplified bullets bouncing off somewhat harmlessly. Not considering them worthy of any real attention, Krystahamos summoned some golden spears and impaled the Decayon through the leg and the arm, before turning his attention back to Elkay, who was still writing in pain and trying to turn himself back into his non-Voidborn self.
In hindsight, Krystahamos should have considered more resistance, as he felt a torrent of fire run up his back. A second, much larger Decayon had appeared. They freed the smaller Decayon, then melted the new spears that Krystahamos had created. They then immediately charged at the Void Lord, creating a fiery whip which did definitely damage Krystahamos’s armour.
“Teekay, get him out of here!” Retvik commanded as he threw a flaming punch, one that caught the Void Lord unaware.
“What about you?”
“Do not worry about me, you and Elkay are more important!”
Teekay did as he was told. He dodged past the two hulking monsters and leaped onto the table. As soon as Teekay touched Elkay’s body, Elkay found it a lot easier to change his body back to normal, but his extra arms and his antlers stubbornly refused to change. Teekay wrapped his arms around Elkay, then teleported him to safety.
The two of them reappeared in a more familiar location, the interior of the Life Goddess ship “Yisini”. Teekay fell backwards as he was pushed away by Gah, who immediately pressed his claws against the hole in Elkay’s chest and used his magnetic powers to pull out the fluids that had been injected into Elkay.
Back on the Voidborn ship, Krystahamos snarled as he struggled to deal with the flaming Decay Lord. Retvik was flat out melting parts of his Voidborn plating, and didn’t seem to care that he was potentially harming himself as well. Some of Retvik’s armour had turned to liquid, and his organic plating was beginning to char and burn. However, the damage Retvik had done to himself was nothing compared to the large hole Retvik had burned into Krystahamos’s stomach.
“You fight hard to protect a Voidborn!” Krystahamos hissed, finally getting enough of a grip to throw Retvik away. Retvik found himself rolling across the table and slipping behind it.
“Elkay is not a Voidborn, he is my brother…” Retvik grunted, picking himself up. As he did so though, he spotted something. A few things. Namely the large, dead Life Goddess behind him, and a small satchel underneath the table. With a small smile, Retvik sent a quick telepathic message to his fellow Thantir, then taunted the Void Lord. “If you had any real sense, you would know that Elkay is not actually one of you. I mean, it is pretty obvious.”
Krystahamos tutted, then summoned a wave of spears, ready to skewer this errant Decayon. Before he could thrust them towards the flaming Decay Lord though, Retvik grabbed the satchel of explosives that Elkay had left behind, then darted off, towards the Life Goddess corpse. Realizing what the Decayon was trying to do, Krystahamos charged after him, firing every spear he could muster, only for Retvik to melt them in mid air.
Retvik however didn’t quite reach his target. Before he could get to the dead Life Goddess, the source of the Crystal Doom’s regenerative army, he felt something grab onto his tail. The Void Lord wasn’t going to let Retvik get away. So, instead of placing the explosives inside the Life Goddess, and running, Retvik decided to do something very stupid.
In a single, swift motion, Retvik flicked his tail away from the Void Lord, then forced the satchel of explosives into the hole in Krystahamos’s stomach. Retvik then fired a burst of flames at the Voidborn, setting off the explosions, well aware that he was about to get caught in the impending destruction.
Retvik wasn’t sure what happened after that. All he could feel was a wave of intense, almost never-ending heat, followed by a weird, eerie, out of place feeling of coldness.