“By the Light! Why does all the awful stuff happen when the three of us are on shift together?” Litvir asked as he picked both himself and Retvik up off the floor. Standing before them was Elkay, with his wings wide open, seemingly shielding the elder Rethans from… something.
The three of them had been dealing with a Voidborn who had been infected with Corruption. Litvir was holding the Voidborn down and keeping them telepathically sedated, while Retvik focused on burning the Corruption from a deep wound on their shoulder. Elkay was present for two reasons: he was firstly acting as a guard and spotter, in case the Voidborn or the Corruption got aggressive, and he was also ready to supply some of his own blood if needed, to better kill the Corruption if it got too deep.
However, all of a sudden, Elkay had telekinetically pushed both Retvik and Litvir out of the way, then used some mimicked gravitational powers to completely crush the Voidborn’s body, before borrowing Retvik’s fire powers and incinerating the remains. All that was left of the Voidborn was a smouldering pile of golden ash.
“Elkay, brother, are you alright?” Retvik tried to put a hand on Elkay’s shoulder, but a bolt of telepathic static made him step back in pain. Elkay’s eyes were still focused on the Voidborn’s remains, and with a snarl, he vaporized the ashes, then created a psionic dagger, slit his wrist then nonchalantly painted the operating table in his own blood. Only when Elkay was satisfied that the threat of Corruption was gone did he calm down enough to start talking.
“Sorry. I… I saw that… going bad…”
Before Elkay could explain further, Elksia, and Nuh and Pah, the two Cleansers who normally focused on Corruption removal, appeared in the doorway behind the three Rethans.
“Damn, Elkay, you’re fast!” Elksia chirped. “You saw that all and acted before I could!”
Elkay blinked, then rubbed his eyes, inadvertently rubbing blood across his face. He sighed, licked the gash on his wrist to force it to heal up, then rubbed his eyes again.
“The Voidborn was already dead. No… I… I saw them… felt them die. Or… I predicted that they were about to die?” Elkay stuttered somewhat. “Actually, I do not really know what happened. I just acted on instinct, I guess.”
“You are right though!” Litvir frowned, quickly scanning the room and Elkay’s recent memories. “You felt the Corruption overcome that Voidborn before I did, and your faster reflexes, combined with borrowing Elksia’s time powers, meant you destroyed them before the Corruption could turn the Voidborn into an explosive breeding ground. And I guess you knocked me and Retvik back as an additional reflex to block the potential explosion. You seem rather dazed though, the shock hit you hard.”
Elkay took a deep breath. “I just killed a patient.”
Nuh wandered over to better inspect the scene, lifting himself up with his gravity powers so he could get a better look. Pah decided to just drag over a stool so he could see.
“Litvir’s right!” Nuh clicked. “The Voidborn was dead. You killed them, yes, but you also put them out of their misery before they could cause any harm. Since they’re a Voidborn, they either returned to what they call the Eternal Darkness, or they may have respawned, if their respawn point was not infected.”
“That does not make me feel better…” Elkay sighed. “Also, I am sorry, Retvik, for hurting you with the static.”
Retvik shook himself down, then put an arm around Elkay. “It is fine, no harm intended. Pah, do you recommend we take a quick decontamination shower?”
Pah hesitated, then clicked several times towards Nuh. Nuh clicked back, then shrugged.
“Yeah, probably. Five minutes. I think Elkay destroyed everything, but better safe than sorry…” Pah eventually answered. “We’ll clean up in here. Even if there’s not much left to do.”
Retvik smiled in appreciation, then led both Elkay and Litvir out of the room. Elksia followed them, heading back to her guard tower where she ran security for Savepoint. Being a Time Drake and having the ability to peer into the future meant she was perfect for stopping any accidents or problems before they could actually happen.
“You seem shaken, Elkay…” Litvir whispered as the three of them reached the decontamination showers.
There were two separate communal showers, one for visitors, one for the Thantir themselves. Both were fitted with four Decon Pods, large boxes that rinsed things like weapons, clothing and armour in an anti-infectious liquid made from a mixture of acid and Synaisthyn blood (i.e. more of Elkay’s blood, older stuff that was reaching its expiration date), and the showers used a special solution of an organics-friendly acid, more of Elkay’s blood and a few drops of Life Goddess blood (i.e. Phovos’s blood), as well as some simple soap, but less concentrated and more watered down than the object decontamination boxes.
“I am shaken. I acted on instinct, and in a dangerous way…” Elkay sighed as he, Retvik and Litvir all removed their armour and clothing. Being old-universe Rethans, they had very little to show, as their bodies were already rather heavily armoured in organic plating, so none of them really minded that they could be seen. Getting decontaminated was more important, and Elkay proved this by very quickly doffing and shoving all his gear into the closest Decon Pod. He impatiently waited for his fellow Rethans to do the same, slammed the lid shut and turned the pod on.
“Is it because you cannot clearly remember what you did?” Litvir asked as he stepped into the showers. They did have a system to heat the liquid up, but both Elkay and Litvir were used to cold showers from their military days, and Retvik had fire powers and never, ever felt cold, so temperature didn’t matter.
“Yes. I do not like that at all.”
“Why not?”
“Unlike everyone else, I do not have complete control over my stupid Synaisthyn powers and-”
“Are you actually sticking with that name?” Retvik interrupted.
Elkay grunted. “Yes. It is better than “Amalgam Mimic”, makes me feel like less of a monster. Gives me control of who I am. I am not what Deathven brands me as, I am my own damn person. And, at some point, I hope to discuss the name with Arkay.”
Litvir shrugged. “Fair enough. We have been saying the entire time that cementing your identity is what makes you stronger. Still, we all have losses of control, as long as we are aware of them and takes steps in the future. You did good though, even if you were unaware of it.”
“I still acted without thought, and for someone with my level of power, that is insanely dangerous.”
“Eh, we all have lapses. And we have safeguards here. After all, Elksia-”
“I acted faster than Elksia did!” Elkay snapped at Litvir.
Litvir raised his hands defensively. “Elkay, calm down. You are fine. Yes, you did act on instinct, but your instinct is always good. You only ever act to protect others, and that is fine. And even if you did act faster than Elksia did, she still outpaces you, time-wise. Absolute worst case scenario, we can stop you before you get too dangerous.”
“You could not stop Arkay…” Elkay muttered.
That statement angered Litvir slightly. “I will have you know, we DID stop Arkay when he lost his mind, thank you very much! Are you done panicking about things that did not happen, so we can congratulate you on your swift actions?”
Elkay glanced up at Retvik, who just grunted.
“Brother, Litvir is absolutely right. You did good. Yes, it is unfortunate we could not save that Voidborn, but that Voidborn did not think it was going to survive anyway, and came to us as a last ditch effort. We did everything we could, and you did nothing wrong.”
Elkay frowned, then took a deep breath, calming himself down. He then turned on the nearest shower and began scrubbing himself down, muttering to himself.
“Eis Efanatesion Ameinesie… Eis Litara Ochonotora…”
“Uh… what did you just say?” Litvir asked. “That was not a language I understood… Hang on, that was the Voidborn language!”
“It was. I said “rest in peace, you are no longer lost.” I… I do not know why I said it in Kenosomilia though.”
“Since when could you speak Voidborn stuff?” Litvir blinked in confusion. Retvik was too confused to say anything.
“I picked it up properly off Kal when they were dealing with another Voidborn, but I found I was also picking it up back when we blew up the Diamond. I think I can also pick up the occasional word of whatever language the Corruption speak, but Xa Thimiouyalagi is above me.”
Both Litvir and Retvik continued to blink in confusion.
“Uh…”
“The language of Life Goddesses…” Elkay frowned. “I forgot, non-Life Goddesses somewhat go… blank when they hear words from… that language.”
“Oh…” Retvik glanced at Litvir. “Well, Arkay could… pick up languages too… Still a little… freaky… I think I am just more confused by the whole Life Goddess word thing. But Litvir is, as always, completely right. You need to be less harsh on yourself.”
Litvir nodded. “80% of the time, I am right all the time.”
Elkay eyed Litvir, then snorted. “Hah. You always somehow manage to cheer us up.”
Litvir patted Elkay on the shoulder, as did Retvik. “It is fine, dear. Now, let us get cleaned up and take a quick break. You deserve it.”
Back outside, Pah was busy cleaning down the operating room, bathing everything in a special plasma bath that he always used for decontamination. However, oddly, Nuh was watching over him as he worked.
“Is something wrong, Nuh?” Pah randomly asked, out loud.
Nuh clicked, three times, each one at a lower pitch. Pah clicked back, then switched to the Silver Link, the telepathic network Kal all shared.
“What is it, Nuh?” Koh and Leh both joined in on the conversation, despite being in the middle of other things.
“I think we’ve made an enemy.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is the third explosive infected entity, the second explosive infected Voidborn, we’ve seen in three days. And, yet again, it’s the Unending Ancient One strain. We’ve never had to deal with this much of this dangerous a strain all at the same time before.”
“We hardly even saw it until we set up Savepoint…” Leh added.
“At the same time, didn’t Retvik say that the Pentathax were targetting it or something?” Koh queried. “After all, the Unending Ancient One is actually intelligent, and it has somewhat passed through this pentacluster before. Maybe the Pentathax are kinda accidentally pushing it out of Kentarasa and into Patagenic? Or maybe it’s coming in from the hellhole pentacluster next door?”
“Either way…” Nuh clicked. “We gotta get on top of this. Might have to screen people before we let anyone else deal with them, and set up a separate section just for Unending Ancient One infections. Because this doesn’t feel like coincidence or anything any more. Feels like a pattern and an actual threat.”
“Alright, alright…” Koh relented. “Tah and I will have a chat with Retvik and Litvir once they’re out of the showers. We’ll get it sorted out. Should we send out alerts too?”
“Definitely!”
Koh chittered a few times. “Okay. I’ll go through our contacts once I’m done. Hopefully though, it’s just a brief spike.”
“I hope so…” Nuh trailed off. “I really hope so…”