“This has to be the place…” Arkay muttered as the Deathly Soulflame slowed down, approaching a large, golden platform with two other ships on it. The only thing lighting the place up were strips of gold lights on the edge of the platform.
Luckily, the platform was huge, and Arkay had no problem landing on it, as far away from the other two ships as possible.
“Weapons or no weapons?” Litvir asked. “They are all armed out there but they have not used them on each other yet.”
Retvik grunted. “Arkay can carry them in his hammer space and summon them as needed, yes?”
“Yeah, I can do that. Litvir, what sort of mood are you sensing?”
“Annoyance more than anything else. Uncertainty. But no desire to turn to violence yet.”
“Yet?”
“Yet.”
The three Decay Lords took their seatbelts off, chucked on some basic armour, grabbed a few bits and pieces then made their way outside, heading towards the centre where three Voidborns and three Time Drakes were standing, mostly staring at each other.
“Hello!” Arkay waved as he floated by Retvik and Litvir’s side.
One of the Voidborns looked up. They seemed rather typical, except for them being 3.5m tall and having long tails. Their bodies were typical black and gold hollow suits of armour, but these three were wearing white fabric across their bodies – two of the Voidborns wore the fabric as togas, but the third, taller one (who was clearly the leader) was wearing the fabric like a thin dress.
The Time Drakes on the other hand, they were all completely identical apart from their colours. They were large, wyvern-like beings, but their shape reminded the Missing of Saahro, one of the older members of the Thantir, because they had a smaller set of arms on their chests.
“Ah. Eisiestaste tan Phthantontheon apousa Deathven…”
“Yep! We’re the three Decay Lords that Deathven sent to help with this problem!” Arkay smiled.
“Emas katalevasaste?” the taller Voidborn asked. Its voice wasn’t as gruff as the other Voidborn. “We did not know that some Decay Lords speak Kenonosomilia.”
“I speak a little bit,” Arkay admitted. He bowed slightly and introduced himself and his companions. “My name is Arkay Theanon, codename Deathbringer. My two fellow diplomats are Retvik Rethianos, Flamebearer, and Litvir Kaldynik, Souldrainer.”
The tall Voidborn bowed back. “Hello, Deathvenians. I am Pretisiasa and these two are Licyeneon and Kalaskotonon. We represent the Silk Core, we are Voidborns that have worked to clear this sector of Corruption, for it to be made habitable once more.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you all!” Retvik smiled. “Dear Time Drakes, would you like to introduce yourselves, so we can try and sort out this problem peacefully?”
All three Time Drakes growled, but the largest one, who was pure white with gold spines and claws, stopped growling first and spoke normally.
“I am Akronin. These here are Ammostos and Atamii. We represent the Kronothrax, specifically Kronothrax Akairon Group #9536. We have fortifications around the edge of this sector and wish to claim this territory as our own, for Kronothrax expansion.”
“We have spent many a cycle clearing out the Endless Hunger!” Kalaskotonon exclaimed. “You have only assisted on the edges!”
“We covered a larger area than you did.”
“But-”
Suddenly, the Decay Lords stepped in. Litvir clapped his hands together, distracting the Voidborns and Time Drakes.
“My dears, before we all start arguing loudly, we need to work a few things out!”
Litvir nodded to Arkay, who immediately opened up his hammer space and pulled out a folding table and chairs. Retvik reached into his bag and grabbed a map that he had printed out earlier. Litvir didn’t really have much to do so he made some nice, swirly telekinetic lights, while Arkay laid a few things on the table, namely some pens, paper and glasses.
“Please, sit down!” Retvik kindly smiled. “What would you all like to drink?”
Akronin stared somewhat aggressively at Retvik, and the Time Drakes and Voidborns all looked confused, but Pretisiasa shrugged and took a seat. The others sat down too, but Akronin needed persuading.
“You do not want to discuss this in a friendly manner, over drinks?” Litvir asked.
“I… I expected you to immediately be aggressive. Most are towards the Kronothrax. Especially Voidborns. We are also not fans of the Silk Core, with their unusual ties to Decayons.”
“Would it make you feel better if we told you that us Missing have no ties to either the Silk Core or the Kronothrax, and only recently formed better ties with Deathven?” Litvir suggested, knowing that the answer was probably “yes”.
Akronin thought for a moment, then briefly growled at Atamii.
“What? They are honest. We all see that.”
“The yellow one can speak that horrible language.”
Arkay raised his hand. “I can speak your language too if I hear about a minute of it.”
“We do not HAVE a language!”
“I could also mimic being a Time Drake?” Arkay suggested. “We want everything here to be fair and equal. The job of the Missing, i.e. Retvik, Litvir and myself, is to help do things as evenly as possible and work our way towards a peaceful solution to the current problem. And the best way of doing that is to talk about the problem on both sides, then make our way towards a satisfactory conclusion for all of you.”
“Akronin, I think the strange yellow one has a point…” Ammostos telepathically muttered, unaware that Litvir could hear him. “Neither they nor the Unhomed are acting in any way aggressive. I think this may be our best opportunity to obtain some control around here.”
“You have a point…” The Kronothrax leader frowned, but relented. “Very well. We shall discuss things.”
“Wonderful!” Retvik beamed, having been informed by Litvir what the Time Drakes were thinking about. “Arkay, my dear, may we use the fancy mugs?”
“Fancy mugs?” Pretisiasa asked.
Arkay teleported off briefly, but swiftly returned, placing some heavy metal tankards in front of everyone.
“Of course! Everyone, please, help yourselves to any drink you want. Let’s get ourselves comfy before we get started…”