“Thank Allbirther Sini for modern medical technology, right? Also thank you Ksithans for modern medical technology, I guess…”
Psikay was the only person in the room in a good mood, even as the Ksithan medic wrapped up his broken arm in a flexi-cast and jabbed him in the elbow with a fast-healing injection. Despite the fact that Psikay had been thrown about 100m through the air, he’d landed in a particularly large and somewhat soft bush and had received few other injuries outside of large cuts and scratches. Really though, the main reason Psikay was happy was because he’d learned a new trick. It turned out, if one shadowjumped at the right time, you could avoid the majority of the time-slowing effects of the Whenven’s icy breath attacks.
The same couldn’t be said for pretty much anyone else at the base. Almost everyone had been hit by the Dragon God’s chrono-breath, and they were suffering from chills, dehydration and hunger, the side effects of having been briefly taken out of touch from the Forward Flow. The only two other beings who hadn’t been hit were Kuta, who Psikay assumed had done the same trick he had, and Thassalin, the colossal, pink Thraki, who had made himself even larger than normal and had attacked the Whenvern directly in a bid to protect the sleeping Thantophor. Of course, this had prompted a lot of conversation, since everyone had seen Thassalin’s fight, and people were now asking questions. They wanted to ask Kuta questions as well, but the fanged Rethan General was still unconscious, having suffered a fate similar to Psikay.
“I can’t fucking believe we were attacked by the fucking Time Dragon!” Anthoula hissed as she stuffed meat jerky into her mouth. “AND we survived! According to your Skyan archives, NO ONE survives the Time Dragon’s attacks if he wants something!”
Esksikay, Psikay’s second in command, an orange and yellow Skyan who had been running things while Psikay was out for the count, simply tutted. She’d done nothing but gulp down fruit juice between gaps in her work.
“We’re lucky the Allbirther saved us. And that Thassalin is… uh… a thing… I’d say that he was blessed by the Allbirther, but the Sinic Thraki seemed to be able to, well, do all that…”
With his arm fixed up, Psikay leaped to his feet and put an arm around Esksikay. “The big pink Thraki saved us all, we should probably let him sort himself out before we pester him with questions, right?”
“Well, no, we should ask him before he flies away forever!” Esksikay frowned.
Anthoula seemed to disagree. “Thassalin is bound to the Life Serpent and the Death Wolf in some way, and he pledged his assistance to us. I don’t think he’ll run, but he will hide until things blow over.”
A grunt interrupted the conversation. Kt’Ara, the leader of the Banikan Deity Tracking Group, stuck her head through the door. “Hello, iolif. Are you all well?”
Psikay nodded. “Oh, I’m great. None of us died, we fought the Whenvern and we got a guaranteed time of when the Silent Blade will go back to not being silent!”
Kt’Ara grunted some more. “My fellow Banikans are not doing well. Endless hunger. Fellow Sorofsof not doing well either. Sogitartis Kuta is not awake yet. I have questions for them.”
Anthoula sighed. “Tell everyone to just stuff their faces as much as possible. Our digestive systems basically stopped working, we’re all weirdly hungry and thirsty, but we’ll recover…” Anthoula paused and turned to Psikay. “What did Kuta do anyway? I know they were at the outpost by the Death Wolf’s tail, but they clearly did SOMETHING to the Whenvern!”
“Uh…” Psikay hesitated. “I don’t know, to be honest. I saw them shadowjump the same way I did, and I saw them manage to climb onto the Whenvern’s arm, but I didn’t see anything else. Was too busy being flicked away like the annoying insect I am.”
“You are not that annoying!” Esksikay frowned some more. “Sure, you ask a fuckton of questions but us Skyans do that all the time anyway.”
“I totally got yeeted by the Dragon God of Time though, and it’s a miracle that I survived with just a broken arm and some scratches. Are any of Kuta’s troops awake? The small unit they had with them may have seen something but I think they got frozen like everyone else.”
Kt’Ara growled. “They saw nothing. We all saw nothing. Did not see Ioz attack Sonok either. Ioz is still around though, hovering in the sky. Watching. Seems angry still…” Kt’Tara turned around and glanced back outside. “Oh no. Ioz has landed. And is… heading towards where we put Kuta.”
Psikay immediately made his way outside to the medical bay where the Allbirther had gone. She was currently in the form of a large, pink and purple Temthan, but she lacked any horns. The only reason why Psikay wasn’t in the medical bay alongside everyone was because it was full and his broken arm was easily fixed elsewhere. Kt’Ara and Anthoula both followed, and none of them were that surprised that the Allbirther had gone straight to where Kuta was lying and had woken the sleeping Rethan up.
“Give me some of your venom, right now.”
Kuta was still somewhat delirious. They had been knocked to the ground the same way Psikay had, except Kuta had been thrown through a tree and been given a concussion.
“Uh, what?” Kuta blinked. “Uh… you are very attractive, Kyr Sini…”
“Of course I am, I’m the Saint of Sex. Open up your mouth and let me milk your fangs, right now.”
Kuta glanced at Sini, then looked past her, silently begging Psikay, Kt’Ara and Anthoula for help, before turning over and burying their head underneath their pillow.
“Um, what is going on, Life Serpent?” Anthoula asked as she made her way to Kuta’s side.
Sini glared at Kuta, who was genuinely struggling with their emotions (mostly due to their concussion) and didn’t seem to quite know where they were. “Somehow this bastard can produce a venom capable of stunning a fucking Time Drake!”
“I did not know! I did not know!” Kuta protested from beneath their pillow. “I just bit the dragon, I had no idea what else to do!”
“Dude, you’re pretty fucked up…” Anthoula muttered, before turning back to the Allbirther. “Uh, dearest Life Serpent, maybe you should let Kuta recover a little or something. They are clearly in shock, and the last thing we want to do is accidentally… trigger something. You know what Rethans are like.”
Kuta very abruptly sat up straight. “What do you mean by that?”
“I just don’t want you going Defensive Stance on us!” Anthoula smiled weakly. “We got Banikans here that can subdue a normal Rethan but you can shadowjump and stuff.”
“Which is exactly why I want samples. Lots and lots of samples. Kuta, you are… abnormal. And I need to experiment on you!” Sini hissed. “Especially your venom! I…” Sini suddenly fell silent, then looked down at her hands, before sighing and turning back to Kuta. “Dear, I am really, really sorry. I… I went all… Kinisis-y for a moment… I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
With that, the Allbirther disappeared in a puff of pink sparkles.
Anthoula smiled again, then turned to Kuta, hoping that the Rethan had calmed down a bit. However, instead, Kuta had a look of fear on their face.
“Yet again, you look utterly terrified, mister big scary Rethan!” Psikay chirped. “You’re alive though and Sini didn’t steal any of your, uh, venom. So why are you so scared?”
Kuta stuttered, then pulled their blanket around themselves. “She… she mentioned Kinisis…”
“What is Kinisis?”
“The name of the monster that attacked the deities above the Great Dessaron Arenas…”
Anthoula blinked and her smile disappeared. She immediately turned to Psikay, who also seemed nervous.
“I’m calling the other races’ godly observation groups.”
“They hate us Arkadinian races though…” Psikay frowned.
“Don’t care. We need backup. Rest of the universe needs to keep an eye out too…” Anthoula snarled as she marched off back to her office. “We can’t do this alone any more.”