“I did not think I would be seeing you again so soon. I would get up, but, well…”
Kengana bowed slightly as he entered the recovery room. It was technically already a little cramped in there, since there were four other Decay Lord present. Lying in bed was Litvir, who had only recently regained the ability to talk. Sitting by his side was Retvik, the other leader of the Thantir Decay Lords, and standing guard at the entrance was a young, icy, masked Decay Lord which Kengana thought was a Melek Glatoran at first glance, but seemed to be too organic to be one. Also present was Vikalos, who had been pacing up and down on the other side of the room.
“Lord Kengana, it has been a while!” Vikalos smiled weakly as he walked over and shook Kengana’s hand.
“It darn has, Vikalos! Y’all lookin’ mighty stressed. Can’t say ah blame ya. How’re ya feelin’, Litvir?”
Litvir shrugged weakly. He only really had movement in his head and right arm currently. “Honestly? Surprised. Surprised I am alive, and surprised to see you. What brings you here to Savepoint?”
Kengana clicked his beak, then pulled up a chair. But before he sat down, he turned to the Decay Lord at the door. “Ah, kiddo, ah didn’t ask ya name. Ya one o’the Thantir younglings?”
“My name’s Akah, and yes, I am.”
“Ya on guard for ol’Litvir ‘ere?”
“Yes, sir. We locked the place down because of the recent attack.”
“Good!” Kengana smiled. “Glad. Y’all had a rough ol’time. Vikalos, was the bad ol’entity definitely the Mindeater?”
Vikalos nodded. “It was a large, black, psionic serpentine creature with four arms and a cobra hood. Exactly what the Justar warned us of when I was a Decayling.”
“Hm… That’s exactly what Phos described…” Kengana’s smile immediately disappeared. “Ah’ma be blunt, Litvir, ya’re lucky t’be alive. Very, very lucky. Also we’ve got one ‘ell of a problem now.”
“Wait, what happened to Phos?” Retvik asked. “Did that monster attack the Phantai too?”
“Yep. Thantir, Phantai and Justar, y’all got attacked. Ol’Soulblade and some”o his minions all got bit, they ain’t doin’ much better than you, Litvir. Surprised that your tiny lil Psion youngling didn’t get hurt too. That’s why ah’m ‘ere, t’work out what to do.”
“What actually happened?” Retvik was still clearly concerned and confused. “Because that monster just turned up, demanded that Litvir hand himself over and then threatened us when Litvir asked for a reason as to why he should do as asked.”
Kengana clicked his beak several times, then sighed, leaning forward. “Officially? The moment they there found ‘is corpse, with ‘is head cut clean off? Deathven’s claimin’ that Mindeater went rogue ‘n’ was killed by one’o his there potential victims. Dunno if they know ya killed ‘im, Litvir.”
Litvir hesitated, then glanced at Retvik. Retvik shrugged back.
“I, uh, did not kill that bastard. I do not know what killed it. I was lying paralysed on the ground when something flashed in, cut Myalotroph’s head off then stopped me from dying then disappeared.”
“You… uh… ya didn’t see what happened?”
“No. I regained the ability to properly see about 10 hours ago, and the being that killed them claimed they did not know me. All I can say is that Myalotroph definitely targetted me for being a “problematic Psion”. Its words, not mine.”
Another sigh. “Well, that there makes things way more darn complicated. Y’all killin’ the Mindeater in self-defence is one thing. Some unknown other doin’ the killin’? Very messy… And t’make matters worse, between y’all and me? That Psion ya met, Litvir? Selesyr? She’s completely vanished. Ah’m of the opinion that she there was a spy or somethin’ for Deathven Proper. Everywhere Selesyr went? The Mindeater followed. She’s supposed t’be nothin’ more than a liaison between them there security Decay Lord companies for the commercial areas, Deathven and mahself, but she’s gone darn disappeared. Got a call before I got ‘ere, she’s supposed t’have been meetin’ the guards at the mall in the Goldtorn Remains, never turned up.”
Vikalos crossed his arms and growled. “So we are looking at an assassination attempt. This Selesyr individual was leading the Mindeater to Litvir. I know that, when Telin, Litvir and I went to Deathven Sector Alpha, we were a little… harsh with our words, but if they wanted to discipline us in any way, they should have done so there and then.”
Kengana turned to Vikalos. “Why did ya both go to Deathven Proper with ol’Telin?”
“Deathven himself imprisoned poor Elkay, claiming he was a threat…” Litvir tutted. “He seems to have a vast hatred against all Amalgam Mimics.”
“And Deathven suggested that Elkay was somehow related to the attack on Deathven Sector Alpha and Lifean Sector Alpha!” Vikalos added. “But Elkay was serving Kinisis as a Divine Guardian alongside Akah here when that happened.”
Kengana blinked. “Deathven imprisoned that cute lil Elkay? The green-armoured little thing that ya came t’me for a marriage certificate?”
“Yes.”
“But Elkay seems completely harmless.”
Retvik and Litvir both nodded in agreement.
“In fact, Elkay is rather unique, even among Amalgam Mimics!” Vikalos explained. “He has no self-destructive side at all, and a powerful desire to protect others, while also breaking a believed-known rule that all Amalgam Mimics were originally deities or are hybrids in some way.”
The avian Decay Lord fell silent, thinking to himself. After a few seconds, he clicked his beak and sighed again.
“I’ma be real honest with y’all. I was gonna just go with what them there Deathven proper folks told me t’do. Get y’all some extra security. But I ain’t trustin’ Deathven Proper right now. They all know where y’all livin’, they could just send someone else t’kill ya. So, instead, I’ma make some calls. See if I can get some Phantai or Justar t’hang around. Maybe get some old Thantir t’come back, maybe some old Ventra or Metrum too. Local folks that won’t wanna kill ya. I’m certain there’s a few folks that’re lookin’ for a job. At the very least, I can vet ’em before I send ’em ‘ere.”
“Well, I appreciate the concern, Lord Kengana!” Litvir smiled weakly. “Is there anything else we can do in the mean time?”
Kengana got up and shook his head. “Not really, no. Y’all just keep on doin’ what y’all doin’. Between y’all with your purification stuff, the Phantai tidyin’ up the Goldtorn Remains and there being some good ol’ proper Corruption killin’ in the Ventra Expanse, this ‘ere Pentacluster is improvin’ nicely. But either way, I oughta get back t’work, them darn Justar constantly causin’ problems.”
“I mean, why do you think I left?” Vikalos mused. “There’s only so many times you can get away with pissing off the local Kronothrax Legion.”
“Hah!” Kengana snorted as he patted Litvir on the tail. “Y’all look after yaselves, yes? I’ll do mah best to tidy things up and get y’all some extra protection. And get well soon, Little Bitey!”
“Thank you, Lord Kengana. We wish you safe travels.”
Kengana smiled slightly, and bowed once more. “Thank you. Stay safe, kiddos.”