Teekay blinked as consciousness returned to him. The last time he was awake, he was inside a glass cell alongside his fellow Decaylings, Eksi, Tahvra and his partner Elkay. Phovos and Elksia had their own individual cells, and Akah and Tenuk were awkwardly sharing a cell opposite them, neither of them looking comfortable after a long argument they’d had recently. Akah was particularly pissed off because he’d been called a Voidborn seven times, even though he was adamant that he was a former Divine Guardian. It had been suggested to them by a Phantai Decay Lord by the name of Measureblade that they all got some rest and have a quick nap before they started testing, so that was what they did.
But Teekay was no longer in his cell. He was tied to a vertical metal slab, suspended by his arms and legs, being stared at by six individuals that all looked exactly like Teekay, except much more heavily armoured and wearing a large sword on either their backs or their hips. There were some slight colour and height variations here and there, but they all did look almost exactly like Teekay.
“Welcome, Seven. We thought we’d never find you.”
“Uh, my name isn’t Seven. My name is-”
“Your name is Teekay. Teekay Theanon, TK0016K, K-Class Ksa. We know. We’re all called Teekay here too.”
Teekay hesitated for a moment. “I… I don’t have a surname though. And I’m not planning on taking Elkay’s surname when we get married either.”
The six other Teekays all glanced at each other.
“You were… dating your guard target when the universe died, Seven?” one of the Teekays asked. “You are planning on marrying the High General?”
“Uh, Elkay’s not the High General any more. He was kinda forced to retire when everyone thought he was killed.”
“Photeianos killed him?” another Teekay exclaimed, looking rather shocked.
“We never woke him up from his comatic sleep?” yet another Teekay blinked.
“He died more than once?”
Teekay sighed to himself. “No, Yisini threatened a massive city, the Vrekan capital. Elkay exchanged his life for the lives of everyone in the city and was presumed dead. Rethais Rethianos took his place as High General. I admittedly wasn’t there, I was trapped under rubble while trying to protect my actual guard target, Kayel, All-Ksa of the Skyavok.”
“What’s a Skyavok?” three Teekays asked in unison.
“We’re Skyavok!” Teekay tutted. “Or, at least, I am. You all kinda look too armoured to be Skyavok.”
“So, uh, you’re not a Threan-type Retha?”
Teekay didn’t answer at first. The phrase that this particular Teekay had used sounded vaguely familiar, but it wasn’t a term he had heard any Skyan say. Or even a Rethan. The only time he’d heard it was in reference to a deity, something he had overheard Galyn saying to Litvir and Retvik.
“No, I’m not. I’m a Skyavok. I am Teekay, TK0016K, Ksa of the K-Class, former protector of the All-Ksa and General of the Skyavok military. And now I am a Decayling, codename Shocktrooper, serving the Thantir.”
One of the Teekays, the biggest and most heavily armoured one, growled as he stepped forward and wrapped a claw around Teekay’s throat.
“You are wrong. You are Teekay Theanon, Loopblade-7. You are one of us, one of the League of the Loop. You are Phantai. The Psions of the Thantir have warped your mind, made you believe you are something you are not.”
Teekay rolled his eyes, sighing at this particular duplicate’s reaction. He wanted to laugh, to spit in their faces and teleport away, but he was pretty certain these six other Teekays could all do the same and just chase after him. That being said, they were all pretty confused as to why Teekay hadn’t immediately agreed with them.
“I’m being completely honest here. Everything I’ve said is true, and I have no reason to lie. You can go and get one of your own telepaths to confirm, if you want. But since you’re so insistent that I’m wrong, how about you tell me what I’m supposed to be thinking? Tell me a bit about yourselves.”
With a small smile, Teekay waited for a response. If these alternate versions of him were actually like him, he knew that they were at the very least vaguely reasonable. That they’d listen to reason.
“I think you should explain, One…” one of the Teekays muttered. The second most heavily armoured Teekay stepped forward. This one seemed older, their eyes glowed less and, unlike all the Threan-type Teekays, they had glowing psionic wings the same way Skyavok Teekay did.
“Before I start, Seven, do you understand the idea behind a Big Bounce?”
Teekay thought to himself for a moment. “Is that the theory where a universe stops expanding and starts collapsing in on itself, forming a new big bang that restarts the universe? I’m pretty sure the universe I’m from had very little expansion though and nowhere near enough gravity for that to actually happen though.”
The Teekay known as One nodded. “You are correct, in a way. In our case, our universe experienced a Big Bounce caused by the machinations of our Dragon God of Time, to counter a mass extinction across our entire universe, caused by the Cycle Herself and her pet, the Thantophor.”
“Huh. I know a Thantophor. Was a pretty reasonable guy…” Teekay muttered. “Well, unless you pissed him off. But please, do continue.”
One tutted. “Simply put, the same events would happen, over and over. The Cycle Herself would create a universe, populate it with life, then, at a certain point, send out her pet to start destroying life. The Dragon God of Time and the Golden God of Stasis would attempt to stop her, and the Six Siblings were chosen to try and take down the Thantophor. Unfortunately, every time, the Six Siblings would fall, and in their battle, they would tear holes in the side of the universe, where a handful of beings would escape. As the universe would start collapsing, the Dragon God of Time would step in, kill the Thantophor and forcibly reset the universe, only for the whole thing to happen again.”
“And, let me guess, every cycle, you’d escape into the Periuniversal Void and become a Decayling?” Teekay asked. “Who were the Six Siblings?”
“The six living sons of KL0135L. Veekay, Heir of Stasis; Arksi, Thitaksi, Eksi and Psiksi, the four Time Drakes; and Elkay Theanon, the Fatherless One. You should know all of them well, rather intimately in some cases.”
“Um…” Teekay hesitated. “Which ones? Because, like, I know Eksi, and I’m very, very intimate with Elkay, because I’m going to be marrying him soon, but Elkay isn’t a Skyavok, he’s a Rethavok. Veekay used to be my second-in-command until I retired but we only ever spoke on professional terms, and while I did meet Arksi a handful of times as he was Ksa of the Ξ-Class, I never met Eksi’s siblings Psiksi and Thitaksi.”
One looked Teekay up and down. “Hm. Tell me about your Elkay. He has siblings, yes?”
“He has half-siblings. His father is the mother of Retvik and Rethais Rethianos. I don’t know if you’ve met Retvik yet, he’s currently in charge of the Thantir alongside my other boss, Litvir. Rethais kinda didn’t make it, alongside the rest of our universe.”
The other Teekays all fell silent. Teekay could tell that they were communicating telepathically, and he could catch some of their thoughts, even though he wasn’t trying to listen.
“That makes no sense…”
“I haven’t seen the new Thantir guys yet.”
“Those Thantir are not right.”
“No, they’re just different. Not from here.”
“I think Seven is telling us the truth.”
“I think Six was right. The Loop has been broken.”
“It can’t be. The timings match up.”
“The timing was far later on this Loop. We missed him by six yearstrings.”
“And he wasn’t in the same location. There was nothing there on this Loop.”
Eventually, the six Threan-type Teekays turned to Skyavok Teekay.
“How did your universe end, Seven?” One hesitantly asked.
“It, uh, kinda ended twice…” Teekay wasn’t completely certain himself. “Something about a Voidborn army, the Golden Protectors, attacking it. The Allmaker turned her son, the Thantophor, into a nuclear bomb and blew it all up, leaving nothing but a handful of slithers that were saved and protected by the Panelix, the Whenvern and the Allbirther. Then the Allmaker threatened the Panelix and what was left of the universe, the Panelix killed her and then the universe kinda broke and destroyed itself, before being reformed into something both the same but very different.”
One fell silent, then grunted. “That is… completely different. Six, I apologize, you were right. The Loop HAS been broken. This is not Loopblade-7, this is Shocktrooper.”
“I mean, that’s what I’ve been saying this whole time…” Teekay tutted.
The six other Teekays all glanced at each other for a moment.
“So, One, do you want to do the Initiation Process anyway?” the most heavily armoured Teekay asked as he summoned a glowing orange psionic blade.
“Heh, sure, Four, why not…” One smiled, creating a psionic blade of his own. “Welcome to the League of the Loop, Seven…”