Kuta shuddered as they picked themselves up and tried to work out where they were. The sky above them was black, and they were lying in what looked like a rather nice park. To Kuta’s left was the gear they had managed to grab before they were attacked by the Whenvern. To Kuta’s left was… a Skyavok.
“You don’t look like one of us.”
Immediately, Kuta realized where they were. They were in Zero Zero, the large park that marked the centre of End One, the capital of the Skyavok Voidlands. In Kuta’s bid to escape the Whenvern’s flames, they had shadowjumped without considering a destination. And whenever that happened, a shadowjumper would end up in Zero Zero. No one was really sure why, but back when the Skyavok population was much smaller and far more Skyavok could shadowjump, the park had been left empty to protect from unnecessary injuries.
With a sigh, Kuta picked themselves up, dusted themselves down and then picked up all of the things they had dropped. Only then did they acknowledge the being talking to them.
“I am just a very big Skyavok…” Kuta tutted. They had been here before, but not for a long, long time. Not since they had first shadowjumped, entirely by accident. Back then though, Kuta had been a kid, they were small enough to have been mistaken for a Skyavok and not immediately attacked or scrutinized. But although Kuta was a small Rethavok, they were now far too large to blend in.
“Clearly you’re not. Do you mind coming with me please, mister?”
Kuta hesitated. “Uh, I would rather not. I would just like to go home.”
The Skyavok crossed their arms and tutted. Kuta gave them a proper look up and down. They were nearly black skinned, with pitch black armour and neon, almost translucent green patches. Like most Skyavok, they wore a covering over their head, in this Skyavok’s case, they were wearing a bright green headscarf. Since the weather in End One was always rather fair, rather than wearing a standard hoodie, the Skyavok was wearing matching green gloves, leg wraps, stomach wrap and loin cloth.
“No can do, friendo. I gotta report any and all accidental shadowjumpers to Zero Zero to the local K-Class unit for investigation. Even…” The Skyavok paused. “Dude, what the fuck, you have fangs.”
“I am disorientated and you are not just here to report me, but you also insult me?” Kuta hissed. The Skyavok stepped back awkwardly, definitely feeling threatened. They immediately raised their hands in fear, stuttering over their words.
“I-I-I’m s-s-sorry, I-I’m j-just a volunteer here…” The Skyavok looked around. “Alright, you’re c-clearly not a Skyavok, what the fuck are you?”
Kuta didn’t answer at first. Normally, they avoided using their telepathy on others, but the situation Kuta was currently in somewhat required it.
“I am an accident. Kayen, please, you direct me to the nearest space port? Wait…” Kuta paused. because of their powers, Kuta knew a little bit more about Skyavok than most Rethans, but as far as they were aware, it was only K-Class, D-Class and Ξ-Class Skyavok that were known to have Phantasma abilities. The name of this Skyavok suggested it was N-Class. “You are not of the right class.”
Kayen hesitated. “I, uh… defected… It’s… c-complicated… I’ll take you to the space port, p-please don’t hurt me…”
“Why are you monitoring the use of Phantasma powers?”
“I used to be K-Class, I’m not any more!” Kayen was starting to panic. Kuta lessened their telepathic influence, calming them down somewhat. “But I s-still… I still k-kinda offer to help s-sometimes… Lotta kids kinda… accidentally shadowjump here… gotta get them to the right place to be trained!”
“I do not need to be trained. I just need to return home.”
Kayen stopped stuttering, fell silent and started talking normally. “You’re… you have… you’re a telepath?”
“No. I just need to return home. And I need to make a call in private. Away from you.”
Weirdly, Kuta’s statement only seemed to cause the Skyavok to panic more. Kayen seemed to instantly know that Kuta was lying about their telepathy and immediately started repeating the words “NO! NOT AGAIN!” as they instantly spun around and ran away. Luckily, it didn’t take much effort on Kuta’s part to telepathy tell Kayen to both calm down and stop running, at which point they collapsed in a heap, sobbing.
Normally, most beings wouldn’t recognize telepathy outside of the tech used for military purposes, and even that was strictly limited and was only ever used for communication. Mental manipulation like what the Vohra could muster was far less noticeable unless someone had already experienced it in the past.
“Little Kayen, are you well?” Kuta approached slowly.
“You’re a shit telepath if you can’t work that out…” Kayen stuttered.
“Well…” Kuta shrugged as they reached Kayen and sat down next to them. “You would be correct, yes.”
While Kayen sorted themselves out, Kuta quickly checked their belongings to make sure they had not lost anything. Thankfully, Kuta’s bag was still on their person, and it was large enough to contain the technically stolen laptop and peripherals. They then sent a quick message to each of their captains, informing them that Kuta would not be in the office today.
“I guess that makes sense. You Rethans are emotionally stunted idiots. You are a Rethan, right?”
Kuta sighed. “I am. And while I sense you have suffered some trauma at the hands of a telepath and would offer to help you through it, I do very much need to get home.”
Kayen sighed too, having properly calmed down now. “I really can’t let you do that. We’d both get into trouble. I gotta report everyone who accidentally shadowjumps here and you’re a big scary telepathic shadowjumping Rethavok with fangs. Dunno why but the weird stuff ALWAYS happens whenever I am forced to volunteer to do shadowjumping patrols…”
“What weird things have you seen? Aside from me?”
“I mean, I was just starting my patrol when the Thantophor collapsed here. Apparently my old buddy Elkay was here too but I didn’t get a chance to see him what with all the security. I heard the Thantophor is actually pretty friendly. Saw him on TV and he seemed nice.”
“You would be correct about that…” Kuta tutted. “He does not have a nice temper though…” Kuta trailed off, wondering if they had said too much. Kayen picked up on something Kuta had just said, but not what Kuta had expected.
“I thought you Rethans didn’t use pronouns?”
“Most do not. I am aware enough that other races do use pronouns and do my best to use the correct ones.”
“Huh. You’re weird.”
Kuta rolled their eyes. “We already established that…” However, Kuta quickly realized that they and Kayen were no longer alone. A sharp dart pierced Kuta’s arm, rippling with electricity, however Kuta simply grunted and ripped the dart out, looking for the nearest shadow to jump though. Although they were incapable of jumping across planets, Kuta only needed to get to the space port and-
A bright light flooded the area as more darts punctured both the air, several of which managed to get under Kuta’s armour. While they could tolerate the pain at first, it quickly ramped up, forcing Kuta to fall to their knees. Ten Skyavok, all K-Class military, circled Kuta, rifled pointed at them. An eleventh Skyavok in silver and red armour approached and wrapped a pair of handcuffs around Kuta’s wrists, then pulled them to their feet.
“Come with us. Now.”
This Skyavok was quite an unfriendly one, Kuta could already tell. And a quick telepathic glance suggested they were a high-ranking one too, which made Kuta reluctant to try and escape, not out in the open. Not that they could. Kuta noticed that the darts they had been hit with, only some of them were electrified, the others were filled with sedatives, keeping Kuta from thinking straight.
“Sorry… I called for help as soon as I saw you…” Kayen whispered. “I didn’t wanna get in trouble…”
Kuta hissed, but that hiss turned into a sigh. “Understandable… Most would have done the same….”
Not wanting to get into any more trouble, Kuta allowed the Skyavok to lead them away.