“Sir, you wanted to speak to me?”
Silverbolt felt very small as he entered the frigid office. It was a very large office that was full of ice and snow, with icicles hanging from the ceilings and gusts of powdered snow blowing around. This frozen hellscape was the head office of Permafrost, one of the Doom Drums and the person in charge of a large number of internal goings on within the Pentathax. While Pentaflame dealt with main operations and Galeforce overran the Pentathax’s very large fleet of ships, Permafrost dealt with the more personal side of things.
Oddly though, Permafrost wasn’t that big. Galeforce and Pentaflame were huge, 5m tall monsters, and many of the Pentathax were also incredibly large beings, either draconic beasts or Enclosed Elemental Entities, rocky or metallic animal-like creatures filled with elemental energies, Permafrost was a 3m tall humanoid being with a hidden second form that most people rarely saw. That was why Silverbolt was so surprised to catch a glimpse of that second form. It was very brief though, just some sort of ghostly person zipping back into Permafrost’s metallic, humanoid, almost robotic body.
“Ah, hello!” Permafrost waved. “Come on in, Silverbolt! Take a seat!”
Silverbolt did as he was told. The chairs were nicely cushioned and had space for Silverbolt’s long tail.
“Hello…” Silverbolt muttered. “You requested I come here for some reason?”
Permafrost poured himself a drink, some sort of warm whisky, and put a straw in it. He then poured a second one and handed it to Silverbolt.
“I heard that you met someone!” Permafrost didn’t have a real face or even a mouth, but somehow Silverbolt knew he was smiling.
“I… I did… How do you know?”
Permafrost seemed to be eyeing Silverbolt. “Did we both not go to the same wedding? You spent the entire time with a plethora of beings with the same name as you. But as me and the boys were leaving, you asked to stick around for a bit longer, and I am certain it’s because you met someone.”
“Well…” Silverbolt hesitated. “I did… I did meet someone.”
Permafrost sipped his whiskey. “Want to tell me about them?”
Silverbolt hesitated some more. “Why… why are you asking me?”
“I’d like to know.”
“I guess…” Silverbolt sighed. “He has the same name as me. We’re both called Teekay. We like each other a lot. He’s not a Teliavok though. He’s a Rethavok.”
“What is a Rethavok?” Permafrost queried. “That isn’t the same race as those very tall, vokaic Beh’evok, correct? That’s the same race that young Flamebearer, the Thantir leader, belongs to.”
“Yeah. Teekay is the same species as sir Retvik and sir Litvir. Why are you asking me these things though?”
That weird smile thing returned. “Silverbolt, you are a rather… unusual member of the Pentathax. One of those beings that we pick up along the way. While we have been here in this eniapent, we have picked up seven new members from the locals, who will remain with us even when we leave. Two of them are Beh’evok, they were already a couple serving the Alsyr, and the other five are all Thrastarii, they are the same race and all close friends. You though, you have always been on your own. You are the only Teliavok member of the Pentathax. You are quite a lonely person.”
“I am, yes, but I chose to join the Pentathax. I chose this path and I accept my loneliness.”
Permafrost leaned forward. “May I ask why?”
“Why what?” Silverbolt asked back. “I told you why I wanted to join the Pentathax, because I wanted to do good towards the Omniverse, I wanted to help others, despite my own imperfections, rather than being trapped as a slave deep underground, because my own kind don’t consider me good enough.”
“I wanted to ask why you are accepting your loneliness.”
“It… it is all I have ever known.”
“Would you like to change that?”
Silverbolt blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I looked up the person who you are now close friends with and worked out who they were. They work for the Ekthris. So I spoke to Smokescreen and asked for more information and we had a very nice chat about things. Do you like Arcbearer?”
Silverbolt swallowed nervously, then nodded. “I like Arcbearer a lot. He’s really nice. I felt whole whenever I spent time with him.”
“And he likes you back, yes?”
“Yeah. We have been messaging non-stop.”
“Wonderful. I am glad you are happy with him. Now, I know we just moved you into the Kinigian Wilderness on border patrol duties, but I wanted to ask you, do you want me to move you back to Kentarasa? We do have border patrol duties within Ekthrisian territories, and I am happy to move a few people around so you can go back there. You’ll still live on our main base in Kentarasa, but you will have solid leave every ev-end so you can spend time with your new friend.”
“You… you want me to be able to spend time with Arcbearer?” Silverbolt stuttered.
“I do, yes!” Permafrost seemed to grin. “Silverbolt, you’ve served us diligently for a good fifteen year-strings. You’ve been lonely the entire time. One of my jobs as the smallest third of the Doom Drums is to make sure that every member of the Pentathax is happy. I see a chance to make you happy and I am offering it to you.”
“Really?”
Permafrost nodded. “Everyone deserves happiness. I am willing to make arrangements so you can find yours.”
Silverbolt’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yes. It’ll take me about a week to make those arrangements, but I want you to be ready to head off, soon as possible.”
Silverbolt jumped up excitedly from his seat. “”I will do that! Thank you so much!”
“No worries, kid. Anyway, take a quick break to calm down, then head back to your duties. Alright?”
Silverbolt nodded. “I will! Thank you so much!”
“Like I said, it’s fine. Have a good one.”
With a massive grin, Silverbolt bowed, then left the room. He had someone he needed to call.