The colossal, black, reptilian being that was all tail, claws and fangs hovered ominously in the centre of Savepoint, demanding an audience from someone in particular.
“Souldrainer, Litvir Kaldynik, formerly Litvir Kaldieridos, give yourself to me, and I will leave your fellow Thantir alone.”
Whatever this being was, it was clearly a threat, which was why Litvir hesitantly approached it. Somewhat. Litvir was currently using his telekinesis to keep himself airborne, and was carrying his standard double-bladed gunstaff, the safety off and ready to fire. The rest of the Thantir, those who weren’t in the middle of an operation to remove Corruption from two young Voidborns, remained nearby, also with their weapons drawn.
“Who are you and why do you want my partner?” Retvik snarled as he made his way to Litvir’s side. “You have no right to make threats, not in our territory and certainly not here at our base!”
The creature smiled. Its fangs alone were as long as Litvir’s clawed fingers. Most of its body was serpentine, but it had two sets of arms, both tipped with massive talons. A cobra hood shaded its eyes and jaws from the artificial light.
“This does not concern you, Flamebearer, Retvik Rethianos.”
“It bloody well does. You come here, demand my partner give himself to you and threaten us and you do not even tell us your name. Leave now, or we will threaten you in return.”
More smiles. The creature flicked its tongue in and out, tasting the air briefly, before glancing around. It spotted Eksi, who had grabbed his own gunstaff and a short blade, then snarled.
“Soulsoother, ΕΞ1004Ξ, common name Eksi, what do you think you are doing?”
“Same thing you’re doing, Myalotroph. You’re scanning the place, scanning us, I’m doing the same!” Eksi hissed. Normally, Eksi was much more laid back, but he was clearly very serious right now. At the same time, he was silently and telepathically communicating with Elksia, who was running through different future scenarios, but she wasn’t coming up with anything good. “If you wish to live, turn around and leave right now and you’ll still be breathing in 50 hours time.”
Myalotroph laughed. “Your threat is cute, Soulsoother ΕΞ1004Ξ. Unfortunately, this is between Souldrainer Litvir Kaldynik and myself.”
“I do not even know who you are!” Litvir interrupted. He too was trying to scan this monster’s mind, but Litvir was hesitant to push too deep. Instead, since it wanted him in particular, Litvir allowed himself to be a distraction while Elksia continued with her future scenarios. As far as Elksia could tell, as long as-
A burst of flames hit Myalotroph in the side. However, the flames hadn’t originated from Retvik. Vikalos stormed out of the operating room he had just finished working in, with his summoned fire bow raised and pointed at the creature.
“BEGONE, FOUL MINDEATER!” Vikalos roared as he fired more flaming shots. Myalotroph retaliated by raising a telekinetic shield, deflecting the arrows. The fact that Vikalos, someone who was generally calm, calculated and unlikely to charge into battle head first, had abruptly done just that, prompted the rest of the Thantir to also attack.
However, most of their attacks did nothing until Nuh decided to use his gravity powers to rip off one of Myalotroph’s arms. The black Cleanser had been aiming for the serpent monster’s head, but he could tell it was telepathically trying to manipulate him into attacking everyone else so he couldn’t focus on more important areas, so the arm had to do.
Of course, the Mindeater didn’t like this one bit. Nuh’s attack was followed by four torrents of flame from four different Decay Lords, with Pah, Retvik, Vikalos and Saahro all trying to incinerate the monster. Normally, Myalotroph would just mind-control everyone into attacking each other, but Litvir had stepped back from the fight and was casting a series of cantrips that stopped the Mindeater from doing so.
“SOULDRAINER LITVIR KALDYNIK, YOU DEFY ME?” the serpent monster hissed as they telekinetically shielded themselves from the flames.
“Why in the name of the Light would I allow you to harm any of us?” Litvir hissed back, leaping out of the way as Myalotroph redirected the flames away from itself and in Litvir’s direction. “You threaten us yet do not understand why we are retaliating?”
“YOU WILL BE MINE!”
All of a sudden, Myalotroph planted two of their hands on the ground, sending out a telekinetic shock wave that knocked pretty much everyone off their feet. While Litvir and Eksi did their best to shield everyone’s minds, a barrage of black energy exploded from the serpent and stole the consciousnesses of most of the Thantir.
Satisfied with the carnage, Myalotroph lunged for Litvir, only for the Psion to stab the serpent in the side with his gunstaff, before backing off some more. Eksi was constantly sending Litvir messages, telling him not to get too close, that Elksia’s future threads were informing them that bad stuff would happen should Myalotroph get a hold of Litvir.
Myalotroph realized that Eksi was interfering with its plans, and backed off itself, creating a new telekinetic shield and giving itself some breathing space. With a pained snarl, it swiftly regrew its missing arm, only to howl in pain as it was attacked once more. Tah, the only member of Kal still standing, who had blocked Myalotroph’s attack with an electric shield of his own, was hurling bolts of lightning at a speed faster than Myalotroph could block them. This was enough of a distraction for Elkay to charge in with a wave of floating daggers and some bolts of lightning of his own.
Somehow, despite having taken out the majority of this sect, the ones that remained were proving to be too troublesome for Myalotroph. It decided it needed to end the fight right now, before its target could escape. Out of the four non-targets, the easiest one to manipulate was Unender, Elkay Theanon-Rethianos. If Myalotroph could get the… whatever it was… to attack Shieldamp, Cleanser Kal Wehl-Tah, then…
The Mindeater smiled. Soulsoother ΕΞ1004Ξ had picked up on Myalotroph’s plans, also realizing that, should Myalotroph possess Elkay, none of them would be able to fight back. To stop this, Eksi jumped in and mind-controlled Elkay to stop Myalotroph from doing the same. This was enough of a distraction for Myalotroph to take out the remaining Cleanser and once again lunge for Litvir. While Litvir did escape Myalotroph’s initial attempt, the serpent monster managed to grab Litvir’s cape. A second lunge was also dodged, but this time, Myalotroph’s claw grazed Litvir’s tail.
That was all the Mindeater needed. Litvir slowed down, swiftly noticing that he had been poisoned. Myalotroph swatted away a weakened telekinetic shield, then wrapped its long, serpentine body around Litvir, before summoning a portal and dragging the Thantir leader through it. The portal vanished, leaving a horrible, cold, tingling sensation in the air.
“Weneedtogonow!” Elksia screeched as she erupted from her hiding place and forced a small tracking device into Tah’s hand, before strapping another one around her wrist. “Weneedtofollowthemrightnow! WeneedtosaveLitty!“
Eksi hesitated for a moment, then turned to Tah. “Mate, I’m taking Elksia and Elkay and we’re going after them. You’ve gotta stay here and shock everyone out of the psionic bolts that are keeping them out cold. Low amp, low voltage electric shock to the back of the neck should do the job!”
“And, uh, what about you three?” Tah clicked in confusion.
“Elkay’s going to have to put up with me mind-controlling him a bit more. He’s the only one who can follow where that monster went! But Elkia’s right, we need to go now!”
Eksi waved his hand. As he did so, Elkay copied his hand-waving and created a portal similar to the one the Mindeater had made. Elksia picked Eksi up and carried him on her shoulders, and the three of them disappeared into the portal, which promptly snapped shut.
“Well… darn… You left me with all the unconscious people…” Tah clicked awkwardly to himself as he got to work, tidying the place up and moving everyone to somewhere safer.