“Hm…”
Koh wandered around the large, floating island, going over a long check list, crossing things off. The tiny team of Decay Lords had been working hard over the last week or so, renovating the floating island and its desolate, looted buildings, turning everything into… something definitely habitable. The battered, shattered villa had been rebuilt into a fancy waiting room and a couple of offices, the burnt down forest had been uprooted and levelled out, part of it being resurfaced into a ship parking area, the rest of it being turned into a pretty garden with some freshly replanted flower bushes and wooden benches and a small block of flats had been set up, providing living quarters for every member of the Thantir. Last but not least, Gah and Nuh were currently working on a second set of buildings, which were the basis of the new Thantir Purification Hospital.
Admittedly, the name was still a work in progress, but, after years of running around like idiots chasing after clients and meeting in awkward places, Kal were finally building a facility where people could come to them. Not only were Kal now able to more easily and reliably treat people for both Corruption infections, Kenic Spores and Voidborn mental influence, but since they’d joined the Thantir, they’d started training their younger members into doing the same jobs, meaning they could treat more people at the same time. On top of that, now that the Thantir had not one but two proper Psions, they could also now start working on removing Life Goddess manipulations as well, something that Kal had always struggled with in the past.
More importantly though, Kal finally had some extra protection. For many a year, Kal didn’t have any protection what so ever, and relied on the vague assurances of local Decay Lord sects that they could shelter among them if they were in danger. Ever since they’d picked up Akah and Tahvra, they had someone covering their backs while they worked. And now they were official members of the Thantir? They had actual heavy hitters available all the time to stand on guard.
Really, the last three year-strings had been amazing for Kal. Originally, they’d wandered around the old Metrum territories, occasionally popping into the Justarian Circle or the edges of the Goldtorn Remains, doing work for the Justar, the Phantai and a myriad of Life Goddesses and other, sect-less-but-Deathven-aligned Decay Lords. But after an incident with a particularly grumpy set of Justar Decay Lords, Kal moved into the Phovon Gap, the old Thantir territories that were now known as the Kinigian Wilderness, and started occasionally doing work for them.
Things really turned around after what had initially been a rush job that Vikalos, one of the old Thantir leaders, had brought in. A tiny Decayling filled with Kenic Spores. Kal had done their job as always, only for the little Decayling to turn around and repay them by solving Kal’s biggest problem: a lack of separate bodies. The Decayling turned out to be part Life Goddess (or something like that) and had made Kal some new bodies, meaning they no longer needed to share Tah and Leh’s battered old forms.
Now they had six bodies instead of two, Kal had managed to get so, so much more work done. Sure, the Thantir kinda ended up splitting up not too long after Kal got their new bodies, but Kal started working overtime, mostly for the local Life Goddess oases that had popped up. They’d also found a new ally, someone from their old universe. Sure, Kanuva was an Imperator, the sworn enemy of the Cleansers, but they made amends.
Well, until Ahkron attacked. The nasty Voidborn had nearly torn Kal and their ship apart. If they hadn’t picked up Akah and Tahvra, Kanuva would have died and Kal would have been destroyed. Unfortunately, Kanuva ended up out of commission and turned into a far weaker form, and he’d decided to remain at the Nest, Kal’s old, secret base, to recover. But after the attack, the Thantir, those that remained, offered Kal proper membership, and they decided to accept.
Ever since Ahkron’s attack, things had been rather bumpy. It seemed that the Thantir tended to attract danger, but to their credit, they had held their own. They’d also dragged Kal into a plan to destroy the Crystal Doom, the Voidborn cult that had been pestering the Phantai for hundreds of year-strings. Which meant that Kal no longer needed to waste hours and hours pulling Kenic Spores out of Phantai soldiers.
Now that the Thantir Decaylings were now Decay Lords, the Thantir leaders had decided they wanted to do what Kal did, full time. And this had made Kal very, very happy. As far as Kal were aware, the Thantir were the only sect not just in the local Pentacluster, but in the local periuniversal voidsphere that were now doing purifications as their maini job.
Hence why Kal were sinking part of their fortune into building this base for the Thantir. In the many, many years Kal had worked as purifiers, literally no one had offered them any real assistance. And now the Thantir were literally training themselves up to do Kal’s job for them. They were desperate to make the most of this.
“Hm?”
Koh glanced up from what he was doing. He’d forgotten that he wasn’t alone. Standing before him was the organic, Imperator-looking Akah, who had been gracefully helping Kal with the base building stuff.
“Oh, nothing, was just lost in thought. Is something up, Akah?”
Akah shrugged. “Tah and I just finished setting up the magic food maker machine thingy the Phantai donated to us, I was wondering if you needed me for anything in particular?”
Koh looked down at his list, then ticked something off it. “Has Tah sorted out the wifi?”
“Yes.”
“And Gah and Elksia sorted out the water pumps earlier… Hm… Honestly, I think we’ve done all the important stuff. We just… kinda need to go shopping for furniture and stuff and that’s pretty much it, we can move in.”
“Oh!” Akah clapped his hands together in glee. Now that people had stopped calling him a Voidborn and he was a proper Decay Lord, Akah was more animated than normal. “That will be fun! I have actual money now, I can finally buy myself some new armour. Are you going to come shopping as well?”
Koh hesitated. “Uh…”
“Come on! It’ll be fun!”
Koh clicked a couple of times. “We don’t normally go to malls. People tend to mock us and pick on us.”
Akah looked down at Koh, then crossed his arms and clicked back at him. “Oh, don’t be like that! You’re not Life Goddesses, you’ll be fine. Tahvra didn’t have a problem when we went to the mall, and he’s just like you but organic. Plus you have us to back you up as well. Worst case scenario, we’ll stack three of you on top of each other, wrap you up in a trench coat and you wander around like that.”
If Koh could have snorted at Akah’s suggestion, he would have. “Eh, it’s still risky.”
“How is it risky? We took Phovos there, she was fine! Admittedly, Elkay did have a few problems, but only because other Life Goddesses did keep on calling him ugly. But you guys will probably be fine because you’re normal Decay Lords like the rest of us.”
Before Koh could respond, something flickered by his side. Tah teleported into view, holding a small tablet.
“Hey guys, I got all the networking all set up! Elksia is busy annoying Nuh, and I think we’re all good for today.”
“Neat…” Koh hesitated some more. “Tah, what do you think about going to the mall with the rest of the Thantir?”
Tah thought to himself for a moment. “Hm. Might be fun, I guess? It’s not something we normally do though.”
“You should come with us!” Elksia suddenly exploded into view. Clearly she’d grown tired of annoying the other members of Kal. “You’ll have fun!”
“That’s what I said!” Akah exclaimed. “They’re worried they’ll be mocked.”
Elksia paused, then turned to Akah. “Mocked? Why? They ain’t Life Goddesses. Or Voidborn-looking.”
“You say that, because we’re mostly mechanical, we have been called Voidborns a few times…” Tah tutted. “Still, it makes a change, I guess. Might be fun.”
“See, it’ll be fun!” Elksia went back to bouncing up and down excitedly. “You guys are all work and no play sometimes!”
“Alright, you have me convinced!” Koh clicked enthusiastically. “Let’s finish up these last few bits and pieces, then head back and arrange our trip. Everything’s pretty much done anyway, we can finally leave the Phantai…”