“Good day, Wanderer, Starsoarer, Spiritguide, my Travellers.”
Eta Carinae and Orion both glanced at each other awkwardly as they and their fellow Trio member Ziital were abruptly teleported in front of the Overlord. Eta was mostly thankful that their ship was stationary at the time of the teleportation, but Orion had always disliked how the Overlord’s biggest power was his ability to teleport people to wherever he desired.
“Hello, Overlord, how can we help you today?” Ziital asked as he stood to attention. Unlike his companions, Ziital was originally mortal, and he had a healthy amount of respect for the Overlord. But there was a hint of fear as well, mostly because the Travellers were among the small number of beings who were allowed to see the Overlord in his true form, and he did admittedly look like an ancient, black and gold Voidborn, but with an armoured, wolf-shaped head.
Admittedly, Orion mostly just didn’t like the Overlord because he was a dog and Orion was a cat.
“I have a… small task for you. Please, take a seat.”
With a wave of his hand, the Overlord summoned three large bean bag chairs and a throne for himself. The Travellers all glanced at each other again, then sat down as requested.
“So, little ones, how have you been? I noticed you have been doing more navigational data gathering as of late.”
Ziital nodded. “Yes, we found an entire pentacluster that was completely empty aside from one mega-universe in the middle of it, its gravitational pull was so strong that all the void clouds swirled around it.”
“Good, good. Now, how are you when it comes to data gathering on Decayons?”
Orion hissed slightly. “You want us to get data on someone?”
“Indeed.”
“Like, via subterfuge? Or just friendly conversation? Because you know we’ll always refuse more secretive work.”
“We is explorers! Not spies! We does what is bests!” Eta added. “No secret things! We make choices.”
The Overlord shook his head. “No, no. None of you are good at espionage anyway. What I want you to do isn’t too complicated. It is… more of a check-in, than anything else.”
Orion glanced at his companions. “We don’t follow.”
With a flick of his wrist, the Overlord summoned some drinks for everyone. He took a sip from his chalice, then started to explain.
“I have a contact embedded within the Pentathax, who helps me keep track on the mobile sect as they work. Apparently, they have done some very fine work lately, having dealt with a ‘Sentient Source’ connected to the Unending Ancient One strain. While the strain itself will continue to sneak around, with the intelligent parts of the strain dead, it will spread far more slowly.”
“Whereabouts are they currently?” Orion asked.
“The Phevonic Eniapent.”
Eta nudged Ziital. “We of the goes there, yes? Where we find little Missing and meet the Phantai and Justar!”
“It’s where we also met the Amalgam Mimic…” Orion frowned.
“Indeed. And, according to my mole in the Pentathax, it seems that the Missing, a fellow Hidden Trio, are active again. I want visual and in-person confirmation, doubly since the Missing are… rather chaotic, and seem to be behind a MASSIVE disappearance of Voidborn power and Corrupted influence in the area.”
Ziital shrugged. “Last time we were there, the two members of the Missing we met were working with the Thantir, who were working alongside the Phantai and were offering purification services. I don’t think they’re a danger, they definitely didn’t seem like a danger when we met them.”
The Overlord grunted, not satisfied with Ziital’s opinion. “You may think that, but there is something… unusual with the Missing. Something broken. Flames and Psions are ten a penny among Decay Lords, you know that, Wanderer, but Flamebearer and Souldrainer’s connection to the… Amalgam Mimic seems to have altered them slightly. The last time we saw Souldrainer-”
“Hang on!” Eta suddenly interrupted. “You sees the little Souldrainer, yes, Orion? When you was of in the big meeting. When… when… uh…”
“Souldrainer’s telepathic abilities are insidious!” Overlord snapped, not letting Eta continue. “That little monster revealed information that should have been kept hidden. The Great Blade and the Tattered Navigator that accompanied Souldrainer seemed completely unaware of just how powerful Souldrainer is, and, worse, Souldrainer somehow managed to survive Mindeater when they… went rogue.”
It was Orion’s turn to nudge Ziital, but he sent both Ziital and Eta a quick, concerned telepathic message, before purring a little and turning back to the Overlord.
“So you want us to go and see what the Missing are doing?”
“Yes. But more importantly, I want to know if the rumours that Deathbringer has escaped their universe are true. If that hideously dangerous Amalgam Mimic is running around free and in close proximity to the other Amalgam Mimic we bound to the Thantir, I don’t want any… shenanigans going on.”
“What kind of shenanigans?” Eta asked, looking confused. “Maybe they are friends?”
“I want to make sure the number of confirmed Deathven-aligned Amalgam Mimics remains at a grand total of two.”
“Uh… Overlord, I don’t think that’s a problem…” Ziital muttered. “Our initial interviews with the Amalgam Mimic known as Unender suggested that he was in a happy relationship with a standard Decayon and they weren’t planning on procreating with the intention of reproducing. In fact, Unender in general just seemed to want to be a normal Decayon.”
“Well, I need you to make sure…” Overlord growled. “You three have visited this Eniapent before, you have met the locals, you are the best option I have to confirm what is going on.”
“Why can’ts you ask of the Pentathax though?” Eta blinked. “They is Decay Lords too. The Doom Drums, yes? They of the knows! Or speak to Tattered Navigators or Great Blades or Claws of Justice or Black Storm or… or whoever else is of the theres!”
“None of the sects in that Eniapent have much faith or trust in Deathven Proper. But they trust you. You three are the Travellers, the well-known Hidden Trio that discovers new places and guides the lost and fallen back to safety. You are the best choice when it comes to getting the information I require.”
Orion tutted, then relented. “Fine. But we’ll need a little time. Our ship, which you teleported us out of, is a bloody long way from the Phevonic Eniapent.”
“That is fine. I await your report.”
Before the Travellers could say anything else, the Overlord snapped his fingers and instantly returned them back to their ship. Ziital and Orion were both annoyed, but Eta was glad she had yet again stolen one of the Overlord’s magic chalices, and proceeded to fill her chalice with melted cheese.
“This feels fishy…” Ziital immediately admitted. “Doubly so since the Overlord mentioned Mindeater.”
“I thought Mindeater was of the deads?”
“Yes. Everyone says that he went rogue, but Mindeater’s duty was always to keep an eye on powerful Psions, not kill and eat them… unless they were a genuine threat to a lot of people, at least. Wasn’t confirmed who Mindeater’s last target was though, just that Mindeater had been killed by said target.”
Orion wasn’t too bothered. “The Thantir seemed nice enough. We’ll just go in, talk to them like normal folks, get the information Deathven wants, maybe say hi to the Pentathax while we’re there and then head back out here. Not too difficult. Only question is, do we let them know we’re coming?”
Eta nodded. “Yesyes! They are goodies! No like surprises. We tell them we come and visit. But say we are passing of the throughs and heard they was doing new thingies!”
“Alright then!” Ziital exclaimed. “Eta, get the ship ready to go. Orion, do you want to get in touch or should I?”
“I’ll go give that nice Vikalos guy a call. As to not raise too much suspicion.”
“Very well. Let me put a teleportation beacon here, so we can get back when we’re done, then we can head off…”