“Alright… Voidborn form or mortal Retha form?” Vekeus mused to himself as he landed his ship at Savepoint. After some thought, he decided that he wanted to use his old mortal form. Mostly because he could see people outside and they seemed to be celebrating around a bonfire.
Stepping out of his ship, Vekeus locked everything up then made his way over to the main offices, which, weirdly, were empty, mostly. Seems like almost everyone was in fact outside, celebrating. Vekeus ignored that and made his way to the main office. But as he did so, he spotted something.
“Oh, hello, Veekay…”
Elkay-En was Vekeus’s half-brother. His older brother. Back when they were mortal and lived within a universe. Vekeus had worked for Elkay-En for most of his mortal life, being a member of the K-Class Ksa, the team of child soldiers trained to guard whoever was the Second in Command of the Retha. They shared the same mother, a lost, tortured soul by the name of Kayel Theanon-Aspidon. Although, technically, they were just Kayel Aspidon, and their mother had adopted Elkay-En’s ultra-common self-chosen surname of Theanon after Elkay-En was elected Vice General and…
Vekeus paused on that thought. It was a mess. He didn’t want to think about that.
“Heya, Elkay. What are you doing here?”
Elkay-En seemed glum. “I am struggling to work out my Life Goddess powers. Sini suggested I come here, because the people who work here are theoretically closer to my power level, and I have still gotten nowhere. But I’ve been speaking to my littlest half-sister… she’s drunk right now, most of them are, but she was saying that it all only came together for her when she became a Decay Lord. So I have decided, I am going to train to become a Decay Lord. And to do that, I am about to speak to someone and sign myself up as a Decayling of the Thantir.”
Vekeus inspected Elkay-En, then crossed his arms and tutted.
“You seem annoyed.”
“I am, a little. I actually came here because I want to become a Decay Lord too.”
Elkay-En crossed his arms and tutted, the exact same way Vekeus had. “Why? You’re a Voidborn. You’ve already made your life.”
Vekeus tutted some more. “I mean, my life as a Voidborn is alright, but I am ONLY accepted in the Ventra Expanse and a handful of areas in the Kinigian Wilderness. Being a Voidborn honestly sucks when it comes to any real social aspect and my safety net is currently non-existent.”
“How comes? You have other Voidborn allies. And you have here.”
“That’s literally it though. And if I wander too close to anywhere else? Other Decay Lord sects will target me. Heck, even the Kinigian Wilderness isn’t that safe because the Pentathax are wandering around. And I ain’t fucking going to the hellhole to the west. Even if there’s a cult there trying to fight the Corruption in that horrible place.
“If I become a Decay Lord, then I get the safety of other Decay Lords. The Pentathax for example don’t see me as a pure Voidborn, they see me as one of them… Alright, maybe not so much if I wander around in my Voidborn shape, but if I’m like this? People might see me the same way that people see Phovoula, but Phovoula has an easier life than I do.”
“Huh…” Elkay-En didn’t have much of an answer. “I guess that makes sense. But… well…”
“Oh! Hi guys!” a voice echoed from behind the Life Goddess and the Voidborn. “What are you doing here, Vekeus?”
That voice belonged to Arkay. Another half-sibling. Age-wise, Arkay was younger than Elkay-En and older than Vekeus. But he wasn’t a Voidborn or a Life Goddess. Or a Time Drake. Or a Decayon. Arkay was officially a Decay Lord though.
“Oh, hiya, Arkay!” Vekeus smiled uneasily. “I came here in order to ask what I need to do to apply to become a Decay Lord. And… it seems our older brother wants to do the same.”
“You both want to become Decay Lords?” Arkay beamed. “That’s awesome! So you guys wanna get yourselves signed up now?”
“You… know how to do that?” Vekeus’s smile became even more uneasy.
“Well, uh, yeah. After the Tattered Navigators, the Missing are the second in charge when it comes to the Thantir, and, guess what? I’m one of the Missing! Which means I’m perfectly qualified to get you both set up! Please, come into my office!”
Arkay skipped past both Vekeus and Elkay-En, climbed some stairs to the side and entered a smaller office. The Voidborn and the Life Goddess both glanced at each other, then sighed and followed Arkay.
This smaller office was darker than most places but also somewhat fancier. There were three desks, two meant for larger beings and one of them was Arkay-sized. He bounced over to his desk and rummaged through a drawer, before telekinetically pulling over two chairs so that Elkay-En and Vekeus could sit down.
“So…” Vekeus was about to speak, but he didn’t really have a chance to say much as Arkay suddenly grabbed a bunch of forms and placed them in front of him and Elkay-En.
“Alright! We just need to get these forms filled out, then I need to give Lord Kengana a call, then, once he’s approved, we can take you both downstairs, properly introduce you both as new Decaylings and do a little naming ceremony for you!”
“Uh… a naming ceremony?” Elkay-En blinked.
“Yeah. To give you both a codename each. As is Decay Lord tradition.”
“And… what is your codename?” Vekeus asked.
Arkay’s smile wavered briefly. “My codename is Deathbringer. But don’t worry, the person who has given out the worst codenames among the Thantir is now banned from doing so. I’ll have a chat with Retvik, Litvir and maybe Vikalos and we’ll work out some good codenames for you both. Now, please, fill out those forms, please use hours for anything time based and feel free to ask me any questions!”
Vekeus and Elkay-En glanced at each other, then shrugged and did as they were told. After all, what was the worst that could happen…