“Why has the ship stopped?”
Garblexus was expecting this to be a simple raid. His crew of pirates had been kicked out of the Chrysanth Lea by the Pentathax, they’d been chased out of the Alsyrian Sea by the Alsyr and the Ekthris and now they were planning to raid this collection of islands in the Kinigian Wilderness, but the engines of the Pillaged Bow had just died, a short distance away from their target. Their target was visible, yet they were suddenly stuck.
“Uh… checking now, captain…”
The minions all scrambled to work. After a few seconds, someone claimed that the fuel lines had been severed, and the batteries had been completely drained. Which made no sense what so ever, because they had enough fuel to get to the next damn pentacluster. But before Garblexus could start shouting, the lights suddenly went out too. Worse, it seemed like the ship’s internal gravity stabilizer was fluctuating as well, as smaller objects were starting to float around on their own.
This was followed by an electromagnetic pulse that fried every single weapon on the ship, and a second pulse that plunged the entire ship into complete darkness.
“What the fuck is going on?” several of the minions all shouted, scrambling to find lights or anything.
Garblexus on the other hand simply growled and stood up from his seat. He had spotted something outside, hovering in the void. Snarling, he made his way to the viewing window to inspect the thing.
It was a being, a living being with yellow and black armour, holding some sort of staff with both a blade and a blaster mechanism on the end. Black, inky wisps ran up its arms, legs and tail, dotted with tiny, shimmering stars. Garblexus wondered if it was a Beh’ena, a female Beh’evok, but it was too heavily armoured. It was also knocking on the glass, asking to be let in.
“WHO ARE YOU?” Garblexus roared, drawing his pistol. Unlike most weapons on the ship, his gun was powered by explosions, not electricity.
The creature smiled but didn’t answer. Garblexus pointed the pistol at the glass, directly at the creature.
“I will fire.”
Still no answer. Garblexus clicked off the safety on his gun, then emptied the entire clip. They shattered the glass panel, but phased through the armoured being. Now that he was exposed to the void, he could now smell the being, which stank of a mixture of smoke and sorrow.
With more snarls, Garblexus reloaded and fired again. But this time his gun misfired. The being reached forward, put their hand on the barrel and caused it to heat up and melt.
“Alright… who are you? For real?”
The creature smiled some more. “Can I come in?”
Garblexus hesitated, then sighed and stepped back. The creature took that as a yes, then silently stepped on board. As their feet hit the ground, the ship’s emergency lighting turned back on, but the gravity generators suddenly went haywire, increasing the ship’s onboard gravity and making it hard to walk.
“What the fuck are you?”
“Annoyed. What are you doing here, with weapons armed and pointed at what is essentially a hospital?”
“A… hospital?” Garblexus stuttered.
“Yep. Savepoint is a purification centre, run by the Thantir Decay Lord sect. The only proper one in the pentacluster. You didn’t know that though, and you were going to charge in and try and kill everyone and claim the place as your own.”
The creature’s eyes flashed blue briefly.
“Wouldn’t have worked. The Thantir have some very, very powerful beings among them. But they have me. And I’m here to… well, you have several options.”
“I do?”
“Yep. I know you had murder and pillaging and all that in your heart. But at the same time, you kinda just wanted a place to live. I get that. The void is an unforgiving place and you got kicked out of your home.”
“How do you know?” Garblexus asked.
“Firstly, I’m borrowing some very nice telepathy from my boyfriend. Secondly, you were probably kicked out of your home because you’re a bunch of pirates, but not having a home tends to just make one angrier and more bitter. So you lash out further. But things always seem to get worse so you lash out more and more, until you are completely alone.”
“I… I don’t follow.”
The creature shrugged, then smiled. “You’re a monster. There’s blood all over your hands. But some of that blood was from desperation. Not all of it. You definitely have sins you need to atone for. And I can help you atone for them by killing you and everyone on this ship, right now. But that… I was going to say it wouldn’t solve anything. It really would. Ever since you lost your way, you’ve been a menace. But I like to think people can change, people can better themselves. They can become good. If they are given the chance to do so.”
“You… won’t kill us?” Garblexus stuttered, glancing around, looking anywhere but at the creature’s golden eyes.
“Let me put things another way. I will totally, definitely, 100% kill you, painfully and slowly, if you threaten the Thantir again. I’ll also hurt you if you threaten other locals. However, I am giving you a chance to try and better yourselves. And also maybe give you a place to live.”
The being summoned a hammerspace, which made Garblexus think that maybe he was talking to a strange Life Goddess. They rummaged around it, then pulled out a small card and a sheet of paper.
“The Justar are hiring. They are looking for folks to protect various places in the nastier parts of the Justarian Circle. It’s not the best work, but, after enrolment and training, you’ll most likely be sent to somewhere with solid ground, where you’ll have warm beds, be fed proper food and have access to clean, slightly less recycled drinking water. And maybe, if you save your pretty pennies, you can buy yourself a new ship, or upgrade this one. You’ll see combat, but on a better side of things, and with people to back you up. How does that sound?”
Garblexus stared at the card and paper. The card contained contact details for a Justar recruitment centre. The sheet of paper was a hastily written recommendation. It seemed that, while they were talking, this creature had gone through Garblexus’s memories.
“And… what if I… don’t do this?”
The creature grinned, showing off its strange black, metallic teeth. “I’m kinda hungry right now. Once ate a whole cult of Voidborns. You and your crew of 30 would be a decent snack, once I’ve crushed you all down into mince meat and turned you into burgers.”
Garblexus stumbled backwards, suddenly utterly terrified.
“If the Justar aren’t your cup of tea, the Phantai might be looking, but they’re a little more clique-y than the Justar, since they’re all mostly Behe’vok. It’s up to you though. But any violence from you towards the Thantir will get you killed. We’re also not hiring because we just got a bunch of new hires that need training up, and you’d probably piss Itaviir off because you have a Voidborn minion smell about you all.”
“Well… we were formerly servants to a Voidborn…”
“I recommend going to the Justar then. But if you have any lingering Kenic Spores or anything, we can help you with that.”
Garblexus sighed, then shook his head. “We will do as you ask. Thank you for sparing us.”
The creature patted Garblexus on the shoulder. “No worries, kiddo. The Justar are south west from here.”
“Uh… thank you… Before we leave… can you turn my ship back on? And… tell me who you are?”
Another grin. The creature snapped its fingers, and the ship’s engines restarted, but the weapons were all still offline.
“I’m Arkay Theanon, codename Deathbringer, Guardian of the Thantir.”
Garblexus hesitated, then bowed. “Thank you, Arkay.”
“Be good now, alright?” Arkay snickered as he floated out of the ship, out into the darkness, repairing the holes in the glass viewing pane as he did so. “Because if you’re not good, I’ll be back.”
Once Arkay was at a safe distance, he watched the crew all get to work. The ship rotated awkwardly, then sped off into the darkness, towards the Justarian Circle as Arkay had directed them to.
Things quickly fell silent. But after a moment, Arkay could hear a familiar voice in his mind.
“All good?” Litvir telepathically asked.
“All good!” Arkay beamed. “I’m heading back now. Tell Retvik to prepare a warm blanket, because it’s fucking freezing out here.”
“Of course, my dear. See you in a moment.”