It was strange, having so many powerful rulers in a single room, but despite the number of people around, there was a lot of agony floating around, and some painfully empty seats. Most of the missing were injured and in the massive hospital next door, but there were a few… more permanently missing cases.
Panos in particular felt bad. He was the Prime Minister of the Torr, and he’d swiftly realised that he’d acted too late. Both seats either side of him were empty. To his left was supposed to be his right-hand man, Aesop, the Secondary Minister of the Torr. But Aesop had… gone rogue, somewhat. Believing that the Torr weren’t doing enough to help the rest of the universe, Aesop had bought out an entire airline and started evacuating people, to the point that he’d taken his own ship and was saving people in person. It wasn’t until Aesop’s ship was found, crashed and empty, that Panos had decided to act. And now one of Panos’s closest friends and allies was gone.
To his right was supposed to be Vice General Lepidas of the Rethavok. One seat over from that was the High General themselves, who was rather spaced out, mostly staring blankly ahead. Normally, Rethais had their entire 47th Legion with them, as well as members from several Below Twenty Legions and the 389th Legion that General Lepidas ran. Apparently, Lepidas was alive, but recovering from surgery, after some Corruption had landed on them and eaten its way into Lepidas’s stomach.
Really, the Rethans had struggled. They’d put all their effort into protecting others, and left nothing for themselves. Sure, the Vohra and the Torr had suffered more casualties, but they’d only lost a couple of isolated nests on the northern part of the universe, and the Torr’s losses were… they were Panos’s fault. He should have listened. But at the same time, the Rethans HAD listened and acted in time, but the Rethan home world of Threa had been hit, and, apparently, an entire city of 40,000 people were just… gone. That was excluding Rethans who had been lost elsewhere. At least the Rethans had proven that they were true to their word, that they were dedicated to keeping others safe.
Things weren’t great elsewhere. Next to Rethais, there should have been two Lanex. The Imperator of the Endless Stars, who was the main leader of the Lanex, and one of the other Imperators, who all had equal rank. Again, there was only one present, and he was very reluctantly there. Kua Lightblade was dead, and the Endless Stars tribe were busy trying to decide on a new leader. But five of the six other Imperators were also out of action in one way or another, so Akah Icebreaker, the Imperator of the Frozen Scythes, had unwillingly agreed to represent the Lanex, despite being utterly antisocial.
Panos scanned the rest of the room. Opposite him were seats for the Skyavok. Only one Skyavok had appeared though, and Panos admittedly didn’t know who they were. He barely recalled that the All-Ksa was an elderly Skyavok by the name Elkay, but it turned out that Elkay was also a former Phantasma, and he’d been shadowjumping across the universe, grabbing influential leaders and evacuating them. Unfortunately, it seemed that, on his last shadowjump, while he did manage to save the life of Rahkahriss, one of the Thraki leaders and a member of the Mages’ Circle, by pushing him through a shadow, Elkay just… never returned. There were rumours that they’d found… half of the All-Ksa at Zero Zero, where all failed shadowjumpers ended up, but the normally very open Skyavok were oddly keeping silent. Mostly because they were hiding their losses.
The other major loss in the room belonged to the Spasts. While the Lord King himself was fine, as was his brother and advisor, it turned out that the Lord King had lost two of his sons, and the third was in a hospital somewhere on a neutral planet. Turned out both Kohra and Levik had done the same thing Aesop had done, while Tanos (who had apparently been pretending to be the gladiator Tenuk for the last 10 months) had taken on a Corruption directly. Only Levik was still alive, and he was apparently in critical condition.
With a sigh, Panos turned to his side and inspected Rethais some more, wondering what to say. Weirdly though, it turned out that Akah had made the first move, and had leaned over to speak to the High General. Panos decided to remain silent and just listen in.
“General Rethais, are you well?”
Rethais shook their head. “Unfortunately, no, I am not. I am sorry about Imperator Kua.”
Akah frowned. “Thank you. We are… thankful it was quick. And we only lost one of us. You though, you have lost a lot.”
“We have, yes.”
“I am sorry. I do not know what to say to improve how you feel currently.”
“Are you alright, Imperator Akah?” Panos suddenly butted in. “You are showing emotions. That’s not like you at all.”
Rethais growled somewhat defensively, but Akah didn’t seem too annoyed. Then again, he was an Ice Tribe Lanex. As far as Panos was aware, icy Lanex hardly even had emotions.
“We are used to loss for ourselves. The Lanex have always struggled. We are not used to loss on such a vast, interracial scale. High General Rethais has lost a lot more than they should have, as they were the first to step in and assist everyone.”
Panos glanced at Rethais. “Who… who have you lost?”
Rethais hesitated, not wanting to look weak, but quickly relented. They needed to get their pain off their chest. “Lepidas is alive and recovering. My poten-partner Lysar is also recovering, with injuries along their arm and chest, but they are under quarantine currently. The Master of Generals had a heart attack, but they will make it. My father Trimes had their arm amputated up to the shoulder, and my beloved little sibling, the one you have insulted on multiple occasions, is currently undergoing treatment for complications from being Defensive Stance for twenty hours.
“But the worst thing is the death. I lost two of my captains, Talis and Kadra, as well as ten of my soldiers. The vok who both my life and Lysar’s life, my friend Kuta, is gone too. But worst of all? My sibling Retvik is gone. One of the brightest Rethans in this day and age, and Retvik gave themselves to save an arena of strangers. But there is no body to bury, and their grave will forever be empty.”
“Wow… that… that’s way worse than I thought…” Panos gasped. “And here I was, feeling bad because Aesop’s gone…” Panos paused, then sighed loudly. He was about to say something very un-Torr-like. “I’m really, genuinely sorry. And I’m… well… I fucked up. I fucked up majorly. I sat on my ass, I should have done more sooner. It took Aesop disappearing for me to realize. And I think a lot of us are feeling the same way right now. No one came out of this unscathed, but… I should have done more.”
Rethais grunted, but didn’t say anything. Akah though did briefly show some sort of positive emotion.
“You were wrong, yes. But you can make amends. You have the resources to do so. Perhaps, with some effort, you can regain some faith and trust, and maybe we could even become allies once more.”
Panos snorted. “Wow, Imperator Akah, you must be ill. That was almost optimistic of you.”
“With every other Imperator dead or hospitalized, one of us has to have some hope. Right now, I HAVE to drop my asocial ways and communicate openly. Doubly so as we have all been gathered in one place, and are awaiting for the Lady of Stars, the Allmaker, to speak to us.”
“Huh…” Rethais muttered. “I was under the impression that the term “Allmaker” was restricted to the Perpetual Abyss?”
“You would be correct, High General. But, both annoyingly and amusingly, it did turn out that the Perpetual Abyss were… partially correct. Or, rather, they are correct now. With the exile of the Lady of Life and the sacrifice of the Lord of Decay, the Lady of Stars has taken up their mantles too.”
Panos nodded in agreement. “I always said that the Panelix was the most important of the four deities. I never thought we’d lose two of them though. Never thought I’d actually be concerned about the death of a death god either. Then again, I sat on my metaphorical golden throne and didn’t think any of this shit could ever happen.”
“We were all caught aware. We must prepare better for the future.”
“Ugh, yeah…” Panos tutted. “Still, I would like to extend an olive branch to both the Rethans and the Lanex. We’re the original Panelixian races. We ought to be better allies.”
Akah and Rethais both glanced at each other, wondering if Panos was well. But they eventually relented.
“I guess we can make amends…” Rethais lowered their voice. “But the Lady of Light is here, so we will have to discuss a reformed union at a later date.”
“Of course!” Panos perked up. “Despite all our losses, I think interesting times are ahead.”