“I did not expect my first proper guests to be Decay Lords!” Kinisis beamed as she held her arms wide open. “Welcome to the Kinigi Oasis!”
“Uh… hi?” Kuta waved back, finding himself rather dazed by a wave of emotions. By his side, his brother Litvir was showing similar confusion. They were both even more confused when they noticed that Retvik had stepped forward and bowed slightly.
“Allmaker Kinisis, it is a pleasure to see you. We did not know you built this Life Oasis.” Retvik spoke clearly and rather plainly, only glancing back at his fellow Decay Lord and Decayling, hinting that they should let him take the lead. “We are here to discuss the job opportunity that you posted on the local SBS noticeboards.”
“You are? Wonderful!” Kinisis was still smiling a little too much. “Please, come with me to my office and we can discuss things. Is your boss Galyn not coming?”
Retvik turned around, to where the ship had been parked. Galyn was hanging about by the cargo bay doors, listening in. Upon hearing his name though, he made his way over.
“You have a request for all of us?” Galyn replied with a question of his own.
“More like an offer than a job request!” Kinisis spun around and pranced to one side, where a small, plain building was.
The three Decay Lords looked at each other, then followed, dragging Kuta along with them.
Kinisis’s office was small and cosy, with the desk sitting behind a vast window. Outside, past the swirling nebula-like clouds, flickering lights could be seen. Kinisis sat in a very comfy-looking chair, facing away from the beauty outside.
“What is that?” Kuta whispered as they stepped inside, Galyn having to duck right down in order to get inside.
“What do you mean?” Litvir whispered back.
“The pretty glowing stuff outside.”
“That is our old universe,” Retvik explained. “Kinisis must have built this Life Oasis around the universe to protect it.”
Kinisis nodded politely, then snapped her fingers, summoning four more cosy chairs. “Sit down, please, we need to have a bit of a chat before we get started.”
“I assume about Arkadin?” Galyn asked as he sat in the chair in the middle. “You want to know where he is.”
“Yes, I do. Where is my son?”
Galyn grunted. “We had him sent to Deathven Sector Ypsilon, after he became violent, killed a Life Goddess and willingly changed himself into Arkidetelos. He threatened to kill his friends and had to be subdued.”
The smile on Kinisis’s face quickly faded. “Oh. Well… I am sorry to hear that…” Kinisis twisted her chair around and spent a few moments gazing outside. “He is… in a good place, I assume?”
The Elder Decay Lord nodded. “Indeed. He is in the hands of a Decay Lord I trust my own life with. He will be well looked after. And, hopefully, if Arkadin’s condition improves, he may return to us eventually.”
“That… isn’t so bad…” Kinisis’s smile did return a little, and the mood in the room did lighten up. “Alright, I have a very simple proposal for you three and… this being you have picked to replace Arkay…”
“My name is Kuta…”
Kinisis eyed Kuta for a moment, glanced at Litvir, then abandoned that trail of thought and returned to what she wanted to say. “Anyway, simple proposal. I need guards and protection for my new Life Oasis. You Thantir guys need a base of operations and somewhere to rest, so you are not always on that little ship. Now, 100% protection, 100% of the time is unfeasible, but, as long as I have at least one of you here most of the time, ready to help me out, I’d love to house you guys, and give you some space to build your own little premises.”
“That seems like…” Galyn hesitated. “Perhaps too generous an offer. You are giving us the space and resources to build a new Thantir base on your own doorstep, in exchange for us taking shifts as bouncers?”
Kinisis shrugged. She snapped her fingers again, instantly summoning a drink into her hands. “Any of you want anything?” All four Decayons quickly and politely declined. Kinisis shrugged again, then continued. “Well, I had originally wanted to make this offer to Arkay, as a way to keep him close but also help fund his dreams, ideas, whatever it is he wanted to do.”
“Arkadin is not here any more though,” Retvik sighed.
“Yeah, I gathered…” Kinisis also sighed, seeming genuinely upset for a moment. “But honestly, you and your two weird Psion friends are both former denizens of my universe, I would very much like to give back to the multiverse and to my former underlings, and help you with your whole Thantir thing. I think Arkay would appreciate it. Plus, who wouldn’t want a bunch of fancy Decay Lords around to keep the place safe?”
The Decay Lords all turned to each other.
“What do you three think?” Galyn asked.
“That it is too good to be true…” Litvir tutted. “You really think the four of us are enough to protect this place? And what you are offering seems oddly too much.”
“Most Life Oases don’t even have body guards, dear!” Kinisis perked up. “But that’s why I’m making my end of the deal so lucrative. I want that protection, but there is little I can pay you with in return, after all, you Decay Lords mostly have your own needs and wants, different from Life Goddesses. But offering you a new start? That is much more desirable for you.”
Again, the Decay Lords turned to each other. Kinisis realised they were communicating telepathically. Of course they were, two of them were Psions, and their leader was a Mind Poisoner. Really, the team’s composition confused Kinisis, but it probably wasn’t intentional, that was just what Galyn had to work with.
“Very well…” Retvik stood up and leaned on the table in front of Kinisis. “We will accept your offer, but we want everything in this proposal written down and made into a contract. For all of our sakes.”
Kinisis grinned, summoning pen and paper. “Of course, dear! Give me a bit of time to write one up! In the mean time, feel free to use the Life Oasis at your leisure. Anything you want, on the house!”
Retvik stepped back and bowed. The other Decay Lords did the same.
“Thank you very much, Kinisis.”
“No, thank you, Thantir!” Kinisis bowed back. “This will be great for all of us…”