No one was sure whether things had been going well or not. The Thantophor’s instructions had been very clear, but they… hadn’t found any corruption. They had, however, found a lot of scratches and cuts. For some reason, as the four mortals walked across the skeletal terrain, the ground seemed to spike up around them, as if it knew they were there, and didn’t want them present.
“I hate this…” Tenuk muttered, clutching his trident. “I thought we were just doing a simple job but there’s no job to do.”
“Yeah, it is a bit… suspicious…” Kayel agreed, keeping an eye on their rear. “Maybe Arkay was just… wrong?”
“Considering how wrong everything has been-”
Nyssi suddenly hissed, silencing Tenuk. She used the telepathic ring to speak to them.
“I can smell something.”
“What can you smell?” Retvik immediately asked.
“Spasts.”
Tenuk immediately tensed up, to the point that he inadvertently flashed between his old and new colours. What were his kind doing here, on the edge of the universe?
Nyssi took the lead, hiding behind a bone spur. Really, the gigantic spurs were the only real cover they had, since they were walking across a giant skeleton. Physics didn’t seem to work here, at least, not as they understood it. While they had initially landed on one of the mile-long ribs, Retvik had suggested that, after they originally came up with no corruption, that they land on the colossal, horned skull. Right on its snout.
In the distance, movement could be seen. In the area where the titanic creature’s brain would have been, a large, gold plate had been hung up, suspended by heavy metal cables.
The Temthan pulled a face, pulling away.
“Nyssi?”
“I… I noticed I can smell more now. And all I can smell is death. Lots and lots of death. And not the same kinda death I smelled on Arkay. It’s just… corpses. The only living things I can smell are the Spasts and us.”
“Hmph…” Retvik frowned. “I think we need to get closer.”
“TOWARDS the death?” Tenuk accidentally spoke out loud, and much more loudly than he had intended.
“Yes…” was the uneasy, telepathic reply.
Tenuk shuddered. “Fine.”
Again, Nyssi led the way, but they did so at a much slower pace, peering between bone pillars and moving between them one at a time. As they approached the empty sockets, they could better see the golden disc. And they could now all smell the rotten flesh. But now they could also hear voices. Muffled voices, speaking in a way that couldn’t really be overheard.
Weirdly though, the beings didn’t look like Spasts. They looked like Temthans.
“Shapeshifters…” Retvik muttered. Both Tenuk and Nyssi wordlessly asked how he knew. “I do not know how, but they are Spasts in the form of Temthans.”
Still, they approached the golden disc. There were three bridges connecting to it, one from the back of the skull and two via the eye sockets. However, there was no cover what so ever. And the Spasts had clearly seen the team of four. Their leader, dressed in a black robe, stepped forward.
“Ah, I see that the Returner has sent minions in His place. How cowardly. And the Betrayer has sent no one. Even more cowardly.”
No one responded at first. They weren’t focused on the leader. Instead, they stared almost helplessly at a mountain of corpses.
“Retvik, don’t go closer…” Nyssi warned, grabbing the Rethan’s hand. But Retvik slapped it away, walking down the bridge towards the platform, gunstaff in hand. He stomped forward, not hiding his anger.
The Spasts though, they appeared larger than they were, towering over even the already rather tall Rethan. All of them had taken on the appearance of a female Temthan, with dark green skin and black scales that glistened like gems. And they were all naked, aside from their leader. Then again, since they were shapeshifted Spasts, they didn’t really seem to care.
“Ah, a Rethianos. Wonderful. Even if it IS the Exiled One. You will be the perfect final sacrifice for our ritual!” The leader’s toothy grin oozed with menace.
“How many Rethans have you killed?” Retvik demanded, ignoring the leader’s glee. “How many have you killed?”
The others had discovered why Retvik was so angry. As Nyssi, Tenuk and Kayel approached, they had realized that the mountain of corpses mostly consisted of Rethavok and Skyavok, with a handful of Ksithans, Banikans, Torr and Lanex thrown in. All the corpses had been species related to the Panelix or the Thantophor.
“Four hundred and forty three, my dear. Four hundred and forty four, once you are dead, Child of the Dawn.”
Before Retvik could react, four large blades exploded through the ground, slicing through Retvik’s back and chest, before retracting away, leaving a bloodied mess as they did so. The leader laughed, but only for a moment.
“Oh. You are not dead. That… should have killed you.”
The mighty Rethan growled as he picked himself up off the ground, ignoring the crimson trail he was leaving. That low, menacing growl continued as Retvik took his gunstaff and forced it through the leader’s chest, not taking the time to ask her any questions.
“Guess… I’ll… have to… do… instead…”
Retvik continued stabbing at the Spast, letting his rage take over, not noticing that the mountain of bodies had melted down into a golden liquid, not knowing that the other Spasts seemed to have gone together, merging into a single entity. It took all three of his companions to pull him away from the bloodied corpse, and even then, they had struggled.
“Retvik, please, stop, we have a much bigger problem now!” Nyssi protested, slapping him across the face. “Retvik!”
The blood-soaked gladiator slowly stopped, coming to his senses. He looked down, realizing what he had done. “I just… accidentally finished their ritual for them…”
“I mean, you weren’t to know…” Kayel pulled at Retvik, turning him around, so they could face what was now the only other being in this vast, empty place. “And she did… instantly try to kill you…”
The other being hummed to itself, bathing in the vast plate of gold liquid, before standing up to admire her four observers. This being was beautiful, perfect in almost every way. The perfect, feminine form, with long, black talons and a tail that was twice as long as she was tall.
“Hm. So that is what being dead feels like.”
The creature examined its skin, which was equally as perfect as the rest of her, aside from a small, thin line around her neck and a large, gaping hole in her chest, where her heart should have been. However, the gold liquid began to swirl around her, filling the hole and cleansing her of her remaining impurities.
“W-who are you?” Tenuk couldn’t help but ask.
“Oh? You don’t remember the Original Mother?” the being seemed both amused and slightly annoyed. “Have they really built a universe on my bones, and erased my name entirely?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess so…” Nyssi found she couldn’t take her eyes off this being. Neither could any of the others.
“Hah. Well, don’t worry, everyone will remember, once I’ve killed my traitorous children and reclaimed this universe as my own. For now though, you can call me Kinisis…” The creature smiled. “However, you four, I don’t think you’ll be joining me…”
Kinisis raised a hand. Immediately, the four mortals tried to run as the universe around them began to shift, but none of them managed to move in time. Tenuk found himself frozen, unable to move, only able to hear his own heartbeat, his limbs trapped in ice. Retvik growled in agony, his organic armour plating turning to gold, too heavy for him to carry, causing his bones to snap. Sini flailed before collapsing in a heap, her skin burning, poisonous vines growing up her body. And Kayel gasped and gurgled, unable to breathe, blood pooling in his lungs and dripping from his eyes.
“Heh. One of each of you. One for each of your gods. How poetic. And, oddly, none of you are dying. Yet.”
She watched as the four tiny creatures struggled to continue existing. Kinisis found it cute how the little yellow one was attempting to reach for its friends and attempt to teleport away, but she wasn’t going to let it do that. She gently approached the being, lifting it up off the ground.
“You look like my son. I wonder if he intended that?”
Suddenly, a blast of energy exploded between Kinisis and her prey, distracting her enough to forget about the four mortals.
“Let them go, and we promise, your death will be quick…” Arkay snarled as he smashed through the bone ceiling, landing in front of Kinisis. However, this just garnered a laugh from the Allmaker.
“What do you mean, ‘we’, little traitor?”
Something else smashed downwards, providing cover for the Thantophor.
“We as in Arkay and I…” the Whenvern hissed, his gigantic wings blocking Kinisis from the outside universe.
“Oh. You too, huh?” Kinisis mused. “Well, that makes things… complicated, but interesting…”