“That hurt…”
Retvik looked down at his stomach, expecting blood and bits of stomach all over the place, but the only thing present was a dark grey scar in the shape of a typical stab wound. Another scar to add to his collection. Despite not even being 90 years old, Retvik was a rather scar-covered person, but he never minded. He, like most Rethans, believed scars showed character and strength.
“Of course it hurt. You were stabbed in the stomach by a Voidborn. I think you need some better armour.”
Retvik glanced up to see who was talking to him. While he was pretty sure he had been fixed up by Veeyel, the leader of the Healers, Ralian had been watching over him for a while. This was awkward because Retvik was currently naked but he also found Ralian rather attractive, and he didn’t have a way to properly hide his emotions. If he hadn’t been feeling the painful aftereffects of being stabbed in the stomach, Retvik would have been… noticeably aroused.
“Probably, yes. But teleporting spears are hard to dodge.”
“I guess…”
Ralian seemed to be inspecting Retvik. The Healers and the Missing had met before, and while they had definitely flirted with each other, they’d ended the encounter with friendly banter rather than anything sexual. Right now though, Retvik was wondering whether Teliavok like Ralian thought scars were interesting the same way Rethavok like Retvik did. Annoyingly, Ralian decided to answer Retvik’s thought on his own.
“You are utterly covered in scars.”
“I have had an exciting life,” Retvik smiled.
“Should get them removed.”
Retvik’s smile instantly faded. “Uh, why? They are physical memories of past adventures, for good and for bad. Proof that we have suffered but survived and triumphed over that suffering. Us Rethans believe that scars are good things, even if they are permanent flaws on our bodies, as they are reminders of our pasts.”
Ralian tutted, then frowned, then sighed. “Hmph. I apologise. I forgot that you are not a Teliavok.”
“I take it that you do not see things the same way I do?” Retvik asked.
“I do not, no. The Teliavok believe in perfection, especially when it comes to our bodies and who we are. We are all made in certain ways, our bodies built to be perfect and do to perfect duties. Being almost perfect myself, having been bred to be perfect, I have never particularly struggled in maintaining my perfection. It was not until I was… forced to be with Letalis that I allowed imperfection to exist.”
Retvik thought for a moment. “I… do not follow. Are you suggesting that Letalis has many imperfections? Imperfections you were forced to accept?”
“Physically, yes. Letalis is a feathered Psion, with pure white plating. But Psions are not supposed to be like that. They are supposed to be pink-plated, with maybe a little purple, and they are never supposed to have feathered wings. We believe that, originally, Letalis was an air elemental and was forcibly changed, but we do not know how. Letalis also does not hide the scar across his eye. And… well, mentally, Letalis is as imperfect as they come.”
“Hmph. Let me guess, Letalis killed someone.”
Ralian growled. “Killed ‘someone’? He killed three people, injured forty people and left ten other people in comas when he lost control of his psionic powers in a hospital. It was my duty to collect Letalis and take him to a facility so he could learn how to use his new abilities in a safe environment.”
Retvik eyed Ralian, then grunted. “Huh. What happened to Letalis actually sounds eerily similar to what happened to me when I obtained my fire powers. But us Rethavok never originally had elemental abilities or any real supernatural abilities at all.”
“You… have fire powers though. And Litvir seems to have had his psionic powers since he was a child.”
“Because of freak accidents and illegal experimentation on babies. And those powers were… I suppose… made into permanent parts of us when we became Decayons…” Retvik trailed off. “I must ask though, how did you run into Veeyel?”
“How did you become acquainted with an Amalgam Mimic?”
Retvik shrugged. “Arkay was the god of decay in our universe. We all thought he was some sort of Life Goddess hybrid for a long time. The story is long and complicated, but, simply put, Arkay saved me from the evil actions of other deities.”
“You Missing are all from the same universe then?”
“Indeed. I take it Veeyel is not from the same place as you?”
“Veeyel somewhat just roamed around the universes of our sector, helping out where he could, as he had no home of his own. Letalis and I saved him from being trapped in wreckage when we were Decaylings, and he decided to become a Decayling alongside us…”
Ralian suddenly trailed off, having heard footsteps outside. He made his way to the door, but he didn’t have a chance to open it. The door flew open and a familiar little yellow face charged in and leaped into Retvik’s arms.
“I’M SO SORRY! I’M SO SORRY!” Arkay whimpered as he held Retvik tightly. Retvik was glad that he was mostly fine and not in any real pain.
“It is fine, Arkay!” Retvik patted Arkay on the head.
“It’s not fine! You got hurt! I couldn’t protect you!”
“There was always a chance of us getting hurt. We invaded a Voidborn base to save a bunch of cats. But Deathven’s minions teleported me out of there when I got hurt, Ralian and his team fixed me up and you got revenge on my behalf. Everything turned out alright in the end. I assume.”
Ralian grunted, then nodded. “The Aphthorai burnt the whole base down once we got all the prisoners out, but after you killed their leader, there was hardly anyone left anyway.”
“Oh…” Arkay sniffed. “So… everything is alright now?”
Another nod. “Yes, everything went well…” Ralian paused briefly. He’d picked up a telepathic message from his partners. “Litvir is on his way down now alongside Letalis and Veeyel. However, Arkay, Veeyel has requested that he do a quick assessment of you before you leave. He wishes to make sure you are healthy and settled.”
“Oh… Alright…” Arkay seemed hesitant, but he quickly calmed down. The request was reasonable after all. He calmed down completely when Litvir stepped into the room and immediately made his way over and hugged both Arkay and Retvik.
“We all good?” Litvir asked as he also patted Arkay on the head.
“We are, yes…” Ralian smiled a little. “We will leave you to it, and Veeyel will back in ten minutes. Speak soon, Missing.”
“Thank you, Healers!” Retvik beamed, holding Arkay and Litvir tightly. “Thank you very much.”