“You… want to approach that massive ship?” Vexer asked as he slowed the ship down.
“Yep!” Sini smiled.
“You want to approach the massive ship full of Decay Lords, with the not-so-friendly name The Shimmering Blade emblazoned down every side?”
“Yep.”
“You… know we’re supposed to protect you, right? And advise you and assist you, right?”
Sini continued to smile and nod. “Oh, of course. But I want to explore. And I want to meet these Decay Lords. This place, the Goldtorn Remains, Kinisis came from here, and I am desperate to find out more. The obvious place to start is right here, with the main powers in this area, i.e. these guys.”
“But… they might be dangerous.”
“Oh calm down, Vexer!” Lissandra suddenly interrupted. “Sini’s a frickin’ Goddess of Life and everything. She can just turn people into flowers or drown them in acid or whatever! And she has us six massive monsters to keep her safe.”
“Alright, before we suck Sini’s cock too much, what is the absolute worst case scenario here?” Fragiir enquired. “Because Vexer does have a point, that IS a massive ship, and if it opens fire on us, that would be kinda bad. Doubt it will open fire, because you painted your ship bright pink and named it the Little Sister, but we need to plan ahead.”
Vokulunaax nodded in agreement. “We do not know what we are getting into. We do not know if the Decay Lords here are friendly, the same way the ones connected to the old Thantophor are.”
“Could we… just… ask?” Atteh’Kus grunted. “We ask if they are friendly. Or we ask old Arkadin if they are friendly. If he does not know then maybe his Decay Lord friends would know?”
“Good point!” Vexer immediately agreed. “We’ve got Arkadin and his allies as a resource, we ought to use him.”
Sini glanced at Vexer and Atteh’Kus. Vexer knew why. He accidentally called the old Thantophor the wrong name.
“Sorry, but, like, Arkay KNOWS things. He would want you to ask before we rushed into anything stupid.”
“He would also throw himself in front of a meteor for you…” Vokulunaax added. “Vexer is completely right, we should use the resources we have.”
Sini tutted. “I don’t want to ask Arkay and be reliant on him… Although, you have given me a thought. I could ask Phovos. She probably knows. Since she’s been out around here longer than Arkay, and my bitch mother dragged her around as well, she probably knows. Lissandra, darling, can you hand me my-”
Lissandra immediately gave Sini the communicator that Arkay had set up for her before she left Savepoint. Sini unlocked it, opened up the Decay Lord communication app Wyvern, struggled to remember her password, then typed in Phovos’s Decay Lord code name into the search bar. Rather than messaging Phovos though, Sini immediately called her.
It took a while for Phovos to answer, and when she did, she wasn’t exactly amused.
“Hello, Sini, is something wrong?”
“Little Sister! How are you?”
“I’m fine. A little busy.”
Phovos seemed out of breath.
“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“You are very much interrupting something.”
“Who are you having sex with?” Sini asked.
“How the fuck do you know? Also, not having sex.”
Sini laughed, then probably realized she shouldn’t be having this conversation on loudspeaker. She waved at her six guardians, then went into another room before continuing.
“I am literally the Sex Serpent. I’m shaped like a sperm with arms. I can tell from your heavy breathing and the annoyance in your voice. So, who’s fucking you.”
Phovos snarled down the line, but quickly calmed down. “You’re clearly not all-knowing. Turns out, I’m bi-sexual. Or a lesbian. I’m not sure.”
“Ah, fair enough! Whatever floats your boat! Anyway, I’ll be quick. There’s a fucking massive Decay Lord ship nearby called the Shimmering Blade. Friend or foe?”
“Oh, definitely friend. That’s the flagship and HQ for the Phantai, the Decay Lord sect that looks after the Goldtorn Remains. They are VERY Life-Goddess-friendly. Probably too friendly. I’m just a baby Life Goddess and they were willing to give their lives for me.”
“That’s good to hear! Can I go meet them?”
“Sure, but, like, be careful.”
Sini paused. “You just said they were friendly.”
“They are. But it turns out, Kinisis was… particularly holy to them, to the point that they both revere her and give her a special name: the Final Mother. The universe Arkay was born in? It was on the edge of the Goldtorn Remains. Kinisis’s penultimate universe was the last to exist in that sector. And the Phantai may get… weird, if they find out you’re her daughter, they… may freak out and get overly preachy. And even bow down to you.”
“Did you tell them you were Kinisis’s daughter?”
“Litvir made sure the average Phantai didn’t know. Mostly for my safety.”
“Oh… Well… I’m going to go say hi to them, I think!” Sini smiled to herself. “Won’t tell them I’m one of Kinisis’s kids though.”
“It took multiple attempts to convince them that Kinisis was both a monster and a corruption now.”
“Ouch… Alright, noted. Thanks for the info, little sister, enjoy the sex!”
“I mean… I was busy… I’m not continuing that. Fuck off now.”
Sini laughed as Phovos immediately closed the call, then returned to the main room.
“So?” Lissandra asked.
“They’re friendly!” Sini beamed as she sat down on her throne. “Phovos says they are very friendly to Life Goddesses, particularly ones related to Kinisis. So we’re going to test that theory.”
“And… how are we… going to do that?” Kayenus growled. “And… should we… be testing them?”
Sini smiled some more, then hit a large, red emergency button on the side of one of her arm rests. Immediately, a bright pink flare fired from the front of the ship.
“That was a waste of a perfectly good distress flair…” Vokulunaax sighed. “Are we REALLY going to lure them to us?”
“If what Phovos told me was true, these guys will worship me. And right now? I know I have you lot, but my Dispa is starting to flare up, and I need someone to be submissive to me. Plus, I’m curious, you know? And it might be fun.”
“Alright, fine!” Vexer snapped. “But if anyone even CONSIDERS hurting you or messing you about, my arm blades come out and I start stabbing. Fair?”
“Fair!” Sini nodded, as she turned her attention to the ship outside, which had totally seen Sini’s distress signal. “Anyway, fun times await!”