“Oh! I love them!” Epani clapped her fins together with glee as Kinisis presented the six colossal beings, instructing each one of them to stand in a certain position. As they each stepped on specially designed platforms, a massive, diamond-laced steel door opened up, revealing the insides of the universe.
“I’m glad! These little monsters will protect and maintain the main entrance, and with Kairos working on the anti-time crystal shield around the edge, we’ll have plenty of protection and safety while we work on the innards!” Kinisis explained gleefully. “And I got these guys wired up to a central control module which the three of us, you, me and Yisini, all control, so we can inspect anyone who gets too close!”
“You’ve… really been thinking all of this through, haven’t you?” Yisini asked, giving Kinisis an odd look. “Like, you planned this stuff way before everything went tits up with Arkay exploding the universe and stuff.”
“Actually…” Kinisis shrugged. “This is all new plans. The old plan was to just keep everyone happy and on the low down, and keep Arkadin asleep so no one could get pissed off at him. The Voidborn attack definitely caught me by surprise. But I’m doing my best to make the most out of a bad situation, and, so far, I think it’s all working well, right?”
Yisini grunted. “I guess…”
“You seem unsure.”
The Allbirther shook her head. “I dunno. It all seems so weird. I mean… Kenon being dead? Probably a good thing. Arkay being gone? Not sure. Us taking advantage of all this? Feels off. Turning this place into a Life Oasis? Kinda confusing. Selling bits of Kenon’s remains? Super weird.”
“Sister, this is going to be fine!” Epani was much more optimistic. “We are doing things the right way, and we will be able to get the resources we need to finish all our old projects!”
“Yeah but…” Yisini glanced at the six armoured behemoths behind her. “They don’t seem like… enough protection. We’re going to have other Life Goddesses and goodness knows what coming through here, and we just have six brutes standing on buttons?”
“You don’t feel secure?” Kinisis asked.
“No! Not at all! If I had my way, we’d have hundreds of these things all over the place, as well as smaller guards everywhere too and automated security systems and…” Yisini grunted. “They’re cool, Kinisis. Your Guardians are cool. But they’re only good for protecting you. Not protecting a whole universe.”
Epani shrugged. “You do have a good point. Can you make them better?”
“I want to try at least. Assuming they let me.”
Kinisis turned to face the six Guardians behind her. “Are you all willing to let the Allbirther improve you?”
The Guardians all hesitated briefly, then nodded. There was some genuine excitement in the eyes of the Temthan and Fidan Guardians.
“It won’t be anything dangerous,” Yisini explained. “Mostly just making you bigger and more powerful. There’s a LOT of pressure on you six to keep us all safe, so I want to make sure you’re up for the job.”
The Guardians all nodded again, more eager this time.
“Alrighty!” Kinisis snapped her fingers, changing the subject. “Yisini, we’ll leave you to it, I want to see some progress as soon as you’ve got something to show me. Epani, you and I need to work on the interior.”
Yisini waved goodbye, then watched as Epani followed Kinisis back inside the universe.
“So, uh, Kinisis…” Epani asked as they flew off, towards the universe’s centre. “What about the other Guardians?”
“Which other Guardians?”
“The six other ones?”
Kinisis smiled. “Oh those guys? I stuck them on the opposite pole. They’re not scary or threatening in the slightest, so I just gave them some basic guard and maintenance jobs. Got to keep the smart, boring ones occupied somehow!”