Galyn shifted his weight nervously, not enjoying how he was currently on display in a glass cage, heavy chains securing him to the ground and an awkward golden choke collar around his neck, stopping him from moving too much. Right now, the emotion that was bothering him the most was uncertainty. It had been a long time since Galyn had been among the Phantai, the deadly Decay Lord sect that had raised him as a Decayling, hundreds of yearstrings ago. However, Galyn had left, alongside fellow Phantai member Itaviir and Vikalos, a former Justar Decay Lord, to create his own sect.
Things had been alright at first. The Thantir, Galyn’s new sect, did more than just murder Voidborns. They helped rehome lost deities, passing those unable to become Decay Lords to kinder Life Goddesses, making sure they didn’t fall into the hands of more monstrous beings. On top of that, the Thantir had also updated many of the navigational maps that other sects used, and, for a brief while, were the largest producer of fresh new Decay Lords.
Until the Great Splot happened and Level Laws were implemented. Every Decayling was forcibly implanted with a device that would track various things, such as stress and corruption levels. A 0.1% deviation was enough for a Decayling to be terminated. Galyn watched far, far too many Decaylings die, and many more ended up being sent to Life Goddesses, even if they didn’t want to, just to avoid being destroyed. This admittedly broke Galyn somewhat, and he’d ended up taking a break, doing more covert operations for the Thantir, while Itaviir and Vikalos continued with Decayling work.
Unfortunately, war came to the Thantir. War that had spread through a multitude of sectors. The Kronothrax, an army of Time Drakes, had gone to war against the Golden Protectors, a Voidborn cult. The Thantir, alongside the Phantai, the Justar and two other sects, the Metrum and the Ventra, had assisted the Kronothrax, but there were heavy casualties. The Metrum ended up disbanding, the Justar and the Thantir lost too many, with half of each sect giving up and returning to Deathven, and the Ventra went extinct.
Things never improved, and with the explosion of a nearby universe though and the sudden appearance of over 400 Decaylings, things took a turn for the worse. The Thantir, with their reduced numbers, simply couldn’t cope. Most of those Decaylings were stripped of their divinity and returned home. Before Deathven noticed. Out of those 400, they ended up with three viable Decaylings, which Galyn had fought tooth and nail to save. The Overlord forced almost every Thantir Decay Lord to return to Deathven, and Galyn, Vikalos and Itaviir did their best to protect those who remained.
Things did not go as planned. Galyn’s actions had separated him from his closest companions, failed one of the Decaylings he had promised to protect, harmed the handful of new recruits they had picked up, ruined the trust of old friends and, worst of all, killed one of the remaining Thantir.
No matter what Retvik and Litvir, the new leaders of the Thantir, who had taken Galyn’s place when he proved to be unfit to lead, no matter what they said, Galyn still blamed himself for Seimeni’s death. Yes, he had been possessed, corrupted by a vile Life Goddess, he was not in control, but as far as he was concerned, he had killed Seimeni. Corruption riddled her twisted remains, and she had been put down by a Time Drake.
Not knowing what to do, Retvik and Litvir had chained Galyn up and taken the remaining Thantir to the Phantai, looking for safety for their eight Decaylings. They didn’t know that Galyn had essentially betrayed the Phantai, that the Phantai considered anyone leaving their ranks to be a traitor. And now Galyn was awaiting judgement. In the mean time, he had been left out in the middle of the main social hub, open to the whispers and jeers of the lower members of the Phantai. He had to sit through a court of public opinion before sitting through an actual trial.
No one had said anything directly to Galyn. Some had snarled and hissed and a handful of more aggressive Phantai had hit Galyn’s cell, leaving cracks in the glass walls, but otherwise, he’d been left alone. That was until Shadowblade, Darkblade and Nightblade, the three underlings of the Phantai leader Voidblade, came to wheel Galyn away.
“Boss wants to see you, Leafblade!”
“I gathered…” Galyn tutted, struggling to keep his balance. The three Black Blades were not gentle as they essentally dragged Galyn down a handful of corridors, before dumping him, cell, chains and all, in front of three vast thrones. Two extra, smaller chairs had also been set up, and standing in front of them were two familiar faces.
“Hope they hurt you!” someone laughed as the Black Blades all left, slamming the door shut behind them.
However, Galyn found he had help as he climbed to his feet. Both Retvik and Litvir were present, and neither of them were happy with how Galyn had just been treated. Before he could thank them though, Soulblade split them up, forcing Galyn to stand, chained, in the centre of the room and hissing that the two younger Decay Lords should both sit down. Soulblade then returned to his own seat, allowing Voidblade to speak.
“Leafblade, I hope you understand why you have been brought here today, in chains, before us.”
Galyn grunted. “You know what I did and why I left.”
“And you know what the punishment is, yes?”
“Ahem.”
Voidblade paused, turning to his side. “Why do you interrupt, Souldrainer?”
“Well, firstly, Leafblade is both Phantai and Thantir, he needs to be judged as both. Secondly, not everyone knows why Leafblade left, right, Lightblade?”
Lightblade hesitated, knowing why he had just been called out but not liking it. “Little Souldrainer, how-”
Litvir smiled and glanced at both Soulblade and his former boss. Soulblade noticed that Litvir had sent a telepathic message to Galyn, but didn’t know what had been said.
“I will be honest, as I often am, you Phantai are very much lacking when it comes to psionic protection!” Litvir explained. “Lightblade in particular, your emotions stick out like a lighthouse. And, of course, Retvik and myself are unsure of Phantai traditions and laws, which I assume are different from Thantir ones, so some explanations are required.”
Voidblade let out a brief snarl. “Little ones, you do not simply leave the Phantai. Being chosen to serve us is an honour, and to shirk your responsibilities, to abandon your duty, is to dishonour yourself.”
“Is it truly absolute though?” Retvik asked. “Surely one would want to retire some day? To return to Deathven after many years of war?”
“No. No one leaves the Phantai. It is a duty until you can no longer fight. Then you return to Deathven, sect-less.”
Litvir tutted. “Well no wonder Leafblade wanted to leave and set up his own sect…”
“Actually, little one, that is not why I left…” Galyn admitted. “The reason Itaviir and I left was because we were forced to kill nonviable Decaylings.”
Retvik glanced at Litvir, then stood up, stomping over to Galyn. He placed his heavy claws on Galyn’s chains and they melted away. Litvir also got up, and they prepared to leave. Realizing what was going on, Soulblade sealed the door shut with a telepathic blockage, but Litvir swatted the psionic seal away.
“WAIT!” Soulblade shouted. “We do not do that any more! When we and they were young, it was common practice to kill nonviable Decaylings! Times have changed, we have changed!”
Litvir turned around, snapping his fingers at Soulblade. As he did so, the elder Decay Lord fell weak and sickened, his mind flooded with horror.
“You do realize that Arkay, Retvik and I had to fight hordes of corrupted beasts for hours and hours on end, an infinite swarm designed to kill us, because we were briefly deemed nonviable? And you were fine with forcing others to clean up your messes? Galyn may have done wrong by us, he may have failed us as a mentor and protector, but we will NOT let you punish him for leaving due to those sick practices!”
Soulblade fell backwards in his seat, reeling from the memories Litvir had forced into his head. “You… survived a trial for… for traitors?”
Retvik nodded. “They were going to take Litvir away because he got unreasonably stressed, and we offered to do our trial early to prove we could survive at elevated levels of whatever they were tracking in us. This was seen by Deathven as an attempt to betray them, and we were nearly killed for it. Galyn, Itaviir and Vikalos fought for us, to no avail. And now we understand why Galyn is the way he is.”
Voidblade closed his eyes and sighed. “We are sorry, Thantir. The Phantai are in the wrong. We were in the past, certainly, but we have sincerely changed. After Leafblade and Shatterblade abandoned us, we stopped dealing with Decaylings entirely, because we were unable to. But, little ones, my brothers and I, we want you by our sides. We want-”
“I am sorry to interrupt, Voidblade,” Litvir sneered. “But I just got a telepathic message that your Loopblade attacked one of our Decaylings. Luckily, they have sorted the problem out themselves, but between what Eksi just told me, you attacking me because I insulted Kinisis and this sham of a trial, you have given us a horrible first impression.”
“I know, I know…” Lightblade made his way towards the Thantir Decay Lords. “You really think you are not the only sect in shambles? Apart from the massive, Deathven-fueled main sects, we are a dying breed. And, while Telin and Psehon here would never admit it, we need you as much as you need us. We do not know how, but our biggest threats, three of them have all disappeared, thanks in part to the Thantir, not the Phantai.”
Retvik rolled his eyes. “Well you certainly do not act like it.”
“Well…” Lightblade hesitated. “No. You are correct. But I would like you to stay. If only because you are also Higher Decay Lords, but also so we can get to know you better. And I do very much want to see your Decaylings in action, because if they are anything like you two, they will be mighty warriors. Even the tiny one the same size as Spiritpurger. How can we make things right?”
Retvik and Litvir glanced at each other again, glanced at Galyn, then both smiled.
“You drop all charges against Galyn. And you do the same for Itaviir when he arrives!” Litvir started listing things off. “We want to be able to freely roam among your ship, with complete access everywhere, especially your armoury, and the same will apply to Galyn, Kal and our Decaylings. Individual chambers will be required for our Decaylings because they did not share on our ship and they should not share here… Although I do think Kal enjoy sharing and tend to just randomly sleep in cupboards anyway, so bedding for them is not that important. I also want the location of the nearest shopping centre or mall, because Retvik and I owe Phovos a chance to do some shopping.”
“Consider it all done, Souldrainer!” Lightblade stepped forward, holding his hand out. “And whatever else you need, we shall give you. All you have to do is ask. Now, we shall let you all leave, you should take a chance to rest. Including you, Leafblade.”
Litvir shook Lightblade’s hand, then followed Retvik and Galyn out of the room. As soon as the door slammed shut, Voidblade and Soulblade both silently growled at Lightblade.
“What?” Lightblade frowned. “They are absolutely right in every way!”
Voidblade continued to growl. “You just let them walk all over us.”
“They have already proved themselves to be better than us. After all, those two younglings are hideously powerful, and the Thantir, which contains a grand total of 16 individuals, managed to survive Ahkron. A being who, the last time he passed through our territories, killed 26 of our soldiers and nearly murdered you, dear. They have something we do not, and I want to find out what that is…”
Outside, Galyn was shaking in both fear and confusion. He had expected to find himself locked up for many a yearstring, but he was once again a free being.
“How did you do that?” Galyn couldn’t help but ask. “Did you… mind-control them, Litvir?”
Litvir paused. “Huh. I guess I could have done that, would not have been too hard either. But no, I did not mind-control anyone. Retvik and I simply stood our ground. Because we both believe ourselves to be right. As is the Rethavok way.”
“Because we are right!” Retvik tutted. “Come along, Galyn. You need something to eat. You have not eaten proper food in a long while…”