Relkir grunted as he left the dining table and his meal, and followed Atteh’Kus down a narrow corridor, down the ship and towards the cargo bay, which everyone weirdly used as the ship entrance. For some reason, the order of “don’t let anyone in” was too much for the massive, horned Banikan to handle.
“I tell you, Relkir. This is not normal being!”
“Atteh’Kus, you are a two ton monster with godly abilities, there is no reason why you should need me.”
As they reached the cargo bay, Relkir spotted Kayenus, who was hovering around awkwardly. Just like Atteh’Kus, Kayenus was massive, muscular and covered in sharp claws, but being an Athrevok, he was armoured similarly to Relkir, with a heavy carapace and thick, rubbery skin.
“They big!” Kayenus spat, a spray of lightly acidic drool hanging from his sharp jaws. “Very big! Like you, Relkir, but big.”
“We are all Guardians, I do not understand why you two cannot simply tell these beings to go away! That is what Queen Kinisis ordered, after all.” Relkir tutted, pulling a small module from his utility belt. With a shake of his hand, the module expanded outwards into a gun-staff, Relkir’s weapon of choice.
“Yea but…” Kayenus hesitated, then just pointed to the main entrance. “They like you. You do it.”
Relkir rubbed his eyes, sighing, then approached the entrance. He raised his wrist towards the scanner on the door’s side, causing it to light up. After a moment, the large metal doors began to slide open, revealing the beings behind them.
Kayenus was completely right. These two beings were exactly like Relkir, just bigger. And differently coloured. The larger one was genuinely gigantic. They easily stood at 4m tall and a crown of horns and antlers decorated their armoured skull. Its claws were as big as Relkir’s chest and it could have easily grabbed him at any moment. The other one, the one that looked most like Relkir, was a good 50cm taller than him, but still smaller than Kayenus and Atteh’Kus. They had red skin and a matching red carapace, interlaced with gold, with stunning ruby red eyes. Relkir knew this one.
“Uh, hello, what are you doing here?”
Relkir had met Retvik before. Retvik worked for the Thantir Decay Lords, although he was not officially a Decay Lord himself. Not yet, anyway. They had… clashed when both Kinisis and the Thantir were tracking down Kinisis’s errant son Arkadin. For reasons Relkir only discovered later on, Retvik always referred to Relkir as “Elkay”. His old, pre-Divine Guardian name.
“Hello, brother, how are you doing?” Retvik asked politely.
“I am quite concerned by your presence,” Relkir grunted. “What are you doing here?”
Retvik glanced upwards at the hulking monstrosity next to him, then back to Relkir. “Galyn and I are tracking an anomalous entity, and we discovered that the entity has spoken to Kinisis. We are looking to identify the entity.”
“What sort of entity?” Relkir asked.
“He means Kanuva…” Kayenus whispered, completely ruining Relkir’s attempts to stall the Thantir. “Kinisis’s new friend!”
“Would we be able to speak to Kanuva?” Retvik smiled, probably a little too politely. “We just need to identify what this entity is, make sure it is safe and then we will be on our way.”
Relkir shook his head. “I would love to help you, but Kanuva left about…” Relkir turned to Kayenus and Atteh’Kus. “How long ago was it?”
“About an hour?” Atteh’Kus shrugged.
“That is fine, we can wait, I guess? Can we speak to Kinisis in the mean time?”
Relkir hesitated, not sure how to answer. But before he could figure out a response, the massive monster that was Galyn leaned down, tapping a large screen.
“Our sensors indicate that the entity known as Kanuva has just returned and is within your ship. Please step to one side.”
With a frown, Relkir nodded and did as he was told, as did Kayenus and Atteh’Kus. Galyn shrunk himself down so he could fit inside the ship, then stepped inside.
“Sorry,” Retvik shrugged as Galyn stomped off. “Galyn can be rather… direct…”
“I noticed…” Relkir tutted, as Kayenus and Atteh’Kus chased after the Decay Lord. “Is something going on that we do not know about?”
“I could not tell you even if I knew… But fingers crossed this Kanuva is friendly.”
Relkir smiled, just a little. “Thankfully, he is…”