Amazingly, no one had died. Sure, a small ship had just crashed into Zero Zero, the large park in the middle of the Skyan capital of End One, but it was early in the morning so no one had really been around on the ground. The same couldn’t be said about the occupants of said ship, most of whom had suffered cuts, lacerations and broken bones from the impact. The ship had carved a large crater into the side of Zero Zero, having only just missed its central point. Of course, the local Skyavok population wasn’t happy in the slightest, but as news emerged as to why the ship had crashed, there was a peculiar amount of curiosity in the air. As well as, to the Skyavok, an air of superiority, realizing that some of their beliefs about the deities were in fact correct.
Really, though, Tenuk was feeling pretty proud about himself. He’d landed that ship pretty damn well, all things considered. Literally 200m away from a hospital. In fact, he could see the ship from his room in said hospital.
Initially, he’d been in quite a mess. Having been sitting in the cockpit, he got the best view of the crash, especially as rocks and trees had crashed through the windscreen, some of said debris nearly ripping his arm off. But that was a couple of hours ago and now he had healed up, he was fine. Almost as if the crash had never happened. Then again, he was pretty lucky. Weird healing powers blessed from a death god aside, he had been wearing his seat belt. Apparently most of the Temthans they had saved didn’t know how seat belts worked, and had ended up in a tattered, broken heap in the rear of the ship.
Tenuk paused, then stared out of the window. It was better than this drab room. It only really contained a bed and several chairs. There was a Skyan guard outside, an argument for Tenuk not to leave, but that was it. Not even a complementary television for him to watch. And he was desperate to know what the Skyavok thought of what happened.
As for his friends, Tenuk wasn’t so sure. He knew they were alive, at least, but Kayel hadn’t woken up yet. The crazy guy had did it, he had somehow teleported the whole ship through a shadow. Really, now that Tenuk thought about it, it was pretty obvious why Kayel was still out cold. Probably gave himself an aneurysm or something. But, thankfully, Kayel was also still among the living. When it came to Retvik and Nyssi, they were both just about okay as well. Nyssi had broken her collarbone and Retvik had somehow managed to snap every bone in his left arm, but, like Tenuk, they had healed insanely fast.
The problem was, the Skyans had taken notice. Sure, they had only asked for some blood samples, but it had taken a lot of effort for Retvik to convince them all to give them a break, since they were still shocked from the crash. Really, Retvik had done most of the talking, what with being somewhat famous. Neither of them wanted to blow Tenuk’s cover, although he was surprised he didn’t do that himself. When he’d fallen unconscious, he had reverted back to his Spast form, but with his blue colouring.
Still staring outside, Tenuk noticed something in the sky. Something dark. It glowed for a second, before… crash landing exactly how their ship had crash landed, in the middle of Zero Zero.
Tenuk felt compelled to investigate. Something was drawing him outside, to see what that was.
Shapeshifting into the form of the Skyan doctor who had visited him earlier, Tenuk stuffed up the bed to make it look like he was sleeping, then turned off the lights and opened the door to his room. The guard looked at him in confusion, but Tenuk patted him on the shoulder, telling him he must have forgotten he was there. Free from his room, he was now able to go down the hallway, where he… immediately ran into Retvik, who was just exiting his own room.
“How are you feeling, Tenuk?”
“How the fuck did you know it was me?”
Retvik grunted. “Rethan intuition. You saw that…”
“Outside, yeah.”
“We must-”
“You should stay here. You’re the face of the party currently. It’ll be suspicious if you go out there.”
The mighty Rethan frowned. While Retvik had been rather stoic so far, Tenuk had hardly seen the gladiator shake, the idea that they still weren’t safe was clearly bothering him. “I fear the Allbirther followed us.”
“Yeah… me too…”
“I should go.”
“I just said why you shouldn’t. Worst case scenario, if it IS the Allbirther, I’ll just run back here. We’re surrounded by Skyan police and soldiers, we should be okay.”
Retvik frowned some more, then relented. “Fine. But please do not hurt yourself.”
“I think we are both aware that hurting ourselves isn’t really a thing now…” Tenuk paused. “Speaking of which, are Nyssi and Kayel…”
“Nyssi is fine. Kayel woke up briefly, then went back to sleep. Sheer exhaustion, apparently.”
“Ah…”
Both beings trailed off.
“I should go.”
“Yes. Stay safe.”
Retvik returned to his room, and Tenuk made his way for the closest exit. Luckily, it wasn’t particularly far, but Tenuk found himself taking the long way around, avoiding the ‘xenon ward’ which was now full of Temthans with broken bones. Once he was outside though, he was surprised to see just how many Skyans were wandering around. It was about 7am though, so perhaps they were going to work or something. Despite that it was still dark.
Either way, Tenuk made his way straight to the park. There were guards and security rope all around the vast crater, but nothing in the middle. Tenuk dipped behind a nearby tree and changed his form once more. This time though, he turned himself into a tiny Vohra, not even a meter tall. While most Vohra were brightly coloured, Tenuk made himself completely black, so he’d be harder to spot. It required a little more concentration, but that was fine.
As Tenuk slipped under a small gap and into the crater, he quickly spotted something that didn’t fit. Something yellow. Immediately, Tenuk had a feeling he knew what this was, but he was still hesitant to approach. He did so anyway though.
The yellow belonged to what looked a bit like a Skyavok. Except it was a little too tall to be a Skyan. Far too small to be a Rethan though, despite their organic plating. And their body was absolutely covered in large cuts, all leaking a familar, black, starry blood.
“Uh, Mister Death God?”
No response. This worried Tenuk. Normally the Death God was more… alive than this. He awkwardly nudged the body, which still didn’t elicit a response. Tenuk then made the brave choice to touch the body. He felt the creature’s neck, feeling for a pulse. Assuming the Thantophor even had one. But no, to his surprise, there was a heartbeat underneath that yellow chest plating. But it was weak. Very weak.
Knowing he needed to do something, Tenuk changed his form again, this time into that of a Rethavok. He didn’t particularly care that he was using Retvik’s shape, he just threw the unconscious being over his shoulder and marched straight to the hospital, ignoring the guards who all asked who he was and what he was doing there.
“At least you’re not the Allbirther…” Tenuk grunted as Skyans rushed to him, wondering what was going on. “Don’t worry, we’ll look after you…”