Green, slightly corrosive goo covered the walls and the room’s occupants as Galyn exploded back to life, pulling himself out of his healing cocoon. After taking a few moments to remember how to be alive and conscious, the elder Decay Lord scanned his surroundings, trying to work out where he was.
“Did that happen last time as well?” a voice crackled underneath a large pile of goo.
“Yes. I swear Galyn waited until I was present to abruptly wake up like this.”
Galyn sat up straight, instinctively summoning a pair of floating emerald daggers, which he aimed at the two beings currently coated in slime. But as everything began to focus, the blades fizzled away, but Galyn slowly extended the blades embedded in his arms, just in case.
“Hello, strange Decayling,” Galyn finally spoke. “What happened?”
Litvir tutted as he reached for a nearby towel. It was also covered in slime, but it was enough for Litvir to wipe down his face. He then handed the towel to Leh, who was so badly covered in slime that only his red, crystalline eyes could be seen, the downside of being such a small creature.
“I will have you know, Galyn, I have been a Decay Lord for at least a couple of years now, and have been leading the Thantir in your absence.”
Galyn blinked several times, clearly not understanding what the armoured, black and purple creature was saying to him. “Where am I?”
“In your private quarters, on the Thantir Two.”
Leh prodded Litvir, shooting him a telepathic message. “I think he has memory loss or something.”
“Yes, potentially. I think I may be scaring him, he does not seem to properly recognize me…” Litvir frowned. While he had dealt with amnesia before, Litvir didn’t really know how to deal with amnesia for a colossal, heavily armoured former god of war and death with metre-long blades sticking out from its arms.
“Not sure he recognizes me either. I mean, we’ve only had six separate bodies for about as long as you’ve been a Decayon.”
With a sigh, Litvir returned to normal speech, talking calmly and slowly so that Galyn did not see him as a threat.
“We were attacked by a Voidborn known as Ahkron. You were brutally stabbed and a Kenic Spore was left inside you, but Kal here safely removed the spore. Since the attack, you have been sleeping inside this healing cocoon of yours, while we have been assisting Kal in their duties as purifiers, as the Voidborn cut a bloody path through this sector of the Periuniversal Void.”
Galyn continued to blink. “Where are my other Thirds?”
Litvir hesitated, lacking an answer. “Um, I… I am not sure… Tell me, Galyn, what is the last thing you remember?”
The elder Decay Lord’s mind went blank. Well, even more blank. Galyn tried to concentrate, but found he couldn’t. He also quickly realized he didn’t have an answer to the purple creature’s question. Nor could he remember who the purple creature was.
“Kal, why are you green? Are you even Kal?”
Leh couldn’t actually look worried, due to the fact that he lacked facial expressions, but he was trying very heard to show how concerned he was.
“Uh, Galyn, do you not remember that Arkay helped us and made us separate bodies as a thank you gift after Vikalos and Retvik brought him to us to get rid of some Kenic Spores, then there was that nasty Apocalyptic thing that Deathven Proper had to get involved in, and the Thantir kinda split up but you and your other Thirds took a bunch of people with you to go back to exploring but it all kinda went bad and you ended up splitting up again, then some things happened and you started working from a Life Oasis but then the Life Goddess from that Oasis kinda got murdered and you came back out here and then we got attacked by a Voidborn and you helped us and invited us to be Thantir proper and then you got attacked by the same Voidborn?”
Litvir glanced down at Leh. “That was not a bad recap for someone who was not there for most of what Galyn, Retvik and I have experienced over the last nearly four years.”
“We’ve been hanging around the same sector as you for the entire time you’ve been here. We pick things up.”
“True, true…” Litvir turned back to Galyn. “I think you have some sort of memory loss, Galyn. Perhaps a side effect of either the traumatic injury you received, or part of your healing process not quite working. The last time you were in your cocoon, you recovered without issue.”
Galyn stared at the purple stranger. They were some sort of psionic Decayon, but Galyn didn’t recognize them. The being claiming to be Kal looked wrong as well. Not red, broken or damaged, as Galyn could recall.
“This must be some sort of trap…” Galyn hissed as he climbed to his feet. “Why have you imprisoned me? Where is my master?”
“Alright now!” Leh climbed onto the bed and pushed Galyn down. “We need to get you checked for Voidborn manipulation! You’re not acting right!”
The Decay Lord did not react well to this tiny, fake version of a being Galyn barely even considered a Decayon. He quickly re-scanned his surroundings, identifying what looked to be some sort of electrical outlet. Summoning one of his trusty emerald blades, Galyn fired it at the outlet, turning off the lights, before tossing the green robot to one side and throwing the purple Decayon against the wall. Galyn then climbed out of the remains of his cocoon and forced his way into the hallway, where several other strangers seemed to be waiting for him.
“Uh, hi, Galyn!” A blue robot clicked as two round, shield-like blades extended from its wrists. A red robot that did look a bit like Kal but was in far too pristine a condition to actually be Kal also extended a pair of weapons, while an odd-looking Time Drake stepped forward, hiding a small four-eyed creature behind it. “Are you okay? You’re not acting right!”
With a low growl, Galyn summoned more blades, six of which he forced together, creating an electromagnetic pulse. The entire hallway plunged into darkness, as did the little robots. However, the Time Drake did not seem to care about the darkness and immediately attacked with blades similar to the ones Galyn had, while shouting at the smaller creature to go and get help. To Galyn’s surprise, the Time Drake was actually rather fast and oddly not very draconic, and it did manage to land a single hit. Galyn though grabbed the Time Drake by the arm and threw them through an open doorway, then threw his remaining blades in its direction, before summoning another wave to protect himself, and pulling the door shut on the Time Drake so it couldn’t follow him.
Not sure exactly where he was, Galyn picked a direction and charged down it, in a bid to escape this strange place. However, a bolt of electricity briefly stunned him, forcing Galyn to slow down. The source of the strike was another small creature that looked vaguely familiar, as if he had seen it before, back when he was a Decayling with the Phantai. Another similar being in yellow and cream stood next to it, raising its hands and trying to be non-threatening. It was emitting some sort of aura that made Galyn feel somewhat weaker than normal.
“Galyn, ser, you are disorientated, you need to calm down!”
“You are holding me prisoner!” Galyn snarled, throwing blades at the creatures. However, the vaguely familiar one teleported both itself and its friend out of the way, and in its place stood what smelled like a Life Goddess, one that instantly attempted to go for Galyn’s throat. Galyn turned to the side, dodging the feral beast, before plunging his arm blade through the creature’s stomach, then letting the now limb body drop to the floor.
Before Galyn could continue with his escape though, something much larger was now blocking Galyn’s path. A fiery Decayon, nearly the same size as Galyn was, approached menacingly.
“Stand down, Galyn! You are hurting your own damn crew!” the armoured, flaming red and gold beast roared.
“Who are you?” Galyn hissed, conjuring yet more green blades, casting the entire wave in the Decayon’s direction. To Galyn’s dismay though, his emerald daggers all evaporated into nothingness. The Decayon retaliated with a blast of fire, but as it collided with Galyn, he noticed it didn’t hurt too much. That was good, that meant these strangers did not want him dead.
“I am Retvik, the Flamebearer, one of the Decaylings you helped raise to Lordhood. Stand down, you are not sound of mind.”
This being was lying. Galyn had no memory of this flaming Decayon. Clearly, it was some sort of weird, badly made copy of one of his Thirds, his old friend Vikalos. Galyn stepped forward, invoking another wave of blades, before fully extending his arm blades. As he did so, Galyn covered himself in thorny armour plating and toxic vines, before charging at the Decayon.
Retvik hesitated, not wanting to harm Galyn, but he knew he had to do something. A blast of heat pushed the maddened Decay Lord back, burning away the vines. Galyn hissed some more, re-summoning the vines, then forcing himself through the flame shields Retvik was creating, so he could attack this Decayon head on.
Oddly, this Retvik being seemed unarmed and weirdly hesitant. They were wearing armour, but had no weapons on them. Good, that meant they could not block Galyn’s strikes. The Decayon was between Galyn and freedom, as far as he was concerned, he was fine to use deadly force. While Retvik was rather awkwardly dodging each attack and searing the vines and armour that Galyn was using to protect himself, he wasn’t really attacking back.
The lack of an offensive was perfect. Galyn almost smiled as he thrusted forward, forcing Retvik to decide between being stabbed in the chest and being stabbed in the stomach. Retvik chose the latter and allowed himself a pained grunt as he heated the air between them, pushing Galyn away and giving himself some space.
“My poison is inside you now, Decayon. Stand aside, let me leave, and you can die in peace.”
Retvik stumbled backwards, desperately trying to keep his balance. “Is your mind that clouded, Galyn, that you would kill me? Someone you considered to be your own student, your own child?”
“I have no idea who you are. I am happy to kill you, stranger, for you are clearly trying to hold me here, against my will.”
Snapping his fingers, Galyn summoned more emerald daggers, ready to tear the fiery Decayon apart. But before Galyn could do so, a hideous voice echoed through his mind.
“I WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE ANOTHER THIRD!” Litvir telepathically howled as he sank his fangs into Galyn’s neck, injecting the elder Decay Lord with a paralytic venom, one that Galyn had never encountered before. After a brief struggle, Galyn found he could no longer stay upright, and he collapsed in a heap, with the psionic Decayon’s jaws still wrapped around his throat.
It took a little too long for Litvir to let go, but as he did so, he spat out toxic, acidic blood. Litvir then rushed to Retvik’s side, making sure he was alright.
“Thank you, dear…” Retvik muttered, leaning against the wall as he raised his internal body temperature, burning away the poison that was trying to keep him down. “What… what happened? Are you well?”
Litvir sighed. Before he answered, he quickly scanned the ship, making sure everyone was alive. Seimeni was already tending to those Galyn had injured in his madness, although all six members of Kal seemed to still be unconscious. Alive, but unmoving. “I am doing as fine as I could be, all things considered. Are you alright, Retvik?”
Retvik glanced down at his wound. “I will heal. We need to fix Galyn, before he wakes up and attacks us again…”
“Indeed. It seems like Ahkron infected Galyn with more than just a simple Kenic Spore…”