The mood on Savepoint was tense, for a myriad of reasons. The appearance of eight new Decaylings, one of whom was a Time Drake, another being a Voidborn, had been startling enough, but the old Allbirther suddenly arriving at the Thantir’s base, cradling a capsule of black goo that she claimed was the Thantophor had put everyone on edge. Unfortunately, the black goo was both the Thantophor and a new strain of dangerous, resilient Corruption, and Kal, the resident purification experts, had sealed off the area and refused to let anyone pass, while they worked out what to do.
It had been decided that the best course of action was to put the old death god out of his misery. He wasn’t even there any more, Kal claimed. And while the resident telepaths (the Thantir now had too many of them) had claimed that they could sense something within the goo and acid, it was generally believed that those thoughts were just lingering memories, the last regrets of a mind long gone.
Right now, everyone was in bed. The Thantir elders had insisted that everyone apart from Kal go to sleep, and they’d allow everyone to say their goodbyes in ten hours, once Kal were finished with their testing.
Elkay though was blatantly sneaking out.
Well, not blatantly.
The appearance of the new Decaylings meant that Elkay now had new powers he could mimic. Kuta, Litvir’s twin sibling, had stronger but far less refined psionic powers, meaning that Elkay could beat out Eksi’s aura-based telepathic detection systems. Tenuk, the new Tenuk (whose original name was Tanos, and he was considering going back to using it), had obtained both electricity and sound-based powers, meaning that Elkay could use those to teleport completely silently. And the other new-universe Rethan, a shorter, younger, much fitter version of Retvik, had light and gravity-based powers. Combined with the vast array of Life Goddess and Time Drake abilities the old Allbirther brought to the table, this meant that Elkay had worked out how to make himself both invisible, intangible and completely undetectable.
Good.
Because Elkay had a plan. Well, a theory. Something he had experienced before.
Annoyingly, while the rest of Kal were busy elsewhere, Gah was currently on guard, pacing around the quarantine area where the new strain of Corruption was being held. This was a problem. Elkay needed access to test his theory. But Gah wasn’t particularly smart, and Elkay knew that the magnetic Cleanser could be distracted by something shiny. Which was why Elkay had borrowed one of Tahvra’s little figures, wrapped lights on it and was now using his new gravity powers to place that figure in a bush and make it move around. And, amazingly, Gah fell for the bait, wandering away from his post to check out the strange glimmer.
With the Cleansers out of the way, Elkay could continue with his plan. He approached the glass cell and inspected it, looking for the Corruption. The new strain was mostly just hiding inside the crystal container that Yisini had originally put it in. It was clearly aware of what was going on, and, considering it was the purest of pure Corruption, the fact that it wasn’t trying to escape or anything suggested to Elkay that it was waiting to die.
That there was why Elkay was doing this. It wasn’t corrupted. It was Corruption. Pure Corruption. A new strain, completely unlike any other. Unique. The same way Elkay was. Elkay’s theory was that Arkay had turned himself into a Corruption to save himself from infection by another strain. Elkay had done the same thing not once, but twice. The difference was, Elkay had been surrounded by friends and allies, and worked out how to un-Corrupt himself from his own unique strain. But Arkay had been completely alone, and didn’t have the knowledge or experience to turn from Corruption back into Synaisthyn.
Elkay was going to show him how to do that. Hopefully. But first, he needed to get Arkay’s attention.
Using his new mimicked powers, Elkay tweaked things so that no one else could hear him, then teleported into the glass cell, being cautious to not touch the black goo. Once he was inside, Elkay noticed that the Corruption was aware of his presence, and had squidged up into a vaguely limbed shape inside the crystal canister. Two golden yellow eyes appeared in the goo, staring at Elkay.
Elkay cleared his throat. He’d prepared in advance what he was going to say and do. And part of that involved a phrase he had picked up from one of the four new half-Synaisthyns, spoken in a language Elkay only partially knew. Admittedly, Elkay was supposed to have been keeping an eye on them, but they were all currently asleep. With a sigh, Elkay closed his eyes, then attempted to sing the words he had heard, but in the language of the Corruption.
“Uve uve mara. Utri fami yatra. Amare Jeliira. Utu lov utu?”
This caught the Started End’s attention. The goo changed shape again, becoming slightly more Threanic. Elkay smiled, then repeated his words, in a different language.
“Mikre mikre paida. Pote tha se skotra. Agape, me mila. Pothou sou vothou?”
The Corruption shuddered but was now completely focused on Elkay.
“Little little child. Never will I hurt you. My love, talk to me. How can I help you?”
Again, the Corruption shuddered and shook, a bit more violently this time, as if it was shaking its head. It knew Elkay was talking to it, and it was trying to figure out how to answer.
“De… de ksero. Pono. Mou vothas?”
“Of course. You just forgot who you are. Let me show you.”
Elkay held his hand out towards the Started End.
“De thelo na se skotra.”
“You will not hurt me. And never will I hurt you.”
The Started End hesitated, then formed a hand of their own and placed it on top of Elkay’s. Elkay smiled, then closed his eyes, sharing what he knew. Almost instantly though, the Started End let go, then backed away and shook violently.
The seizure only lasted a few seconds, but it was clear that… something had happened. The Started End took a much more familiar shape, made a loud, screeching sound, then formed a cocoon around itself, sealing itself away in its own dark, crystalline shell.
Realizing that he may have been in danger, Elkay teleported himself out of the glass cage, but remained close. However, the commotion had attracted several members of Kal.
“What are you doing?” Nuh couldn’t actually growl or anything, but he was doing his best to be threatening and serious as he, Leh and Pah both rushed over. Nuh held Elkay in place while Pah washed Elkay down in a special plasma bath, to decontaminate him. Leh was fiddling with a device that detected Corruption infections, but his eyes dimmed and lit up repeatedly, signalling that he was confused.
Elkay didn’t say anything. Instead, he smiled and turned his attention back to the dark cocoon. Leh nudged his two siblings, then showed them both the results on the scanner. Nuh and Pah both did the dimming eye thing that Leh was doing.
“That… that makes no sense…”
“I… I don’t get it…”
Their confusion was interrupted by a harsh, cracking sound. The dark cocoon shattered, exploding into delicate shards. Lying in the middle of the glass cage was a familiar, yellow-plated friend, utterly exhausted. They struggled briefly to orientate themselves, before curling up into a ball, shivering slightly.
“Thank you…” Arkay whispered as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.