The naming ceremony had been brief, and, admittedly, not everyone had turned up. In fact, Litvir, Kuta and the two Retviks had returned after the ceremony and had barely noticed that they had an extra member or two until Litvir had asked why there was an extra Voidborn wandering around. But really, Elkay-En, now given the codename Darkpurger (because of he had purged the darkness from his own body), was glad. He didn’t really want anyone paying attention to him. Mostly because he was now the lowest member of a group, and that made him feel bad.
That was a pretty new feeling for Elkay-En as well. As far as he could remember, he had always been at or near the top. Even when he was a servant of Epanophovon, he essentially led the group of afflicted children that went from universe to universe, offering bones and weapons to protect from other Corruptions. Sure, no one was treating Elkay-En any less because he was now the lowest member of the Thantir, but it bothered him. And it was bothering him even more now that he was about to go through a list of his current abilities alongside the other lowest member of the Thantir.
Vekeus on the other hand was already happy. Not only was he really happy with his new Decayliing codename, Voidblaze (Vekeus was already somewhat fire-based as a Voidborn and he’d never known why), but he was enjoying catching up properly with Kaytee, who he used to work beside when he was mortal, and he’d also been chatting with Phovoula, the Thantir’s first Voidborn member. That conversation had made him feel a lot better about his decision to become a Decayling. It was the safe decision. Especially considering what had happened the day before Vekeus had decided to…
Vekeus paused and shook his head, drifting back to what he was supposed to be doing. He and Elkay-En were meeting Phovos, Phovoula and the two Synaisthyns on the beach, so they could go through what powers the two new Decaylings had. And Elkay-En was trailing a lot more than Vekeus was. Vekeus was just distracted. Actually, Vekeus had questions too.
“Technically, am I related to you, Phovos?” Vekeus asked as he and Elkay-En approached the designated area, which seemed to be two small clear domes which had been erected earlier.
Phovos shrugged. “I mean, no, not by blood. I’d guess we’re more step-siblings than anything else, because we don’t share a genetic connection. Although that does beg the question, are Voidborns related to each other?”
“Not unless they are intentionally made by one specific Voidborn. Most I think just pull themselves from the darkness and either start building their own empire or are immediately dragged into one and remain there for their own safety. Anyway, what are we doing here?”
“We’re here to go over some of your powers, to catalogue them and find out what you can do!” Arkay smiled. “Won’t take too long. We basically just have a list, ask you if you can do a thing and you do it inside the nice domes that I made earlier and then we move on to the next thing.”
“Is it… a long list?” Elkay-En hesitantly queried.
Arkay glanced at Elkay, who was holding a clipboard and flicking through sheets of paper. “Uh, kinda.”
“Oh. Do we have to do this together?”
“Yeah. Makes life a lot easier. And we are training you together to be Decaylings. You’ll probably end up doing your Decay Lord trial together as well. So the more you do as a team, the better.”
Elkay-En didn’t mean to pull a face, but he did, and everyone noticed.
“Uh… brother, what’s wrong?” Arkay asked.
“I… I don’t have many powers.”
“You are literally a Life Goddess!” Vekeus tutted.
“A Life Goddess with no idea how to actually do anything with Life Goddess powers!”
Phovos tutted, then stepped forward and put her hand on Elkay-En’s shoulder. “Elkay-En, big brother, it’s fine. It took me ages too. I’ve been out here, what, half a decade now? It’s only been the last two years that I worked stuff out. And, like, this isn’t a final list, is it, Arkay?”
“Not at all. It’s just a quick test to work out where we all are. It’s normal to learn new powers along the way, it’s normal to get a better understanding of ourselves as we do this!” Arkay went back to smiling. “I learned a ton of stuff while I was a Decayling. Phovoula had to learn everything almost at once. So did Elkay when he was a Decayling, and that was made worse because we didn’t realise he was a messed up freak the same way I am until it was a tad too late.”
“Why is Elkay here anyway?” Vekeus suddenly interrupted. “I thought you were in charge?”
“As part of this exam, some of these abilities are best tested with a visual example rather than a spoken one,” Elkay explained. “Arkay and I will be providing said visual examples while the two Raptors go through the list. Some of these abilities, I have not learned completely myself, or even at all, so this is also good practice for me as well.”
“So you are, like, always learning?” Vekeus asked.
“I am, yes. After all, there are a lot of abilities out there. Arkay and I still have not determined what type of Life Goddess we turn into, after all, and I have not turned completely into a Life Goddess or a Time Drake yet.”
“But you have turned into a Voidborn?”
Elkay hesitated a little. “Uh… not… not willingly.”
Vekeus glanced at Elkay-En. “Bro, you may be struggling with your Life God stuff, but at least you ain’t as fucked up as Arkay and you-but-standard-type here. And, in all honesty, Phovoula and I are also kinda more weird than you are.”
Elkay-En rolled his eyes. “I guess… Shall we get on with these tests then? So I can prove how little I can do?”
“Eh, you’ll be fine!” Phovos laughed. “And you can always learn more shit later. But yeah, let’s get started. We’ve got a lot to cover…”