“News travels fast, even for us Thanatians, do you not think?”
The voice echoed around the dark, desolate cave. Black, tar-like slime dripped from the walls, pooling into small streams, which snaked from the edges of the room into a large pit in the centre. Slowly walking around the pit of noxious slime was a tall, dark, horned Thanatian, thinking out loud to both himself and the other Thanatians in the room.
“Yes, my lord…” a small, blue female Thanatian whispered, her snake-like body twisting around the dark Thanatian’s legs.
“Of course. We are a culture of grunts and chatter. The gossiping Raptors, the hissing Kshan, the voices of the Thraki on the wind. All of them coming together to discuss the thoughts of a new king and queen.”
The blue Thanatian continued to snake around her stronger counterpart.
“What if this is some sort of ruse? To draw out potential… political enemies such as yourself?”
The dark Thanatian laughed, his voice as deep, shadowy and booming as his cave home. As he did so, something bubbled and popped within the large pit, pockets of air breaking free from the toxic black goo.
“I doubt that the Dark Womb would betray her kind. Not like that. She may be as manipulative as the Sixteen, but she is too honourable to cheat so blatantly.”
“She has done so before…”
“Times were different. She was young. I was younger. I made my mistakes. She capitalized on them. Sending in her little attack pets.”
The blue Thanatian pulled away and sat down on the ground, hissing. “Her guards are still alive. Thymos and HER.”
Again, the dark Thanatian laughed, but far more nervously this time. “That monster… She is no longer a concern to anyone. Keeps to herself, running her own stupid little thing. The Dark Womb has her Sixteen but she is opening herself up to be toppled with this election of hers. My dearest Stiassa, we can get into power and have the will of the Thanatians behind us!”
Stiassa shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t seem convinced by her lord’s enthusiasm. “We will not be the only ones… campaigning? Is that what it is called? There will be competition from many who think the same way we do!”
“It does not matter. There could be all the competition in the universe, and it would not impact us in the slightest. In fact, we could simply not run, it would not matter. All that matters is that we get the Dark Womb out of power, so we can slip under the collective skin and pull that power into our own.”
The dark Thanatian wandered over to the pit and stuck his clawed finger into the bubbling goo, taking a long, deep sniff of the liquid.
“We don’t need to win?” Stiassa asked.
“No. Not at all. The Three Siblings are connected to… troubling magical sources, based on positive leadership emotions. But break the Dark Womb’s power grip and you break her pride, thus allowing my own magics to expand. After that, some simple suggestions will make any new leader crumble under my will.”
“What about winning… legally, Skolex?”
Skolex smiled as he licked the goo off his fingers. “Do not worry, my dear. We will try and win this contest legally first. All our magic, that is just a… backup plan.”
Stiassa stood up and wrapped her arms around Skolex. “I love the fact that you always plan ahead…”
Skolex kissed his little darling back, holding her tight. “As so I, Stiss. Our future, the future of the Thanatians, will be beautiful.”