The six creatures kicked, clawed and screamed in their cages as Tempo edged past them. She had no idea why the Whenvern wanted her to capture these beings, but here they were, all very angry. Sedating the beings was out of the question, while the tranquillizer darts had been enough to knock them out for capture and transport, the Whenvern had specifically said to not sedate them further, as he needed them conscious.
Above them, the Whenvern was tinkering with some sort of massive device. Tubes of liquid were flowing to and from various pods and huge mechanical pieces pumped things around. Really, the whole thing was so complicated, Tempo wasn’t sure what to make of it all.
“So what is all of this?” Tempo asked as she looked at the ground for a bit. The moving parts were making her feel uneasy.
“A test.”
Tempo blinked. “A test for me? To prove my worth?”
A breeze blew by as the Whenvern flapped his massive wings, flew round to the other side of the machine and started tinkering there.
“No.”
“A test of these beings to prove their worth?” Tempo asked, still confused.
The creatures weren’t a race that Tempo was aware of. Some backwards species that had only just worked out how to build engines and the like. Normally, advanced races had a sort of honourable code where they should probably leave undeveloped species alone, but there were always beings who didn’t quite follow it. Tempo never really cared much for the rule, especially since the Temmar, her own race, were uplifted by otherworldly beings. If it wasn’t for them, Tempo would have never ended up where she was today.
These beings though, Tempo didn’t mind capturing them. Their home was suffering from a huge amount of overpopulation, so was taking six beings really that bad? Of course not. The only problem was that she didn’t know what the Whenvern was planning to do.
“So what is this?”
“I think test is the wrong word. An experiment, perhaps,” the Whenvern grunted as he continued to tinker.
“An experiment?”
The Whenvern leaped down and landed next to Tempo. He removed one of the creatures from their cage, holding them tightly with his tail, before flapping his wings and flying upwards to a particularly large pod, placing the creature inside it. The Dragon of Time then did the same with the other five creatures.
“My Lord?” Tempo was confused. “You’re not going to kill them, are you?”
“Of course not. Worst case scenario, they spend some time in a recovery bay, have their minds wiped and altered, then get sent home as Disciples in order to spread my Word. But I doubt that is happening.”
“Will they be hurt? What is your plan? Are you gonna explain anything?”
The Dragon smiled. “This is taking time. We come back later. But now, I tell you. Death has her Veth. I know Stasis considers a similar tactic. We are ahead of Stasis, creating our own powerful allies. I pick these beings as small, Vohra-esque races are the best at changes and adaptation.”
The Whenvern leaped back down again and pulled Tempo to his side. Tempo always got confused by the Whenvern’s speech patterns, always speaking in the present tense, as if he was physically unable to speak in the past tense.
“So… you’re creating your own Veth?” Tempo asked.
“In a way. Need a name for them.”
“What if you called them Vime?” Tempo shrugged. “After all, Veth is basically just Death with a V.”
Kairos laughed loudly. “Silly! Veth is an acronym. Vok Enantion THeon. Beings against Immortals. But you have a valid idea. Maybe I shall call them Vour.”
“Vour?” Tempo blinked.
“Vok Oras, Ustorias ke Rois. Beings of Time, History and Flow. Vour.”
The Whenvern whistled. As he did so, the gigantic machine blasted into life, emitting a low, whirring sound and glowing an odd, blue glow.
“Now, my dear Tempo, we wait…”