Tale – Vethic Questions with Death

The Veth all gathered around Kinisis, all waiting for their regular weekly meeting. This meeting had been delayed because Kinisis had been working on a new Veth to join their ranks, but that didn’t bother Death’s humble servants.

“So, my wonderful little loyal buddies!” Kinisis grinned as she threw out snacks and treats, which the Veth all jumped up to catch. “I owe you all a little question time! Haven’t had one in a while! Who would like to ask a question first?”

One Veth awkwardly raised its claw. Kinisis pointed at them and asked them to speak.

“Um, Mistress, why are so many species around here so… similar looking?”

“That is a great question!” Death beamed. “As you all know, there are three main ‘body types’ of life around here. Mostly by coincidence. You’ve got the humanoid-looking thrope races and breeds, you’ve got the reptilian Thanatoforic races and you’ve got the huge variety of Panvok races. Now, thrope races are a much more recent thing, but the reason why there’s so many more Panvok and Thanatoforic races is because there was a time, about a billion years ago, when evolution suddenly exploded due to, well, an explosion of some sort!”

The Veth looked confused. “Did it, like, kick start an evolutionary race?”

“Sort of. What it did was two things – firstly it made the ancestors of these races sentient and capable of venturing into space, with the help of Deitic tech. Secondly, it made life incredibly… adaptive and mutagenic. For about 200 million years, life would randomly evolve and breed incredibly quickly. You could get a new species every two years.”

“Why don’t we have that now?” another Veth asked.

“Because the radioactivity and energy from that explosion faded away. I mean, it travelled across a huge swathe of the universe, but it faded, and evolution slowed down, and only the strongest races survived. Turns out Panvok and Thanatoforic races are hardier than most…” Death glanced down at something, thinking to herself. “Come to think of it, we might be due another one soon…”

The Veth all glanced at one another, then remained silent, until a new Veth raised their claw to ask a question.

“Mistress, what are Stasis and Kairos planning?”

Kinisis sighed. “Oh that. Didn’t I tell you?”

“No, Mistress…”

“Ah, well, I’ve been busy. They want to stop beings from being cycled through Kinigi in order to boost their own power. I’m working on something to stop them from doing that, but it’s going to take time.”

“What is your plan?”

Death glared at the Veth. “Do you need to know?”

“I… I would like to… I mean, this is… our job here to defend Kinigi…”

With a sigh and a wave of her hand, Death dismissed the question. “Needs to be a secret. Can’t have you lot knowing. Not yet.”

The Veth chattered among each other. A change on tone fluttered through them, and one of the larger Veth raised his claw.

“Who is the new Veth you are working on?”

Kinisis liked this question. She waved her arms around, opening some space in the middle of the room. “I’ll show you.”

In the new empty space, a large, translucent, gooey cocoon appeared. Inside it was a very angry Veth with yellow and gold armour, desperately trying to tear its way out.

A couple of the older Veth sighed. They realised what Death had done.

“He is going to be hard to control…” one of the tutted.

“He will probably attack us…” another warned.

“Which is why he isn’t ready yet!” Death explained. “Most of you came here willingly. And those who didn’t swiftly let me in anyway. I just need to do the same with this guy and he’ll be fine.”

“Could you, at least, chain him up or something at first?” one Veth asked. “So he doesn’t hurt the rest of us?”

“Of course my dears!” Death smiled as she let the Veth inspect their not-yet-reborn sibling. Many of the Veth only gave hesitant looks, but some of them were genuinely interested in the new look this Veth had.

“Will we be able to get upgraded to this?” a smaller Veth asked, looking rather interested.

“When I’ve worked out all the kinks, of course!” Death replied. She waited for the Veth’s curiosity to die down, then sent the cocoon away. “Alright. That’s enough for one day. We got work to do. But as a special treat, in an hour, I’ll be sending you all something nice to snack on. Got it?”

The Veth all bowed, then wandered off back to their posts. Satisfied with their meeting, the Lady of the Cycle decided to do some more testing on her newest addition to the Vethic Hordes.