“So, you’re Souldrainer? The terrifying psionic mastermind that tore through the highest levels of security on Deathven Sector Alpha and broke one of the Overlord’s biggest secrets?”
Litvir put his drink down and turned his attention to the Decay Lord who had sat down opposite him. Telecharm, who was apparently called Teekay Dy-Theanon because they at one point married someone who also had the surname Theanon, was visiting from a proper Deathven Sector, and was a guest for Teekay and Elkay’s upcoming wedding. However, because he was capable of working remotely, he had arrived early, and had spent his time mostly asking questions. It turned out, life in Deathven Sectors was a lot different from life in a Deathven-aligned Decay Lord sect, and the thing that stuck out most was that this Teekay always used his codename rather than his actual name.
“I am, yes, but you can all me Litvir.”
Admittedly, Litvir was still a little bit wobbly. He’d recovered from the paralysis cause by his conflict with the Mindeater, a hideous psionic Decay Lord who had ‘apparently’ gone rogue, but occasionally Litvir would get weakness in his limbs. The moments of weakness were definitely fading, but right now, Litvir’s tongue felt a bit tingly and he couldn’t feel his left foot or the lower end of his tail, so he wasn’t doing too great.
“Is Litvir short for anything? You got a surname?”
Litvir leaned forward and eyed Telecharm. “Is this some sort of data gathering exercise?”
“What do you mean?”
“The last Deathven-based Decay Lords we made, rather than Deathven-aligned ones like ourselves, they reported our poor Elkay to the Overlord himself. This caused the situation that made Telin, Vikalos and myself go to Deathven Sector Alpha in the first place.”
Telecharm looked confused. “Who is Telin?”
“Voidblade. One of the Three Great Blades, the leaders of the Phantai.”
“Oh. And who were the Deathven-based Decay Lords you met?”
“A Hidden Named Trio called the Travellers.”
Telecharm’s eyes lit up. “Dude! You met the Travellers! That’s fucking awesome! AND you know TWO other Named Trios! And you’re IN a Hidden Named Trio yourself! That’s… fucking crazy, now I think about it.”
“How so?”
“Most Decayons live kinda normal lives after their universes end. Like, I just work as a video editor. I’m free from all the stupid Veth bullshit I went through briefly serving the Cycle. That’s what most folks want, because most folks were deities that lived stressful, unhappy lives inside their universes, and now they finally get to relax. You though, you’re technically a legend around Deathven’s upper circles.”
“Really now?” Litvir snorted. “I do not believe that in the slightest.”
“Not only did you, that colossal Ethran-type fiery version of General Retvik and the guy who spent years trying to get me to date him force the Overlord to revamp the Decayling system for external Decayons, but you also prompted a massive review of the security protocols in Deathven Sectors.”
Litvir paused, but not for the main reason Telecharm had stated.
“Hm. I guess Retvik is, ironically, Ethranic now, what with him being just 3m tall, while I am, also somewhat less ironically, no longer Ethranic.”
“Is that what you call Ethran-types?” Telecharm asked.
“We do not have sub-species the way you Retha did. The Rethavok, Skyavok and Athrevok were three separate species, what you call Trehan-, Hertan- and Tharen-types did not really ever exist. But we used the term Ethranic to describe giant Rethans over 3m tall, named after the Ethranios bloodline, which was bred to be gigantic.”
“And why is it ironic?”
“Retvik is part of the Rethianos bloodline. It is ironic that he has traits that match a different bloodline…” Litvir sighed.
“Speaking of Ethran thingies, can I ask a potentially awkward question?”
“Has not stopped you so far.”
Telecharm snorted. “I mean, yeah, fair. Like, Kaytee and I know basically the same things. There’s some variance here and there, like people painting their armour different colours, the main difference is Arkay’s actions, that he finally refused to do as the Cycle demanded him to. But what I find weird is that the universe after ours, your universe, has a lot of parallels. Of course it did, it contained both a deified Arkay and the same three assholes that fucked up our universe.
“I mean, you guys had the Dessaron. Which did something similar to what the Exaron of our universe did. Your Retvik is a lot like the General Retvikalios I remember, Elksia is… a Vrekan and a much, much nicer version of Elksonios and Tenuk is a way, way better shapeshifter than Tahnaiious, but is still a Kronospast who betrayed his kind to help others. And, like, there’s the Raptor, although your version of the Thanatian Raptor is, weirdly, the Cycle’s unwanted daughter, and there’s, obviously, the whole mess with us Teekays. But…”
Again, Litvir leaned forward. He had picked up what Telecharm wanted to ask about.
“Before you continue, can you communicate on telepathic channels?”
“Well, duh, yeah. The Retha overall were a level 2 telepathic race, and us Threan-types had level 4 or 5 telepathy..”
“May I come in?” Litvir asked.
“That… is a weird way of putting it. But, sure, I guess.”
Litvir grunted, then moved his drink to one side and rested his head on the table, looking away from Telecharm. The way he was acting, Telecharm realized that he didn’t want others seeing that they were talking to each other, telepathically or otherwise. Telecharm pulled out his tablet and pretended to play like that.
After a few seconds, Telecharm noticed he could hear Litvir’s voice, but he was receiving those those communications in a way he really didn’t expect and found ever so slightly unnerving. Like someone was subtly applying pressure to different parts of his brain.
“Your telepathy is weird…” Telecharm thought.
“It is. Completely self-designed. You are catching a glimpse of a telepathic system designed by a desperate ten year old. Anyway, I know what you want to do. You want to ask if other things were similar. Like Elksia being close with someone called Vel, Tenuk having siblings, one of whom went on to kill their father, and Retvik being married to Gath.”
“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to ask.”
“Your Retvik and Gath managed to have a kid together.”
“I didn’t give you permission to look into my memories.”
“Your telepathic systems are incredibly weak. You have these thoughts on your mind, they were about to fall out of your mouth, so I caught them.”
“Oh.”
“But what you want to ask… That is what my Retvik wanted more than anything else. He wanted to have a kid with Gath, to settle down and be a mother. That dream is deader than dead, and bringing Gath up with Retvik causes him general pain. Which is why I wanted to talk about this telepathically. I would also recommend not bringing up Vel, because Elksia, being somewhat old for a Vrekan, feels similarly, and it is made worse by the fact that there are no other Vrekans left.”
Telecharm shrugged. “Understandable. I’ll mind my words.”
“Thank you.”
That weird telepathic pressure faded from Telecharm’s mind. With a sigh, Litvir sat back up and returned to his drink.
“You’re still a legend though.”
“Pardon?”
Telecharm smiled. “You. You’re a legend.”
“Hmph!” Litvir snorted. “I am not a legend.”
“You definitely are. Someone who has caused genuine change to Decay Lord society. Someone that the Overlord probably fears now. The fact that Everlord was a non-standard Decayon of some sort is slowly leaking out has caused ripples; your surviving your Decay Lord Trial changed the Decayling process and has massively lowered deaths; the realization that Amalgam Mimics of the Three Main Types are actually real and Vryda wasn’t a one-off… and, somehow, despite Retvik losing the love of his life, you somehow kept him sane.”
“Well, it is that or Retvik turns me into a bloody, simmering smear.”
“Considering what General Retvikalios was like? Mate, when Retvik had his egg, there was something going on with some Cassids and they threatened Gath and their unborn kid, and… well, bloody smears doesn’t begin to cover it. I don’t know if your Retvik is as bad, but… still. Mate, you really are a legend, holding all of this together.”
“I… I will take your word for it…” Litvir frowned as he finished off his drink, then stood up. “Either way, my break is over, I need to get back to work.”
“Alright! Thank you for the information!” Telecharm beamed. “I think I might go and annoy the other Teekays again.”
“Hah. Have fun.”