Galyn watched on as the other Decay Lords worked, dutifully maintaining the consoles that led to an absolutely massive laser. The laser would periodically fire, beams of light blasting off into the dark void. The laser beams would fly forth, only to explode into life as they collided with a colossal disc of luminescence and nothingness. As each beam disintegrated into shimmering bursts of antimatter, the Decay Lords noted down readings and readjusted the laser. With each adjustment, the disc of luminescence, a dangerous black hole, dimmed ever so slightly, only noticeable by the most keen of eyes.
It could easily take hundred and hundreds of hours to finally destroy the black hole, but that was just one part of the many, many duties the Decat Lords dealt with in the Periuniversal Void.
However Galyn, a Decay Lord himself, wasn’t partaking in this activity. He was a part of a smaller group of Decay Lords called the Thantir. They simply didn’t have the resources to deal with black holes.
“Hello, Galyn, do you have a moment?”
Galyn grunted, turning to see who was speaking to him. Itaviir was considered the leader of the Thantir, but he, Galyn and Vikalos all had equal say in what the Thantir actually did. That being said, they all answered to the higher beings of Deathven, like all Decay Lords did.
“I do. Please tell me your discussions with Kengana went well?”
The light in Itaviir’s eyes immediately dimmed. He gestured that Galyn follow him, so that was what Galyn did.
It didn’t take long for them both to find an empty room. After a few moments, their fellow Decay Lord Vikalos also arrived, in the same glum, irritable mood Galyn and Itaviir were ini.
“I assume it went badly, then…” Galyn was the first to speak.
“It… could have gone better…” Itaviir admitted. “The bad news is, they are cutting us up. They want the majority of the Thantir to return to Deathven to be reassigned to other sects. I think we can all agree that we were all overwhelmed by the majority of… strange goings on we have had around here. Deathven will send in a main-hub group to manage the outer regions and the larger sector overall, while we will continue doing minor work here, transferring anything major to Deathven itself.”
Galyn frowned, but Vikalos shrugged, somewhat accepting of Itaviir’s words.
“We knew this would happen, sooner rather than later. We were not cut out for the large-scale duties.”
“That is not the point…” Galyn interrupted. “Deathven will split us up and send us elsewhere. And now they are going to take everyone else and put them in new jobs and assign them goodness knows where in the Space Between Universes. We may not see anyone else again.”
Vikalos tutted in disagreement. “We all return to Deathven eventually. And it is not like we were happy, dealing with unusable Decaylings and the vast amount of carenizing Life Goddesses around here.” With a grunt, Vikalos turned back to Itaviir. “Have they decided on what will happen?”
Itaviir nodded reluctantly. “Yes. They have. Deathven wants the Thantir to remain here as an exploratory sect. They may have been unimpressed with our Decayling troubles, but they were very happy with the exploration and information-mining we have done. Whoever stays will continue doing that.”
“And who is staying?” Galyn grunted.
“The three of us, plus two more Decay Lords, plus three Decaylings.”
“Hmph…” Even Vikalos, who had been vaguely optimistic up until now, seemed taken aback. “That… They are not cutting us in half, they are cutting us away almost completely.”
Itaviir took a deep breath, throwing himself in the nearest chair. “It was… the best I could get for us. A guaranteed and fulfilling duty, one we are genuinely good at. But wrought with the choice of who we bring with us.”
Galyn and Vikalos both glanced at each other though, both of them thinking the same thing.
“We are definitely taking Seimeni. Saahro too, if he wishes.”
“And we are claiming Decayling Retvik,” Galyn added. “He has proven his worth and value. Most of the other Decaylings would be better off being taught at Deathven anyway.”
“Including Arkay?” Vikalos asked.
“Hm… Maybe not him…” Itaviir muttered. “Arkay may be… troublesome, but I think he may do better alongside both us and his little friend. If we also take the little vampire, who has adapted nearly as well as Retvik has, then we give ourselves minimal actual Decayling work. But our fellow Decay Lords will need to be told, and they will not be happy.”
Vikalos simply shrugged. “I am sure some of them will be quite pleased, actually.”
“So this is the plan?” Galyn asked, a wave of uncertainty washing across him. “We take this path and do not look back?”
Itaviir nodded. Vikalos hesitated, then nodded as well.
“There are worse paths we could take. This is beneficial to us all.”
“Very well then…” Galyn sighed. “Do you want me to gather everyone up and tell them of the news?”
“No. Not yet… Let the Deathven Decay Lords finish their business with the black hole, then we will talk…”