Clawed feet clanged against the metallic ground of this ancient, abandoned asteroid base, located in the very depths of the Periuniversal Void. What had once been a magnificent settlement, founded on power and strength, was nothing more than crumbling concrete and metal ruins.
Now though, life was beginning to return to the ancient fortress known as DVG-935, but not for exactly promising reasons. It was the only large-scale facility that was close enough to the Apocalyptic Anomaly, that wasn’t close enough to get instantly vaporized. This anomaly was serious enough that it was now being monitored not just by the Thantir, the local sect of Decay Lords, but by the upper echelons of the Decay Lord ranks as well.
“It’s been absolutely nothin’ but darn trouble wit’ y’all ‘ere!” Lord Kengana almost laughed as he stepped off his ship, flanked by six silver-clad lower Decay Lords, all dressed in shimmering, chain-mail plating. Kengana himself though was a much more casual being, perhaps best described as an elegant yet scruffy owl-like being, standing upright, with a secondary pair of arms hanging off his chest and his wings daintily tucked into his side. A long, sky blue sash ran across his chest and torso.
“We have not intentionally been causing trouble…” Decay Lord Itaviir, the being that was supposed to be in charge of the local group, grumbled. “There has been an absolutely huge amount of activity from the other, uh, factions.”
Kengana smiled. He smiled even more as one of his assistants handed him a glass bottle containing some sort of alcoholic substance. Satisfied, he shooed away his assistants, then put a wing around Itaviir, walking towards the large fortress. “Well, boyo, how about ya start tellin’ ol’Kengana ’bout it then? While ya walk me inside.”
“You wish to know about all the recent situations, or this current one?” Itaviir hesitated.
“Oh, just this ‘ere one f’now. Ya’ll can tell me ’bout the others later. In ya report.”
Itaviir frowned, then pointed up into the darkness, towards a faint yet brightly-glowing disc of light. The Periuniversal Void was normally a dark place to begin with, filled with strange glowing lights, but the ominous, off-green glow to this disc was clearly unnatural.
“To put it mildly, a nearby universe was discovered to have bred intra-universal Voidborn-like beings. Most of these were destroyed when the intra-universal deities dismantled the universe, but it seems that one has survived.”
“And, tell me, boyo, what d’ya think made that there ol’being into such a mess?”
“It turns out these beings, when removed from their home universes, begin consuming matter at increasing rates, until they collapse into micro-black holes and evaporate on their own. This one somehow bypassed the standard deviation levels of black holes and began expanding far more rapidly than considered possible.”
Kengana continued to smile as he made a sharp turn, leading Itaviir not to the fortress, but to a ship that had landed nearby.
“And how d’ya think we gonna solve this lil ‘ere conundrum?”
“The standard procedure is to remove all nearby matter, starving the black hole, then using a Macrovarytiton Inducer to alter gravity around the back hole, causing it to collapse in on itself. The problem here is that the Thantir are not in possession of a Macrovarytiton Inducer, which is why we have had to ask for assistance.”
The feathered Decay Lord nodded, then patted Itaviir on the shoulder, before introducing him to the owners of this new ship, greeting them both. Confused, Itaviir rushed over to Kengana’s side, asking what was going on. He had just realised what this new ship’s cargo contained.
“Why did you ask me all of those questions, if you had already brought a Macrovarytiton Inducer with you?”
Kengana glanced at Itaviir. Once he had dismissed the two Decay Lords and their shipment, informing them of where to put their cargo, he turned back to Itaviir.
“I just wanted t’make sure that y’all knew what y’all supposed t’be doin’. High Decay Lords ain’t too pleased with y’all performance lately.”
“What do you mean?” Itaviir asked. “We have done all-”
“Y’all have. Y’all been workin’ hard in these ‘ere… challengin’ times. But the Big O’s considerin’… disbandin’ y’all. Puttin’ y’all under new management.”
Itaviir blinked, not really believing what he had just heard. “Excuse me? I… I have been leading the Thantir for…”
Kengana however raised a wing, a vague attempt to dismiss Itaviir’s concerns. “Ya don’t need t’worry quite yet, kiddo. Give us a hand sortin’ out this ‘ere device, help us fix the big ol’ problem at hand, and then we’ll talk…”