“Hello, Theocydes, what a pleasant surprise!” Litvir smiled as he approached the strange, silver Voidborn.
“Hello, Litvir, are you all busy?”
“No, no, just shutting down main operations for the day. It has actually been quieter than normal. In our line of work, that is almost always a good thing!”
Theocydes grunted. “Oh, so you’ve also seen the strange movement of Corruption out of this sector?”
“Mhm! Our allies in the Kentarasa Pentacluster have mentioned something similar too. Come along now, come and sit down with us and have… uh… Do Voidborns consume anything?”
“Only on ceremony…”
Litvir glanced at Theocydes and noticed he was carrying something. Being a Voidborn, Theocydes rarely carried anything and tended to just summon whatever he needed out of thin air.
“Is something wrong?” Litvir asked.
“Somewhat, yes. Do you know of a blue-purple Time Drake?”
Litvir stopped in his tracks and thought to himself. “No?”
“Well, I somewhat… intercepted one today. Actually, she crashed into my ship, looking to deliver something to the Thantir. But she seemed completely unfamiliar with the area and was going far, far too far south west. But she also rambled on about not having time to do something. Really, she seemed completely dazed and confused, but refused to let me assist her outside of delivering these items to you.”
Theocydes thrust eight small gems into Litvir’s hands. Immediately, Litvir picked up that there was something alive inside all of them, but he couldn’t tell what.
“Question, Theocydes, was this Time Drake very serpentine? As Tenuk would say, a big titty snake person?”
“No, no. Standard Time Drake, aside from her colouring and her breasts. Most Time Drakes, male or female, wear armour.”
Theocydes’s answer didn’t do anything to settle Litvir down. In fact, Litvir’s nervousness had attracted the other leader of the Thantir.
“Hello, Theocydes…” Retvik grunted. “Is something wrong?”
“Somewhat. The Time Drake said to douse them in water to open them. And this bag contains some of their belongings.”
Retvik glanced at Litvir, who frowned and made his way down to the lake, pausing only to grab a cup from the canteen. Theocydes and Retvik followed, and Eksi, Galyn, Vikalos and several members of Kal, all noticing that something was going on, followed them.
Feeling incredibly uncertain, Litvir placed each gem on the beach, then used his telekinesis to make the water from the lake wash over all the crystals. As the water hit them, the crystals immediately expanded, all of them reaching about 4m in length. After a few moments, the crystals began to shake, then abruptly shattered, revealing eight differently sized beings, some of whom looked worryingly familiar. And one of whom Litvir knew directly.
“… Kuta?” Litvir immediately rushed over to his twin brother’s side. However, the short, white-plated Rethan remained unmoving. Thankfully, they were breathing, they were definitely alive, but they seemed somewhat frozen in time almost and their whole body was very cold to the touch. Not really sure what to do, Litvir held Kuta tightly, trying to warm up their body with his own. It didn’t seem to do much, since Litvir was pretty cold himself.
Help arrived somewhat quickly. Elksia snarled at first, almost growling at a large, pink Thraki on the end. But Elksia swiftly calmed down as she examined everyone, then started pulling various invisible strings. It took a moment to work out, but, eventually, Kuta’s eyes slowly opened up. However, they were not the first to speak. The pink Thraki was.
“Oh dear…” the Thraki’s voice cooed softly as their body changed shape, into that of a more familiar Time Drake, before turning back into a normal, albeit still pink Thraki. “It seems I am finally free of that darn universe…”
“Who the actual fuck are you?” Elksia screeched, feeling incredibly threatened and not understanding why.
The Thraki blinked, then looked around, not really recognizing anyone. His voice was utterly beautiful. “Huh. I guess my darling Yisini spoke the truth. She did promise to free me from the child Whenvern’s grasp. I… assume… something happened for us eight Untouched to end up here?”
“Answer my fucking question, Time Drake!” Elksia hissed. “You’re in MY fucking territory!”
“I apologise, my dear…” The Thraki looked Elksia up and down. “Firstly, I apologise for intruding in your domain, and as this is your territory, I do bow to your presence, doubly so as you are a beautiful Time Drake. Secondly, my name is Thassalin. I am the Sinic Thraki, an old Time Drake that was trapped in the universe of my darling Allbirther and her siblings.”
The other beings all slowly began to wake up, just as the rest of the Thantir approached. Everyone was pretty speechless and no one had any idea what was going on. But the confusion was replaced with anxiety as people began to put things together, and things were made worse when one of the individuals, a green-furred being, suddenly sat up straight and started screaming as plates of metal began to cover her body.
Theocydes suddenly realised that, although he had no idea who any of these beings were, he could help the screaming creature. He approached them, then placed his hand on their head. The metal plates continued to form, but the creature stopped struggling and let their body change.
“Hello, Newling.”
“What… what is happening to me?”
“You are a Newling Voidborn, you are connecting to the Eternal Darkness for the first time, creating a proper, Void-resistant form for yourself. This is normal.”
“It hurts.”
“I know. It is a one-off change. Once you are fully connected, you will be able to change your form at will.”
“Dude!” Eksi suddenly butted in. He pranced around each person, telepathically checking them for injuries, but also peering into their recent memories. “These are all the immortal folks Arkay said he was friends with Thassalin is an old Time Drake Arkay once saved, Talok is a Kiniseon being that Kinisis abandoned, Phovos here is a Voidborn Epani accidentally made and Kuta is… Kuta, you’re looking pretty fucking good, if my randomly knowing bullshit powers are correct! And those four…”
Eksi stopped, then glanced at Elkay, who was nearly as on edge as Retvik and Litvir are.
“Huh. Turns out, if a Synaisthyn deifies someone, they become a half-Synaisthyn… Also, turns out Kronospasts are cute little fluffy fox guys for some reason, my brother got replaced with a yellow-plated prick and the new universe version of Elksia totally got replaced by a sexy Temthan. And, like, I know I’m a Skyan, but new Retvik is fucking hot. Uh, no offence, boss.”
Retvik grunted, then dug out his communicator, quickly opening up a familiar app and re-reading a recent message. He quickly fell silent though, and his thoughts were interrupted by Vikalos.
“Well, we ought to get all these folks into proper beds, fed and checked over. They’re all freezing cold and exhausted. Maybe, when they’ve all thawed, they can give us more information.”
“Sure, but… why would Arkay not tell us he was sending this lot here?” Retvik asked.
“Maybe he didn’t want to frighten you or something. And if he was sending a group of beings to us via an unknown Time Drake, he might not have wanted anyone else knowing what he was doing either, so perhaps he sent them in secret, so the two Life Goddesses did not know?” Vikalos paused, then turned to Theocydes. “Voidborn, you know where Arkay’s universe is, yes?”
“I do.”
“Can you go there?”
Theocydes hesitated. “I… I can. But only Arkay and the hybrid serpent Life Goddess are approachable, and, now that I think about it… maybe that Time Drake was the hybrid Life Goddess, disguising herself for safety… I suppose I can do a long-distance wellness check, like I’ve done in the past. Even when Arkay had his memories wiped, he was tame enough to listen to me.”
“You can get there faster than any of us. We don’t need you to talk to Arkay, or talk to anyone. We just need visual confirmation that the universe is still there and in one piece, and work out the status of the four deities. Can you do that?”
Theocydes realized he couldn’t say no to Vikalos for some reason. He frowned, then relented. “Fine. It’ll take me a good twenty five hours minimum to get there, even with my ship, but I’ll go as fast as I can. But someone, preferably your Life Goddess, needs to stay with the Newling Voidborn here, to help ease… her pain and keep an eye on her as she becomes part of the Eternal Darkness.”
“Be quick, please…” Retvik stuttered.
“Of course. I’ll call you as soon as I have any information…”
The elder Voidborn got up and raced off back to his ship. In the mean time, everyone else got to work. Kal started setting up the hospital areas, putting out fresh bedding for the newcomers, while the taller members of the Thantir started lifting people up and moving them away. Thankfully, Thassalin didn’t need carrying, but Itaviir couldn’t work out why he was struggling to lift up a Rethan who wasn’t much taller than Elkay. Litvir thankfully didn’t have a problem moving Kuta to safety, and was constantly muttering under his breath, telling Kuta that they were safe.
However, Retvik found himself somewhat frozen in place too, watching almost helplessly as everyone got to work. He only snapped out of it when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Are you alright, brother?” Elkay asked.
“Not really. I… I do not understand any of this. Why would Yisini abandon her universe? Why… why would Arkay lie to me?” Retvik rubbed his eyes briefly. “I… I have this horrible feeling that Arkay sent his friends here because he was in danger… or that… maybe Arkay is… truly gone…”
Elkay sighed, not having an answer, then gave Retvik a little hug. “Well… we cannot jump to conclusions just yet.”
“I know. But right now, that feeling is very strong. I just… hope that Arkay is not suffering any more…”