“I knew we should have cryofroze them for longer…” the Anexartan repeatedly muttered as he lead the four beings down hallway after hallway. They walked past various doors and pathways, none of them labelled. The only thing that ever changed was the colour of the walls, which randomly changed between shades of grey and red.
“What does he mean by that?” Verlais asked out loud. “Were we going to be frozen or something? I haven’t been frozen before.”
“It is not fun, believe me!” Ct’Era growled. “I had a horrible run in with some Ice-Elemental Banikans and ended up with hypothermia in my arms.”
The Anexartan abruptly stopped to face an unmarked wall. He waved his left hand and a large doorway opened up, revealing a large, dull, grey hangar, sparsely populated by Anexartans and strange, cube-shaped lumps of metal and glass. At the far end of the hangar was a blank, silver wall which occasionally opened up for the cube-shaped lumps to fly out of. Past that, there was nothing but blackness.
“Zzzzt, KZZZZT!”
A screech from the Anexartan forced the other Deitics to quickly flea the room. As soon as it was empty, the Anexartan stepped in, asking the four beings to follow. It marched across the hangar, to the furthest lump-like ship, then stopped.
“I assume you have questions, Dessaron?” the Anexartan finally spoke. “I have my own, but I am clearly at your mercy.”
Kindyna loosened her grip on the Anexartan’s throat, then glanced at her friends in confusion. “Did that thing just call us Dessaron?”
“I did. Every five thousand years or so, a new set of Dessaron pops up and ruins my day. I did not think a new set would appear so soon. Knew those Agnels were up to no damn good.”
Everyone just blinked in confusion.
“Mister Anexartan…” Arksi finally asked. “Could you, I don’t know, just keep on explaining things until you say something that makes sense? I feel we are in need of some… exposition or something right now.”
The Anexartan nodded. “I understand. You may call me Fthevartixas. This is the Cryogineasis Base, where we freeze potentially dangerous beings in a timeless stasis so they can both be contained and used in the future. You four were brought to my boss’s attention by an Agnel who said that four beings had caused huge amounts of damage to a Deitic experimental settlement. The Agnel failed to specify that the aforementioned four beings, i.e. you, were Theoktonon Dessaris.”
“Theoktonon Dessaris? What does that mean?” Ct’Era interrupted. “He doesn’t mean that we’re like those three Rethavok and that half-Deitic who were found trapped inside that Deitic tomb?”
“By the Light, I bloody hope not!” Arksi cursed under his breath.
Kindyna shushed them both and nodded for Fthevartixas to continue.
“You are correct, Banikan. There have always been beings that are somewhat immune to the effects of Deitic power, but few are capable of outright killing Deitics, as you four clearly proved back in that hallway. Not that I blame you. I ordered my units to stand down. My superiors suggested otherwise. A mortal would call you a True Theokton, and the One Hundred And Thirteenth Dessaron are a very good example of that. I wonder if you four could possibly be the One Hundred and Fourteenth.”
“Fucking seriously?” Arksi cursed again. “This is all ridiculous! We were just on a stupid ship flying to a space port trying to live our own lives! And now we’re here! This is all insane. Vok, this is insane, isn’t it?”
Kindyna and Ct’Era both nodded. Verlais just looked angry and was still trying to get over his blood lust from earlier. But Fthevartixas seemed very interested in Arksi’s anger.
“You deny yourself.”
“No, I don’t deny myself!” Arksi growled. “I’ve always liked to believe that Deitics like you and normal beings like me can work together. But worse, I’ve seen what being a Dessaron does to you. Seen it up close. It’s horrible. Leaves you as a tortured, broken husk! I don’t care if I CAN kill Deitics, I don’t WANT to kill Deitics!”
Fthevartixas didn’t seem to show any emotion towards Arksi’s outburst. “A Dessaron’s duty is balance, not death, but you clearly believe otherwise.”
“Wait, Arksi?” Verlais snapped out of his blood lust and back into reality. “That half-brother of yours that we met, is that who you were talking about when you said that being a Dessaron leaves you hollow?”
Arksi didn’t answer and instead stomped over to the cube-shaped ship, looking for some sort of door or other way to get in. After not finding anything, he cursed loudly, gave up and slumped against the side of the weird transport.
“That is a yes,” Fthevartixas almost smiled. “That Rethavok’s sibling is the same sibling that assisted in ruining the Anexartitai’s central base of power. But do not take my word as an absolute. I may very well be wrong, after all, Theoktonon Dessaris may be rare among mortals, but there are more than enough of them to snuff out Deitics ten times over.”
“You know what?” Ct’Era sighed. “I am rather exhausted and rather hungry. If I was not aware that you Anexartans are mostly made of silver dust, I’d probably have nibbled on you by now. Does anyone else have any questions so this thing can send us home?”
“I want a guarantee that these Deitics never fuck with us, never ever.”
“I want what Kindyna wants. And I want to keep this mace.” Verlais added.
Fthevartixas waved his hand and a door opened in the opposite side of the ship where Arksi was leaving, causing him to fall in.
“Apologies, mortals. I cannot guarantee that you will never be messed with, but I can send some messages out and hope that other Deitics agree. The ship has been prepared and should take you where you need to go.”
“No more fucking around?” Kindyna hesitated. “This will definitely take us back?”
Fthevartixas nodded, realising that the mortals could not pick up on his emotional expressions. A second door opened up behind Kindyna, Verlais and Ct’Era, while the door at the back sealed itself, satisfied that Arksi was inside.
“It will take you where you need to go.”
“Is there food inside?” Verlais asked, as Kindyna grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him inside the ship.
“No. Anexartitai do not eat.”
Verlais rolled his eyes. “We’ll just have to get something to eat when we land.”
Ct’Era crammed her large horns and tail inside the ship and found somewhere to sit down and strap herself in. Kindyna and Verlais sat down in the more standard seats at the front and found their own seatbelts to put on. Arksi though picked himself up and stomped over to the new entrance of the ship.
“Are you absolutely damn certain that this ship will take us all back and everything will be back to normal?”
“I cannot guarantee that everything will go back to normal, that is an impossible promise. But I assure you, that ship will take you all exactly where you need to go,” the Deitic reassured him.
Sighing, Arksi turned back and sat in the last remaining seat, strapping himself in too. With everyone seated, Fthevartixas waved his hands, closing the entrance. The lump of metal started to rise into the air and approach the hanger, before zooming off into the unknown.
With the Theoktons out of the way, the Deitic commander grunted and rushed off. He had a lot of explaining and paperwork to do.