As Retvik made his way down to the cockpit, he was feeling very unsure about things. In his hand was Galyn’s personal communicator, which he had been scanning through for the last ten minutes. The plan was supposed to have been simple, to call Galyn’s old companions, his other Thirds, and get them to help calm Galyn down while Litvir and an entire team of telepaths removed vast amounts of Voidborn mind control from Galyn’s brain. Unfortunately, as Retvik had read through Galyn’s messages, he’d realized there was something horribly wrong. Still, he was heading to the cockpit anyway, to set up a video call. The extreme distances between the Thantir Two and the Deathven Sector that Galyn’s friends were located at meant that Retvik needed to boost the signal before attempting any communication.
Sitting in the cockpit already was Relkir, Retvik’s half-brother, and a former Divine Guardian, someone that Galyn had essentially adopted and would have been training to become a Decay Lord, had Galyn not gone completely insane. However, Relkir looked different.
“You got your wings back!” Retvik smiled uneasily as he sat down in the co-pilot’s seat next to Relkir. Everything on the Thantir Two was only just the right size for Retvik, but slightly too big for Relkir. There was a good half a meter size difference between them.
Relkir smiled back briefly, then sighed. “I did. Litvir’s mental training room worked way better than it should have. However, having been stuck in my own mind for too long, I feel conflicted.”
“How comes?” Retvik asked as he pulled out a cable and plugged it into Galyn’s communicator. He and Relkir had always been on friendly terms, but as mortals, they rarely spoke. Retvik was always busy being an adventurer, while Relkir had been the High General of the Retha, literally the leader of their species. Up until he was kidnapped by a deity and experimented on.
“I was told about what happened, how all of us former servants of Kinisis passed out and started muttering incomprehensible words. Kinisis gave me the name Relkir but it does not belong to me. I want to go back to being called Elkay. Despite the fact that we already have the similar-sounding Elksia and Eksi on board… Also, while I have regained control of my powers, I cannot for the life of me get my eyes to go back to being red.”
Retvik shrugged. “If that is what you want, brother, then that is fine. It is your name, after all. You do not look horrible with blue eyes though.”
“They are not my natural eyes… I am not natural…” Elkay tapped on the console in front of him in vague irritation, then changed the subject. “Any progress with our superior?”
The young Decay Lord let out a low growl. “Ugh… I am supposed to arrange some sort of communication with Galyn’s friends, but… Galyn has not spoken to Vikalos since about a month before Kinisis was killed…” Retvik frowned some more as he set up the communicator, ready to record video. He leaned the device on a specially made crevice, then hit the call button.
It took a while for anyone to pick up, but when the connection was finally made, both Retvik and Elkay nearly fell back in shock.
“WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN, GALYN?” Vikalos’s flaming eyes could be seen on the tiny screen. “YOU HAVE NOT CONTACTED US IN 16 EVS! I… You are not Galyn.”
Retvik straightened himself out. “I apologise, Lord Vikalos. We were unaware that Galyn had not been in communication with you.”
“Why are you messaging me, you little cunt? You three have done nothing but give me grief. You tore Galyn away from us, your little hybrid bitch nearly got me fired from my duties after she just disappeared and presumed dead, and now you are probably here to tell me that Galyn is dead too!”
“This may be a very large understatement…” Elkay whispered. “But I think Lord Vikalos might be a bit angry and is blaming you for their problems…”
“It is not even my fault that the stupid little thing disappeared, she had moved to a new low-powered area after a rocky breakup and was supposed to be having regular check-ins with a co-worker and that asshole did not make the proper arrangements! And now I have been trying to console her poor, mourning friends, ON TOP with trying to keep Itaviir sane after his massive argument with Galyn! Is he dead, little Retvik? And if he IS dead, how are you still alive?”
“Galyn is not dead, ser. And, uh, are you referring to Arkay?” Retvik was doing his best to remain level-headed.
“Of course I fucking am, you imbecile! When Galyn sent her to me, she was put under my care, as I now work in a centre for rehabilitating damaged hybrids!”
“Well, uh, I have some good news…” Retvik hesitated slightly. “Arkay is alive.”
“Wait…” Vikalos paused, his anger having settled briefly. “Arkay is not dead? She just… disappeared. Said she was taking a day off work, then never came back. We did a wellness check on her apartment and the place looked like it had been swiftly abandoned. I tried getting in touch with Galyn, wondering if she had gone back to you lot, but Galyn…” Vikalos grunted. “What happened to Arkay?”
“He was, uh, kidnapped by his fellow deity Epani, who convinced him to kill Kinisis. They, uh, then forced him to be an intra-universal deity again…” Retvik sighed, hoping this information would calm Vikalos down even more. “He has little memory of his time as a member of the Thantir and almost no memory of his time spent in Deathven, but we communicate semi-regularly via text, and he seems somewhat comfortable with his duties as a god of death and decay.”
Retvik was right. The closure had helped settle Vikalos down. “Kinisis is… the Life Goddess Galyn wished to settle down with, yes? The one with the Life Oasis that had offered Galyn a place to rebuild?”
“Yes, ser.”
“And the being to your left is one of her Divine Guardians?”
“Former Divine Guardian!” Elkay quickly added. “The six of us that remain, we serve the Thantir now and are training to become Decay Lords ourselves.”
Vikalos snorted. “Of course Galyn would do that. Yet he would not even talk to Itaviir and I for so damn long. You must understand our pain, Retvik, being separated from one of your Thirds.”
“I do…” Retvik nodded. “Litvir and I have not been right ever since Galyn sent Arkay away. I humbly apologise that Galyn cut you from his circles and… essentially ditched you. If we had known, Litvir and I would have insisted that he contact you as soon as possible.”
“Hmph. You little ones are not to blame for Galyn’s mistakes. But I take it you need me, as you have called me specifically.”
“Unfortunately, yes…” The uncertainty returned to Retvik’s voice. “Um, we had a… bit of a run-in with a Voidborn named Ahkron. They attacked both Kal and us-”
“You are still in contact with Kal?”
“Galyn invited them to be official members of the Thantir. They accepted.”
“Hmph…” Vikalos tutted. “Go on.”
“Well… Ahkron attacked us and stabbed Galyn through the chest. Kal removed a, uh, Kenic Spore from him, but the Voidborn left some powerful mental telepathy thing in Galyn’s brain, and now he is constantly trying to kill everyone on board and seems to be missing ten, uh, yearstring thingies worth of memories. At the same time, he has been calling for you, and if we can arrange some sort of meeting, we want to use you as a distraction while Litvir and Eksi remove the Voidborn stuff from his head.”
The elder Decay Lord didn’t respond at first. They tutted several times, before sighing. “It could take us evs and evs to get back out there, assuming Itaviir is even willing. But we can set up a holo-call, as a video call may seem a little too impersonal. Do you know how to do that?”
“Uh, no, sorry, ser.”
“Hmph. It is fine. I will send you the required information. As I am on a… somewhat forced vacation currently, you may call me whenever you need to. You and Litvir are just trying your best, and you should be proud that you are still alive with that asshole leading you. Now, please excuse me, I need to speak to Itaviir…”
Retvik bowed his head, as did Elkay. “Thank you, ser. I apologise…”
“It is not your damn fault. Now go away, before I get angry again.”
“Very well, ser, have a good one.”
Retvik closed the call, then sank in his seat.
“That could have gone better…” Elkay muttered.
“I had no idea…” Retvik eventually muttered back. “But this has prompted an errant thought… Perhaps Kinisis was mentally manipulating more than just you Guardians. Maybe she was manipulating Galyn too…”