“Alright, you two are staying here to have fun, I’m borrowing Arkay and fucking off to go and see my other oldest friend!”
“Wait, I didn’t agree to-”
“Don’t care, you’re coming with me!”
Mimicblade Tenuk giggled with joy as he grabbed Arkay, lifted him up off the ground and dragged him back to his ship, leaving behind the two Ekthris Decay Lords he was supposed to be having fun with. Both of them looked utterly bewildered at first, but the first one, an albino Thrastarii, just shrugged and smiled.
“Hey guys! You all Thantir? You guys seem neat!”
The members of the Thantir that had turned up were equally bewildered. Eventually, the group of beings that weren’t all of the same race blinked and spoke.
“Oh, hey!” Kayel waved. “Are you the “cute but lonely dragon guy who just wants to go on a date with someone” that Arkay was talking about?”
“Who is Arkay? Also, I totally am.”
“The yellow-plated idiot your boss just kidnapped!” Nyssi seemed to settle down, since she had realised that this Thrastarii WAS in fact cute, and didn’t immediately seem like a dick either. She stepped forward and held out her hand. “My name’s Nyssi! Who are you?”
The white Thrastarii hesitated. He was clearly politely giving Nyssi look. “Wow… you didn’t immediately judge me for not having dark scales.”
“I… I’m literally bright green and standing next to a bright blue four-eyed fluffy fox guy and a yellow-plated prick.”
“True…” The Thrastarri settled down and took Nyssi’s hand. “My name’s Aspfteros, codename Whitewing, nice to meet you, Nyssi!”
“Nice to meet you too, Aspfteros! Wanna go get coffee?”
“Sure!”
Nyssi turned to Kayel and Tanos. “Alright, you two, I’m off to the canteen with this cute guy. I’ll text you in a few hours and let you know how things are going.”
“Alright, have fun!” Tanos and Kayel both waved, as Nyssi dragged Aspfteros off. As soon as they were gone though, Tanos turned to Kayel. “Why did Nyssi tell us that?”
“That’s just typical female Temthan dating behaviour…” Kayel’s smile flickered slightly. “You always tell your girlfriends before you go on a date with a stranger and let them know what’s going on, for your own safety. Nyssi’s fine, she’s the third strongest woman here after the Time Drake and the Life Goddess, but that dating safety behaviour is kinda ingrained into her now. Anyway, the guys are all still staring at the other guy that super old Tenuk left. Ret, got any idea why?”
Ret shrugged. He had been watching Aspfteros, silently making sure Nyssi was safe. He’d only just noticed the silver and orange-plated being.
“Huh. They look like a Rethan. I do not know why Retvik, Litvir and Elkay are frozen though. The other Rethan is also frozen.”
At the mention of his name, Litvir somewhat unfroze.
“Apologies…” Litvir muttered. “Reconnecting to low level telepathic networks that we thought were long gone can be a little jarring.”
Retvik, Elkay and the other being were all still frozen.
“So they are a Rethan?” Ret asked. “I assume they are an old-universe Rethan though because I did not freeze.”
Something suddenly pulled themselves from a nearby shadow. Kuta stormed over, growling slightly.
“Why am I picking up on this? I am, not a-”
“You are an old-universe Rethan, little sibling…” Litvir sighed. “You know how to pick up on the Secret. Ret here does not, because he is a new-universe Rethan and I believe the Secret is not a real thing for them, or is at least such a low level network that new-universe Rethans cannot pick it up.”
Ret shrugged again. “That sounds about right. So I, uh, guess you are all a little shocked?”
“A little? A lot!” Kuta exclaimed. “Although… I guess that does mean that, technically, as a species, we are no longer extinct?”
“Please do not give Retvik any ideas!” Litvir hissed, before turning his attention to the strange Rethan. Now that the reconnecting-to-the-Secret head fog had faded, Litvir could inspect them properly. And both he and Kuta had realised the same thing. And seemingly Ret had too. What was worse was that Ret had gone over to greet the Rethan.”
“Hello, how are you?” Ret smiled. “You look like our Skyan friend Teekay if he was a Rethavok.”
The Rethan blinked, tried to speak, failed several times then finally managed to say something. “T-T-Teekay? That… that is… my… not my name but… my name… I do not remember my real name… my codename is Arcbearer though…”
“Oh, so you are a Rethan Teekay?” Ret asked. “My name is Retvik but everyone calls me Ret. It is nice to meet you, Teekay!”
Rethan Teekay was still shell-shocked, but confusion broke through a little. “You… you are called Retvik? I thought that was… a… you do not look like the Flame of the Dessaron.”
Ret grunted. “I am a Retvik from a different universe, or something like that. You are thinking of big old angry Retvik over there.”
“I am not old! I am middle-aged and younger than your bloody partner!” Retvik suddenly shouted, before also suddenly pausing. “Huh. I guess you pissing me off snapped me back to reality…” Retvik also turned his attention to Rethan Teekay. “Uh, hello. Welcome to Savepoint and the Thantir in general.”
“You are… THE Retvik?” Rethan Teekay stuttered.
“I am, yes.”
“Blimey… you are huge… and… General Elkay is taller than I expected as well… I know this place… makes us grow a bit and I was always a bit short… but you are massive and… very strong and muscular, Retvik, ser!”
Those compliments cheered Retvik up. He walked over, put an arm around Rethan Teekay, then led him off.
“Come along now. Let us get you a drink, and we can talk. These idiots can all come too.”
Litvir, Kuta and Ret all shrugged and followed Retvik and Rethan Teekay. Elkay though remained in place, still frozen. He didn’t move at all, not until Kayel and Tanos both poked him.
“Dude, you okay?” Tanos asked.
“No…” Elkay eventually sighed. “My husband is going to kill me…”