“Why is everything not moving?” Kayel asked as he staggered to his feet.
“Don’t talk. Listen.”
Thassalin was already upright, but he had turned back into his old pink Thraki form and was standing, wings apart, between the Decaylings and the colossal shadowy being before them. The other Decaylings weren’t all quite upright yet, but as soon as they were, Thassalin growled at them all.
“What is going on-”
Thassalin hissed, not letting Kuta finish.
“Listen. This is important. I can see our branches again. But they don’t look good. We’ve completed our Decay Lord Trial, but the monster ahead of us going to try and fuck us about. And, unfortunately, I don’t have the power to stop him right now.”
“What do-”
“This will go in three directions. Kuta, Talok, you two and I will be sent home, in a snap of his fingers. The moment you two are back, you need to speak to Retvik. Itaviir and the Pentathax leader. They are waiting for us. You have to tell them everything this bastard says, and immediately tell them that the monster is going to lock the rest of our team away. You two will be sent home first, and I will be with you shortly after.
“Phovos, you are in the most danger. After Kuta, Talok and I are sent home, this monster will lie and say they are sending you home as well, but that is a lie. Whatever you do, do NOT try to fight back. Let them teleport you away, and keep yourself looking as natural and organic as possible. Make yourself cute, almost. Because if other beings see you as an obvious Voidborn, it will make it hard for Retvik and Itaviir to argue for you and get you set free.
“Nyssi, you and your team, my branches are much fuzzier and more varied. I can’t give you complete directions. But the first thing you need to do, after Phovos is teleported away, is to hold your breath. I believe they are going to do to you what they did to Elkay, but keep you together as you are not full Synaisthyns. Tenuk, you need to use your air powers to keep your lungs free of sleeping gas, and then you need to wake up the others and run left. Keep yourselves hidden and disguised and keep on running. I can’t see much further, but there may be a hangar that you can head to and hide in.”
“That is-”
“Shush. Do as I say and you’ll all be fine. But I can’t hold this slowed time any more, the monster is resistant to it. Say nothing. Just listen. And do not let anyone else know what I have said to you.”
Thassalin took a deep breath, then let time return to normal and lowered himself down. The gigantic, dark creature seemed both amused and vaguely annoyed.
“Hello, little ones.”
“Uh, hi?” Kayel waved. “You’re the big, scary Deathven guy, right?”
“I am, yes, but you may refer to me as Overlord. As you have completed your trial, we shall now discuss your futures. As is tradition, we shall use our codenames, and shall converse over a nice meal.”
A table, a throne and eight chairs suddenly erupted in front of the Decaylings. and all sorts of tasty dishes appeared on the table. Overlord sat down, then heavily hinted that the Decaylings should sit down too. Once they did, Overlord summoned a chalice in one hand and flicked his fingers around, rearranging the seating arrangements.
As Thassalin had predicted, the Overlord put everyone in a specific order. Kuta, Talok and Thassalin on one end, then Phovos, then Kayel, Nyssi, Retvik and Tenuk at the other end.
“Little ones, today, I must congratulate you on your trial. Please, have something to eat and drink.”
Kuta telepathically suggested that none of them eat anything, just in case. This did make the Overlord slightly annoyed, but he did somewhat understand why. These Decaylings were anxious and stressed.
“First off, I want to tell you all that you have impressed me greatly. You completely and utterly circumnavigated the intentional route of your trial with some very clever thinking. I am genuinely impressed. This trial was supposed to take you an ev to complete, and you had it all sorted in 40 hours.”
Phovos was about to raise her hand and make a comment, but Nyssi and Kuta both suggested she not mention what she wanted to say. Instead, Phovos decided to ask a different question.
“Are we Decay Lords now?”
The Overlord nodded. “You all will be in a moment. Let me just take off your trial trackers.”
With a snap of his fingers, the metallic bands the Decaylings were all wearing all snapped off and evaporated. Everyone felt they could breath a little easier. Somewhat satisfied, Overlord turned to the two normal Decaylings on the end.
“Mindsplayer, Spiritdrainer, congratulations, you are both formally Decay Lords now. Thantir Psions are a force to be reckoned with, and I expect you both to continue that legacy.
The Overlord snapped his fingers again, and both Kuta and Talok disappeared in puffs of smoke.
“Aeonsong, congratulations are to be given to you as well. Despite being heavily blocked by our Temporal Dampeners, you managed to work around the situation and still made yourself useful. Because of your actions, you have been reinstated as a Rank 3 Time Drake among the Time Drake Consortium. I also officially grant you the rank of Decay Lord. We are grateful for you and your decision to join us.”
Another finger snap. Thassalin disappeared in a new puff of smoke.
Up next was Phovos. Overlord inspected her somewhat before speaking. Phovos immediately felt unnerved, because she was aware what Overlord was going to say.
“It is insanely rare for a Voidborn to wish to become a Decay Lord. Most of them join the Deathven-aligned Voidborn cult, the Vastvoids, rather than deciding to be a Decay Lord proper. I am surprised you chose not to join them.”
“I don’t want to be considered as just a Voidborn. I have fur, a tail and sticky-out ears. Every other Voidborn I have met, they are cold and metallic. I feel I can do more and help others better if I remain with a bunch of Decay Lords who all also do good work.”
The Overlord shrugged. “A reasonable request. Voidraptor, I hereby declare you a Decay Lord. However, before I send you home, I do have to send you to the local cleansing facility, to make sure that you are properly decontaminated. Congratulations, Voidraptor.”
The Overlord smiled, then snapped his fingers. Phovos shuddered, then vanished, this time in a cloud of blackness. The four remaining Decaylings all felt a little nervous, taking glances of each other. Mostly because the Overlord’s mood changed instantly. With a slight growl, Overlord got up and leaned on the table in front of them.
“I told the Thantir to not send me any more of you damn Amalgam Mimics.”
“Firstly, that’s rather rude, secondly, we’re not Amalgam Mmics or Synaisthyns or whatever!” Nyssi immediately argued. We’re just four random guys and gals who have a bunch of weird powers!”
“You literally mimic powers from others.”
“We don’t, though! We only mimic each others’ powers! And we can’t do time stuff or Life Goddess stuff or Voidborn stuff!”
“Nonetheless, you four are extremely powerful, and we need to study you to make sure that you are safe. Especially you, Shadowstalker.”
Kayel snarled. “That’s fucking racist.”
“You look very similar to-”
“Arkay is NOT Skyavok like I am! And clearly we’re NOT like Arkay or Elkay because we’re four different and distinct species!”
The Overlord tutted. “I do not care. Your kind are dangerous, and you need to be studied and locked away. Once we have concluded that you are no longer dangerous, you will be sent off elsewhere. Fluffyblade, Lightbearer, Spirithuntress and Shadowstalker, I pronounce all four of you Decay Lords, but I cannot allow you four to run around free and unstudied. Farewell.”
Before anyone could argue further, Overlord snapped his fingers, teleporting the four of them away.
“Damn mimics…” Deathven growled, before teleporting himself away. “They never listen…”