“Little ones, we need to talk.”
Matter folded and unfolded upon itself. The small, plastic cell melted into the world around it, before reforming into a vast, magnificent hall, decorated with floating, flickering candles and a single large table, surrounded by three chairs and an ornate throne.
“That was…” Retvik trailed off, not really sure how to finish his sentence. Luckily Arkay and Litvir were both present to give him some suggestions.
“Cool?”
“Terrifying?”
“Shiny?”
“Mind-blowing?”
“I was going to say ‘surprising’… But we have more important matters at hand.” Retvik nodded towards the presence of the only other being in the room.
This being towered over the three Decaylings, a good three or four times Retvik’s height. It glistened in the artificial light, decorated in gold plating. Weirdly though, it looked somewhat similar to the Decaylings, almost as if it was a colossal amalgam made from the Decayings’ own features.
“Deathbringer, Souldrainer, Flamebearer, please, take a seat.”
Of course, the Decaylings immediately did as they were asked. As they sat down, they found that their seats adjusted for them, making them sit at just the right height at the table. Several plates of food appeared without warning or consent, all somehow matching what each Decayling craved.
“You must be the High Overlord Deathven, or whatever you call yourself…” Litvir tutted, crossing his arms. He was too annoyed to be hungry. The last few hours had been far too bureaucratic for his liking, and Litvir was pretty sure they were about to face some more.
“You may call me Overlord, Souldrainer. We are here today to… discuss a few things. Traditionally, we shall do so using our Decay Lord designations, and talk over a fine meal. So please, tuck in.”
Arkay, Retvik and Litvir all glanced at each other, then, again, did as they’d been asked. Each of their dishes seemed to be rather bespoke, catering to each individual, yet not actually food any of them recognised. Retvik’s dish was a roasted meat of some sort, with a rich gravy, starchy mash and plenty of veg, but Retvik wasn’t sure what the meat or vegetables were. Litvir’s stew was quite tasty but was also very distinctly the colour of blood, again with an unknown meat floating in it. Arkay had no idea what was in front of him, but considering it was frozen, bright and creamy, he assumed it was ice cream. Salted caramel flavour, despite being rainbow-coloured.
“The first thing I would like to do, little ones, is congratulate you on completing your trial,” Overlord smiled, holding a chalice in his hand. “I will be blunt, we did not expect you to survive, but you pulled through, in record time!”
Immediately, Retvik dropped the cutlery he had been struggling with and crossed his arms, a vague attempt to remain cool and collected. “So you were genuinely trying to kill us. I regret having any doubt that you were.”
“I assumed they were trying to kill us from the start…” Litvir muttered. “If not them, then someone else was always trying to kill us.”
“Flamebearer, Souldrainer, I understand-”
“Overlord, you just admitted you tried to have us killed. Despite us being harmless little Decaylings!” Retvik interrupted. “You can understand our concerns all you want, but we are staring down the barrel here. You wanted to kill us before, what is stopping you now?”
Overlord grunted. “Nothing is stopping me from making you all cease to exist. But I wished to be polite about the situation and attempt to rectify it. You call yourselves harmless little Decaylings, but every single entity connected to Deathven is a former deity from a universe of their own, and thus incredibly powerful. A series of checks and balances are required to make sure that we have a minimal amount of death. Some trimming of the edges is required to keep the peace.”
“Which involves killing us?” Litvir rolled his eyes. “Unceremoniously? Surely you have better methods.”
“Little ones, little ones…” Overlord put his chalice down. “Souldrainer, Flamebearer, if you would both let me finish, I was going to explain that your survival has prompted a review of our methods. You will be the last Decay Lords to be level-lawed into submission. Moving forward, a new system will be put in place to both better measure Decaylings and create better ways of dealing with troubled once. But while that goes on in the background, I must deal with you three.”
“Is THIS the part where you kill us?” Arkay asked. “Because it kinda feels like the bit where you kill us.”
“Deathbringer, I am not going to kill you. I am here to officially declare you Decay Lords. With some terms and conditions.”
“Yeah… that was the other thing I thought would happen…”
Overlord nearly snarled as he stood up, his temper only just holding. “My my, you three are nuisances. I am genuinely surprised the Thantir took you on, with the snark you all possess.”
“Maybe that’s because you tried to kill us?” Arkay snapped back, suddenly much angrier than he appeared. “I spent my whole fucking death god life trying to get away from everyone wanting me dead and now I escape that, only to have you try to kill me as well! And that’s before we even discuss Ret- uh, Flamebearer and Souldrainer here, because they are uplifted mortals who never even got to be normal gods!”
With a sigh, Overlord sat back down. “I understand. I really do. All I can do is apologise. Deathbringer, Souldrainer, Flamebearer, I pronounce you all Decay Lords. But you are not adequately trained enough to be out on your own. Which is why you must remain with the elder Thantir until you are knowledgeable enough to survive independently. Now, if you may, I must leave. Stay safe.”
Before the Decaylingscould argue back, space and time folded upon themselves, then unfolded, revealing a completely different location. Standing behind the new Decay Lords were their old masters, Itaviir, Galyn and Vikalos.
“How did your meeting go?” Galyn asked.
“Could have been better…” Retvik shrugged. “But at least we somewhat got what we wanted…”