Retvik struggled to remain upright as Litvir wrapped his arms around him, holding Retvik a little too tightly and clearly sobbing, showing a lot of emotions that were out of place for a Rethan. Really, considering Retvik’s injuries, he was amazed he could even stand up, and Galyn, Itaviir and Vikalos had all offered to carry him, but Retvik didn’t want to look weak. All in spite of what he and his fellow Thantir had just accomplished.
Litvir continued to hold Retvik and cry for a little too long, before eventually letting go.
“You bastard. You absolute bastard. I felt you die…” Litvir wiped tears from his eyes. “Felt like part of me died as well… Please do not do that to me again…”
Retvik nuzzled Litvir, holding his hands. “I am sorry, dear. I thought I was more flameproof than I was.”
“I nearly lost you…” Litvir sniffed. “I… I apologize, my… my head is a bit funny, from the telepathic strain of what we just did… and… Please do not leave me behind like that.”
“I am sorry, dear. I did not mean to scare you… I take it everyone else is alive and well?”
A very heavy claw patted Retvik on the shoulder, nearly knocking both him and Litvir over. Itaviir was grinning, pulling a very happy face that his fellow Decay Lords hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Little ones, you have no idea how many Voidborns we killed today. Together, we have ended a war that has plagued this sector since before I was born. And I was born a very long time ago.”
“Oh, and we are all alive!” Vikalos added. “Gah and Nuh managed to remove any potential Kenic Spores from everyone, no one is dead, everyone’s injuries have been dealt with and Elkay is definitely not pregnant, although he is currently stuck with a pair of antlers…”
A cracking sound punctuated the air. Vikalos glanced behind him then tutted.
“Well, he was stuck with a pair of antlers…”
Elkay finished snapping off his unwanted antlers, then awkwardly approached Retvik and Litvir and briefly hugged them both, before stepping back.
“Thank you for saving me, Retvik. And I guess thank you for constantly whispering in my mind that I am not a Voidborn, Litvir. While it was distracting, it did definitely help when that monster tried to turn me into a real Voidborn…”
Itaviir’s overly heavy claw landed on Elkay, yet again nearly knocking someone over. “Little one, there is no need for thank yous here! We are all Thantir, we protect ourselves. And no, you are not a Voidborn, and it is amazing that your disguises worked!” Itaviir span around and pointed at Akah. “Especially you.”
Akah blinked. He hadn’t really been paying attention and had been quietly sitting in the corner, peeling black paint off his armour. His fellow Decaylings were all equally quiet, mostly just sitting in the hangar, still somewhat shocked at what they had accomplished.
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Somehow you convinced those Voidborn scum that you were one of them, without shapeshifting.”
“Yeah, because the Crystal Doom are really fucking stupid!” Teekay hissed, making his way over to Elkay and holding his hand. “That should NOT have worked! Also how the fuck are you alive, Retvik? Because Elksia couldn’t find any time strings to alter to save you and Phovos definitely didn’t do anything, she was too busy helping Gah remove the Kenic spores from me and Elkay.”
Retvik shrugged. He didn’t like lying, but at the same time he needed to protect his Trio. He’d just have to tell Litvir in private later. “I do not know. I woke up nestled in the remains of that corpse of a Life Goddess. Maybe that had something to do with my survival…”
Teekay didn’t seem to buy Retvik’s answer. But rather than complaining, Teekay just sighed. “This was all so fucking stupid. We just blew up a fucking Voidborn headquarters or something. Mostly by accident because Tenuk placed explosives in the Voidborn army’s main respawn room and you set off a stupid chain reaction that killed the Voidborn leader but somehow didn’t kill you.”
Both Litvir and Elkay nodded in agreement, however Retvik just shrugged some more. “Stupid things happen a lot out here. You get used to it after a while. Either way, we should all, I do not know, take a nap or something.”
“No time, folks!” Koh’s mechanical voice echoed from the cockpit. “The Shimmering Blade has just intercepted us. I assume you want us to land, right?”
“Uh, yes, of course…” Retvik stuttered, glancing at his crew. “Uh, what are we going to say to the Phantai?”
“Whatever we want, we just ended their accursed war!” Galyn hissed, before calming down. “Well, maybe not whatever we want, but… maybe we should just let them talk to us and answer their questions…”
It didn’t take too long for the Thantir Two to land inside the Shimmering Blade’s hangar, but as everyone stepped out of the small ship, there was an eerie silence hanging around the vast walls. The Three Great Blades, the leaders of the Phantai, were standing in front of the Thantir Two, all utterly stunned, yet desperate to welcome the Thantir back. By their side were Eksi and Leh, the two Thantir who had stayed behind to make sure the Phantai didn’t get too involved.
“So…” Voidblade hesitated, unable to form a coherent sentence. “Uh… I guess… a thank you is in order? I must be honest though, you are all mentally ill. You just… did…” Voidblade gestured vaguely. “You did… that!”
“Really, I think you should have just sent Eksi onto that ship and had him convince all the Voidborns to kill themselves!” Leh clicked.
“I’m too nice to do that!” Eksi chirped, patting Soulblade on the leg. “Sorry for hijacking you all, but we needed some secrecy and stuff. Plus, you guys ARE kinda dumb.”
“We are…” Soulblade attempted to protest against Eksi’s statement, but decided against it. Soulblade in particular was feeling incredibly conflicted. Sure, he was both glad and astonished that the Crystal Doom’s mothership had been destroyed, but he also felt awful, having had his telepathic powers manipulated by a being that wasn’t even 30 year-strings old. “We are amazed and awe-inspired by your courage and your, uh, madness, Thantir. We owe you all greatly.”
Lightblade glanced at his trio, then tutted and made his way towards the Thantir. He immediately threw his arms around Retvik and Litvir, smiling a little too much. “Indeed we do! Tell us, little ones, how do you want to celebrate? Because your insane plan somehow actually worked!”
“Ow…” Retvik muttered.
“Sorry, dear!” Lightblade patted Retvik on the shoulder, then apologized again as he realized that was why Retvik said ‘ow’ in the first place. “Anyway, are we a tad angry that you didn’t tell us about your plan, when we could have assisted you? Yes, we are. And we are also a little annoyed that Soulsoother messed around with our telepathic networks and Spiritpurger-5… uh… Vacuumblast here tricked us all into thinking there were Kenic Spores in our ventilation systems. But I do not care, I forgive you all for that, because, thanks to the Thantir, we can now finally end this war! It should only take a couple of days for us to take out the last few remaining large Voidborn ships, and after that, my dears, we are all free!”
Voidblade nodded. “We are indebted to you, Thantir.”
Retvik shook his head, shaking Lightblade off him. “No, you are not. You have graciously hosted us this entire time, we were just doing, well, something we are somehow good at, in a bid to lessen everyone’s collective suffering. Although, we are all somewhat in shock ourselves. Myself in particular. Near death experiences are not fun.”
“Well, we are glad none of you died!” Lightblade remained overly excited. “Although I do have a LOT of questions. Like, where did you find two ships capable of getting close to the Diamond, where did you get enough explosives to blow up a ship larger than our own Shimmering Blade, how many Voidborn minions did you kill for the Tattered Navigators to be more gold than any other colour, why does Unender have what looks like bits of antler jutting out beneath his headplate and why, Flamebearer, do you have the scent of both a Life Goddess and something else on you?”
“Those are all very good questions that Retvik is too battered and bruised and I am too mentally damaged to answer right now,” Litvir tutted, removing Lightblade’s arm from his shoulder. “Would we be able to, I do not know, take a quick breather or something before we answer any questions?”
“Of course, of course! Flamebearer, Souldrainer, what do you want to do?”
Retvik shrugged yet again, then passed the question on to the rest of the Thantir. “What do you all want to do?”
No one answered at first. Eventually, Vikalos awkwardly raised his hand.
“I would like to wash all this blood off me. I am worried the gold will stain my fur.”
Lightblade’s smile dimmed somewhat. “Well, of course you can do that. But we ought to, well, do something nice. To celebrate or something.”
“I’d like to get drunk and stuff my face with chocolate, I guess…” Phovos suggested. “I’m sure we’re all pretty hungry and thirsty right now.”
Glad to have some sort of answer, Lightblade clapped his hands together and summoned several bottles of mead, some of which he forced onto Retvik and Litvir. “Wonderful! Get yourselves cleaned up, and we will set up drinks and celebrations in our main recreational area for you all! Is there anything in particular that you need though?”
“If we think of something, we will let you know…” Retvik sighed. “Now, please excuse us. We are all in a bit of a mess…”
Slowly but surely, the Thantir all began to wander off. The Tattered Navigators all headed to the communal showers to wash all the golden blood off their bodies, the eight Decaylings all split up, with Teekay and Elkay going to the medical bays, Elksia, Eksi, Tahvra, Tenuk and Phovos all darting off to find food and Akah making his way to the armoury, where he hoped to find a tool to scrape the black paint off his armour. Kal all telepathically whispered between each other and decided to head back to their normal duties, but Retvik and Litvir remained where they were briefly.
“Is something wrong, you two?” Soulblade asked. “You do not seem right.”
“No, but we will recover…” Retvik muttered as he took Litvir’s hand and led him off to their private quarters. “We just have a lot on our minds right now…”