“We are gonna board them?”
Rethanius hissed as he tugged on the chains around Kallus’s neck. “Of course we are! What are you, dumb?”
“But why?” Kallus was confused. Whenever they had stopped Mortemnan ships in the past, they’d just gone and blown them up straight away. If anyone ever survived, only then would Kallus be allowed off his chains and sent to kill them. But this time, their high Lord Theocydes was insisting that they climb aboard this Mortemnan ship in person.
The ship in question was being held in the Grand Dry Dock, a vast and gold-plated room just like any other. A shimmering silver field surrounded the ship, and the only way to it was via a narrow path. Oddly, Lord Theocydes led the way. Normally he would be watching from his throne room, but something about this ship had clearly spiked his curiosity. After all, this was a Deathvenian ship, one run by Decay Lords, and Decay Lords were… rare in this sector.
“I am still confused as to why they looked like us…” Letharus grunted. “Surely the chance of coincidence is far, far too high?”
“The Periuniversal Void is infinite, little Thoulos!” Lord Theocydes explained, tapping his ornate staff against the ground. As he did so, the field around the ship lowered and a cargo bay door could be seen to open. “And as we all know, infinity means infinite chances.”
“Yes, but…” Letharus sighed, deciding not to continue his trail of thought. Instead, their Void Lord lead them towards the cargo bay door, where a tall, green, leafy Decay Lord and two beings that looked eerily similar to Letharus and Rethanius stood.
“State your reasons for your presence, Deathvenian!” Rethanius immediately demanded, poking his staff in the larger Decay Lord’s direction. “What sort of mimicry is this?”
“You can say the same about yourselves!” the Letharus-looking being tutted, only to be silenced by the Decay Lord.
“We are simply escorting a Life Goddess to a nearby Life Oasis,” the Decay Lord calmly explained. “Had we known this was your territory, we would have avoided the area entirely. Once we have reached the nearby Life Oasis, we will mark on navigational data that this territory belongs to you and will warn other Decay Lords from entering the area.”
Theocydes eyed the Decay Lord. “That is a rather meagre excuse for being in the Theocydan Domain, Deathvenian. You have been travelling in and out of our Domain repeatedly.”
The Decay Lord frowned. “Life Goddesses are not renowned for their direction-giving. She has changed her mind multiple times, and thus we have had to correct our course multiple times. She also… wished to admire a nearby small, silver planetoid.”
“You are just passing through?” Theocydes snarled.
“Yes.”
The Void Lord eyed the Decay Lord a little longer, then put his hand out towards Rethanius. Rethanius smiled and handed him the chain that Kallus was tied to. Theocydes immediately dropped the chain on the ground, freeing the feral-looking, yellow armoured beast.
“Kallus, go have some fun. Kill the Life Goddess and bring me her womb. Once Kallus is done, you Deathvenians may leave.”
The leafy Decay Lord immediately stepped forward. “I cannot let you do that.”
“You are in my domain, Deathvenian. You have no choice.”
“Of course we do.”
Theocydes paused for a moment, surprised that this being had the audacity to say no to him. He was even more surprised when the Decay Lord punched him square in the gut, shoving him backwards.
“HOW DARE YOU!” Theocydes roared, punching the Decay Lord back, landing a blow on the Decay Lord’s chest, then pushing the Decay Lord over the ledge to his side. “Thoulii, kill them a-”
The Voidborn’s sentence ended abruptly as something wrapped around his legs. Stinging, thorny vines had twisted around Theocydes, pulling him over the ledge and down into the darkness, where the Void Lord had just thrown that errant Deathvenian.
Letharus and Rethanius glanced at each other, then at Kallus.
“Well, you know what to do!” Rethanius snapped, whacking Kallus with his own staff. Kallus retaliated by hissing and spitting, then throwing himself past the two Decay Lord counterparts, into the bowels of the Deathvenian ship. The Decay Lords immediately tried to give chase, only for Rethanius and Letharus to attack them both.
“And here I was thinking you were NOT evil twins!” Rethanius’s counterpart snarled, summoning his weapons, a flaming shield and matching gun-staff. “Can we not talk this out like civilized beings?”
“Unfortunately not!” Rethanius snarled back. “The Void Lord wants us to kill you, so that is what we will do!”