Chaos had erupted across the Vrekan capital. What looked like nothing more than a miniscule meteor landing in the city centre had turned into an epidemic, with exactly half the population suddenly being overcome with a feral rage, attacking all others on sight. High winds had spread the terrifying plague across the city, infecting anything in its path in a cloud of purple mist, including the multi-species summit, where the leaders and politicians of many a race had come to discuss matters of peace, trading and defence.
Inside the plague mist though, something else lurked.
“KEEP ON FIRING!” King Ver was almost screaming as half of his guards, the powerful Myst, flanked him, trying to protect him not just from their mind-controlled comrades, but from the axe-wielding monster behind them. By his side were a handful of K-Class Skyan soldiers and five Fyre Guards, the bodyguards of the Rethan High General. The High General was busy carrying the wounded All-Ksa in his arms.
“This is not working, my Lord!” one of the Myst shouted back. “The beast still presses onwards!”
“Clearly not…” Elkay, the High General, growled, shifting his weight to better carry Kayel, the All-Ksa.
“I’m sorry…” Kayel muttered. “I’m trying to put them to sleep but it’s not working…”
Ver stared at Elkay and Kayel. The plan had been to use Kayel’s Skyan telepathy to try and knock out anyone who got infected by the plague while the non-infected got to safety, but clearly it hadn’t worked. It didn’t help that most of Kayel’s guards had swiftly turned on him, almost as if the plague had specifically targeted them.
Something erupted behind them. Another group of soldiers, all Vrekans, had appeared. They quickly established though that they weren’t on their King’s side, by firing wildly. The firing didn’t last long though as a massive, armoured wall of flesh smashed into the infected soldiers.
“Oh no…” Kayel whispered. “I’d forgotten about the Banikans…”
The Banikan roared, then lowered its horns. Only a few hours ago, they had been calmly eating and drinking alongside the other leaders, but the plague had turned them into a vicious beast.
“So much for all those deals I worked so darn hard on…” Ver sighed, briefly regaining his composure. “I spent so much time trying to make everything right and then this happens…”
The remaining soldiers held their ground, not sure what to do. The creature in the mist was coming closer, as was the Banikan.
“What do we do?” Ver asked, his voice cracking.
The High General grunted, then gently handed the All-Ksa over to his own guards. Elkay then raised his hands into the air. As he did so, the ground and ceiling both began to move. The High General quickly lowered his hands again, causing the ceiling to collapse around them, pinning down the Banikan and creating a wall in front of the mist creature.
“I didn’t know you could do tha-” Kayel was about to exclaim, before being abruptly silenced.
“You all saw nothing,” Elkay hissed. “And if any of you mention this to anyone, I will seek you down and silence you myself.”
Kayel rolled his eyes. “You could have just called it divine intervention or something, no need to be so dramatic…”
The calm though didn’t last very long. The wall Elkay had created was quickly being torn down from the other side. In mere seconds, their defence was gone, replaced with the hideous sight of the creature from the mist.
The All-Ksa sighed some more, getting more frustrated than scared. “Oh hey, it’s the Thantophor!”
No one else spoke. They were all transfixed by the appearance of a purple, scaly tail which had slipped and slithered its way into the room. Behind the group, sitting on the rubble, was the Allbirther, tapping her fingers together.
“Hello, dearies. Which one of you is Elkay Theanon?”
Elkay glanced at his guards, then stepped forward.
“I am, Allbirther. Why are you here?”
The Allbirther scooted forward, flicking her serpentine tongue at the High General. “Ooh I can see why he likes you! You’re fucking adorable.”
“Are none of us worth any attention?” Kayel tutted.
“Not yet, little whore. Close your slutty little mouth.”
“Kinda hypocritical coming from the ultimate whore!” Kayel beamed. The Allbirther stared at him, then flicked a globule of goo at him, shutting him up completely.
The Allbirther then stretched herself out. “The cheek of that little critter. Anyway, Elkay Theanon, I have a preposition for you. Or perhaps an ultimatum. I’m not sure.”
“What is your preposition?” Elkay asked. He noticed that the Thantophor behind them had hardly moved.
“Oh, nothing much. In exchange for you coming with me and being a little test subject in some horrific little experiments before being brutally killed, I spare this planet from this nasty little plague me and Arkadin accidentally made.”
“Very well. I shall come with you.”
The Allbirther hesitated. “You didn’t even stop to think about that.”
Elkay stepped forward some more, closer to the slimy body of the Allbirther. “One life for millions? A simple trade.”
The Allbirther glanced around, then shrugged. She summoned a portal, wrapped part of her tail around Elkay then disappeared through the portal. As she did so, vicious winds dragged clouds of the plague with her, replacing them with clearer winds filled with some sort of airborne antidote. As the last part of the Allbirther’s tail disappeared inside the portal, it snapped shut, taking the plague, the Thantophor and the High General with it.
“What the absolute fuck was all that?” Kayel screeched as he ripped goo from his face. “You all saw that, didn’t you?”
“Yes, we all saw that as well…” King Ver sighed as he and his soldiers began to walk off, the remaining Fyre Guard following them. “I suppose we had better go and tell the Rethans what happened to their leader…”