“So let me get this straight… The Thantophor crash-landed in your garden and dragged himself into your living room, claiming that your house was his nearest place of worship, fell unconscious and allowed you to remove a blade wedged into his side, then woke up, apologised and left when you complained about him bleeding on your carpet?”
Clearly, the Kronospast standing in front of Teekay didn’t believe him. Teekay originally thought the Kronospast had been a Rethavok, but apparently he had reverted back to his true form after being knocked out. Kayen, the little Skyan who had helped the Kronospast and the Temthan back to their feet, also didn’t seem too trustful of Teekay’s story.
“Yes, that is essentially correct…” Teekay sighed. “And it is no more unbelievable than your own story.”
“My story isn’t unbelievable!” Kayen protested. “I’ve genuinely already spent time alongside deities! So it’s not too insane for one of them to ask me a favour and want me to try and find another deity…” Kayen paused. “Actually, yeah, you’re right, it’s all fucking retarded…”
Phovos shook her head. “It doesn’t matter how unbelievable anyone’s story is, what’s more important is-”
“Actually…” Timik interrupted. “It is kinda retarded really. That super attractive Kinisis, literally the Goddess of the entire universe or something, she came along and asked Kayen while he was sleeping to get up and find her kid.”
“I wasn’t asleep…” Kayen clarified.
“Whatever. She asked you to find him. That’s dumb.”
Kohra seemed to disagree. “It’s not that dumb! There was a genuine romantic interest between Kayen and Arkadin. Makes sense to ask the creature Arkadin loves and see if he knows where the death god is.”
The Raptor continued shaking her head. “Whatever. I’m pretty sick and tired of this pointless discussion. The important thing is that we all want the same thing. To find the Thantophor…”
“WAIT!” Timik interrupted again. “Am I being slow here or did that super important Skyavok admit that he worships a death god?”
“It is none of your business who I worship!” Teekay snapped. “All beings have the right to worship whatever deity they wish to worship. I do not judge you for your beliefs, you should not judge me for mine.”
“Yeah but…” Timik stuttered. The sudden anger of this little Skyavok had caught him off guard. “You… worship the Thantophor.”
Phovos rolled her eyes then slapped Timik across the back of the head. “IT DOESN’T MATTER!”
“It does! He’s a Skyavok! They worship Kenon! Not the Thantophor!”
“Timik, dude…” Kohra put a hand on Timik’s shoulder. “Seriously, stop it. We need to stop this and work out how to find the Thantophor…” Kohra turned to Teekay. “Do you know why he was hiding?”
Teekay shrugged. “Not really. He rambled a lot, incoherently so. All I could gather was that he was hiding in case someone or something returned, and that he did not want the other deities to know where he was. Nonetheless, I do have something that may assist us…”
The bold Skyavok pulled something out of his little backpack. It was a small, glass vial with a black, inky substance inside it.
“Is that Thantophor blood?” Phovos asked.
“It is,” Teekay explained. “I took this tiny sample while I helped patch up his wound. Unfortunately, it seems that most Skyan technology is unable to do anything with this. But a master tracker like yourself, Phovos, you might be able to catch a scent and assist me in tracking him down.”
Teekay handed the vial to Phovos, who eyed it awkwardly. After a moment of thought, Phovos cautiously opened the vial and took a deep breath.
“Anything?” Kohra asked.
“Give her a second…”
The Raptor closed her eyes, then took another deep breath. She then started sniffing the air, turning left and right.
Eventually, Phovos opened her eyes. “He’s close… Way closer than we all thought… Follow me…”