Staton hesitated somewhat as he approached this little universe. He had always been told to stay away from universes, because they were dangerous. However, this universe was within Theocydes’s territories, and since Theocydes was now somewhat leading a Voidborn coalition in the area, it had been decided that the local nearby universes needed to be aware of this alliance. And somewhere along the line, it had been decided that Staton was the person who needed to speak to this universe, because he was the least dangerous of the lot of them.
Theocydes was nearby, somewhat watching on, but he was also busy maintaining communications with the rest of the Adogtic alliance, so he was only really looking out for danger.
Staton sighed to himself, then went to the strange metal hatch at the top of the universe and knocked on it. Clearly the denizens of the universe were already well aware that Staton was there, because part of the hatch opened up, and out of it stood a being that looked weirdly familiar. It also seemed to be scanning Staton.
“Uh, hello, mister hopefully not metal meanie, we do not allow Voidborns inside our universe…” the being somewhat muttered. “Oh. You are small but big at the same time! Like me!”
Staton inspected the being. It was one of those armoured creatures. Like Vekeus whenever he was not in “Voidborn mode”. Well, more like the bigger, scarier armoured creatures that ran Savepoint. The purple one and their little white sibling.
“Small but big?” Staton asked.
“Yes! You have a big adult body but you have not been alive for very long! Most metal meanies are old, really, really super old, older than my old mama… but you are not much older than me!”
Staton shrugged. “That… is true, I guess. I only recently crystallised. But I am about a year-string and a half old.”
“I am a year and three months old!” the being smiled. “My name is Litvir! What is your name?”
“I am Staton.”
“That is a good name.”
Staton eyed Litvir briefly. “You did not call me the bad name.”
“What bad name?”
“You did not call me Kenon.”
“I do not know who that is. But that is not your name. Your name is Staton! You just told me!”
Staton smiled. He liked this Litvir person. “And your name is Litvir. You are a baby too?”
“Yes, Kyr Epani made me as a baby in a special lab and mean old Kyr Kairos grew me up into a teenager, then they both made me into a deity. So now I am baby and teenager at the same time. It is weird…” Litvir trailed off briefly. “So… why are you here? And why is that other Voidborn watching us?”
Staton glanced over their shoulder. Theocydes was indeed watching.
“Theocydes said I would be the best person to speak to this universe and tell them about the friendly Voidborn alliance thing we are doing, because I am young.”
“Oh…” Litvir hesitated, then pulled out a small device, some sort of communicator. “Oh. Theocydes is that Voidborn that comes by occasionally. That was friends with the Dead God. He is not bad.”
“He is teaching me to be a good adult Voidborn. But also, we got all the Voidborns in this area who are not in a cult and do not want to do bad things, and we put them all together and made an alliance. I am here to explain that our group will just be in the area and we will dissuade other Voidborns from coming close and we will kill the nasty Corruption and things like that. We mean no harm.”
“So there will be less metal meanies around here?” Litvir asked. “That is good. I do not like killing metal meanies. They break into the universe and try to break things so I break them back.”
“Our… group thing, we do not allow ourselves to go inside universes unless the universes let us. We stay outside universes.”
“And you fight the nasty black stuff as well? That is very good!” Litvir bounced excitedly. “That means I will not have to do as much work. Also, can we be friends?”
“F-friends?” Staton stuttered.
“Yes. Because we are both friendly and we are both kids. Would be nice to have a friend who is the same age as me.”
Staton hesitated, then nodded. “I would like to be friends. All this… doing stuff, having a body, things like that, it is new for me. And I think you being big and a god is somewhat new to you too.”
“Kinda yes. But it is also all I have done. Being alive though is also new to me…” Litvir frowned briefly. “I think both of us kinda become adults very fast. And we do not know what to do. The harder bits have passed, but it is still hard. We are doing a lot of learning still.”
Staton nodded some more. “That is basically how it is for me. However, you are right. We should be friends.”
Staton held out his hand. Litvir looked down at Staton’s hand, then held it and shook it.
“Friends?” Litvir asked.
“Yes. Friends.”
“Yay!” Litvir let go of Staton’s hand and bounced excitedly. “I always wanted more friends. Will you visit often? Is there a way we can talk when you are not here?”
“Uh… I do not know… Theocydes says it is bad to be in contact for a long time with a universe. But I think I will visit when I can. Since we will come by to warn universes of potential threats. And also I will come back when I have some… leaflets and stuff to give you. About our group. But sadly, I do not think we will see each other much.”
“Aw, that is a shame. But when we do see each other, it will be good, yes? And we can sit and talk about things.”
“Yes!” Staton smiled underneath his mask. “It will be good. Sadly… I think I need to go now.”
“Aw, alright. I will speak to my fellow deities, I will tell them about you friendly Voidborns.”
“And I will tell my fellow Voidborns about your universe and to not interfere and things.”
Litvir grinned, then bowed. Staton bowed back.
“It was nice meeting you, Litvir.”
“It was nice meeting you too, Staton! See you soon, friend!”
Staton grinned properly as he waved, then headed back to Theocydes and his ship. “See you too, friend…”