“Are we in the right spot?”
Retvik checked over the coordinates, then grunted.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“May I check?”
Retvik grunted some more. “You do not believe me?”
Arkay grunted back. “You’re the worst flyer of the three of us. I just want to see with my own eyes.”
Retvik grunted even more, then relented, letting go of the controls. However, he handed them to Litvir, not Arkay. Arkay rolled his eyes.
“Are we in the right spot?”
Litvir checked over the coordinates, then grunted.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“May I check?”
Litvir grunted some more. “You do not believe me?”
Arkay grunted back. “You’re the second worst flyer of the three of us. I just want to see with my own eyes.”
Litvir smirked, well aware he was winding Arkay up, then handed the controls over to him.
“Are we in the right spot?” Litvir immediately asked.
Arkay looked up at Litvir and tutted. “Not funny. There’s supposed to be a small Voidborn meet up point here, and there’s nothing.”
“Well, there is a lot of floating black debris.”
“There is, but that’s not what we came here for!” Arkay was getting frustrated. “We were told to meet a group of skittish Voidborns here, and there are no Voidborns or any sign of life in general!”
“None at all?” Retvik butted in. “Do Voidborns have any sort of “signs of life” or anything, what with them not being traditionally alive?”
Arkay thought for a moment, then got up and pressed his hand to the window. He closed his eyes and concentrated, not saying anything for a little too long. When nothing seemed to happen, Arkay opened his eyes briefly, growled, then closed them again.
“What is-”
“Shush.”
“But-”
“Retvik.”
“I want to-”
“Shush. Let Arkay work.”
Eventually, Arkay opened his eyes again and pulled back. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, then sighed.
“Time powers?” Litvir asked.
“It’s hard doing time powers out here with no Time Drakes close by, but yeah…” Arkay rubbed his eyes. A pale blue glow faded from them, and Arkay settled down. “There WERE Voidborns here. I don’t know what Voidborns, I don’t know the local Voidborns well enough to determine their cult or anything, nor do I know what time they use to measure things, so I don’t know how long ago exactly this happened, but…”
“Someone attacked them?”
“Attacked them, forced them all to respawn and destroyed their base. I don’t think they’re dead-dead, they’re Voidborns after all, and they don’t seem to be from here either.”
“We were told to meet them here, but they probably arranged a location far from home, since they fear us…” Litvir suggested. “But someone else came along and did… exactly what they feared, I guess.”
“Which means we should not go closer!” Retvik suddenly snatched the controls from Arkay and started reversing the ship, moving away from the area immediately. “This is clearly some sort of trap!”
Arkay let Retvik move the ship. They travelled pretty far, until Retvik felt somewhat safer. He then immediately apologised.
“I am sorry for taking over, but I was genuinely concerned that we were walking into some sort of trap. I get that we are stronger now, but we are still only three beings on a small ship, I am not willing to take unneeded risks. Also, we really need to inform Deathven of what is going on.”
Litvir nodded in agreement. “We should tell Deathven. But I do wonder if this was… set up in some way?”
“How so?” Arkay asked as he grabbed his laptop and started typing on it. He was writing a report in real time about what was going on before he called Deathven. “Wait, do you mean that maybe this was set up to lure us into a trap? A trap for a trap?”
“No. I think someone wanted us to find that. Someone killed those Voidborns to send some sort of message.”
“Maybe they are trying to blame it on us?” Retvik suggested. “After all, we were here to talk to Voidborns that were concerned about that silly Rainbow Ruin prophecy that definitely is not real. And all of a sudden, a being they believe is part of that stupid prophecy is suddenly present near a collection of dead Voidborns?”
Arkay and Litvir both blinked in surprise. After a moment of thought, Arkay stopped typing and picked up his communicator, immediately dialling the number he wasn’t really supposed to dial.
“Hey, uh, Overlord?” Arkay spoke plainly as soon as someone picked up.
“You are not supposed to call me.”
“I know, I know, but all the Voidborns we were supposed to meet are dead or destroyed. Not by us. The whole place was just filled with debris as soon as we got there.”
A deep grunt echoed down the line. “One moment.”
Arkay glanced at Litvir and Retvik. All three of them were concerned. Thankfully, the voice came back, but it didn’t have good news.
“Leave the area, immediately. I have sent coordinates to a hotel, which is aligned with the nearest Deathven Sector. Go there and wait for further instructions.”
“Are we in danger?” Arkay asked.
“No, not immediate danger, but there are unknown forces at play here, and I need you in a known location in case I need to speak to you.”
Arkay frowned. “Will we be stuck at this place for long?”
“I do not know. Head off now. I will get in touch soon.”
The line went dead. Almost instantly, a set of coordinates appeared on the ship’s dashboard.
“I hate this…” Retvik grunted as he got the ship moving in the right direction.
“Me too…”
Litvir though seemed less upset. “It is worrying, but at least we get to go to a nice hotel, right? Maybe they have a spa and we can get massages or something. And it is a hotel, I assume the food will be decent.”
Arkay and Retvik both shrugged.
“That’s fair enough!” Arkay perked up slightly. “Well, this all… sucks… but silver linings, I guess?”