Everything was bright and white as Litvir opened his eyes. Litvir didn’t like that. So he closed his eyes again. However, as Litvir felt something on his chest, his eyes were forced open again. And forced to close again. It was too bright.
It shouldn’t have been too bright though. When Litvir had gone to sleep, wrapped up in his own cape to try and preserve his warmth, everything had been dark. The ship he had stolen was completely dead, out of fuel and crippled by a magnetic blast.
A tiny part of Litvir wondered if he was dead. Litvir had been pretty damn close to death a few times, and those times had all been very dark. As a Rethan, Litvir believed there was nothing but eternal blackness after death, that one’s body would decompose and be made into something new and better. However, other races, like the Vrekans, believed in… not so much an afterlife, but a brief, bright period of remembrance, life flashing before one’s eyes before being reborn. No, this wasn’t death or any sort of afterlife. Litvir would have noticed if he’d been close to death.
There was still something on Litvir’s chest. It felt like a hand. A heavy, metal hand. But not a Rethan hand. Too many fingers.
“Eta, can you dim the lights a little? Our new friend seems to be struggling.”
A voice. Clear, powerful, masculine. That wasn’t what forced Litvir to abruptly sit up. He felt something… furry brush up against his right hand.
“Hey, easy now!”
This second voice came from the furry thing that had rubbed up against Litvir. It was now floating in front of Litvir. Tiny thing. Standing (or floating?) on four legs, about 30cm tall, 60cm long including its tail and covered in black fur. It had yellow, glowing eyes, two pointy ears and gold bands around its neck, tail and legs. This creature bothered Litvir more than the Temthan-like lizard person in heavy metal white and red armour with their hand still on Litvir’s chest plate. The lizard wasn’t that large, shorter than Litvir, certainly, but they were very bulky. Surrounding them was a colossal, dark red, wingless, snake-like dragon with black flames running down its back, stars and nebulae floating within those flames. Mint green horns extended from its head. Everything else was just… white.
Far too many questions rushed through Litvir’s head. He didn’t know why his first question was so awkward.
“What in the name of the Light are you, fluffy creature, and why do you both make me want to touch you and scare me at the same time?”
The creature eyed its larger companions, then turned back to Litvir.
“Dude, you’ve never seen a cat before?” the furry creature hissed.
“Now now, Orion!” the armoured lizard tutted. “Remember, not every universe has cats in it. Some of them have large, organically armoured beings like this creature here!” The lizard glanced at Litvir, then smiled. “Hello, friend. My name is Ziival, these are my companions, Orion and Eta Carinae. We are Wanderer, Spiritguide and Starsoarer, the Travellers, a named Trio of Decay Lords, who wander the Space Between Universes, guiding Decayons and other lost entities to safety while we explore these vast voids.”
“We sees yous big beacons for the helps!” Eta Carinae interrupted, nudging Litvir with her snout. “Sos we does the rescues!”
Litvir blinked. He was very confused. “I… I never sent any distress beacons. My ship was dead.”
Ziival shrugged and removed his hand from Litvir’s chest. “Well, we saw the yellow flashes, came to investigate and found you unconscious, so we brought you in and checked you over. You seemed like you were in trouble.”
“Also seemed like you were completely fucking lost!” Orion added. “This whole sector is dead. We were just passing through the Ventra Expanse, towards the Justarian Circle and Goldtorn Remains and-”
“You are heading to the Goldtorn Remains?” Litvir suddenly asked. “I… I need to go back there.”
Orion glanced at Ziival, then nodded. “We are, yeah. We can give you a ride, but we gotta ask you some stuff first.”
“She just woke up, Orion, give her a chance to orientate herself!” Ziival frowned.
“She?” Litvir blinked.
“Sorry, he. You can never tell, out here, and you do somewhat look like a female Tenthalite but with some sort of organic armour plating…” Ziival apologized. “From your appearance and the fact that you have a skeleton and internal organs, I take it you were once mortal?”
Litvir nodded. “I was.”
Orion hissed, then span around Litvir, before floating in his face. “Zii, you just said to give this, uh, dude, a chance to orientate himself, and you immediately asked him a question. I can call you a him, right, uh… What’s your name, mister I’ve-never-seen-a-cat-before? You a Decayon?”
Litvir straightened himself out and bowed his head slightly. “I am Litvir Kaldynik, codename Souldrainer.”
Ziival and Orion nodded back, but both paused. The gigantic form of Eta Carinae nudged Litvir again.
“You is of a trio! The missings! Sames as us!”
Orion stared at Eta. “This weird thing can’t be missing, he’s right here.”
“Noooooooo! He is of a named trio. Like us! The trio that is called The Missing! The babies! The ones our boss of the hates!”
Litvir did not like the face that Ziival pulled as he and Oiron realized who Litvir was.
“Oh…” Ziival eyed Litvir suspiciously. “You’re not the Mimic, are you? I heard one of you was a Mimic. The Overlord is normally open towards most beings apart from Mimics, probably because one killed Everlord, and another attacked Deathven Base Alpha a few year-strings back.”
“Ah… uh…” Litvir suddenly felt rather uneasy. He wasn’t a mimic hybrid, he was just a normal Decayon. But Ziival’s statement explained… a lot. “No, uh, I am not… However, I am currently quite overwhelmed and need some time to sort myself out.”
The Travellers all backed off, giving Litvir some space.
“No worries, Litvir!” Ziival smiled. “You want to go to the Goldtorn Remains, yes? We are passing nearby, Eta will set up a detour so we can just drop you off or something.”
Eta Carinae opened her jaws wide in a massive, draconic smile, then phased through a nearby wall. Ziival moved to one side so Litvir could get up, and he and Orion watched as Litvir slowly wandered off, drawn towards a large viewing pane.
“He’s hurting…” Orion whispered after a long silence.
“He is.”
“Want me to talk to him?”
“Please.”
Orion meowed to himself, then drifted over to Litvir. Litvir was eerily quiet and lost in thought, but his breathing was quite laboured. Despite knowing nothing about his biology, Orion guessed that normally Litvir’s eyes were brighter, and the thin purple lines on his skin would glow, if he wasn’t so stressed.
“Soooo, what you doing out here on your own anyway?” Orion asked as he made a calming, purring sound, positioning himself so he was within arm’s reach of Litvir. “You’re part of a Trio, where are your partners?”
Litvir tutted, vaguely annoyed that the strange, furry creature that caused conflicting emotion was talking to him. “It is complicated.”
“It’s a long way to the Goldtorn Remains.”
“Hmph. Arkay was captured by two Life Goddesses and imprisoned inside a young universe. Retvik is working with the Thantir and Phantai Decay Lords and… well… We had an argument. I ran. Now I am regretting it deeply and trying to work out what to say to Retvik. Assuming he does not disown me entirely. I… would deserve it.”
“Which one of them is the Mimic?”
“Arkay is.”
Orion chirped somewhat. “Heh. That’s… insanely rare. There’s, like, two properly identified Mimics out there and you know one of them.”
Litvir blinked, then turned to Orion. “… Two?”
“Yeah. Vryda, the Mimic that attacked Deathven, and your buddy…” Orion inspected Litvir some more. They both had telepathic powers, but on board the Wanderers’ ship, any non-Orion telepaths would unwittingly have their telepathy weakened down to nothing. A security measure to prevent attacks from non-Decayon entities. “Wait, you know of another Mimic that isn’t your partner?”
“Before I answer, is that a bad thing?”
Orion continued to purr, to keep Litvir calm. “Not really, can’t help what you’re born as, unless you willingly give yourself to a Voidborn or a Corruption or something, but you ought to give the Overlord a head’s up or something if they’re an old Mimic. Should be fine though.”
Orion’s statement didn’t cause Litvir to react the way he wanted. Litvir had shuddered, from fear, not the cold.
“I… I gave myself to a Voidborn once… It was the cause of my argument with Retvik.”
“Oh? You don’t seem like the sort to do that sort of thing willingly.”
Litvir paused and stared at Orion. “You are reading my thoughts. I… Hm…”
“Just noticed the psionic dampeners, heh?” Orion purred louder and slowly opened and closed his eyes, his version of smiling. “Yeah, sorry, gotta protect ourselves. Surprised you noticed it though, most Psions don’t.”
“You are a Psion too?” Litvir asked.
Orion rolled over so he was closer to the strange Decay Lord. “I’m a Guide. I mean, technically, the whole type of Decay Lord is named after me. I’m pretty old. Empath powers, lower level telepathy and telekinesis compared to Psions, the ability to create protective shields, prediction powers to avoid damage. Much more defensive than anything else.”
“Huh. A bit like Arkay then. Aside from Arkay’s terrifying death powers…”
“I take it Arkay is some sort of death god?” Orion queried. “From what we know about Mimics, you have to be some sort of deity to become a Mimic.”
“That is clearly not true, Elkay was never a deity, he is a former mortal, same species as Retvik and myself, and is Retvik’s half-sibling.”
“How old is Elkay?”
“About… A year-string is a bit shorter than a year from our universe, so I would say about 85 year-strings old. But he has only been a Decayon for about four years and we only realized he was different recently.”
“I thought they were unstable though?”
Litvir tutted. “Apart from some identity issues and some shapeshifting quirks, Elkay is just a normal Decayon. And if Arkay had not been tortured his entire life, he would be fine as well.”
“You know what? I’m not going to say any more about Mimics…” Orion muttered. “I clearly know nothing. So, what did a Voidborn offer to you?”
“The chance to not be trapped inside a digital landscape, to give me back my body and let me continue my studies into granting myself immortality and mind-controlling others. Admittedly, as a mortal, I was an awful, awful person and-”
Litvir suddenly fell silent as Orion put a fuzzy paw to his mouth.
“This happened when you were mortal?”
“Yes.”
“Dude, it’s fine.”
Litvir snarled and backed away. “It is NOT fine! I was willing to betray my kin for power! I was a monster! Literally the worst of the Rethavok! Meanwhile, Retvik is literally the best of the Rethavok! Pure and noble and heroic and selfless. While I was cold and psychotic and manipulative and all-round evil! I may be trying to change but that does not forgive my past! I ran, because I believe that Retvik deserves to not be chained to monsters like a beaten up death god and a horrible cartoon villain!”
Orion shook himself down. “Clearly you’re a stupidly young Decayon, so this is all pretty fresh for you still. While the Periuniversal Void is TOTALLY a lawless place, Decay Lord society does have a couple of… recommendations. The first is that Trios help other Trios stay together, and help bring them together if they get separated. The second is that we do our best to forgive our mortal lives, if we had them.”
“But…”
Orion booped Litvir’s snout, silencing him again. “Mortals do stupid things. You don’t live long, you don’t have the time to analyse every action you take and you’re all just desperately trying to survive…” The fluffy kitty deity lowered his voice and glanced past Litvir, to where Ziival was standing. “He was mortal, originally. Admittedly, Ziival was probably more like your friend Retvik than he is like you, but Ziival murdered plenty. He only redeemed himself by offering to leave his universe to fight an invading Corruption. When I found both Ziival and Eta, Ziival admitted his horrific past, but we forgave him. Because, like you, he was mortal and, well, stupid.”
“No, I was cold and calculating. I was-”
“You were manipulated by a god. Gods do that to mortals constantly. Of course you said yes, because we ALL know you couldn’t have reasonably said no. And I’m sure Retvik, despite what he may have said to you, would probably understand as well. Might take a bit of time, because, if I recall the names of your fellow Trio members, Retvik is a Flame and thus hot-headed, but he will come around eventually. Also, if you both somehow accepted Arkay, a former death god who SOMEONE decided to codename Deathbringer and has probably killed trillions, I am 100% certain that Retvik will forgive you. He probably already has.”
“He will be angry at me.”
Orion shrugged. “Yeah, of course he will. You ran away. Probably scared the shit out of him. But you can make it up to him. You should, since it seems like neither of you can reach Arkay. You’re bound, same way I am bound to Ziival and Eta. You love each other, you gotta stick together.”
Litvir grunted, but he seemed to settle down somewhat, even in spite of the fact that Orion clearly knew way too much and was looking into Litvir’s normally well-defended memories.
“You seem exhausted, mate. Why don’t you come and sit down with us and have a drink and some food? Might make you feel better, help clear your head. Eta makes one hell of a cheese toastie.”
“Heh…” Litvir snorted. “Arkay used to love cheese toasties.”
Orion booped Litvir again, then went back to purring as he span around the young Decay Lord. “You should tell us all about him then. Come on. Come and relax. We’ll take you home, you can apologize to Retvik for your moment of ill judgement and hopefully patch things up.”
“I… I appreciate the help… Thank you.”
“It’s what Decay Lord Trios do. We look out for each other. Maybe one day, you can do the same for someone else. But for now, you need to rest up and focus on yourself.”
With a playful nudge, Orion led Litvir deeper into the strange, white ship. For the first time in a while, Litvir felt that, for once, maybe things would be okay.