“There’s no way this will work…”
Kayen shifted his weight, the extra armour on his shoulders feeling rather heavy and awkward. Normally Kayen wore very basic armour. While most Skyans considered him somewhat attractive, Kayen never really liked explicitly showing that he was attractive. His coverings, from the plain stomach wraps to the simple scarves and ponchos, all the way to the basic plating he wore on his thighs and upper arms.
Right now though, Kayen felt insanely over-armoured. The shoulder pads and head adornments were simply far, far too much. Then again, Kayen was supposed to be pretending he was a Rethavok. His friend Kohra was having similar queries, not really sure what to make of what was going on.
“Trust me, it’ll be fine!” Levik smiled. Just like his brother Kohra, Levik was an exiled Kronospast. But Levik had been exiled for a lot, lot longer than Kohra ever had, and he was far more adept when it came to blending in. After all, with minimum work, he had flawlessly blended in to a Vohra nest, and no one had noticed. Not until he’d told them in person and had been rudely kicked out.
Now Levik was looking to chill out with Kohra, and he had managed to already make a small circle of Rethavok friends who didn’t know who he really was.
“Unlike you two, I can’t shapeshift!” Kayen exclaimed, still struggling with his armour. “There’s no way I won’t be recognised! Plus, I’m a whole metre too short!”
Levik simply shrugged. “General Elkay was only 2.3m tall.”
“Even with these stupid stilts you gave me, I’m only 1.7m tall!”
Kohra turned to Levik, sighing. “Normally, bro, I trust you. But today? Not so much. He looks like a baby Rethavok at best. But really, he just looks like a Skyavok pretending to be a Rethavok.”
Rather than address their concerns, Levik simply shrugged some more. “He’ll be fine. As long as we all avoid contracting words, we’ll be fine.”
“Really?” Kayen tutted. “Because I look and feel stupid right here. You really think your friends will fall for this nonsensical ‘disguise’ of yours?”
Levik nodded. “Yeah. Because they will. Ever since Void Lord Kenon broke the Secret and a lot of bigger, more important Rethans were cut out of it, most Rethans are… well, more open to those who aren’t completely connected. As long as you KNOW the Secret is a thing, then Rethans will be more friendly to you.”
Kayen and Kohra both eyed Levik suspiciously.
“That can’t be true…” Kohra grunted. “Every Rethavok I have ever met has instantly outed me as “not a Rethavok”! How is now any different?”
“They don’t care as much now!” Levik explained. “After hundreds of years of being isolationists, the whole apocalypse thing has made even lower ranked Rethavok far more open! And, if I am brutally honest, most Rethavok… aren’t actually that smart. If I learned one thing from the time I spent with Elkay, it’s that they are top-heavy, intelligence-wise. Lots of smart people at the top that do all the work, while everyone else at the bottom just does the basics.”
Kohra turned to Kayen, then shrugged. “He’s got a point, mate. We should be alright.”
Kayen frowned, but finally relented. “Alright, sure, I’ll go through with this. But afterwards, I want to go and buy some proper, fitted armour. None of this weird, hobbled together stuff!”
Levik smiled. “Sure. Of course. We’ll have a bit of fun.”