They’d walked for a long time through the wilderness, being led by a convoy of powerful, muscular Banikans, each one of them probably powerful enough to take on a tank, let alone the Temthan, Ksithan, Kronospast and Skyavok they’d captured.
The Banikans were of a multitude of colours, mostly warm hues of yellow, red and orange, with various black stripes running down their backs, broken up by plates of armour. Each Banikan wore a helmet with a snubbed horn above their nostrils, covering their faces, but weirdly cracked and revealing one eye. Around their necks, they wore tattered black and gold scarves which flapped somewhat uselessly in the wind.
Even among Banikans, these Banikans seemed different. They were nothing like any of the Banikans Phovos had met in her work, and nothing like the monsters Timik and Kohra had read about. Kayen didn’t have a chance to mention how odd they were, since he’d passed out a good couple of hours ago and was now being carried in the arms of one of the larger Banikans.
The group finally reached a village, its walls built with the skulls and bones of massive, long-dead beings. In fact, everything seemed to be made out of dead things. The paths and walkways were made from crushed bones and the houses were made out of the shells of huge, turtle-like creatures that came from the nearby ocean. A river ran through the village, having been dug out and redirected to circle around the impressive bone statue at the village’s centre.
“Uh… What’s going on?” Phovos finally gathered the courage to say something as the four of them were taken inside what was clearly the village’s place of worship. Inside were more statues, all of them depicting images of horned deities, made out of clay and bone. Six different deities could be seen.
“I think they are going to sacrifice us to their gods… Thank the Allbir-” Timik paused mid-sentence. Not because he was worried about angering the Banikans, but because he felt he couldn’t thank the goddess he once so blindly worshipped. After all, she did try to suck out his bodily fluids.
“We have plenty of better things to sacrifice to the Keepers. I would appreciate you remaining quiet…”
A particularly bright yellow Banikan stepped forward. Its back was decorated with a pair of mock wings made out of shards of bone. It bowed down, and as it did so, the other Banikans bowed too. One Banikan pulled out a small, clay bowl and spat in it before handing it to the bright Banikan. This one was clearly some sort of leader, as it muttered a prayer and mixed ash into the bowl, making the other Banikans bow again. It then turned around and threw the bowl’s contents into a small fire, causing it to light up in yellow sparkles.
“Can you ple-”
“Shush. Breathe.”
Everyone did as they were told. The room fell silent, only to be suddenly filled with splutters.
“AH WHAT WHERE AM I!” Kayen screeched as he sat bolt upright. “Oh. Uh. Hello…”
“Hello, little sun-kissed, are you feeling better?”
Kayen took a deep breath. “Yeah, actually… Did you, like, make some nitrogen or something?”
The yellow Banikan nodded. “You may call me F’Vos. I am the high priestess of the Deathly Shadows tribe.”
“Where are we?” Kayen asked. “Because it’s kinda weird that there isn’t much nitrogen on a world where there’s oxygen-breathing beings like yourselves…”
F’Vos smiled and nodded. The Banikan who had been holding Kayen led him over to F’Vos’s side. Even though the Banikan was smaller than the others, it was at least double Kayen’s height, and that was before the massive pair of horns on its head. “You do not act in fear.”
“I’ve not really met a Banikan before. Plus you just helped me breathe again so I’m thankful for that…” Kayen glanced back at his friends. “I must say though, I would like to know what’s going on…”
“That’s the thing…” F’Vos smiled. “No one truly knows. Four strange beings landed on our unspoiled ground, coming from the realms of Kayar-Yisin, a place no mortal returns from. But on top of that, these four fellows all have traces of other lands on them. The Temthan stinks of the Heart of Yisin, the Raptor herself carries the scent of the Voidclouds, the Son of the Kronospasts has visited what they would call the Forbidden Home and you… you were snatched from the Planetids of the Panelix…”
“I understood like three of those words…” Timik muttered.
“I think she’s saying-”
“She?” Kohra suddenly blurted.
The Banikans stared at Kohra.
“Sorry, I somehow had it in my head that you were all male-leaning hermaphrodites the way Skyavok are.”
F’Vos shook her head, her long, black horns scraping against the ceiling. “No, we have male and female Banikans, all equal within our society. It is clear as day that none of you, save for the Raptor, know what Banikans really are.”
“Excuse me…” Phovos sighed. “I know it’s tempting to want to berate them for being uncultured idiots, but I kinda really want to know what’s going on, why you’ve brought us here and where we can get something to eat?”
F’Vos nodded again. “You have reasonable points. Let us go to our Trofeia and have something to nibble on. K’ra, can you lead the way please?”
A pale orange Banikan at the back waved then led everyone outside. They crossed over the river to a particularly large shell house, where meats were being prepared in various ways, being grilled over heat, boiled or even salted.
K’ra sat the four guests at the table in the middle of the hall.
“You all actually seem pretty friendly!” Kohra exclaimed as bone china plates were placed in front of them, filled with various meats. Two small bowls of sweet sauce were placed in front of Kohra, while some sort of boiled starchy vegetable was chopped up and placed on Kayen’s plate. “Do you just not like strangers?”
“We do not like strangers who come to us with weapons…” a gruff, male Banikan growled. “Unfortunately most of them come with weapons.”
“Oh… So what about us?” Kohra asked.
The male Banikan grunted, then eyed F’Vos.
“You have a lot of questions…” F’Vos smiled. “Eat, drink, make yourselves feel better and relax a little. Because we have some answers and some questions as well, and they will require your full concentration.”
“Sounds like a great idea!” Timik beamed, his mouth full of food.