“So, how you feeling now?”
Kayel looked up at Nyssi, who was sitting opposite him. Between them was a flickering campfire with a grill running across it. Slices of Thragger flesh rested on the grill, slowly cooking away.
“Kinda embarrassed, to be honest. Didn’t think the answer to my unfulfilled Phantasma bloodlust would be to just go hunting.”
Nyssi smiled, prodding the cooking meat. They’d had a pretty good day, all things considered. The Torn Islet had mostly recovered from a recent stampede, and the remaining population were now back at work, capturing exotic beasts and killing anything too problematic. The local Temthans had found it somewhat odd that a small, bright yellow Skyavok wanted to accompany today’s hunting party, but Nyssi had vouched for Kayel and they quickly accepted him.
The hunt was pretty simple. A pack of Thraggers were terrorizing a nearby village and had requested help in taking them out. Nyssi’s group, consisting of three Temthans by the names of Kinigos, Leontar and Haplo, as well as Nyssi and Kayel, had spent the morning tracking the pack down to a remote, forested area in the southern area of Vriskera, before setting up a trap in a clearing. They’d then waited patiently for the Thraggers to come along, sitting in silence, hiding in the shadows.
Eventually, a couple of large Thraggers appeared. Kayel had politely asked if he could take the first shot and the Temthans agreed that he could. They were then immediately impressed as Kayel swiftly and cleanly killed the larger Thragger with a single rifle shot to the head. Haplo and Kinigos both fired on the second Thragger, and it too died rather quickly. The afternoon was spent setting up the trap again, and, at the end of the day, between the five of them, they managed to kill six Thraggers. While five of them were sent to the nearby village for food, as partial payment, the last was taken away by the team of hunters, back towards the Torn Islet, where they’d set up camp about a kilometre out to cut up the last Thragger and have a nice meal between them.
“Sometimes the solution’s simple!” Nyssi was still smiling. “You feel better though, right?”
“Yeah, definitely…” Kayel paused. Leontar, a lithe, orange Temthan with brown stripes around his neck and arms, approached, sitting down beside Nyssi. They glanced at Kayel, then grinned.
“Good work today, little one!” Leontar’s voice wasn’t particularly gruff. Most Temthans had rough, hissing voices, mostly because of their reptilian heritage. Even Nyssi’s voice hissed at times. But Kayel found Leontar to be rather approachable. “You’re a natural. Ain’t seen a finer shot in a long while.”
Kayel lowered his head, also smiling. Although that involved the baring of his teeth, and, unlike the Temthan, his teeth didn’t slot neatly together. “Thank you. I was honestly kinda worried, my accuracy hasn’t been great lately.”
“You killed a Thragger in a single shot.”
“Still.”
Leontar let out a little laugh, then playfully nudged Nyssi. “Where did you find this girl? She’s great.”
Nyssi laughed back. “You think Kayel is-”
“I don’t mind being called either gender!” Kayel quickly interrupted. “I mean, I’m a Skyan, I’m male and female.”
Leontar shrugged. “I forgot about that. You little shadow beasts are quite, well, isolated. Still, I’m impressed. If you need a job, you certainly have one on the Torn Islet. But you really must tell me how you are so talented!”
Kayel didn’t answer as quickly this time. “It’s… complicated. Very, very complicated.”
Nyssi flipped over the steaks, checking them to see if they were cooked. Satisfied that they were, she called over Haplo and Kinigos, who swiftly joined them in the small campsite. Kinigos sat down awkwardly next to Kayel, while Haplo sat down on a small log adjacent to Leontar. Nyssi plated up the steaks, handing one to each of her friends. Kayel regretted not looking up Temthan dining traditions, and found it a little odd how they all just happily picked up the hot meat in their hands and were tearing lumps off with their sharp teeth.
“So, Nyssi, you didn’t answer my question!” Leontar beamed between mouthfuls of freshly grilled flesh. “Where did you find this girl?”
“At the Arksini hospital pharmacy!” Nyssi cheerfully replied. “Same place I ran into Tenuk and Retty!”
Leontar paused, then immediately realized who Kayel was. “Damn, girl, you took on two Light Beasts on your own.”
“Leo, dude, they’re called Rethavok…” Haplo nudged Leontar with his elbow. “And this guy’s a Skyavok. Call them by their proper names!”
“Skyavok literally just means Shadow Beast though!” Leontar protested. “You guys don’t appreciate my knowledge of the Paleo Threa-Vohra language. Or rather, Old Earth-Nest, if you want to translate it!”
Kayel awkwardly took a bite out of his meal. He wasn’t really a fan, the meat was a bit too rare for him, but he didn’t want to complain. “So you study languages, Leontar?” Kayel asked as he swallowed a particularly fatty piece.
“I have a BA in Ancient Languages!” Leontar was full of smiles. “Nyssi studied zoology, Haplo has written articles on the life circles of many of the larger Temthianic Aggressor Species on Portalia and Kinigos is a medical doctor.”
“So what are you all doing out here?”
“We like to hunt. It’s a base instinct, it’s fun, it pays well. Also helps in Nyssi’s and Haplo’s studies. Question is, little Kayel, why are you here?”
Kayel lowered his gaze, staring into the campfire. “Like I said, it’s complicated.”
“It’s not that complicated really!” Nyssi butted in. “It’s not just Temthans who need their predatory fix after all!”
Kinigos leaned back, looking confused. “Skyavok get primal predator influences? But they are not a predatory race! At the very least, they are not apex predators the way we are.”
“It’s… not quite the same thing…” Kayel did his best to explain. “Like… You know what I am, right? You all saw our match, right?”
Everyone nodded.
Haplo grunted. “You’re a Phantasma. Weird ancient Skyaok warrior. Weird shadow powers. Apparently from Sini’s Shadow Himself.”
“Yeah, basically…” Kayel frowned, not particularly liking how the Temthan had referred to his deity. They weren’t to blame though, that was just how Temthans were raised, completely against the very existence of the Thantophor. “To really, really oversimplify things, it’s kinda basically a death cult, and using our shadowy abilities gives us a rush of adrenaline and other chemicals that heightens our senses, but in order to get the adrenaline rush to properly go away, you have to kill something. I went seven years without doing anything Phantasma-related, and arena work doesn’t… satisfy me.”
“That honestly just sounds like you need a predator fix same way we all do…” Kinigos settled down a bit. “Nothing wrong with that. Just weird hearing it from a Skyavok.”
“How comes you didn’t need it when you shadow-jumped that entire ship though?” Nyssi asked. “Surely…”
“Well, we did help kill that nasty Kinisis thing!”
“Does that count?”
“It seemed to. I’m not really sure why we even get the bloodlust in the first place. Arkay doesn’t even like murder or assassinations…” Kayel abruptly silenced himself, not sure if he’d said too much.
“Nah. It’s all just primal instincts!” Kinigos exclaimed, having finished his steak. “We’re Temthans, we’re literally the embodiment of Holy Sini Herself, and we still have murderous urges. It’s just that none of our species have been around for very long and we haven’t evolved out of it yet. But, frankly, I don’t judge. You Skyavok, despite being weird, shadowy mini Rethavok who hate light, you’re cool. And helpful. The archives you create are a huge boon to all of society.”
“I’ll… take that as a compliment!” Kayel felt a bit more confident now. “Although technically the Skyavok evolved first.”
Kinigos shrugged. “True, true. Either way, little one, if you ever need to get rid of your primal urges, the Torn Islet welcomes you. Whenever you need it.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it! Probably going to need it as well, as we do more arena stuff.”
Leontar laughed loudly, putting an arm around Kayel. “Girl, between you and Nyssi and the fact that you guys are knocking the Rethavok down a peg, you’ve got more fans than ever. We can’t wait to see what your team does next!”