“Well, that was fairly enjoyable.”
Eksi leaned against the wall, sliding down it in exhaustion. Somehow, the massive, flaming, heavily armoured Rethavok in front of him seemed completely fine, considering they had just fought and killed… well, whatever that thing was. It was black and ugly but had gold bits randomly scattered across its body.
“What… what… even… is that?” Eksi whispered. “Is this what… you expect me to… fight on the… regular?”
“Not on the regular, no, not at all.” The shimmering Rethavok turned its attention properly to Eksi. In the chaos of the battle, Eksi had kinda forgotten his name. The strange, black-robed being had interrupted an otherwise standard business meeting.
“What? This isn’t what you all do?” Eksi exclaimed, feeling very unsure of himself. Sure, Eksi normally worked in security and occasionally had to mess around with violent beings, but normally these beings wouldn’t have magical powers way above what Eksi could even comprehend.
The flaming Rethavok shrugged, then turned his attention to a collapsed heap of tables and chairs. “Are you alright there, Litvir?”
A purple claw poked is way through the rubble, followed by another. After some rustling around, a large, purple Rethavok with glowing tattoos on his arms and tail appeared.
“I am fine, Retvik. Will have to fix my fangs again though…” Litvir grumbled. “It turns out that being thrown into a wall is…” Litvir paused, suddenly staring at Eksi.
“Uh, hi.”
“Hello there. What is your name?” Litvir’s tone lightened slightly. “You seem… curious.”
“This is Eksi,” Retvik was rather thankfully dealing with the introduction. “He is who Kuta chose to replace him. Well, one of the potential candidates.”
“A Skyavok?” Litvir picked himself up and made his way over to Eksi. “An unusual choice. Especially since this one has quite an aura about him. Most… unusual…”
Eksi waved awkwardly. Litvir was not as tall as Retvik, but he was somehow more intimidating than his literally-on-fire counterpart. The more Eksi looked at him, the more he could feel… something… looming but also vaguely inviting.
“Hi…” Eksi didn’t know what to say. “Is there more to this job?”
“Of course,” Litvir smiled. “We normally keep the place tidy, run basic security and clear up any messes we make. It has been a while since someone got violent. Your auric attempts to calm that Voidborn down were very appreciated.”
After a brief silence, Eksi realised that, maybe, this wasn’t as bad as he thought it was. But what interested Eksi more was that this Rethavok seemed to have the same telepathic intrigues that Eksi had.
“Uh, thanks, I guess?” Eksi shrugged. “Do you both want me to… I don’t know, try something else aside from fighting? To get the whole experience?”
“You genuinely want to join us?” Retvik asked. “You seemed uncertain.”
“You’re giving me magical powers and stuff, I feel like I can’t say no. Well, I kinda could, but, like, I’d be insane to give up what you vok are offering…” Eksi found himself becoming a bit more confident, now that he wasn’t as exhausted as before. “My question is, how do I come and go for work? I don’t really own a ship.”
“You would live here with us.”
That statement made Eksi pause. “I… get to live in a super fancy space hotel thing?”
Retvik nodded.
Eksi paused some more. The fact that he would live at this place made him worry a little. “Uh, would I be able to go home and see family and stuff?”
“Of course, with your time off. We would need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement, but Galyn will sort the paperwork out.”
“So we are definitely hiring Eksi?” Litvir turned to Retvik again. “I would like it if we hired him. He has already proved himself.”
Retvik shrugged. “I think we need approval from everyone else first. But that should not be too much of an issue. Assuming this is what Eksi wants.”
The two Rethans turned back to Eksi.
“You want this?”
Eksi nodded. “I do want the job.”
“Good,” Litvir smiled some more. “Come with us and we will get you sorted out…”