“Heya, how you doing?”
Kayel was busy doing a bit of training on his own. The training mostly involved trying to hit targets with his elemental powers. Throwing balls of fire seemed pretty easy, but Kayel was currently experimenting with little ice daggers.
“Oh, hey Psiksi!” Kayel turned to face who was talking to him. “I’m not doing much, how about you?”
“I’m fine. Just thought you seemed a bit lonely, out here on your own.”
“Nah, I’m good. Just need some alone time occasionally. Retvik was here earlier, he was making little light daggers and was throwing them, so I thought I’d practice my own stuff.”
“Fair. I didn’t think your Retvik was a dagger-using person.”
Kayel smiled a bit. “You’d think he’d be into gun-staffs like most Rethans. He’s actually more of a shield-using guy, but Retvik actually earned his 300 win streak by using daggers that me and Tenuk gave to him.”
“Oh… so Ret was a solo gladiator?” Psiksi asked. “I thought you four were a team.”
“We are definitely a team, but Retvik was a solo gladiator before and during our time as a team. He was a house fighter, representing the arenas themselves.”
Kayel trailed off briefly, preoccupied with the little icy blades he was trying to make.
“You weren’t always a gladiator though?”
“Hah!” Kayel snorted, fiddling around with his current ice dagger. “I was an assassin at first. Then I was a prostitute, then I got my teaching gig, and when… the… things happened, Retvik suggested we do gladiator stuff until I could get a new teaching job. But I ended up really liking being a gladiator.”
Psiksi smiled. “Legally punching people is a lot of fun, yes. Were you going to stay as a gladiator, had you not been whisked away?”
“Oh, definitely! I was building my own solo career as well!” Kayel beamed. “I got to be the big bad guy for a Thirteenth Night match, I managed to win a match by making someone throw up and I had a win streak of 22 matches in a row! Sure, nowhere near as good as Retvik’s streak, but it was awesome.”
“What’s Thirteenth Night?” Psiksi asked.
“It’s this, I dunno, game show? Basically 8 volunteers are dumped in a dark, scary arena and need to escape while a Big Bad hunts them all down. Normally it’s a Banikan or a Temthan, but me, Tenuk and Nyssi all got to be Big Bads…” Kayel paused. “Oh. Darn. Retvik never got a chance to play as the Big Bad.”
Psiksi blinked. “Holy fuck, that sounds like a ton of fun. But… why did Ret not get picked? Even without all his powers, he’s a tank.”
Kayel went back to smiling. “Hah. Phovos wouldn’t let him, because he had a persona to keep up as a good guy gladiator. But Retvik was so good, he earned the Triumphant Crown, something that only two other beings managed to get, both of whom were Banikans.”
“Was Ret like, a wrestler or something? Playing a character?”
“Nah! Ret was just being himself. But since he’s a kind, caring guy, he never got the chance to do evil persona stuff. Most Rethans were like that though. Guardians first, everything else second.”
“What were Skyavok in your universe?” Psiksi asked. “Did everyone sorta, just have their places or something?”
Kayel grinned. “Totally. Us Skyavok were the archivists of the universe. Wrote everything down, documented everything and stored it all in an accessible way. My buddy…uh…” Kayel suddenly trailed off, then fell silent.
“What’s wrong?”
“One of my closest friends was called Psiksi. Looked nothing like you, he had green plating, was stupidly tall and had these amazing muscles. And I’ve just kinda realized I’m never going to see him again, and he’s probably still mourning me, six months later… I wish I could have said goodbye at least…”
Psiksi looked Kayel up and down, then gave him a nice, big hug. Kayel resisted at first, but quickly gave in and hugged Psiksi back.
“Yeah, there’s… a huge amount of folks I never got to say goodbye to. And now they’re all gone? I have regrets. Mostly about my parents.”
Kayel broke free of the hug. “Your mum was called Kayel. Wasn’t he? That’s why you and Eksi act a bit awkward around me.”
“Yeah…” Psiksi sighed. “I’ll be blunt, I do really like you. But it’s a tad awkward.”
Kayel shrugged. “I get that. Arkay told me the same thing. But would it make you feel better that I didn’t hatch with the name Kayel?”
Psiksi blinked. “You weren’t born with that name?”
“Nope. I was given the name Elkay when I was found as an abandoned egg. Don’t know who my parents were, never found out, and I got stuck in K-Class for most of my life. I’ve only been calling myself Kayel for a year or so. And apparently I don’t look like either of these other Kayels, because Arkay managed to get past that hang up pretty easily and slept with me.”
“You… you fucked the god of death?” Psiksi was shocked.
“Well, no, he fucked me, but, well… yeah, I did.”
“Fucking really?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
Kayel shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. But I take it you also want to sleep with me.”
Psiksi sighed, then nodded. “You are pretty damn hot. Even without the fire powers.”
“Oh, totally!” Kayel was grinning again. “And since I’m L-Class now… well, I WAS L-Class… doing a Ξ-Class job… Either way, I’m totally cool with friends-with-benefits things. Always have been.”
Psiksi smiled back. “Oh, your universe’s Ξ-Class was also incredibly open and free?”
“Yep.”
“Huh…”
Kayel stopped smiling all of a sudden. “I’ll be honest though… Are you willing to wait until after I’ve done my stupid trial?”
“Of course!” Psiksi nodded. “I spent the last year or so thinking I was the only Skyavok left and the only comfort I got was from my hands. I’m totally willing to wait a bit longer.”
“I appreciate that.”
“It’s all cool!” Psiksi went back to smiling. “In the mean time, since you’re training, would you like some help?”
Kayel smiled as well. “I’d love some help…”