Phovos had been waiting around for a while now, not really sure what she was waiting for. To the point that she wasn’t too surprised when Elkay Athanasion, the All-Ksa of the Skyavok, stepped through a shadow, then collapsed in the seat opposite her.
“You look rough.”
“I feel rough…” Elkay muttered as he rubbed his eyes, then rubbed at the plating on his arms. Small pieces of smoky, black material seemed to drift off them, but the strange material vanished before it hit the ground. “Sometimes there are things I cannot do as All-Ksa but can do as someone else. However, it seems that our Silent Blade, your Ice Wolf, is quite angry right now.”
Phovos glanced down at her communicator. She’d just received a bunch of messages from her security staff, about an N-Class Skyavok who had killed two R-Class guards, as well as a secondary message that the two other missing Skyavok had been found and were being taken to the medical bays.
“What did you do?”
“What?” Elkay asked back. “I did nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I am not lying. I, Elkay Athanasion, did not leave this room. What the Shadow, the Spiritual Guide of the Skyavok, the Servant of the Silent Blade, does, is completely out of my jurisdiction, power or control. But also the Silent Blade is very angry. The Shadow gave Ayvee-En the chance to spare the lives of those he broke the Ends of. Ayvee-En lied, in front of both the Shadow and the Blade.”
A new message interrupted the conversation. Phovos had received an email containing an attachment, sent from one of her House Fighters. A recording. Phovos hesitantly opened the recording and listened to it.
“I’ll have to kill them later. Killing Teekay Askotin should be easy, but Kayel Theanon will be troublesome. Didn’t think that little Kayel bitch actually had ties to the Thantophor, so I’m going to have to murder him in some other way.”
Phovos glanced up at Elkay.
“That voice… is that the bastard N-Class guy we spoke to earlier?”
Elkay nodded.
“What in the name of the Ice Wolf did Kayel and your cute body guard do?”
Another email came in with a second attachment, immediately answering Phovos’s question.
“Those bitches are two of the Phantasma assassins we tricked into trying to kill me, so we could shut down the Phantasma Cult.”
“Oh…” Phovos frowned. “See, this is why I’ve always been hesitant about hiring Spasts. They can sneak around and do this sort of thing…”
“Little Tenuk is quite an individual. Very skilled, very clever and far too pure. A youngling as well, more ignorant of the Spasts’ more selfish ways. And of course, we cannot dismiss Kayel’s other friends. Nyssi cleverly managed to find where Kayel and Teekay were located, and our good friend the Lightbearer rescued them both and carried them to safety.”
Phovos sighed to herself. “I love Xeno Dessaron One, they’re my favourite House Fighter team, the best I’ve had since I was in a House Fighter team myself. But they do cause a lot of trouble sometimes.”
“They are friends of the Silent Blade. And today, someone tried to harm a friend of the Silent Blade…” Elkay trailed off and rubbed his eyes again. He was clearly exhausted.
“You’re not well.”
“I am not well, no. Giving yourself completely to the darkness, becoming an assistant to the Silent Blade, it is… both an honour and rather draining. As far as I can tell, the title of the Shadow is passed from generation to generation, and the Shadow is my burden until I die, and it is passed on to someone else. I would not be surprised if Kayel becomes the next Shadow after I pass. He already shows promise…” Another pause, another eye rub. “I have said too much.”
Phovos leaned forward and put a hand on Elkay’s shoulder. “It’s fine. I’ll keep your secrets. I said I would. As far as I’m concerned, we never left this room, we’ve been waiting for Psiksi to come back. Anyway, would you like something to drink, while the local Ksithan police force sorts everything out?”
Elkay smiled. “I would like that, yes.”
…
Literally nothing was making sense to Ayvee-En right now. Sure, he tried to kill a local hero, but said local hero had broken their end of a contract, giving Ayvee-En the right to kill them. Apparently, in neutral territories, such contacts were illegal.
That would have been the end of things, Ayvee-En would have bribed his way out like he always did, but literally everything else had gone wrong. While leaving the scene of the crime where he’d tried to kill that yellow-plated Phantasma scum, Ayvee-En had been pushed down a flight of stairs and broken his arm and several ribs. But at the bottom of those stairs was Ayvee-En’s dead guard, stabbed to death with the ceremonial knife that Ayvee-En had never eve unsheathed, let alone used before.
The only other potential witness to all this happening, the only person who could have proved Ayvee-En’s innocence in Jayar’s death, had been a single Spast. However, that Spast had overheard Ayvee-En and Jayar saying how Spasts were scum, and was refusing to cooperate or even accept the massive bribes Ayvee-En had offered… him? It? Her? Whatever. As for Ayvee-En’s other guard, Essar, they bought the story that Ayvee-En had killed Jayar. She’d somehow not seen the Spast, she hadn’t even been in that bathroom. Ayvee-En wondered whethe Spast had shapeshifted into Essar or something, but he had no proof.
And to make matters worse? The gun that Ayvee-En had used to shoot the Phantasma scumbag? Somehow, it had tracked him taking it. It turned out that all Great Dessaron Battle Arena weapons had tags on them that tracked who used them. Despite the fact that he had mind-controlled the staff in the armoury to remove the tags before handing them to him.
On top of that? Ayvee-En had failed a forced drug test the Ksithan police force had given him. It turned out, while Skyavok were rather liberal with drugs, Ksithans were not. They were a race known for two things: their stupid arenas and their medical expertise, and they were not fans of a majority of the more… explicit recreational drugs. Drugs that hadn’t faded from Ayvee-En’s system, that he’d taken over a week ago.
The worst thing though was that, because Portalia was a neutral planet, despite Ayvee-En’s crimes happening in Ksithan territories, a LOT of other races were getting involved. Someone had tipped off the authorities that Ayvee-En had telepathy, which meant that the Vohra had stepped in, as had a special Lanex unit that dealt with rogue non-Vohran telepaths. But something else was stopping Ayvee-En from just mind-wiping everyone and running. A sinister telepath that wasn’t him. Someone just… undoing everything Ayvee-En did. And Ayvee-En had absolutely no idea who this more powerful telepath was.
Basically, everything was going wrong. That stupid cat was right. Every single part of Ayvee-En’s life was being torn apart. And as Ayvee-En paced around his tiny cell, he saw the cat again. It hissed at him, then ran off. Suddenly, Ayvee-En threw up, emptying the entire contents of his stomach all over himself.
As Ayvee-En sat in a pool of his own vomit, he wondered if, maybe, he deserved it.
…
Teekay sighed to himself as he rubbed cream on the skin on his arms. There were horrific burn marks on his wrists, where he’d been tied up with sharp rope. Similar marks covered his legs and tail, and a rather nasty, raw wound ran around his snout, where his mouth had been tied shut. Teekay normally prided himself on his appearance and his beautiful, pale, almost silver skin, so the marks stood out pretty badly.
On the plus side, at least Teekay was alive. The second he’d seen that white and gold Skyan, Teekay was convinced that he’d find himself tortured to death. Thankfully, only the torture bit had happened, not the death. The only injuries he had sustained were the rope burns and a handful of bullet wounds, one in his shoulder, a bullet graze across his stomach (ruining one of his favourite tummy wraps) and some scratches on his arm where his plating had blocked the bullets. He could probably claim another free coffee, and the Coffee Club had been sympathetic about his damaged clothes.
But currently Teekay was somewhat on his own. He didn’t realize that the Great Arenas had their own separate medical bays. Well-guarded ones as well. Outside were two heavily armed Rethan guards, and Teekay was pretty sure that he’d seen the Lightbearer wandering back and forth. In the room opposite was his old friend Elkay, who had recently changed his name to Kayel, after finally settling down in a new life working for the L-Class. Things hadn’t worked out, and Kayel was now working as a gladiator, but he’d made some awesome new friends in the process. Those friends seemed to be as concerned about Teekay was they were for Kayel, and they’d made sure he was well protected.
Still, Teekay was unhappy. Normally, he hated diplomatic trips, mostly because his boss, the All-Ksa, had a habit of wandering off. But this trip to Palaestra, to the Great Arenas, was something Teekay had been looking forward to. He wanted a chance to see Kayel, but he also wanted to see all the cool Skyavok gladiators. He-
A knock on the door caught Teekay off-guard.
“Who is it?” Teekay asked.
The door opened slowly, and an astoundingly tall, muscular, emerald green Skyavok stuck his head into the room.
“Heya, are you Teekay?” the Skyavok asked. “Can I come in?”
The Skyavok in question was Psiksi, the Happy Cold. Literally the best Skyavok gladiator ever, although he’d never admit it.
“Of course!” Teekay beamed. “Uh, sorry… it’s… kinda… awful in here… Just me… being depressed…”
Psiksi continued to smile as he entered the room, closing the door behind him. He waltzed over and sat down on the bed next to Teekay, clearly not caring about personal space.
“It’s a hospital room, it’s gonna suck. All-Ksa said you missed your chance to properly meet me, and I immediately had to correct that. Glad I did, because you’re pretty damn cute.”
Teekay blinked. “Did you just call me cute?”
“Are you unaware of how damn attractive you are?” Psiksi asked back, and held out his hand. “You use your prettiness as a distraction, I bet. Wouldn’t put it past you. Anyway, hi, I’m Psiksi Mnimothelin, nice to meet you!”
Teekay lowered his head slightly, and shook Psiksi’s hand. “I’m Teekay Askotin. That… is quite a surname… You weren’t born Ξ-Class?”
Psiksi laughed. “Nah, my parents were A-Class. Us shadowjumpers don’t get many job opportunities, and being a gladiator is way preferable to what you do. How about you?” Psiksi paused. “Uh, don’t tell me you’re an orphan, same way Kayel is…”
“Yeah, I… I am. Most Phantasma cultists are... And now people are… working things out.”
“I won’t judge. I mean, as far as most cults go? The Phantasma Cult is, like, pretty basic. Worshiping a death god that we all already know exists, and, like, even the Rethans had a sub-legion of assassins at one point…” Psiksi trailed off, then shrugged. “Anyway, I spoke to All-Ksa Elkay, loveliest guy ever, I swear. He said he’s giving you the rest of the trip off to recuperate. You wanna go on a date or something?”
Teekay’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You heard what I said.”
“R-really?”
“Yes.”
“Well… fuck, yes, I want to go on a date with you!” Teekay smiled, suddenly feeling much better already.
“Cool. I know some great spots we can visit!” Psiksi smiled back, happy to have made Teekay’s day.
…
Kayel grunted as he tried to open his eyes. He had a splitting headache and a bandage had been wrapped around his head, so he couldn’t see much at all. However, he could hear movement. He could also feel someone shoving a can of something cold into his hand.
“Dude, you gotta stop getting shot!” Nyssi playfully tutted as she helped Kayel orientate himself, removing the bandages from his head. “This is, like, the twelfty gazillionth time now!”
Now that he could see, Kayel glanced around the room. Sitting all around him were his best friends. Tenuk and Nyssi sat to his right, and Retvik was standing by the door, on guard as always. However, there was one extra being in the room, sitting to Kayel’s left, their hand placed gently on Kayel’s.
“How are you feeling, dear Kayel?” the All-Ksa smiled kindly.
“Uh, like cold piss, if I’m honest…” Kayel muttered. “Surprised I’m alive, I guess.”
“Mate, we’re immortal!” Tenuk perked up, before abruptly covering his mouth. “Uh… maybe I should… uh… sorry…”
The All-Ksa didn’t seem at all bothered. “We all saw the Allbirther bless you, and I was present when the Silent Blade asked you four to help him kill some Corruption. I have plenty of my own secrets as it is. Speaking of which, Kayel, do you remember what happened?”
Kayel blinked, thought to himself, then blinked some more. “Not really? I made a quick prayer to Arkay, called the Target a fat fuck then got shot in the head… But I felt… I swear, I heard someone… A shadow. The Shadow…” Kayel paused some more. “All-Ksa Elkay, you’re not just a Phantasma, you’re The Shadow, the spiritual guide of the Phantasma Cult itself.“
Elkay nodded. “You are correct. I am also a chronic liar about my age, and am much older than I will admit. Not immortal like you four, but, well, I hope to see my 120th birthday soon. That is a little… factoid you can all have, if you promise to keep it secret. Which I know you four will. But that is partly the reason why I am here. The role of the Shadow is one that is passed down from generation to generation. While I will remain the Shadow until I die, I have been looking for my… next of kin. And Kayel Theanon, I believe that you will become the Shadow when I pass.”
Kayel didn’t answer, and instead blinked some more. “Uh…”
“Do you, have, like, a direct line to Arkay?” Nyssi abruptly asked. “I heard that the Shadow acted a lot like the Three of the Banikans, but for Skyavok?”
“Hah, no, I wish I could speak to Arkay properly. Especially since he seems to be taking the form of a large, black cat currently. Arkay just points me in the right direction, and gives me the strength to do what I need.”
“Oh, so the fluffy kitty that interrupted my induction ceremony for the 1000th Legion WAS Arkay…” Retvik muttered.
“Perhaps. Our Silent Blade likes all Threanics, not just Skyavok!” Elkay smiled some more. “Anyway, Kayel, look after yourself. You have an… astonishing future ahead of you. Also, take Nyssi’s advice and try not to get shot so much.”
Kayel laughed awkwardly. Elkay patted Kayel on the hand again, then stood up.
“I do apologize, I must go. I am a busy leader after all. Please say hello to Little Bitey for me when they get here.”
“You mean Kuta?” Retvik asked. “You know them?”
“I do, yes! Who do you think secretly trained the poor thing on how to use their shadow powers? Anyway, stay safe, my dears!” Elkay smiled one last time, then disappeared through a nearby shadow.
Kayel, Nyssi, Retvik and Tenuk all glanced at each other, not really sure if that whole conversation had just happened. Eventually, someone spoke.
“So, uh, do you guys all want to get shitfaced later on?” Nyssi asked. “Because the last week or so has been one hell of a ride.”
Kayel rubbed his eyes, then shrugged. “Sure, why not?”