“I thought Lokmahro sent you home for the day?” Phovos snapped, growling at the polite knocking on the door. She could see who it was through the frosted glass window at the top.
“May I come in?” the being on the other side was, clearly a familiar face.
Phovos hesitated, then sighed, quickly relenting. She didn’t want arguments, not today. “Fine. Get your stupid, armoured ass in here and sit down and be quiet.”
The door opened, revealing Elkay, the middle-aged Rethan she had recently hired as a bodyguard for her public servants. Elkay did as he was told, sitting down on the stool on the opposite side of Phovos’s desk, waiting for further instructions.
“The work day has finished, Phovos. You are working very late today.”
Phovos glanced at Elkay, then at the clock on the wall. After realising that the clock on the wall wasn’t working, she peered at the communicator on her desk, which had a small clock on it. The bastard Rethan was right, it was nearly 8pm. Phovos had clearly lost track of time.
“So what are you doing here, Elkay?” Phovos tutted. “Don’t you have a girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever you call them to get back to?”
“My partner is waiting downstairs. He was in fact the one who suggested I should speak to you, since we were walking past here on the way to a restaurant. You have been acting strangely, withholding vital information and not speaking clearly.”
Phovos grunted, going back to her work and mostly just ignoring Elkay. Elkay was willing to wait for a moment to let Phovos cool off, before speaking again.
“This is about that Banikan, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Why is that Banikan so important to you?”
Another grunt. Phovos was not in the mood for this, but she didn’t have any real reason to not let Elkay in on this. After all, it was Elkay who had calmed the Banikan down in the first place.
“The Banikan who wandered in here is not who he says he is…”
“So who is he? And why is that relevant? Does he not have a tribe that needs assistance?”
Phovos closed her eyes, tutting. “I thought you would have guessed by now.”
Elkay shook his head, tutting as well. “Phovos, this universe is huge and drawn out on a whim by a crazy deity who made you in her image. Guessing what is going on is a game one can not feasibly play.”
“True…” Phovos sighed. “Alright. I’ll explain. Briefly though because I don’t have all the details. Not yet anyway. Ct’Irinus is not that Banikan’s real name. Kinisosomatic, and a much older one, who used to go by the name Atteh’Kus. But he was never… trained and doesn’t know how to deal with past-births the way I do, and that makes him… dangerous.”
Elkay stared somewhat blankly at Phovos. “I will be honest with you, I lost understanding at the end there.”
“He’s a Kiniseon.”
“And?”
“And he got old, regressed backwards, back to childhood but didn’t reform his memories so believes himself to be a completely different being.”
“Uh…” Elkay was visibly confused. “Are you somewhat suggesting that… a Kiniseon does not die, but instead turns back into a baby and… grows up again?”
Phovos nodded. “That was what I was planning on teaching you how to do. As long as you don’t get yourself killed and learn to reform your personality after each rebirth, you’re essentially immortal.”
“I will be blunt with you, Phovos…” Elkay rubbed his head, still confused. “If you had introduced me to all of this saying that I was immortal from the start, I would have been far more… interested…”
The Raptor grunted. “Whatever. What’s more important right now is that we have a third Kiniseon here. Which means more are most likely on their way here too. So, uh, watch out, okay?”
Elkay nodded, getting up from his seat. “Understood. We need to work on being clear with each other.”
“Yeah, yeah. We can discuss this further in our Sunday training. You go have a nice dinner with whatshisface.”
“Teekay. His name is Teekay.”
Phovos grunted. “And he’s a Skyavok.”
“Yes, I know,” Elkay shrugged. “I, like the rest of this universe, am capable of changing. Have a nice day, Phovos.”
“You too, Elkay… See you on Sunday…” Phovos sighed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before going back to work.