Evening matches in the Dessaron Battle Arenas were always interesting, but this was a format Arkay had not seen before, clearly a new type of battle added recently. Everything was much darker than usual and situated in one of the old, forested arenas, meaning you could only see small sections of the battle. Not that this really mattered, because the DBA had invested in drones to record what was going on and broadcast it on massive screens across the arena, showing everything in gruesome detail despite the barely non-existent lighting.
As to why Arkay was there, watching from some of the best seats available, well, his friends were going to be performing in this arena tonight and Phovos had requested that he watch. He didn’t join the Raptor up in her own viewing port though, because Phovos was going to be relaying commentary for this match, a minor event of its own that drew even more vok than usal.
Just as everyone below was warming up and the seats below were nearly filled, someone plonked themselves down next to Arkay, grinning somewhat wildly.
“Heya!”
This being was a Skyavok like Arkay, except quite small. Arkay was considered tall (even if he barely stood over 1.7m in height) but this lone visitor was short yet well built, with muscular arms and a pair of glowing red and orange psionic wings, unintentionally showing off his strength. The warm glow and the fiery sheen to this Skyan’s eyes seemed to oppose just how dark the rest of him was. Pitch black skin as dark as Arkay’s, but also black plating that matched.
“Hi, Kayen…” Arkay lowered himself down, not liking how exposed this visitor was making him.
“What are yooou doing here?” Kayen immediately asked. “I thought you were busy doing deathy things!”
Arkay took a deep breath, then pulled Kayen closer. “Please be quiet.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so!”
Kayen frowned. “I just wanted to ask why you’re here. You never visit and now you’re here watching an arena match and you didn’t even invite me?”
“I don’t even know where you live.”
“That has never stopped you before. I mean, you ARE the Thantophor… Uh, were the Thantophor…”
Arkay tutted, then backed away. “How did you know?”
“Psiksi told me. I assume he found out when either Tenuk told him or because you have been chatting with Phovos a lot lately and Kass probably saw you wandering around with Phovos and three strange beings and, well, you know. You’re a bright yellow Skyan, there’s like three total in Palaestra so it’s kinda obvious.”
“I guess…” Arkay was not happy and it showed. He felt vulnerable. Sure, if something happened right there and then, he could protect himself, but he had realised how flawed his plan was and that other beings were less reliable than he thought. “You can’t tell anyone though, alright?”
“Why not?” Kayen asked, leaning back and stretching out. “I mean, it’s not like you’re in the cheap seats right now.”
“That’s not the point. I have a clawed out persona here. Everyone knows ‘Arkay’ was somehow brought back by ‘the death god’ for an unexplained reason. There’s a distinction between me and Arkadin. My siblings… not so much.”
Kayen shrugged. “So you’re making them work in the DBA?”
“No, Phovos suggested it and they agreed. Where else is are weird being like them supposed to work?”
“Are they fighting here tonight?”
“Apparently.”
A smile sneaked across Kayen’s face as he put an arm around Arkay. “Well, let’s try and spot them in tonight’s show!”