“One more exam?”
“Yep.”
“Just one?”
“Yep.”
“And that was it?”
“Yep.”
Lissandra tutted and rolled her eyes. “That was the longest and most boring exam ever though! No, wait, I take it back. That was the second longest and most boring exam ever after that stupid folded time exam!”
Teekay shrugged. “Yeah, exams tend to be pretty fucking boring. No one does exams for fun. Apart from Elksia when she did that folded time exam twice to get a near perfect score. But anyway, you all did the final test!”
“Ah, good…” Vokulunaax grunted. “My fingers hurt. Thrakian hands are not meant for writing for such a long time.”
Lissandra was about to rant again, but Vokulunaax’s comment confused her. “Hand on, what do you mean by that? There’s fucking ten metre scrolls written by Thraki out there!”
“We had typewriters for that sort of thing…” Vokulunaax sighed. “But I am used to tech just not working for me. Still, that is beside the point. Are we done with exams now?”
Teekay nodded. “Yep, all seven of you have done all your exams. We’re just waiting for your test results for this last exam, which I’m certain you all passed, and now we can focus on training and looking at potential scenarios for your trial!”
“Ah, yes, our trail…” Vexer seemed no longer impressed. He’d done well on most of the exams, and was pretty sure he’d done great on that last one. “I’m worried.”
“Why are you worried?” Kayenus asked.
“Because it’s a potentially deadly situation!” Vexer snapped. “Decay Lord Trials are dangerous! People die in them!”
“That is not true!” Atteh’Kus butted in. “They USED to allow Decaylings to die in their trials. Now, the trials are still dangerous, but one is teleported out before they are, uh, killed. Similar to the old arenas that the Raptor used to run.”
“How… how do you know about the arenas?” Vexer asked. “Atteh’Kus, you’re a Banikan. They hated that sort of thing.”
“Elkay and Phovos assisted me when I found myself on Palaestra!” Atteh’Kus grunted. “I had… just woken up from… being killed and coming back to life. I wandered into a populated area, Elkay calmed me down and got me medical attention, and Phovos helped me realise what I was.”
“Huh…” Vexer thought for a moment, then turned to Teekay. “When did you work out you were a Kiniseon being?”
Teekay blinked. “What do you mean?”
“We all worked out that something was wrong with us, that we weren’t mortal, that we were special, at SOME point in our lives. When did you work it out.”
“Um…” Teekay hesitated. “Uh… I had no idea until Yisini came along, looking for Elkay to ask him if he wanted to work for her, and she… just noticed me.”
“You… had no idea you were a Kiniseon being?” Vexer exclaimed. “You had no fucking clue?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Are you even a Kiniseon being?” Lissandra screeched. “Or are you hiding something? Are you just some random fucking mortal that got dragged into this shit?”
Teekay eyed Lissandra. “Alright, you can go fuck yourself. Doesn’t matter how I got out here. Doesn’t matter what Kiniseon beings are either because fuck Kinisis, she was a bitch! We’re all out here and, more importantly, I’m here helping you seven become Decay Lords!”
“What even IS a Kiniseon being?” Helkas whispered. “I thought that the Kinisis person was evil or something? Why would you want to be connected to that?”
The Decaylings all glanced at each other. Well, most of them did, aside from Lissandra.
“You know what? That’s a fucking good point!” Vexer tutted.
Vokulunaax and Atteh’Kus nodded in agreement. Lissandra disagreed.
“We were chosen because we’re the fucking best and we were blessed by Kinisis!”
“Yeah, sure, but Kinisis was a fucking awful person!” Teekay countered. “You’ve fucking seen what she did to my wife!”
Lissandra stared at Teekay. “Your wife? I’m gonna guess you’re not a fucking Kiniseon at all, you just got Rethan dick and managed to lie your way here! You’re a fucking no one! A little bitch!”
Teekay stared back at Lissandra, but he didn’t answer at first. In fact, he didn’t answer at all. He simply approached the colossal naga creature, held her hand, then made a clicking sound. In a flash of sparkles, Lissandra disappeared, and screeching could be heard outside.
“Alright, you all done being cunts now?” Teekay asked.
The Decaylings all glanced at each other again. Helkas raised his hand awkwardly.
“Was Lissandra’s pheromone power stuff making her say bad things again?”
“Yep.”
“So you… forced her to take a bath?”
“Yep!” Teekay smiled a little. “Normally, I don’t give a piss about superiority or anything like that, but I’m using my time to help you all prepare for a Decay Lord Trial, which WILL be dangerous, but the levels of danger can definitely be reduced if we all work together, and I would appreciate not even respect, just common fucking decency. Lissandra’s been doing better but she was being pretty fucking rude.”
“That is very fair!” Vokulunaax replied. “We-”
Teekay waggled a finger at the mighty Thraki. “Don’t apologise for Lissandra! She can apologise in person later on. In the mean time, I’ve got transcripts from Decay Lord Trials done within the last two year-strings, and we’re going to go through some of them together. And we’re gonna start off with the trials that us Thantir have done.”
“How comes?”
“Because we have first person accounts of what happened. And in all honesty? The trials we completed, we impressed Deathven, and I expect that they’ll put you all in a similar trial.”
“So we won’t be split up?” Vexer asked.
Teekay shrugged. “In all honesty? I have no idea. But we ought to go through what we know first, and the best way to do that is to go through these transcripts, together, and prepare as much as possible.”
“Fair…” Vexer sighed. “We should wait for Lissandra though.”
Teekay glanced at the door and chuckled. “Very true! So, while we wait for Lissandra, anyone want a drink?”