Despite having been a gladiator for the entirety of his adult life, Retvik had never been to the fancy suites rented out to rich viewers. Sure, he had watched battles himself, but house fighters had their own viewing area, closer to ground level, and even then, it was mostly there for observation and educational reasons. In fact, Retvik didn’t even know where the Gold Suite was, and it was Nyssi who was currently leading the way. She admitted that she was an “arena nerd” and knew a lot about the stuff that Retvik never really took the time to stop and think about, outside of his job.
On the awkwardly long journey, the four of them were wearing a lot of clothing, a vague attempt to stop themselves being recognized. Kayel was wearing one of his large, comfy hoodies, and Tenuk and Nyssi were also wearing some of Kayel’s clothes, a baggy black hoodie on Tenuk that was too long, and one of his hooded cloaks for Nyssi. The weather on Portalia rarely dropped below 10C, so warm clothing wasn’t really needed much outside of the winter months, and even then, the majority of the local population was either Ksithan or Temthan, and neither race had a problem with the cold. Retvik was wearing a red and gold sheet, wrapped over his head and shoulders the same way a Skyavok would normally wear a light hood in the summer. Being a famous gladiator made him slightly harder to hide.
Still, there were house-fighter-only back paths that they could head down, and, weirdly, Nyssi knew of these as well. They’d managed to make their way to the stairwell that led to the Gold Suite no problem. At the doorway were two Banikan guards, who immediately stepped to one side and let the team pass. Whether they had recognized them or not, none of them knew, and they decided to let the subject drop as they climbed six flights of stairs.
“Why don’t they have a lift?” Tenuk was getting a tad worn out. The stairs were larger than normal, meant for larger than normal beings. Creatures like Banikans and Rethavok, rather than the standard 2m tall Temthan.
“They’re gods, they teleport!” Nyssi beamed as they reached the top, giving Tenuk and Kayel a chance to catch their breaths.
Waiting for them was a familiar face, a lithe, yellow-armoured Rethavok with a rather nasty dagger strapped to their thigh. Weirdly, Arkay wasn’t wearing his normal, spiky armour, and instead was wearing a gold stomach wrap and matching loin cloth.
“Come on in, guys, make yourselves comfortable!” the Thantophor was smiling a little too much. He stood to one side, letting everyone pass, before closing the door and locking it behind him.
“Woah…”
The Gold Suite lived up to its name. The walls were painted black with gold stripes, and pretty much everything in the room had some gold on it. Along the back wall were an open bar and small buffet with a weird selection of foods that made no sense – grilled sea food, onion-flavoured crisps, mashed potatoes, sugar-coated chocolate buttons, macaroni cheese, glazed ham slices and a whole tray of cheese toasties. Clearly all things the Death God enjoyed. Also present were six massive bean bags, way larger than even Retvik. The number didn’t make much sense, especially since there were only four deities.
“This is nice!” Nyssi beamed as she helped herself to a plate of food, just seafood and ham, grabbed the first beer she saw and sat herself down, almost disappearing inside her chair. “Like, super nice!”
“Well, yeah, it’s meant to be fit for a god!” Arkay was still smiling. “That being said, I haven’t used this room privately in decades, normally it’s set up for Sini and Kairos. So, uh, excuse the seating arrangements.” Arkay made sure that everyone had food and a drink before sorting himself out. Unlike everyone else, who had picked up a variety of things, Arkay’s plate of food consisted of nothing but cheese toasties, and he was drinking a large, fruity cocktail. He stood in front of the four mortals, grinning like a lunatic.
“Uh, you okay, Arkay?” Tenuk asked.
“Oh, I’m great. I am so fucking proud of you!” Arkay raised his glass. “So, first off, a toast to the best four mortals I’ve seen in a long, long time!”
“Heh… toast…” Kayel stifled a giggle. “Like a cheese toast.”
Retvik seemed a little less certain. The opulence felt odd to him, especially in the presence of a deity who appeared to be overly humble in the first place. “Did… something happen? All we did was win a match.”
Arkay paused, then calmed himself down a bit. “You won a match that experts predicted you had a 5% chance of winning, and Kairos and Epani believed you had no chance of winning. You’re so chaotic and unpredictable that lots of people lost a LOT of bets, and SOME people ate a lot of humble pie. Mostly Kairos and Epani.”
“You bet on us?” Kayel seemed somewhat surprised, but Tenuk and Nyssi just shrugged.
“Normally I wouldn’t, normally I’m not even allowed to. But Kairos and Epani were so sure of themselves and we bet over rather basic things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. I now own a star, because Epani bet that, if her team won, I’d have to leave a star alone until it became a white dwarf, rather than recycling it before it got that far.”
“A star kinda does matter a lot in the grand scheme of things…” Retvik muttered. “I do not know why, but the idea of the Lord of Decay owning a star bothers me somewhat.”
Arkay tutted, sensing that Retvik was genuinely struggling with emotions today. “That might be Epani unintentionally making Rethans upset because she’s pissed off at me and she’s feeling embarrassed. We’ve all accidentally done it to our… chosen races.”
“You hesitated there…” Kayel immediately noticed.
“I’ll put it bluntly, I didn’t get to pick. Kairos chose first, Epani chose next, Sini chose last and I took what they didn’t want. But I treasure all races, even if I have an obvious bias.”
“Says the yellow Rethavok.”
Arkay eyed Kayel. “Have I done something to piss you off?”
Kayel crossed his arms angrily. “Kinda, yeah. You bet on us, which annoys me, you’re currently not your normal Skyavok self, which I find weird, you dragged us up here when I’m tired and just want to rest, and I’ve not been feeling right since the battle because my brain is nagging me about something and I don’t get it!”
The Thantophor didn’t respond at first. Not because he was insulted or anything, but because he felt bad. “I’m sorry, Kayel, I didn’t know. You should have said, I could have rearranged for another time or something. As for the brain nagging…” Arkay paused again, thinking to himself. “Uh, do you mind me giving you an answer in front of those three or-”
“I want to know now.”
“Alright. You are desperate for the adrenaline hit from killing something. I can-”
“OH!” Nyssi bounced up and down, blatantly interrupting. “I know how to fix that! I totally get it! You just need to get your predatory fix! Had no idea Skyavok had the same thing us Temthans get! Thraki, Ksithans and Banikans all get it too! You’re an old predator, we still got them predatory instincts, so we go on hunts occasionally and it satisfies us and makes us feel better!”
Tenuk and Kayel both stared at Nyssi. Tenuk sank into his seat, feeling rather concerned because he wasn’t from a predator race.
“It’s an easy fix,” Arkay smiled reassuringly. “Go on a hunt with Nyssi and you’ll feel better.”
“Is that it?” Kayel lowered his voice.
“Yeah.”
“Sounds… almost too easy…”
Arkay continued to smile, much more warmly now. “Sometimes things do occasionally have easy solutions…” The Thantophor finally sat down, throwing himself into a chair at the end. “But yeah, Kayel, you’re right, I shouldn’t have made any bets and I’m sorry about that. Kairos called you four ‘my little team’ and he’s pretty much right, you are my responsibility.”
“You are responsible for our unnatural healing abilities, but our work as gladiators has nothing to do with you, Kyr Arkay!” Retvik grunted, downing his drink and getting up to get a new one, pausing only to steal a glance of Arkay’s immaculate, Rethan form. “We won because of our hard work and unpredictability and Tenuk turning himself into a fluffy kitty. It is not your fault or our fault that your fellow deities lost their bets.”
“What did you win in those bets anyway?” Nyssi asked.
“Oh… uh…” Arkay fell awkwardly silent. “Well, I already told you about the star, and Sini rather smartly didn’t bet anything. I… have no idea how I’m going to collect my, uh, prize from Kairos…”
“What the fuck did he bet?” Tenuk sat up. “Like, what in the universe could the holy Whenvern bet with you?”
“Uh… Well, um… Kairos kinda bet that, if you guys lost, I’d have to go on a date with him and go back to his place-”
“He wanted to sleep with you?” Tenuk didn’t let the Thantophor finish. “Why would the Whenvern want to sleep with you when he has Thraki and an entire race of shapeshifters that can turn themselves into whatever the Dragon God of Time desires?”
“Kairos and I have a very long, very complicated relationship that is over two universes old.”
Tenuk’s mouth fell open. “He HAS slept with you!”
“Now now!” Kayel immediately jumped to Arkay’s defence. He may have been somewhat angry still, but as a teacher of physical and sexual education, he felt he had a point to make. “Arkay is an adult, he has every right to have whatever relationship he wants with whoever he wants, as long as it’s all consenting. Right, Arkay?”
Arkay nodded uneasily. “Like I said, it’s… complicated…” The Thantophor downed the rest of his drink and sighed. “We’re all in a right old mood today. Granted, I’ve been in an odd mood since I spoke to Litvir, but still. Kinda just wanted to chill with my new friends and celebrate, not get judged by you all.”
“Sorry, mister Thantophor.”
“It’s fine. All forgiven. Sorry I dragged you all into this mess in the first place. There’s a reason I have always avoided having mortal friends.”
Retvik tutted, having brought everyone a fresh and overly drink, a fizzy lemonade and vodka. “You say that as if we are still properly mortal. Still, you are right, we should celebrate. It is an honour to have met you all, and a pleasure to fight by your sides. Even you, Arkay.”
Arkay let out a small laugh. “Heh. I appreciate that. Cheers.”