“Arkay, you are staring.”
Everyone was sat at large, round tables, each table covered in food on a rotating plate in the middle, with two Trios per table. While Retvik and Litvir would have preferred sitting at a table with someone they already knew, like the Travellers, the Trio they were sat with were probably a better choice. Sat opposite the Missing were the Healers, who were excited to meet a Hidden Trio for the first time in a social setting rather than in their mobile hospital. Well, two of them were excited. The final member had been excited, but now they were more concerned than anything else.
“Veeyel, you are staring.”
The smallest member of the Healers recovered first, rubbing their head and sighing. Arkay took a moment longer, but there seemed to be genuine fear in his eyes. With another sigh, the Healers decided to introduce themselves.
“Hiya, I’m Veeyel, Darkhealer. These are my beloved silly little billies, Ralian, Fireshield; and Letalis, Spiritguard. We are the Healers.”
“Hello!” Litvir smiled back. “Nice to meet you! We are, as silly as it sounds, the Missing! I am Litvir, codename Souldrainer, my flaming partner is Retvik, Flamebearer and the confused little yellow lunatic is Arkay, Deathbringer… Arkay, you are still staring.”
“I… uh… um…” Arkay clearly seemed to be struggling. “Hi… Sorry… Veeyel… I… I feel like I know you from somewhere.”
Veeyel sighed yet again. “Yeah, I know. I feel the same way. I have to ask, are you a Skiavok?”
“Quick question before we get too deep…” Litvir paused, then glanced at Retvik and Ralian. “Alright, question before the quick question, Retvik, Ralian, can you both decide whether you hate each other or want to screw each other, please? Your emotions are making me and Letalis hungry.”
Ralian and Retvik continued to eye each other but didn’t say anything at first.
“Sorry, but, well, Ralian here is… basically just me but even more buff and hot. Literally a better me…” Retvik admitted.
“Well, we are called Teliavok, literally the Perfect Beast. You two do not have as obvious elemental affinities and you both lack elemental wings, so I assume you are not Teliavok?”
“We are not…” Litvir frowned slightly. “But I think, more importantly, Veeyel, how do you spell your race?”
“Why do you ask?”
Litvir shrugged. “I often wonder if there are races out there with the same names. There are definitely many races with similar looks. After all, Astravok are light-based, the same way us Rethavok are, both of us are “Light Beasts”. Veeyel here introduced himself as Darkhealer and has shadowy wings and stuff, suggesting he has shadow powers, maybe the “skya” part of the word “Skyavok” is far more literal than it was with Skyavok in our universe?”
Veeyel eyed Litvir briefly, then went back to eyeing Arkay. “I spell it S-K-I-A-vok. The reason I’m concerned is because Arkay looks very much like me, but there shouldn’t BE any other Skiavok out here. I sealed them all inside our pocket dimension universe. That was the deal I made with the Corruption, to make sure it left my universe alone, that I was the only Skiavok to ever enter the Periuniversal Void, because us Skiavok were such a great threat to the Corruption.”
Litvir and Retvik both seemed to calm down. Litvir turned to Arkay and smiled. “See, it is just… parallel evolution or whatever it is called! This Skiavok is different from our Skyavok!”
Arkay clearly wasn’t convinced. “Veeyel, may I ask a personal question?”
“Uh… how personal?”
“Did you know someone called Kayel?”
Veeyel glared at Arkay, but quickly relented. “Kayel was our Goddess of Life and Love. And she was my partner. I was the God of Healing and Protection of my universe and I looked after and protected all her many, many children.”
“Did… did Kayel have kids before you became deities?”
“Uh… I… I don’t think so? I don’t remember life before I became a Skiavok and became a deity. I existed briefly and then I became a god, created a new race with Kayel and our fellow Firsts following the Teletourgic and we entered the Umbric Realm and stayed there. It became our universe, separate from whatever universe came before it… Arkay, little one, you seem really upset.”
Arkay took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. You just… you remind me of someone I knew. They were my uncle Veeyel. This Veeyel looked after my mother, Kayel, spent time in a hospital with me then disappeared. I ended up… dying not long afterwards and never had the chance to try and find them. I mean, you look exactly like them…”
“Yeah, I guess that can be rather unsettling. We’ve all been through unsettling things. When I saw you come in, I noticed you have marks on your back. You had wings once, right? And they were cut off.”
“I did, yes…” Arkay sighed. “I’m really sorry, Veeyel. I was judging you.”
“Nah, we’re cool. I kinda freaked out too. I was worried I’d somehow broken the Forced Contract or something by having another shadowblessed Skiavok out here.”
“Good thing our Kayel is not here…” Litvir muttered. “He is a Skyavok, with a y, with shadow powers.”
“What colour is he?” Veeyel asked.
“Slightly more yellow than Arkay!” Litvir went back to smiling. “Anyway, can we now get over the awkward tension between two beings who thought they had broken things and now talk about the vast amount of sexual tension between Retvik and Ralian here?”
“There is also sexual tension between you and I!” Letalis teased. “A purple-plated Psion who eats emotions like I do? Tasty.”
“Are… are purple-plated Psions rare?” Retvik asked. “Because I know three off the top of my head. Actually, I can also name three white-plated Psions too.”
“Who?” Litvir asked. “Aside from my little brother?”
“Erin and Thyel, clearly.”
“Oh…” Litvir trailed off, fondly remembering his last encounter with Thyel, then smirked. “Either way, may I ask, are you three polyamorous?”
Letalis leaned forward, also smirking. “Are you?”
“Indeed.”
“Alright, you two!” Veeyel stepped in. “Hold your horses and save the romance until AFTER this silly hidden feast thing…”