“Heya, Dee!”
“Hey, Revan, you’re not dead! Same as normal?”
“Same as normal please, Dee!”
Dekadee, known as Dee to his customers, was an older Skyavok from an older time, back when the Skyavok normally hid away in the shadows, yet he had been here, running the Dusty Wagon bar, as long as he could remember. It was a long family tradition that was losing his legs since Dekadee no longer had family to pass the place down to. He didn’t mind too much though, he had his pride and his long series of regular customers to look forward to.
The Dusty Wagon itself was situated on the edge of Thanatia 4’s Riverdrawn Plains, a mostly Temthan territory but one that had mostly been abandoned in favour of the more hospitable worlds of Thanatia 5 and 6. Thanatia 4’s climate was hot and humid in the summer with weirdly calm yet wet and windy winters. The terrain consisted of either vast jungles or vast rocky mountains and valleys, with only a handful of flat farming plains between them. While the Temthans did have a handful of small cities here, mostly for farming rubber from the jungles, most of the planet was rather derelict, yet covered with ancient monuments of pre-Temthan races.
These historical grounds were what fueled the Dusty Wagon’s patronage. Hundreds of explorers would pass through Riverdrawn to reach the mountainous jungles of Maa Paleokast, where there were thousands of ancient settlements hidden and undocumented within the treacherous terrain. Most would stop by for a drink after working at archaeological digs on the edge of Maa Paleokast, but the courageous would travel far deeper. Most of them came back, although not always in one piece.
“So where you been?” Dee asked as he poured a large glass of mead and handed it to Revan. Revan was one of the younger beings to frequent the Dusty Wagon. That wasn’t too surprising, as lots of youngsters passed through, hoping to find some heavy and golden and make themselves rich. Few managed to, but Revan somehow did. Maybe it was because Revan, unlike most of these explorers, was a Rethavok, and a very fit, strong one at that. The twisting vines and sharp thorns of the Paleokast jungles weren’t as dangerous if you were an armoured, hulking beast that somehow wore armour on top of armour.
“Me? Nowhere much.”
“I heard you Rethavok all got mind controlled or something. You guys doing the same stupid god piss that the Temthans do?”
Revan grunted. Even among Rethavok, he was a particularly fine specimen. Something about a powerful family line, from what Dee had gathered. His unarmoured skin was pitch black and his natural armour plating was marbled black and red. The armour he wore on top was a combination of black and red as well, with a fine golden trim.
“If you are suggesting we intentionally pissed off a deity? Nah. This utter asshole just came out of nowhere, kicked mother out of power and kinda left me stranded. Normally I get paid a wage to do my adventuring, while home gets the profits, but I had to sell my findings to Cassids and Vrekans in order to keep myself afloat and work out a plan to save my brother.”
“Your brother?”
“Yeah, my brother.”
Dee shrugged, helping himself to a drink. It was very early, not even lunch, so there was hardly anyone around. “Didn’t know you had family?”
“I do not tend to tell people!” Revan tutted. “You do not get the same respect when people find out your mother is the High General. Or, well, was…”
“You’re the son of High General Rethais Rethianos?”
“Thought the surname gave it away.”
“I’d assumed there was more than one Rethianos family.”
Revan took a long, drawn out gulp of his drink, then shook the glass a bit to mix up the settlements in the mead. Rethan mead was always a bit lumpy.
“No. It’s one family line. Stupid stuff. Even stupider what with the god coup thing.”
“What are you going to do about all that?” Dee exclaimed. “Looks messy!”
Dee’s question though was met with a rather… worrying laugh. Revan downed the rest of his drink, then laughed again.
“Well, mum and dad are both fine. The Void Lord didn’t kill mother, and apparently dad got saved by a Skyan ambassador. I had planned to head back to Retha, break in to the capital and save my brother Relkay, but it turns out I didn’t need to. I got a message from mum earlier saying my unty swapped his life for Relkay’s. So now I need to plan to go and-”
“Your unty?” Dee interrupted. “Is that like, a cousin or…”
“The sibling of my mother. Unty Retvik is… Well, he is a bonafide badass of the highest degree. And I want to go and save him. But mother said no. Because politics.”
Dee leaned forward. Unlike most of his patrons, Dee had only ever managed to get Revan to reveal small details about his life, to the point that he had only recently learned that Revan didn’t care what gender he was referred by. But he had suddenly caught Revan in a long-winded rant, spewing brand new information. And now he was hearing that Revan’s father was Retvik Rethianos, the leader of the team of heroes known as the Dessaron?
“Your uncle is Retvik Rethanos?”
“Yeah.”
“That…” Dee wasn’t sure how to react. “That is fucking badass.”
“Yeah but he is getting old now. And I… I am worried about him. Sure, he gave himself up to save my brother, but who is going to give themselves up to save Unty Retvik? No one. The rest of my family is safe, but Retvik is not. He inspired me to go adventuring, even if I ended up on a different course. It is not right that he suffer for our sake. Especially as he cannot have his own kids. But no. Politics. Politics and gods.”
Dee shrugged. “Are you not going to save him?”
“I really want to. Means selling up and leaving, but I will do it. Somehow. I just wanted one last drink before I head off.”
“Oh…” Dee frowned. “That… that sucks. I’ll miss you, mate.”
“Nah, you will not…” Revan chugged the rest of his drink, then reached into a pouch and pulled out something golden, resting it on the bar. “This should cover my tab.”
“You had one drink.”
“Yeah, I know. Gotta give a tip though, yes?”
Dee smiled, then watched as Revan got up and headed out. “Good luck, kiddo!”
“Thanks, mate.”