“SON? KAYEN? IS THAT YOU?”
Kayef-En’s voice sounded scratchy and stressed down the line. Kayen sat wearily at the desk, staring off into space.
“Hi dad…”
“Where are you? Where have you been?”
Kayen rubbed his eyes. It was a long, complicated story.
“Somevok took me. Skyavok, white skin, crystal blue armour. I’m in the Palaestra Astynom Station… The Police one. For Ksithans. The Raptor found me. I don’t really know what happened.”
“You were taken?” Kayef’s voice became more and more anxious.
“Yes. But I got away. I think. I’m safe now.”
Across the room, Phovos, Timik and Kohra were all lounging around awkwardly, waiting for Kayen to finish. Timik was leaning against the window blocking the breeze, Phovos was pacing and Kohra just sort of sat there, staring at a picture of some squiggles on the wall.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. It’s all fuzzy. One moment I was on break at Base, going to the bathroom. Saw this vok follow me in, he looked at me, snapped his fingers and then poof I wasn’t there any more. I was somewhere else. And then I was somewhere I don’t know. Then I woke up behind a block of apartments in Portalia City. This nice Rethavok saved me.”
Kayef-En breathed a sigh of relief, then paused. “Why are you in Palaestra then?”
“The Raptor wanted to ask me questions because of a similar case that happened to a Temthan. Exact same thing, matched the description of the vok who took me…”
Kayen glanced at the others. Kohra nodded happily, congratulating him on his fast thinking.
“You’re coming home soon though, yes? Do you need me to pick you up?”
“Yeah… no… soon… They want to ask me a lot of questions. Everyone’s been really nice though.” Kayen hesitated. “I’m not feeling great though. I think I was given too much alcohol or something so I wouldn’t fight back. I’m… I dunno… A lot of things on my mind right… I assume the K-Class officials won’t let me in now, right?”
“I don’t know, kid. I assume you will have to wait six months. But I am sure, once you are rested and back at home, you can get your old job back! We’ll get it all fixed, I swear!”
“Yeah… about that…” Kayen paused again. Phovos was signalling something to him. “I don’t know when exactly I’ll be able to get home. I need to do stuff and there’s flights and money I need to… you know… But you can pick me up whenever from the space port, right?”
“Of course. Whatever you need. All you need to do is ask! I’m just so glad you’re safe now!”
Kayen sighed. “Yeah, me too… One second, someone wants to talk to me…” Kayen covered the mouth piece so his dad couldn’t hear. “What is it?”
“You should go home to your dad…” Phovos suggested. “He’s upset. And you have things you need to sort out.”
“But-”
“We can sort this all out later, the whole Whenvern thing, you working for me, that sort of thing. But you need some time to think about things and your dad needs to see you and know you’re alright. When you want to come back, we can arrange that, but family comes first.”
Kohra nodded in agreement. “Plus it makes your story actually make more sense.”
Kayen sighed. “You’re both right. Dad, you still there?”
“I am, is everything alright?”
“Yeah. The Raptor just offered to pay for my flights back home.”
“Wonderful! I can’t wait to see you! I was so scared!”
“Yeah, me too. I’ll call you as soon as the flights are arranged, alright?”
“I love you, son.”
“I love you too…”
Kayen put the phone down, then stared at the three strange creatures in the room with him.
“People will find out one day.”
“Really?” Timik hissed. “What you said was the truth. You just omitted the fact that you were kidnapped by a Time God. Who will probably come back for us!”
“And when that happens, whole world will probably find out anyway, if the Dessaron are anything to go by…” Kohra added. “But for now, since we know what’s kinda going to happen, we should look after ourselves and prepare, right?”
“From the way both Kairos and the Thantophor acted…” Phovos growled. “That is EXACTLY what I think is going to happen. We need to look after ourselves now, because we might not be able to later.”
Kayen shrugged. “Makes sense…” He sighed, then turned to Phovos. “If that’s the case, can you help me arrange a flight back home, please?”
“Of course!” Phovos smiledm her attitude changing suddenly. She patted the Skyavok on the head as she turned on one of the nearby computers. “Anything for a little guy like you!”