“How did this even get here?” Arkay asked as he and Litvir followed Retvik. Retvik was carrying a familiar box. Well, familiar to Retvik and Litvir, but somewhat new for Arkay.
“I believe that Deathven has some very powerful abilities. He seems to be able to teleport anyone anywhere. And that probably applies to cardboard boxes like this too.”
Retvik grunted in agreement. “It is how the instant teleportations to Decay Lord Trials work. Deathven, or someone associated with Deathven, forcibly teleports Decaylings into their Trials.”
“Like they did with us?”
“Yes, but with less intentionally trying to kill you.”
Arkay frowned, then picked up his pace. Being rather short, his strides were far shorter than those of Retvik and Litvir. After a few seconds, Arkay decided to switch to floating. The three of them swiftly arrived at the Decaylings’ classroom, and Litvir had already informed for the Decaylings to all be there.
Darting ahead, Arkay opened the door for Litvir and Retvik, then entered himself, closing the door behind him.
“Oh hey!” Nyssi teased. “You guys here with bad news again? That’s the only time you see us during lesson time, Arkay.”
“To be fair, I am an awful teacher…” Arkay couldn’t help but agree. “But I don’t know if this is good news or bad news. Depends on how you all feel.”
“Um…” all three telepathic Decaylings glanced at each other. “Our trial is to start soon.”
“Yep!” Litvir decided to be optimistic, and suggested that Arkay and Retvik do the same. “Your trial is looming on the horizon. All eight of you will do the trial as a team, and you will be given a randomized task in a randomized arena that is guaranteed to not be the same as the trials the rest of us did.”
“We totally made sure of that!” Arkay perked up. “You won’t have to spend a few days fighting for your life in a corrupted forest that both is trying to murder you and decidedly rigged.”
Retvik opened up the box, poured the contents on the teachers’ desk and started to inspect what was inside. It was a weirdly large cardboard box, because it didn’t really contain much. Just a collection of coloured bands. He quickly organized them all into different piles.
“Unfortunately, there is some… hm… privacy breaches that need to happen before your trial starts,” Litvir explained. “In order to prove that you will not turn yourself into a nuke or something, you all must wear these bands, which will monitor you over the course of 48 hours-”
“24 hours.”
Litvir glanced at Retvik. “They changed it again? Bloody Light… Either way, you have to wear your designated bands, and, after a 24 hour period, once it has been automatically decided that none of you will explode, you will instantly be teleported into your Decay Lord Trial.”
Retvik grunted, explaining a little more. “From experience, you will not be given a bag or anything. When you are teleported away, only your weapons and whatever is on your person will be teleported with you. Once you have completed your trial, Deathven himself will teleport you to a special room and declare you all Decay Lords. Then he will send you all back here.
“In the hours before your trial, we want all of you to be well fed and well rested. You will stay in this room, we will provide beds, food and water, and you will remain close to each other. This is so you are all teleported cleanly and safely and, more importantly, together.”
“When does the trial start?” Kuta asked.
“Twenty four hours after you put on these trial bands,” Litvir exclaimed. “Once that time is up, you will be teleported away. We will bring a timer in here so you all know how much time you have.”
“Do we have to put the bands on now?” Nyssi queried. “Or do we, like, have to wait or something?”
Arkay glanced at Nyssi, then at Thassalin, before smiling a little. “We do have to give you the bands to put on in a timely manner. But before we do so, I want to give you all an hour to… sort yourselves out. To grab your weapons and armour, bring everything in here and also just… well, just grab a load of stuff you might find useful and stick it all in your pockets. Can’t guarantee that, when you are all teleported away, everything will remain in your pockets, but it’s better to have some extra tools rather than none. Do any of you have any questions?”
The Decaylings all turned to each other. Already, they were telepathically sharing thoughts and ideas. After a few moments, Kayel raised his hand.
“What happens if we fail?”
Arkay didn’t have an immediate answer, but Retvik and Litvir did.
“Well, they USED to just leave Decaylings to die, but Litvir, Arkay and I forced them to re-evaluate things. These days, you are all teleported to safety before you die.”
“Kinda like arena battles. Something most of you have experienced before!” Arkay added. “In all honesty though, I think you’ll all be fine. You’re all a great team, you are all hard workers and you’re strong as fuck.”
Litvir nodded in agreement. “You are even more powerful than our last set of Decaylings, and they raced through their trial with relative ease. Whatever Deathven throws at you, throw it back.”
“Indeed. Do any of you have any more questions?”
The Decaylings all shrugged.
“We can ask more when you come back to put our bands on, right?” Nyssi asked.
“Of course. The twenty four hours before your trial, we will be keeping an eye on you all, and you can relax before you are teleported away,” Retvik grunted. “But either way, Arkay and Litvir are both correct, you will all be fine. Plus, you have a Time Drake and a Voidborn with you all.”
Thassalin grinned at the back of the room, but didn’t say anything.
“Anyway,” Retvik continued, checking his wristband. “You all have an hour to gather what you need. In the meantime, the two Synaisthyns will sort this room out for you all. Class dismissed.”
The Decaylings all got up and headed outside, splitting up to do the things they had telepathically discussed together. Arkay though turned to Retvik, vaguely annoyed.
“So you two ain’t helping me?”
Litvir shrugged. “We do have work to do, and you are on your break. You can spend five minutes with Elkay making this place nice for them. Retvik or I will come back once they have done what they need to do.”
Arkay immediately calmed down. “True, true. I’ll go fetch Elkay then get started. See you both in a bit…”