“Are you alright?” Rethais gasped as Retvik hurriedly slammed the door behind them, his claws struggling with the lock, before collapsing against the nearby wall.
“Not really, no. You were not shot again, were you?”
Rethais checked himself quickly. There were a couple of small grazes on his side from brushing against old, sharp walls, but aside from the god-caused injuries from earlier, he was… mostly alright? Retvik though had taken several bullets into his left arm plating where he had been holding Rethais. Luckily the bullets had just hit his armour rather than his actual flesh.
“I am fine. Your arm…”
Retvik glanced at his left arm. The plating was crumbling away. Rethais suddenly remembered that Retvik had lost some of his armour plating and had been in the process of growing new armour. While he wasn’t bleeding, he had just lost a month’s worth of painful regrowth and the prosthetic armour on top was utterly ruined.
“No time to worry about that now, we have a larger predicament!” Retvik grunted, hiding his annoyance. “Because that key did not… take us where I thought it would.”
Rethais picked himself up, inspecting their new surroundings. Miraculously, they were no longer in the cold, horrific tunnels underneath Thre-Vretania. But they were also clearly in an equally terrifying place. All around them were bleached bones and skulls, tied together with rope and hung up in confusing patterns, forming completely unnatural skeletal shapes.
“So, uh, brother, where did that key take us?”
Retvik sniffed the air, hoping to gather a few more clues. They had both suddenly realized that the atmosphere was not as… nitrogen-rich as they had hoped. Plenty of oxygen, perhaps too much oxygen, but for a race of beings that breathed a combination of both oxygen and nitrogen, the fact that the air was made of a large number of other things was slightly troubling.
The room on the other hand was at least plenty large for the two tall Rethans. While they both stood about 2.7m each, this rather grand and bony hall was designed for… something much, much larger and far less upright. Among the skeletal decorations were lines of stools, carved out of strong bone, all pointed towards one side of the hall, where a large, skeletal statue had been erected.
Worryingly, this statue was comprised mostly of Rethan and Skyan bones, with the addition of Thrakian wings.
“I… I have no idea… But I do know that we are in Banikan territory…”
“How-” Rethais silenced himself, realizing that he and Retvik were not alone. A massive, muscular, horned being wearing jewelry made of skulls and crystals, was somehow silently stalking the room, watching their every movement. “Huh. Out of the fire, into the frying pan.”
Retvik tutted, pulling Rethais against the wall, then slowly approaching the creature, his hands raised and open to show that he was not a threat.
“Banikan, we seek shelter within your domain.”
“You carry the stench of the Voidlord!” the Banikan growled back. Underneath its bone and leather armour, stripped yellow and black fur could be seen.
“The fucking Voidlord just took everything from me!” Rethais snapped, staggering to his feet. “And you accuse me of being connected to that asshole of a deity!”
The Banikan hesitated, somewhat taken aback by this mere Rethan shouting at her. She then noticed that both of these Rethans were injured. With a low growl, the Banikan removed her helmet, revealing a scarred snout and red, almost glowing eyes.
“We do not mean any harm!” Retvik tried to salvage the situation. The last thing he wanted was to be mauled after escaping death from the hands of his own kind. “We just wish to know where we are, recover from our wounds and then find safety.”
“Who are you?”
Retvik glanced at Rethais. Rethais shook his head, tutting.
“We are… two brothers, unswayed by the Voidlord’s mind control.”
“With a Thantophoric trinket?”
“Uh, yes…” Retvik stuttered. “It was… supposed to take us to… Arkadin’s home.”
The Banikan growled again. “You two Rethavok are lucky. You are in the Thantophor’s Temple of Thanta Exi. Far away from your home land. And the Thantophor’s home. Our Death Lord seems to have vanished. Again. Let us heal you. Then you can continue on your way.”
With a final growl, the Banikan turned around, leading the two Rethans towards a door at the back of the room.
Rethais and Retvik both looked at each other, then decided to follow in silence. At least things seemed to be improving…