A third competitor fell to the ground, defeated by the newest member of the House Fighters. The House Fighters had always been the toughest and strongest fighters in the Dessaron Battle Arena, but rather than fighting for their own races, they represented the Arena itself. Their most common duty was to fight challengers who wanted to join or fight against Dessaron teams, in a trial by fire. Few ever actually won, most ended up beaten and bruised, only to come back a week later to try again.
A fourth competitor entered the ring. It was a Cassid, wearing a mechanical suit of armour. The House Fighter adjusted his helmet then rolled his eyes. Had they not seen the previous three challengers? Each one of them had used some sort of mechanical suit and failed miserably. In fact, with a couple of swings from the House Fighter’s axe, the mechanical suit lay in pieces across the ring, leaving nothing but the whimpering Cassid.
As the challenger crawled away, the House Fighter crossed his arms, waiting for his next victim. But to his surprise, none came.
“That is it for today!” a Thanatian announced from the seats above. “Go back to your pen, we’ll call you later if there are more!”
The House Fighter tutted and walked off, dragging his axe behind him. One of the Cassids who hadn’t yet managed to crawl away seemed to be sobbing about their expensive suit being broken.
As soon as he was alone in his private changing room, the House Fighter dropped his axe, pulled off his helmet and threw it on the ground.
“I hate this!” Elkay scowled to himself. “I thought there would be some damn challenge here. Something interesting. Instead, I’m just beating up idiots!”
“It gets better, you know…”
Elkay spun around to see who was interrupting him.
“Itakay?”
Itakay was wearing his own House Fighter armour, silver with green gems. On his back were two holstered axes. “May I come in? You left the door open.”
Elkay nodded, then sat down. “Sure. Just close the door behind you. I… I’ll be honest, I have been doing my best to forget that you are a House Fighter too, especially since what happened on Monday…”
“I’m sorry about that. But you ARE pretty rusty. I didn’t mean to embarrass you or anything.”
“It’s fine. My own fault. What are you doing here?”
Itakay’s eyes lit up as he remembered why. “Oh! I have a message for you. Just a quick one.”
“Hm?”
“I was told to tell you to stay here for a bit. Phovos and Lokmah are on their way down to speak to you.”
Elkay blinked. “Is that all?”
A knock on the door answered his question. Itakay waved goodbye, then opened the door, where Phovos and Lokmah were standing. He hurried away and the two Thanatians let themselves in, slamming the door shut.
The way they both stood, Elkay was worried that he had done something wrong.
“Um, hello?”
The dull look on Phovos’s face erupted into a smile. “Hi! How you enjoying things so far?”
Elkay hesitated, trying to think of an answer that was both truthful and not insulting. “Well… I thought there would be a bit more of a challenge… None of this fighting stupid Cassids in stupider suits…”
“Considering how hard you got your tail kicked on Monday, it was recommended that I start you off easy!” Phovos grinned. “If you want more challenge, I’ll give you more challenge! But is there anything else bothering you?”
Elkay noticed that Lokmah was writing everything that he said down on a small notepad.
“Not really…”
“You sure?”
“I am sure…”
Phovos continued to smile. “How about social life? You made any new friends? Any potential partners or anything?”
Lokmah was still writing things down, despite Elkay not really saying anything. Was he being tested or something? He decided to answer honestly, just in case.
“No. There are no potential partners. There… hasn’t been a potential partner for a while. Probably won’t be in the future either…”
Lokmah noted down what Elkay said, then glanced at Phovos. Phovos though ignored him and sat on the bench next to Elkay, sitting really close.
“None at all?”
“None.”
It took a moment to realise just how close Phovos was. She was practically in kissing distance.
“Are you lonely?” the Raptor finally asked.
“…A little, I guess… Wait…” Everything suddenly snapped into place for Elkay. “Do you have a crush on me or something? Because you are acting like a love-sick kid!”
Phovos grinned, then pecked Elkay on the cheek before leaping up and running off.
Lokmah stared at the empty seat next to Elkay, while Elkay stared at the now-open door. Both of them were speechless.
After a moment of sitting there doing nothing, Lokmah shook his head and walked away, leaving Elkay confused and alone in the little changing room.