“This… all feels so unreal…” Elkay muttered to himself. Behind him were a handful of the K-Class, members brought in overnight to replace his exhausted main team. To his side was Rethais, with only two V-Class Ksa, the rest of the team having gone home to sleep off nearly twenty four hours of work.
“How do you think this feels for me?”
The voice came from the stairwell, where Photeianos, Kayelar and several N-Class Ksa had appeared. Photeianos wasn’t wearing his normal shiny gold armour, but a very simple silver set. He had been humbled, embarrassed even, and his appearance matched his feelings. Kayelar though seemed to have a look of relief in his tired eyes.
“I cannot imagine how it must feel…” Rethais replied, stepping back lest he anger Photeianos. “Are you…”
“Here to declare my loss? Yes. I am incredibly bitter about it though.”
Elkay and Rethais glanced at each other. Elkay then headed to a room on their left, opening the door. “Ksa, would you mind giving the four of us some privacy?”
The Ksa all nodded and stood aside, watching as the former candidates walked in, the door slamming behind them.
Inside, several cups of mead had already been laid out, alongside a small bowl of sweet potato chips. Photeianos tutted, knowing that Elkay had planned ahead, trying to make everything as painless as possible. All it had managed to do though was make Photeianos feel worse.
“Would you like to sit down?” Elkay asked.
“No thank you. But thank you for the drinks…” Photeianos sighed, helping himself to a cup, as did Rethais. Kayelar kindly declined, and simply watched as Photeianos and Rethais both downed their drinks. There were a lot of emotions in the room; nervousness from Rethais and disbelief from Elkay, as well as the flurry of emotions Photeianos was failing to hide.
“So, uh, down to business?” Rethais exclaimed, hiccuping slightly.
“Fine…” Photeianos growled, but failed to continue his sentence. Instead, he walked forward, ignoring his comrades, towards the window. Below them was the city of Thre-Vretania, where crowds were gathering for an acceptance speech. He sighed loudly, his sadness slipping out under his breath.
“Photeianos?”
Elkay’s voice snapped him back to reality.
“Sorry. I just… wanted one last look at my citizens, my vok… before I hand it all over to you…”
Photeianos sighed again. He didn’t expect Elkay to come over and put an understanding claw on one shoulder. Despite everything Photeianos had done to Elkay, all the times he had messed him up and screwed him over, Elkay was still capable of looking past it all. In that moment, Photeianos realised that he would be handing the title of High General to the right Rethan.
“You two, Elkay, Rethais, you campaigned well. You kept it clean. You stood above us. You deserve your victory.”
Kayelar nodded his head in agreement.
“General Elkay Theanon…” Photeianos paused again. There was a tear in his eye. “I… never thought I would be using this tradition myself… A loser’s one final request for the winner to carry out while in power…”
“What is it you ask of me, Photeianos?” Elkay smiled kindly.
Photeianos thought to himself. He looked at Kayelar, who smiled back weakly. “Kayelar and I discussed this briefly. It is a hard request, but I believe Kayelar is right. We request that you permanently end the KSA program, and remove all apogen Ksa from their positions. Make them normal citizens. Replace them with non-apogens, replace them with your own legion, I do not care. All I know is that I wish to take the N-Class Ksa with me, and I cannot do that while they serve you.”
Elkay glanced at Rethais, then shrugged. “I will try my best to honour your wishes.”
“Thank you, Elkay…”
Photeianos picked up the spare cup of mead, then downed it in one. The one tear in his eye had become many as he tried in vain to wipe them away.
“Little Elkay… I hereby declare my defeat by your hands and pass my title down to you… You will be the next High General of the Retha…”