There were times when Retvik wasn’t sure how he ended up in a position and now was one of those times. He was one of the Dessaron, and he was currently in charge of the Dessaron Battle Arenas. Currently. Temporarily. The scheduling matches and keeping fans entertained was a lot of fun. The paperwork not so much. The worst thing though was keeping track of all the loonies who wanted to form new teams. Phovos had always been incredibly strict on every being who wanted to participate in the Battle Arenas, and Retvik was not going to let that change. Of course, the other downside was that Retvik himself was unable to participate in matches, as it would be slightly biased.
Still, Retvik had severely underestimated how many lunatics there were, all desperate to fight in groups against many of the elite Dessaron teams or try and challenge some of the pros in one-on-one combat. Very few of them seemed to understand that they should start at the bottom and work their way up, just like the elites all did.
Three knocks on the door to Retvik’s office distracted him from his paperwork. Wait, it was the Raptor’s office, not his. Whatever.
“Come in,” Retvik shouted.
The door squeaked open slowly and cautiously, before finally swinging open to reveal who was there. It was a Lanex.
“Hello.”
“Ah, Kalis!” Retvik got up to welcome the tall, graceful water elemental. “Good to see you!”
Kalis, feeling more comfortable, stepped forward to greet Retvik. His body relaxed, reverting from the heavily armoured Thrope-like look to something more closely resembling his true, watery form. “Good to see you too, Dessaron. I thought Phovos Tromou had returned?”
Retvik shook his head. “Not until next month, unfortunately. You know what Thanatians are like!”
Kalis nodded in agreement. “They are poor at keeping time.”
“Oh well…” Retvik headed back to his desk. “So how can I help you, Kalis? Please, take a seat. And please, no need to call me Dessaron, you can call me Retvik.”
Kalis pulled the chair out from opposite Retvik’s desk and sat down. He tried starting his sentence using the Dessaron’s proper name, but couldn’t bring himself to do so. “I apologise, Dessaron. I just… It’s a Lanex thing, you would might not understand.”
“That’s fine, that’s fine,” Retvik smiled, baring his teeth. Kalis though didn’t seem to understand Retvik’s mannerisms and seemed threatened, so Retvik stopped smiling. “You’re not really used to Rethans, are you?”
“Not used to any mortal race. Never been close enough to truly examine your more relaxed expressions. Most mannerisms I have seen from your kind in particular have been threatening ones. Anger, aggression, and so on.”
“Well, if we’re being honest,” Retvik admitted, “I had my doubts about the Lanex joining the Maza. Really did. But you’ve all been well-behaved so far. Not like other Deitics…” The Rethan paused and shuddered at some unknown thought. Kalis, feeling rather uneasy, decided to push the conversation elsewhere.
“I wish to form a Dessaron Arena team.”
“Oh?” Retvik’s eyes widened. “A mixed race team or a Lanex team?”
“A Lanex team.”
Kalis watched with curiosity as Retvik grabbed a piece of paper from a pile and began scribbling down notes.
“Do you have three other members, plus a maximum of two substitutes?”
“Yes.”
Retvik continued to scribble. “And who might they be?”
“My fellow Lanex. My brother Pohus, my best friend Kopus and his sister Luwa. Nuvis will be available as a substitute. I already sent you an application form with this information.”
“You did?” Retvik looked up, then searched the desk. “Ah yes. Apologies, normally we do all this digitally. Damn Thanatians love paper though. Swear they got it from the Cassids…”
Kalis smiled. “Hah. Do you need anything else, Dessaron?”
Retvik scanned the form. “Um… No, I think you have covered everything. All that’s left to do is test your abilities, so we can get our PHAMs calibrated and have power limiters made for you.”
“Pardon? Power limiters?” Kalis asked. “We would need to wear them? Why?”
“You are former Deitics with powerful elemental abilities. We don’t want anyone killed in the arena, so we have power limiters that stop you from doing too much damage and from blowing the PHAM teleporters!” Retvik explained. “It really isn’t a big deal.”
Kalis pulled an uneasy look. “This isn’t because we are Lanex, is it?”
Retvik blinked, unsure what Kalis was on about. “Oooooh! No, no, I’m sorry, Kalis, I think you misunderstood. This isn’t some random anti-Lanex thing. They’re pretty common, actually. Tenuk wears one in arena battles, so does Arkay. Most of the Vohra teams do as well.”
Kalis stood up, his questioned properly answered. “Very well. When can I bring everyone down to get the power limiters arranged?”
Retvik glanced at his calendar. “Hm. Can you do tomorrow at 3pm?”
“Of course.”
“Alright. Tomorrow at three it is. See you then!”
“Thank you,” Kalis smiled as he left the office.