“Thank you for coming, you three. I appreciate the care and kindness…”
Levik and Abius had never been to Psiksi’s home before and Timik had only visited a handful of times, but they were all surprised at how large Psiksi’s home was. Unlike most Skyans, Psiksi actually lived on the edge of Skipou (not too far from where Retvik used to live) and his house was very much a mansion. A weirdly sized mansion. Timik could tell by the large ground-to-ceiling windows that this wasn’t a Skyavok house, it was actually rather typical of architecture for wealthy Temthans. The place was spotlessly clean, but as they all climbed the stairs to greet Psiksi, Abius and Levik immediately noticed how dark it was inside.
“No worries!” Timik exclaimed. “Whatever you need, we’ll do for you.”
Psiksi led everyone to the living room, which had two long, round sofas, both of which were facing a large coffee table, a television and various consoles and stuff. One side of the room had one of those massive, glass windows, but the blinds were closed and not much bright light came though. The wall where the massive TV was, it was lined with shelves, and those shelves were lined with a huge collection of media, from books and comics to movies and video games. Between the two sofas, splitting them somewhat, was a very comfy, clearly well-worn armchair, which Psiksi immediately sat down in.
On the coffee table, drinks had already been arranged. An energy drink for Levik, a large glass of diet cola for Abius, a glass of light beer for Timik and several sugar-free energy drinks for Psiksi himself. By Psiksi’s drinks was an inhaler, which Psiksi quickly used before sitting down.
“So, what’s going on?” Timik asked as everyone else sat down. “Docs said you’re not doing good.”
“I’m really not…” Psiksi sighed. “I’m genuinely really upset about everything that’s happening to me. And the causes are awful. Like… they don’t really know with 100% certainty. And one of the more terrifying ideas is that I somehow swallowed or inhaled a particle of that black corruption stuff and my immune system is trying to kill it by choking me to death. But the doctors are almost as clueless as I am, and they’ve sent samples off to other, smarter people. So now I’m in this horrible limbo of not knowing what’s going on. I don’t even know if all of… if this illness is fatal…”
“Have the doctors suggested that this illness can result in… particularly bad things?” Abius asked. “Maybe they are just being as cautious as possible.”
“Maybe. But it’s all still terrifying. I have no idea where I’m going in life now…” Psiksi paused to catch his breath, then took a puff on an inhaler in his pocket. “I’m in the worst situation where I can’t really do my job. I can’t work at all. I mean, literally right now, I keep on pausing to cough. And my chest feels weirdly wet inside.”
“I assume you invited us here because you want help with future decisions?” Abius frowned. “You are in a very precarious position right now.”
“Pretty much. Although, firstly, Abius, I ought to thank you for my 299th win. You lost graciously. I appreciate that.”
Abius shrugged. “You beat me, fair and square. But you seemed far less ill than you are now. You did not start coughing until after you knocked me out.”
“Yeah. It all kinda just happened very quickly.”
“Is it fixable though?” Timik asked. “Like, can’t you just take time off, wait until you are better and then carry on like nothing happened? Or, like, you could just retire for a year. Keep on training, sure, but just retire temporarily. Heck, Tanok lost his arm and now he’s House Master, you could do something similar.”
Psiksi sighed. “I guess I can. But my current issue is that I don’t know how long I will be ill for, I have no idea. I might not ever recover and get back to full health. For all I know, this is it, I’m ill forever.”
“There’s something else bothering you though!” Levik exclaimed. “You’re worried about your streak and all that.”
Psiksi grunted, coughed, then grunted some more. “I want the damn Triumphant Crown. I’m so, so close. But I also… like… I know I’ll have to fight you, Timik. If I was perfectly healthy, I wouldn’t have a problem with this. We’ve fought before. But if I do anything vaguely strenuous, my chest starts hurting and I start coughing and breathing becomes difficult. I can’t fight you, Timik.”
“We could always try and get someone else for you to fight?” Levik suggested. “Someone more equal maybe, like another Skyan?”
“Or you.”
“Or me- Wait, what?” Levik turned to Timik. “You’re suggesting that I fight Psiksi for his potential 300 win streak?”
Timik nodded. “I’ve known Psiksi for years, we’ve fought a few times, and it’s always been down to the wire. But since you’re both not as good as me but also more of a spectacle, it would be a much more interesting fight, and more balanced too. But we can also just delay the match anyway. Tromos has been slowing down your 1v1 fights massively, I’m sure he’d actually want you to take a definite break.”
“Either way, we cannot do anything until Psiksi is vaguely back to full health,” Abius added. “You should not make any choices until we have more information. Maybe this health scare will pass quickly, and you can go back to normal. If it does not, when we have more information, we can make more informed choices. As we are, are just guessing. After the Sudden Darkness, we had a lot of people with problems, and we gave them breaks to recover. You deserve the same, Psiksi.”
Psiksi tutted, then shook his head. “I hate what you’re all saying. But Abius is totally right. I ought to just take my sick leave and work things out from there…” Psiksi paused briefly. “Thank you, guys. You’ve all been great to me.”
“No worries, mate!” Timik beamed. “We’ll help you through this. In the mean time though, we should get take out. My treat.”
“But-”
“Shush. Let us be nice to you!” Timik was still smiling. “So, Psiksi, guys, what do you want for dinner…”