The initial introductions had gone pretty well, and Retvik was rather pleased that he hadn’t made a fool of himself yet. Everyone had a lot of questions for the “stupidly young Hidden Trio member” but as Retvik had explained things, people had settled down.
It turned out, Retvik wasn’t alone when it came to his distrust of Deathven. The Pentathax had originally formed partially because Deathven overall had let them down, and now they were mostly self-run and self-funded, the only major Deathven stuff the Pentathax were used were their old Deathven Fortresses, most of which had been abandoned, and the Pentathax would come through, clean up and use as a base of operations for a bit, before moving to a new area. Apparently, two evs ago, this place had been crawling with bandits.
It also turned out that the Justar weren’t too bad. At least, not any more. Apparently, after the Thantir were originally split up and most of them were forced to return to Deathven, Deathven had then ordered a review on the Justar, forcing them to restructure and reorganize, to the point that other sects probably wouldn’t recognize them these days. Retvik also learned that Vikalos wasn’t just a former member of the Justar, he was a Justarian Lord, in charge of keeping an entire sub-sector safe, and the Claws of Justice had always wanted Vikalos to return to their ranks. To the point that Peacebringer had openly told Retvik that Vikalos was ‘welcome home whenever he wanted’.
However, the Justar were by far the largest sect in the area, with over a thousand members. No one else was even close. The Alsyr had 500 members, but all the other sects had less than 100 members, with the Thantir being the smallest, followed by the Ekthris, with the Kshana being not too far behind, with only 42 members, all of whom were the same species. There were nearly as many Pentathax as there were all eight Phevonic Eniapent sects combined.
The most surprising thing though was most of the sects only really knew sects within their own pentaclusters. The Justar did seem to be aware of everyone, but they didn’t know about the Ekthris, which were a relatively new sect that had formed about five year-strings ago. They were all about killing any and all Corruption they came across, they didn’t care about anything else, and this pleased the Pentathax greatly. According to their leader, Tahnaiious, he and his Trio, they all came from universes killed by Corruption and they just wanted revenge. The Pentathax immediately said they could offer better weaponry, and although Tahnaiious had been suspicious at first, he said he’d consider it in later discussions.
As they all spoke, everyone seemed pretty amiable and friendly, and the mood was overall good. Retvik had noticed though that Tahnaiious had been giving him funny looks the entire time, and Retvik wasn’t quite sure why. Thankfully, after everyone had eaten, Tahnaiious was dragged off by Galeforce to discuss military hardware, and Retvik found himself distracted by Soulblade and Peacebringer, who were giving him different funny looks as Pentaflame lead the three of them down a large corridor, to personal chambers that had been set up for each leader.
The reason Soulblade and Peacebringer, Peacebringer in particular, were giving Retvik funny looks was quite simple. They both found him attractive. Soulblade was aware Retvik wasn’t a Beh’evok, but Peacebringer had been rather awkward at first, thinking Retvik was an adolescent Beh’en and thus was concerned that he was suddenly attracted to a minor. Retvik had quickly cleared things up as best he could, but suddenly Peacebringer was more interested than less interested.
Still, it was odd that the Great Blades, the Claws of Justice and the Ventra Gales, the leaders of the extinct Ventra sect, all had a Psionic Beh’evok as one of their leaders.
Pentablade almost physically forced Peacebringer into his room, and slammed the door shut behind him, before finally showing Retvik to his room. Several nearby Pentathax soldiers seemed to snicker in amusement. One nice thing about this place was that there were a lot of armed guards around, so Retvik did at least feel safe for once.
“You seem popular!” Pentablade teased somewhat. “I did assume you were just a similar species compared to those other three but I am surprised at how they all looked at you. Still, I suppose you do have an air of curiosity about you, since you are such a young Upper Decay Lord.”
“I am only higher ranked than normal because the Overlord felt bad about trying to kill me and Litvir.”
“You accepted though?”
“I did not accept anything. I had no idea until we all nearly got killed by a Corrupted Life Goddess, went to the Phantai for assistance and the Great Blades told us.”
“Oh…” Pentaflame blinked. “Well… admittedly, technically, you outrank us. The Doom Drums were offered Higher Lordship and we refused.”
Retvik shrugged. “I would have refused too if I had the chance. Anyway, uh, thank you for your hospitality so far.”
Pentaflame patted Retvik on the back, then handed him a key. “Not a problem. We enjoy meeting new folks. Being a mobile sect does mean friends are somewhat temporary, so we do our best to make sure everyone we meet is well looked after. Anyway, we have forced you to talk enough, we will let you rest. Everything you may need is in there.”
Retvik headed into his room, and the door slammed shut behind him. The room was pretty damn large, more than big enough for Retvik, with what looked like a somewhat portable jacuzzi in the corner. A table with a spread of food and a mini fridge filled the other corner, while the last corner was closed off into its own room and probably contained a bathroom or something. It was all rather luxurious, but also somewhat homely, compared to all the cold, stone corridors and halls that Retvik had seen before.
The first thing Retvik did though was sit on the (utterly massive) bed, then reach for his communicator, checking it for messages.
Souldrainer: Hey, dear. How is everything? Hope you are having a good time.
Souldrainer: Everything is fine here. Has been quiet apart from a gigantic celestial cat that needed corruption removal, but it was all dealt with no problem.
Retvik smiled to himself and typed a response.
Flamebearer: Hello, Litvir. I am doing well, had to do… a lot of explaining. A lot of “where are the Tattered Navigators?”, “you are from a Hidden Trio?” and “which one of you is the mimic?” but thankfully that is all covered now.
A little green icon appeared by Litvir’s name, and this was followed by a quick response.
Souldrainer: I am glad to hear from you! Made any new friends?
Flamebearer: Hah. Yes, everyone is friendly. Pentaflame already likes me because I am a Flame too, and it turns out Peacebringer is another one of those psionic Beh’ens you like so much.
Souldrainer: Huh. What is he like?
Flamebearer: Huge. Bigger than Psehon. Psehon has been rather friendly, actually.
Flamebearer: I am admittedly quite tired though. Somewhat still not over the dizziness from the teleportation pod.
Souldrainer: Can you take a nap?
Flamebearer: I can now. I have been given a room with a very nice bed in it, and, for some reason, a jacuzzi.
Souldrainer: Ooooh nice. Well, I will let you get some rest. Message me when you wake up, sleep well and have fun.
Flamebearer: Thank you. Look after yourself, Litvir.
Souldrainer: Of course. Sweet dreams, dear. Love you.
Flamebearer: Love you too.
Retvik smiled some more. He put his communicator down, then took off his armour then grabbed himself a bottle of what he assumed was cola from the fridge. However, while he was tired, he did also fancy trying the jacuzzi.
So that was Retvik did. It was all already set up as well. A grin grew across Retvik’s face as he removed his loin cloth and stomach wrap, then stepped into the warm, bubbly water.
“Well, this is very nice… I could get used to this…”