“Hello, Psiksi!”
Psiksi glanced up from what he was doing. He was currently eating lunch and watching a match in the arena below, while also fiddling with his health meter. He was pretty sure he’d damaged it during his last battle against an overly arrogant Temthan challenger, and was trying to recalibrate it to show percentage health instead of a flat value.
“Oh, hey Retvik, hey Kayel. We never got around to going out for coffee.”
Kayel waved his hand dismissively as he sat down next to Psiksi. “It’s fine. We’ve been busy. You’ve been busy too, clearly. What happened in your match?”
Psiksi tutted, watching as Retvik had briefly wandered off, before returning with a sandwich for himself and Kayel, and an extra drink for Psiksi. He hadn’t asked for one, but somehow Retvik seemed to know that he was thirsty.
“Ugh, I don’t know. Last few days, I’ve not been able to really do shadow stuff lately and I don’t know why. Then that stupid Temthan nearly smashed my health meter and I really had to scramble to knock the prick out, and now I can’t get this damn thing to work.”
“What is wrong with it?” Retvik asked. “Do you want me to have a look?”
“Eh, sure…” Psiksi frowned, handing Retvik the wristband, before taking a bite out of his own sandwich. “I just want to set it to bloody percentage health, it’s so much easier to read in a hurry.”
Retvik grunted, fiddling with the screen. Kayel stole a glance, then blinked in confusion.
“Why does your total health only say 1200?”
Psiksi glanced at Kayel. “What do you mean? That’s above average for a Skyan, based on the Average Calculated Stat Index Value. Most Skyans who fight in the Arenas only get 1000 health.”
Kayel hesitated, then removed the health meter he was wearing around his own wrist. He fiddled around with it briefly, switching the value from percentage to total health, then showed it to Psiksi.
“… The fuck?”
“What?”
“Your total health is 6000? But you have a Received Damage Multiplier?” Psiksi was genuinely shocked. “Like, that’s… That’s Banikan levels of health! How the fuck is your ACSIV so fucking high? Retvik’s is only 3500!”
The mighty Rethan grunted again, handing Psiksi back his health meter, before unclipping his own health meter and tapping a few buttons on it. Just like Kayel had, he then showed it to Psiksi.
“Mine used to be 3500.”
Psiksi stared at the screen on Retvik’s health meter in disbelief. “That… no fucking way… 20k health? With a x6 RDM? What the actual fuck? How does that even work?”
“I honestly do not know. I assume it is due to the Thantophor’s happy accident, but the Raptor had my health meter settings reevaluated when we set up Xeno Dessaron One. Technically, with the RDM, I have less health now.”
“Yeah but…” Psiksi was stuttering. None of this made sense to him. “If you didn’t have an RDM, you could go on for days!”
Retvik shrugged. “Probably. Getting tired is not really that much of an issue now, I just stick to my regular sleep schedule for convenience. The Raptor did suggest that I do some sort of endurance match at some point, a constant 1v1 stream of 20 challengers or something. She has been throwing a lot of ideas at us, ever since she invited Tenuk to play the Big Bad in Thirteenth Night.”
The veteran gladiator was about to shout in anger and confusion, but quickly stopped himself. “Actually, Tenuk being a Big Bad sounds pretty fun. Any idea what he’ll shapeshift into?”
“Apparently he wants to shapeshift into me, but with horns and Thrakian wings. And potentially in yellow. We had to talk him out of shapeshifting into Arkay.”
Psiksi blinked. “When you say Arkay, do you mean…”
Kayel nodded, then snickered. “Arkay isn’t even scary! He spends most of his time pretending to be a yellow Skyan! Heck, he’s hardly scary when he pretends to be a yellow Rethavok either.”
“He is very, very attractive though when he pretends to be a Rethan…” Retvik muttered.
“The fact that you both know a deity on a first name basis and the fact that Retvik just admitted to being attracted said deity is really damn concerning…” Psiksi was admittedly feeling rather disturbed by all of this. Even though he was a Skyan himself, one of the Thantophor’s chosen races. However, like most Skyavok, Psiksi’s worship mostly just consisted of the odd thank you for not dying every couple of days. “Also you two are both casually just discussing this in front of me.”
“Well, Retvik trusts you, so I trust you!” Kayel smiled. “Plus I kinda just assumed you also worshipped Arkay at some point.”
“The universe just recently found out, via the All-Ksa himself, that the god we’ve been calling Arkadin all these decades prefers the obviously Skyan name of Arkay. It’s all kinda weird…”
“How do you think I feel?” Retvik tutted, crossing his arms in vague frustration. “It is fine for Kayel, he used to worship Arkay. I discovered the deity that I followed, past tense, is a stubborn, aloof creature who does not really care about Her chosen races. And Nyssi was bloody attacked by the deity she worshipped like a good little devotee!”
“Tenuk’s fine though.”
Retvik glanced at Kayel, then nodded. “That is true, Tenuk is fine. Spasts do not seem particularly religious.”
“Yeah but how many Spasts have you actually met?” Psiksi asked. “Because I’ve only ever met one Spast, he’s your buddy and he is friendly and kind and all but is also capable of turning into a literal fucking monster!”
Retvik fell silent, thinking to himself and counting on his fingers. “I suppose… now you mention it, I think I may be wrong. The one we saw in the pharmacy that tried to blow Arkay up was from some sort of cult, and those Spasts we saw at the edge of the universe definitely were not friendly either, and their leader forced several blades through my back. Aside from Tenuk, every Spast I have met has tried to kill me.”
“Hey, uh, Ret?”
“Yes, Psiksi?”
Psiksi leaned across the table, staring at Retvik. “You’re a great guy, for a Rethan, you are very kind and open, but I genuinely think you have lost your marbles.”
“I am simply recounting what has happened to me since Dekem last year!” Retvik frowned.
“Maybe you should see a therapist or something though, because what you just spouted was fucking insane.”
“Yeah but Retvik’s telling the truth!” Kayel awkwardly butted in. “That stuff did happen to us. We’ve kinda become disaster magnets, to the point that Arkay gave us a customized dagger each just in case something really bad happened and we really, desperately needed to kill something.”
“Also he comes and visits us once a week…” Retvik added. “He says he needs to keep an eye on us because we are somewhat immortal now.”
“No, Retvik, seriously, that’s fucking insane. You’re fucking insane!”
Kayel glanced at Psiksi. “Dude, you seem stressed.”
“I am stressed…” Psiksi admitted. “I nearly lost my damn streak today, my shadow powers aren’t working and I feel hungry and don’t know why. This is like my third damn sandwich and I’m not full.”
“Yeah, I get you. You been using your shadow powers more than usual lately?”
“I… I guess?” Psiksi hesitated. “Enefksi asked me to sub for Skyan Squad Two in a CTF match yesterday, and the same day I had two challenger matches, plus today’s three challenger matches, and the last match, I just petered out. Sure, it’s nice to have hit the 200 win streak, but the last few days have been rough and I haven’t had a proper break in two weeks…” After a moment of thought, Psiksi realized what was wrong. “So… am I having the same issue you get sometimes, Kayel?”
Kayel smiled. “Yeah. I thought it was just a Phantasma thing, but I think it happens to anyone who can use our elemental affinity. After all, shadows are kinda just one step away from death. It’s an easy fix though, you just need to kill something.”
“That… is not an easy fix.”
“Yeah it is. Just ask Phovos to give you a beast-slaying match. Or you can come hunting with me and Nyssi or something. Or do what I do and shoot pigeons in Retvik’s garden.”
“Who’s Phovos?”
“Uh, the Raptor.”
“The Raptor’s real name is Phovos? Huh, never would have guessed…” Psiksi thought to himself, then sighed. “I suppose I can do a couple of Thragger matches. They’re dumb enough that I don’t need my shadow powers anyway. Kinda feel stupid for not working it out myself.”
Kayel shrugged. “I only worked it out after we fought Retha Squad One and Nyssi pointed out that my adrenaline pangs were similar to the predatory fix that Temthans, Ksithans and Banikans all get.”
Psiksi sighed then got up. “Well… sorry for being weird and snappy. I ought to go and sort myself out. Still, I think you should get therapy, Retvik. You Rethans aren’t exactly great at dealing with emotional things.”
“Oh and we’re any better?” Kayel snorted.
“Psiksi does have a point though…” Retvik grunted. “But that is a thing for another time. We need to get back to training anyway. Kayel needs to learn how to ride a Banikan.”
“You know that thing I just said about saying crazy stuff, Ret?” Psiksi somewhat laughed as he walked away. “You should think about that…”