"House Alexandra? THE SOVEREIGN? Oh gods, so you're siblings with the infamous Zara Alexandra?!" Pigtails says enthusiastically.
Dior and I ease our tension and slowly nod, not sure why she's cheesing over someone so mundane. Okay, she's the daughter of a sovereign, but outside of that there's really not much going for her.
"Hold on. Getting adopted is rare as is but to be accepted into the sovereign lineage? Who the hell are you guys?" The tall athletic girl asks.
There's an awkward silence. Dior and I don't really know how to avert the question or answer it properly.
We shrug and let out a weak chuckle. They don't buy it. We get several questioning looks, all but Vatu is suspicious of us now. His pride is oozing out of his smile.
"Well then, we should treat our guests with utmost honor. If we'd have known you were from the peaks we wouldn't have kept you bored at my place. We can show you an even grander time in the undercity." He says slyly, reaching for Dior's arm.
Surprisingly, Dior reciprocates and loops her arm around his. His grin grows larger.
"No, that place is full of savages. We don't need to put our new friends in danger." Pig tails wraps her arm around mine.
Dior and I exchange a glance. I don't know what hers means. I'm not so sure what I mean by mine either.
"Savages? Nobody can scare a peak elite, especially not the notorious Alexandra clan. Right guys?" Vatu puffs out his chest.
"Alright we can go but I want Soza to be armed to be our body guard." The glasses guy says.
The muscular tall girl taps her thigh where a hidden short sword outlines her tight leather pants. It must be an enchanted weapon, a relic similar to Dior's spear and my utility bag.
Soza, the girl who's supposed to be our "body guard", has her hair tied in a single long braid and her long thick legs bulges with each movement she makes. Her facial features are more angular than the average peakie.
"Body guard? I'm the better suited body guard." Vatu taps his belt where a gun is holstered.
Dior and I start to realize we are surrounded by armed enemies.
Although we are wearing the phased of a fellow peak, we know that if things go south they have what they need to kill us in any moment.
I'm wearing my relic and it contains countless weapons, including Dior's; but a sense of unease washes over me as I study the other two who haven't revealed their weapons.
"Ha! we saw you out on that field, all those muscles sculpted onto you doesn't help if you don't know how to use it. That gun isn't fooling anyone. If anything it reveals how much you need to rely on a flashy relic. Vixus and I keep ours close to our vest. The real ones know." Pigtails says as she daps up Vixus, the glasses guy (who still has his arm around my shoulder by the way).
Vatu coughs in embarrassment and Tiff laughs.
"What was that?" Dior asks boldy.
"What was what?" Vixus asks.
"That thing you did with your hands. Was it a secret handshake or something?" Dior's curiosity bleeds through her words. I bite my lip in second hand embarrassment.
"Oh that! It's a dap. Nothing secret, everyone does it. Here Faye can show you." Vixus motions to Faye, the pigtails girl.
Faye shows Dior how to clasp their hands, palm tiled upwards, like a clap merged into a handshake. The dap echo's when they finally get it.
Dior smiles, so does Faye. I have a feeling Dior is going to spam it now, every new thing is an intrigue to her that she gets attached to.
Trends are her downfall. The fiercesome abyssal surfer I once knew is slowly evolving into a city girl.
"What's your deal quite guy. You scared of the undercity?" Vatu asks.
"My bad, I just realized we haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Tyde by the way, and this is Dior. No I'm not scared, but do tell me about this place. Why are y'all armed and ready when going there?" I ask pointedly.
"It's the hidden dungeon where all the shady stuff happens..." Soza says. Vixus and Faye nod in agreement.
"But also!", Vatu interjects, "Where all the fun happens."
The other three roll their eyes. Dior seems to bite at the chance. I'm not sure if she's pretending to be excited in order to lead him on or if she's doing it because she's actually interested.
***
We enter through a maze of elevators that lead to the inner parts of the mountain. Caves that are littered with graffiti and graphic illustrations of the droids rebellion, scatter across the undercity.
A giant neon sign reads: "The Hellhound, where your darkest nightmares come true!"
Dior points at it enthusiastically.
"We should go there!"
"Ummmm well there's so many other fun things to do here!" Vatu shuttered when he looked at the sign. I wonder what that place entails.
I'm certain Dior wonders the same thing because no matter how many attractions Vatu tries to distract her with she keeps bringing it up.
We eat from various vendors that sell illegal meat, whatever that means. We try games that require us to gamble our money. We go to a bar where they sell drinks made from ghouls venom.
Dior and I only took a few sips but the rest of the crew downed several shots. Soza drank the most but somehow seems the least effected.
Vatu seems the most tipsy but Dior and I still need to help the other two just as much, when navigating the undercity.
Faye leans on me for support, her breath giving off a hint of the vile venom she swallowed.
Her petite frame is easy to lift so instead of her stumbling around clumsily, I just lift her up on my back, giving her a piggy back ride. This way I don't have to bother smelling her breath.
Soza is carrying Vatu and Vixus has his arm around Dior as she helps him with his balance.
"I think we've seen enough, let's head back." I say.
"Nah, we haven't seen the best attraction!" Dior nods at the large blaring neon sign of the hellhound.
I shake my head. This crazy women. I look at Soza, the only other sober one here, despite how much she drank.
"I mean... we can stop by really quickly. I don't know if any of you guys would be able to handle that though. It's quite a site." Soza says.
"Yeah... maybe another time." I try to convince Dior out of her madness but to no avail, one look at her eyes and I know, we're in for a fucking ride.
***
The gates to the hellhound is littered with ghoul bones, skulls atop each rung. Roars and chants can be heard ahead.
I can guess what this is. I smell the blood before I see it. Thousands of people flock around a large enclosure.
As we get closer the sound of flesh being torn apart can be heard, almost louder than the crowed itself.
An arena full of drunk madness is yelling at a diver in the midst of the coliseum, facing off against a ghoul.
We approach the seating area and a keeper guard stops us. The keepers are the police of the city so it's odd to see one here.
He wears blue armor, enchanted to the teeth, and a weapon adorned with godsblood engravings sits at his hip.
His rustic design reminds me of the old welders that stormed our house and raped my mother. I flinch when I run into him and almost instinctively go for his neck.
"Where's your admission tickets?" He asks with a hand on my chest.
"Tickets? What's the price of admission?" Dior asks.
"One of us from our group needs to fight in the arena." Soza says.
I am stunned. Soza says it like it's the norm. As if they've done this plenty of times before. She survey's our group and lands on me with her gaze.
Vixus, Vatu and Faye are barely conscious. Soza may not be intoxicated but she did intake quite a bit of that drink. Between Dior and I, somehow she decided I was more fit for the task.
I shake my head. Dior pats my shoulder and nods. I shake my head again, more ferociously this time. Dior nods more enthusiastically and gives me a kiss on the cheek.
"Tits would be happy to do it." She says.
Fuck my life.