A Lesson in Aristocracy

III - Friend

Arden stumbled into the room, wiping a bit of rotten tomato off of his arm. He frowned at Prefect Holdenveere, who was sitting in a chair with his arms crossed almost expectantly.

"Wow." The Prefect mumbled, Arden narrowing his eyes.

"Wow what?"

"Wow, you look like shit."

Arden huffed, flopping into the chair beside him. "There was a protest in Terran's Square  and they had a lot of tomatoes. I mean really, what a waste of f-"

"Just stop."

"Okay."

Prefect Holdenveere tapped a stack of papers on the table as Arden cleaned himself up, still finding bits of tomato goop in strange places every few seconds. Holdenveere passed the top paper over, Arden looking it over while he did his thing.

"Hyarith? Isn't that Aldrish for Sun-Killer?"

"I thought you didn't speak Aldrish."

"Everyone took Aldrish classes in school, Holdenveere."

The Prefect sighed, Reinbach finally finishing cleaning and holding the paper with both hands.

"Yikes. This guy's scary," he mumbled, envisioning the Lozenfi in his head as he read - horrible, pointed teeth, claws that could tear him to ribbons. A nose that could smell fear - a giant, looming stature, and a grin that would put any psychopath's to shame. Still, Arden knew he could break this Lozenfi. He'd broken every one they'd thrown at him.

The two walked through the curved halls, steps echoing this way and that. "It's in the undercroft, right next to the midden."

Arden's nose crinkled up at the thought - that was where they sent the corpses of the less fortunate folks in the arena. He'd only been down there once, and the smell had given him a horrible stomachache in minutes.

"The scent keeps it from focusing enough to hurt our... less capable handlers," Holdenveere informed, Arden clicking his tongue as they reached the staircase to the undercroft.

The undercroft was simply ancient. No one knew how long it had been there, only that it was there since before the Gozines first landed on Veldran. Still, despite it's age, each beautiful detail still held and not one stone had fallen out of place. Arden ran a gloved hand across one of the carvings in a pillar, depicting a Lozenfi desecrating a corpse among a group of its own.

"Guess they were always bad," Arden mumbled.

"What's that?"

"Oh, nothing. Sorry."

Holdenveere eyed him before continuing to lead, finally reaching an old wooden door and handing Arden a key. "This is as far as I go." He said, Arden tilting his head.

"That bad?"

"Worse than that bad. If you scream, I'll know to get you," he joked, though Arden wasn't sure it was entirely in jest.

He accepted the key, placing it into to lock and pushing the door open. The hinges creaked with strain, the sound echoing and the smell of corpses that had already been assaulting his nose growing ever stronger. He blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the dark room as he stepped slowly in. Holdenveere slammed the door closed behind him, causing Arden to yelp.

"Reinbach-!"

"I'm fine! You just scared me!" Arden said quickly, his pupils widening as he blinked a few more times.

It took a few minutes, but finally he could see the object of his fascination for the past few hours. In the center of the room was a figure, hunched over itself with its wings banded in the back and each limb heavily shackled. Arden took a step closer, glad he'd picked up a baton from the Handler's room, and kneeled so he could see the monster's face.