The Underground City

Telós let go of Bo's wrist, seeing that they had arrived.

Then he took to staring at the strange woman, because that was admittedly a first for him when he was using this form. He glanced uncomfortably from his chosen to her to back to his chosen. He didn't need a telepathic message to express what he was thinking - the look on his face was enough. What had they told her about him?

"You don't have to bow," Telós finally said, wishing that he was anywhere but here. "I'm just a god. And, uh, a king."

Lexal raised an eyebrow. Probably Aleks, since he seemed pretty fond of that expression these days. "That's exactly why she's bowing, idiot."

"Oh. Yeah." Definitely Aleks, then. "But, seriously, you don't have to bow! Just treat me like a normal guy. Like Aleks is doing-" He paused for a moment, noticing the almost worried look that passed on Lexal's face. Weird. "Why are you guys giving me that look? It's true. Aleks isn't treating me like a god-"

Now they look terrified, oddly enough. Aleks would never let someone see his fear, so that had to be Lex in control. He studied him carefully, then decided to just get to the bottom of this by asking what was up. "Lex, why are you giving me that look? Is there something behind me? Because the only thing standing behind me right now that I know of is Bo, and while he's definitely on the tall side, he's not exactly the scariest thing I've ever seen."

"With all due respect," Enide said, smirking, "I have yet to meet a 'normal guy.' Yet, I will try my best to comply." She stepped back in case anyone else wanted to talk to the god, watching Lexal's expression in the meantime. She'd already suspected they were two identities - hearing the god refer to them as Lex and Aleks confirmed that. Still, it would be rude to call attention to it, particularly as panicked as Lexal looked. Someone else would, most likely.

Casey stared at the men with wide eyes, holding his bleeding nose in one hand. His hair color hovered between a lime green and an orange color. He slowly scooted to the back of the group, trying to go unnoticed. With his luck, he would somehow upset this unnervingly mellow god- if that was what he indeed was.

“I mean, I wouldn’t classify myself as normal,” Bo replied with a small smile to the group of strangers. “But I guess overall I’m a pretty average guy.”

"Ey waddup God-man," Ryder stuck a hand out in his direction, while taking an abnormally large step just to reach. To be fair, he was sort of behind Lexal and Enide.
"You don't look like much of a God, to be honest, but then again Herobrine doesn't either. So I'll give you a pass on that," he said offhandedly as he waited for a handshake.

Telós hesitantly shook his hand, still staring at his chosen as they tried their best to pretend that the conversation had never happened. It was painfully obvious to everyone - Telós included - that he had just messed up, and he wanted to figure out why quickly.

"Lex," he hissed, dropping his voice down as he joined his chosen by their side. The look on their face would have been amusing if he wasn't so certain that it was directed at him - one of them looked noticeably worried, and the other very, very angry. Naturally, he tried to appeal to the less angry one. "What did I do? I just called you guys by your names."

"They don't know. We've been going by Lexal."

Oh.

"How have they not realized that there's two of you?" he whispered. "Your personalities are like complete opposites! I noticed the differences the first time I met you and that was when I had like a hundred other things to worry about."

"Good acting," Aleks grumbled, still very angry at his god. Telós gulped. "Lex has been talking, I've been doing the fighting. But now you went and ruined it."

"We had a talk," Lex vaguely said, which Telós knew was a simple way of saying that Aleks had his feelings hurt because Lex had picked up on said feelings. If there was anything that Aleks hated, it was being viewed as weak.

And Telós, with his bad luck, had angered the already angry soul.

He groaned.

Enide walked over to Lexal and Telós. "I have some helpful advice," she said, placing her head between theirs. "If you are going to talk about your identities and secrets, please do not do so a few feet away from the people you are trying to hide them from. Particularly a few feet away from someone with exceptional hearing." Her ears twitched. "Though, I suppose it is nice to find someone more honest than not. Those are a rarity in my particular line of work."

"Just gonna echo the lady on this," Bo piped in. "I can hear you... pretty clearly. Probably doesn't help that I have exceptional hearing too but, if you want to keep a secret, maybe don't uh, talk about it in front of the people you're trying to hide it from," he said with a little laugh.

Aleks glared at Telós.

The god of gold wisely took a few steps away from his angry chosen. "It probably wouldn't have lasted long, anyways," he helpfully added, which only made Aleks glare at him even more. "I told Bo about it earlier. I didn't know you were trying to keep it a secret then."

A sigh escaped Lexal's lips - definitely Lex this time, which was always a good sign. His chosen turned to look at the others. "I guess we should introduce ourselves again. I'm Lex. The one who was glaring a second ago was Aleks. We share the same body, which can be a little hard to handle. That's why we went by Lexal."

"Oh." Casey wiped his nose and blinked, getting a headache from trying to follow all of these conversations and revelations.

Enide tapped her chin. "I must wonder, though," she said, "As to why you have combined your names. Surely the both of you do not consistently possess the same body, yes? One of you must be capable of removing, if temporarily, the other. Unless such a bond as yours does not work in the way I am familiar with."

"I wish I could get rid of the b******," Aleks muttered.

Lex, realizing that an answer like that was far from satisfactory, continued where Aleks left off. He also wisely ignored the insult; it wasn't a rare one, and he was past the point where it bothered him. "I think it might be a little different," he said. "We're stuck together, like Aleks implied. I died a few years ago - we've been in the same body ever since, although I've only been conscious in it for about a year."

"Aleks was Lex's shell," Telós helpfully added.

"That's nuts, man," Bo replied. "I'm not familiar with that kind of magic either."

Telós nodded. "With the recent emergence of shells, it's been hard to figure out exactly what the rules of the universe are now. Lex and Aleks might be an example for more cases like that, but we're honestly not sure. It could be just as likely that Lex's soul knew it had to be my chosen so it found the best body it could."

"If I may ask," Enide said, "What are these shells? The word seems to suggest any and all cases by Lex and Aleks, but you also indicate that theirs is unique. Does "shells" refer to another concept, or perhaps a group of them? And how are they causing trouble in your universe?" The use of "your" was important - Enide had doubts that she was talking to interdimensional travelers, instead of people from an isolated and strange part of her homeworld, but it was better to entertain the possibility than deny it. She had seen, heard, and read enough about Fayne that she couldn't see how these three fit into it, and all that left was the prospect of other worlds, or even other dimensions.