Retvik stepped out of the room to give Gavir’s family some space. Unfortunately, his friend hadn’t made it, succumbing to internal injuries and lung damage. The wails of his poor partner had probably unsettled Retvik more than Gavir’s death. There was nothing like the scream of a lost one.
Wandering into the hallway, Retvik quickly realized he needed something to do. Dark thoughts were swirling around his mind, mostly focused on how he felt he hadn’t done enough. Gavir had managed to spend his final moments with his family, although that didn’t do much to make Retvik feel better. Fekrim hadn’t been as lucky. Neither had the other twenty seven beings that had died in the warehouse fires.
A busy Ksithan nurse pushed past Retvik. The hospital was absolutely packed, and Retvik knew he was in the way. In the last four days, there had been four separate catastrophes, and the Arksini Hospital, the main hotel in Palaestra, was really struggling with the over four hundred injured beings. The staff had been amazing, but they were clearly overworked, despite the good funding of the hospital. So much had happened all at the same time.
Retvik started moving down the hallway, keeping himself close to the wall. But as a gaggle of Ksithan nurses bumped into him, Retvik found himself falling into an open door that he thought had been locked and shut. To his surprise though, there were only two beings in the room, a Rethan doctor and what looked like a Skyavok patient.
“Sorry…” Retvik muttered, picking himself up.
“Are you the guard I requested?” the doctor asked. They were a pretty normal-looking Rethan. Dark grey skin, light grey body plating and piercing blue eyes.
“No, uh… I… What do you mean?”
The doctor sighed, glancing over at the patient. “No one seems to know who they are. But I have had no more than four angry R-Class Skyavok demanding I hand the patient over to Skyan authorities, and one tried to remove them by force. I cannot allow that until the patient has healed and woken up…” The doctor paused, finally recognizing Retvik. “Lightbearer, what are you doing here?”
“I was… watching over my friend…” Retvik also paused, not sure whether he should just spill his guts. Instead, he decided to take a different path. “How long have you been waiting for a guard?”
“Five hours. I am waiting here until my nurse returns, to keep an eye on the patient.”
“I can stay and guard, if you wish…” Retvik politely offered. “I need… to do something useful. I could not save my friends, I can at least help someone else.”
The doctor got up and bowed slightly. “Thank you, Kyr Retvik. Everything is automated, nothing should happen, I just need to leave the room for five minutes. My nurse should be here shortly.”
“I shall wait here then until you return.”
The doctor swiftly left, disappearing down the hallway. Retvik sighed to himself, then sat down next to the bed. The patient was a Skyavok, but a rather oddly coloured one. Retvik had only seen one yellow-plated Skyavok before, especially not one with almost pitch black skin, and he was pretty sure it was not the same as this one. It looked like surgery had been recently done on their side and stomach, but there were no scars or anything. The machines attached to it only seemed to be basic, a saline drip and a heart monitor. However, for some reason, the Skyavok had been strapped to the bed, and leather straps kept its arms and legs bound, something normally done to Rethavok because they moved a lot while unconscious, but rather unusual for a Skyavok. Aside from the Skyavok’s colouring though, there didn’t seem to be anything too special about this particular individual.
There was a small card attached to the Skyavok’s wrist. Out of curiosity, Retvik reached over to see what was written on it. However, as he did so, he noticed the Skyavok’s eyes flick open.
“Who are you?” The Skyavok blinked repeatedly.
“I am Retvik. I am here as a guard while the doctor is out. Are you well?”
“I… am not dead?”
“No. You are in the Arksini hospital in Palaestra.”
“Well, that is…” The Skyavok trailed off, then tried to move his arms, realizing he was tied down. “Why am I strapped to the bed?”
“I do not know.”
“You don’t look like a medic.”
“I am not a doctor. I am just here on guard. According to your doctor, there were attempts to forcibly remove you from this facility.”
“That… makes sense. Guess the R-Class wanted to finish me off when they realized they hadn’t killed me. Don’t want me to talk. I should probably get out of here, like right now.”
Retvik tilted his head to one side, somewhat concerned. “You are recovering. You should probably stay here. At least until you are healthy again. In the mean time, I can stay here and keep you safe.”
The Skyavok seemed to calm down slightly. Their eyes slowly scanned the room, coming to a rest on the saline bag hanging above them. “I… I guess… Just wanted to live a new life and then this happens. Is Efess alright?”
“I do not know who that is. There have been four major disasters in the last four days. The hotel explosion, the warehouse fires, the village stampede, the clinic raid… a… lot of dead vok.”
“Oh…” The Skyavok fell silent. “How did I survive?”
“I cannot say. I have been asking myself similar questions.”
“I guess you got caught in one of those disasters too?”
“Yes.”
The Skyavok sighed. “I’m sorry. What was your name again?”
“Retvik.”
“Huh. You can call me Kayel.”