Litvir could smell smoke. Bad smoke. Although Litvir was supposed to be asleep like everyone else, they could definitely smell that something was wrong. They quickly got up and glanced out of their tiny window, but they didn’t see smoke. Mostly because it was dark.
Feeling concerned, Litvir climbed out of bed and quickly put some armour on, the first thing they picked up, and made their way to the door. Thankfully, Litvir could turn invisible, but opening the door to their tiny room would have alerted someone. The better option was to go through the door, which required Litvir to concentrate funny.
Once they were outside and certain that no one was around to tell them off for breaking curfew, Litvir used their godly powers to lift themselves into the air. As they did so, they spotted the source of the smoke. There was a building that was on fire. Only a little bit, but it was on fire. It was a building that hosted visitors to the Junior Stratos, and occasionally, they would get visits from other races. Just that morning, a group of teenage Torr had visited, because they were doing travel experience and learning about other races in person.
Litvir’s first action was to find and hit the first fire alarm button they could find. Most of this Junior Stratos was surrounded by tall grass, so it must have burnt very quickly.
The fire alarm started blaring, but Litvir didn’t stuck around. They immediately raced over to the building and hit a fire alarm there too, then started banging on the doors of anyone close to the flames, to wake them up. Litvir worked as fast as they could, and people did wake up and try and get away. What bothered Litvir more though was that the Torr students were very confused and disorientated, and Litvir needed to direct them to safety.
There was a bigger problem though. The fire was definitely starting to spread. And it was tearing through the gardens in front of the building, and edging towards more sleeping quarters. And Litvir had no idea how to stop such a large fire.
Realising that the alarm bells weren’t doing much, and the water sprinklers inside the main hallways were very slow, Litvir decided to be reasonable and call 112, the emergency line. The second someone picked up at the other end, Litvir instantly gave them the name of the school, told them that they needed the fire department, then quickly explained where the fire was.
They then went back inside the first building, checking every single room. A lot of them were locked, and Litvir decided to just break in. There wasn’t anyone around though, mostly, Torr went to bed later than Rethans did. But as Litvir closed their eyes and thought as hard as they could, they telepathically sensed a few people who seemed to be stuck.
Litvir hesitated for a moment, then removed anything flammable from their armour, dropping the loose stuff near a water fountain. They then threw themselves into the building, to the person closest to them. It was one of Litvir’s teachers, and clearly they had tried to do the same thing that Litvir was doing, but had passed out from the heat. Litvir lifted them up first, throwing them over one shoulder, before heading back outside.
They looked around for a group of teachers, swiftly spotted some helping students evacuate, then gently placed the unconscious Rethan before them, before zooming back off. Litvir didn’t have time. They needed to head back into the flames. There were people in danger.
As Litvir returned to where they had found the teacher, they sensed that two Torr students were both moving and nearby, trying to open their dorm’s door. Litvir helped out by ripping the door off its hinges. Both kids screamed, but they calmed down as they saw Litvir and realised they were here to save them. As the fire was getting more intense, Litvir didn’t want to get lost heading down burning staircases, especially since some of them were currently melting, and the kids were getting tired, the smoke was making it hard to breathe. Instead, Litvir gathered their strength, concentrated hard, then fired a laser of light down into the ground. They cut out a rough shape, large enough for Litvir to carry the two Torr through, then grabbed one Torr by the hand and threw one Torr over their shoulder. They floated down, and Litvir fired another laser beam at a nearby wall, exiting the building completely.
Just like with the teacher, Litvir dropped the two students near some adults. One of them was an adult Torr, and she took them both to the medical area. Firefighters and ambulances had arrived and they were busy putting out the fires, which were being spread by the high wind.
Litvir decided to leave the adults to their duties, so they could scan the buildings again with their mind. Thankfully, as Litvir had hit all the fire alarms, most people had already evacuated. But the initial building where the fire started, Litvir sensed one last person.
They were in a room on the bottom floor, small kitchen. That was fine, Litvir could go save them. But as they got closer, Litvir started picking up thoughts. Thoughts from the last person. They were dying. But their mind was full of regret. From what they could tell, the student was a Torr who had…
Litvir paused, then headed to the Torr. They quickly grabbed them and pulled them out from the flames, but the Torr was struggling. This time, Litvir was closer to the exit, and they managed to get outside with relative ease, since everything around them was already rather burnt. But they didn’t take the Torr to the medical area straight away. Litvir placed them in a nearby fountain, then sat in the fountain themselves.
“I didn’t mean it…” the Torr stuttered.
“I know. You… wanted to do what I want to do.”
“I was going to just… inhale the gas. Quick. Painless. I’m full of pain. All the time. I want it to end.”
“You did not want to start a fire.”
The Torr nodded.
Litvir sighed. They were both tired now. “I think I understand how you feel. I can feel that pain too. You need a doctor. But you cannot afford one. No money. No time.”
“My parents are both dead.”
“I do not have parents either.”
The Torr started crying and occasionally coughing. “I genuinely didn’t mean to start fires. I wanted it to be quick. I fucked up. There was a spark. And now I will be saddled with the debt to fix everything. Fire is a painful way to go. And I… I regret all of this. Coming here. Trying to kill myself. All regrets.”
“Regret hurts…” Litvir frowned. “What is your name?”
“Aleftcian.”
“My name is Litvir. I want to help you.”
“I’m already indebted to you, because you saved me. I owe you everything.”
“I… do not really know what “indebted” means, but you do not owe me anything. I helped you because I wanted to, because I should help you. And, if you want, I can help you some more. We can… uh… bend? Bend the truth. We are kids, we did not know the gas had been left on. We tell them all, it was all an accident. Not your fault.”
“I… I guess…”
Litvir helped Aleftcian to his feet, then led him away, back to where everyone else was gathered. Firefighters were now properly close and had started putting out the first building. As they reached where the Torr students and teachers all were, there was a LOT of shock. It turned out everyone else had already been evacuated, and Aleftcian was the only student still trapped inside.
A Torr teacher took over and took Aleftcian to the medical bays. Litvir though, they wandered off, to roughly where the Rethan students in Litvir’s year were gathered. They were picking up everyone’s thoughts, all their fear and anxiety. It was all too much for Litvir.
Instead, Litvir headed to the quiet bench they liked. They laid down on the bench, coughed a few times, then thought to themselves. About a few things. They were feeling weirdly different, and not at all sure why.
“I did a good thing… I guess…” Litvir thought as they fell asleep. “Definitely a good thing…”