In the time it had taken for Retvik to get Kuta to the hospital wing, the shadowy Rethavok had attempted to throw himself off ledges and down stairs no more than ten times. But after what had seemed like a few hours of worries and discomfort, everything seemed to be finally settling down. Kuta’s sudden suicidal tendencies had died down and he was now sleeping somewhat peacefully in a comfy, warm bed, with two Rethans keeping an eye on him at all times.
What had caused this sudden change in Kuta, no one was sure. Thankfully, no one seemed to be blaming Retvik. Every time he had asked the other Rethans, they had all said something along the lines of “he was heading that way” before Retvik had even arrived there. Even General Litvir, who clearly had never liked Kuta, was incredibly concerned about what was going on.
It wasn’t until Retvik finished his shift of watching over Kuta and wandered off to have a rest of his own that anyone gave him any definite information. Retvik had just finished in the bathroom when he heard someone whispering to him.
“Hey, Retvik.”
The voice in question belonged to Trismit. Retvik could never quite understand Trismit, he had always been both cold and mean to him but also randomly overly friendly towards Retvik at times.
“Hello, Trismit, what do you want?”
“I need to talk to you. Privately.”
Immediately, Trismit grabbed Retvik by the hand and led him into his private office. Why Trismit got his own office, no one was sure and no one seemed to care either. As soon as they were inside, Trismit grabbed several sheets of paper and laid them out on the plain, mostly plastic desk.
“We need to get out of here.”
“We do. You seem to have very suddenly come to that conclusion.” Retvik was rather suspicious of Trismit’s almost random change of heart.
“Kuta is the last straw. We will all end up like that…” Trismit shook his head, focusing on the sheets of paper. “It is a lot more complicated than it seems. As far as we are concerned, we cannot get out of here without Litvir’s permission. And as long as everything is lit up, Litvir can see us. He cannot hear us but he can see us.”
“So what do we need to do?” Retvik asked.
“The question is what can you do?” Trismit immediately asked back. “You have more control over your powers than literally anyone who has come in here. Potentially more than the General himself. But more importantly, you have remote control. You can set a fire anywhere if you concentrate hard enough, yes?”
Retvik hesitated, then nodded. He wasn’t pleased that Trismit knew the limits of his abilities, but that meant less to him than escape did. “As long as I can see where the fire needs to go and where it is in relation to myself, I can create flames there.”
“Perfect…” Trismit reached into a new drawer and pulled out a pile of photos. “This is the generator room. We need a fire in here to cut the power.”
“And then what?”
“Once the power is out, I will get us out of this hole. When we are free of Litvir’s control, we will be able to save the other lost spirits here.”
“How?” Retvik was confused. “You have this plan and all you need me to do is light a fire?”
“I have it all planned out. Once the power is out and Litvir is blinded, we can make our move.” Trismit pushed one of the photos closer to Retvik, then pointed at its location on the map. “Can you create the flames now?”
“You want to do this now?”
“Yes.”
“Right now?”
“We cannot wait any longer.”
Retvik sighed, then closed his eyes. He concentrated on the location in question, imagining first sparks, then flickers of light, then complete flames. In his mind, the flames began to spread, before swiftly catching along electrical cables and spreading into the power generators.
Within moments, a colossal explosion rocked the facility.
Opening his eyes again, Retvik smiled briefly as he realised everything was pitch black. But nothing felt right. He was lying down. He had just been standing up. And everything was dark. Dark and… wet. Soaking. Drowning.
“Trismit?”
Immediately sitting up straight, Retvik was horrified to discover that his mouth was full of salty water. He spat out the contents of his mouth, realising that he was in some sort of canister. But apart from that, he had absolutely no idea where he was, and Trismit was nowhere to be seen…