Litvir skidded down the hallway, into a little alcove. He was certain that someone had spotted him. He’d been sloppy in his movements, brushing past too many other beings. And as his psionic abilities were currently all over the place, there was no guarantee that he’d properly shielded himself from view.
It didn’t really matter though. Litvir was nearly at his target destination. The horrible black hole of empty thoughts and nothingness. All Litvir had to do was round the corner, sneak into this one room and he would find whatever was causing his mind and stomach to lurch.
However, Litvir had to be fast. He could already hear groups of prisoners being rounded up. Clearly, Litvir had underestimated their captors, who, after the initial confusion, were quickly cleaning everything up. A knot of guilt welled up in Litvir’s throat, but he pushed it back down to focus on his own task.
Litvir took a deep breath, then peered around the corner. The coast was clear. The door was open. Pressing himself against the wall, Litvir silently slipped into the room and nudged the door behind him, leaving it only slightly ajar. The last thing Litvir wanted to do was to lock himself in, but closing the door would be-
The Souldrainer’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he realised what he was looking at. This was a pretty standard but extravagant bedroom, clearly belonging to the boss of this infernal slaver ship. But by the bed was a crystalline container which illuminated the rest of the room. Inside it was what he was looking for. The source of the mind-void.
“Arkay… what… what happened to you?”
The being inside had to have been Arkay. But it did not look like him. Instead, an overtly feminine being was lying perfectly still, frozen but pained. If it wasn’t for the yellow carapace across its neck, chest and upper arms, Litvir probably wouldn’t have recognized them.
Immediately, Litvir started pressing buttons along the side of the chamber. He had no idea what any of them did, but if even one of them could wake Arkay up, then, well, at least Litvir would be able to save one person, right?
But nothing seemed to work. The buttons were all locked by some sort of password which Litvir didn’t have time to find. In frustration, he started smashing his fists into the panels and into the glass, hoping something, anything would happen.
As the door creaked open behind Litvir though, he realized he was in trouble. A hulking, horned being stormed in, snarling and holding a whip.
“I knew one of you little bastards would try this…” Dominarch hissed.
Still snarling, Dominarch flicked her whip towards the escapee. While Litvir did manage to just about dodge the attack, he wasn’t able to avoid the wave of dark energy which lashed out around his neck. Panicking as the energy pulled him towards the towering demon, Litvir grabbed onto the glass canister, pulling it over and off the pedestal. The canister was still mostly in one piece with only superficial cracks and its prisoner still inside, but it had very nearly crushed Litvir.
Not that it particularly mattered, as Dominarch had managed to grab hold of Litvir. The snarls turned into a twisted smile as the busty demoness held Litvir in the air, his legs kicking wildly. Several objects from across the room had been thrown telekinetically at Dominarch, but they all seemed to bounce harmlessly off her.
“You are a feisty one, aren’t you?”
Rather than giving an answer, Litvir spat in his captor’s face. However, this seemed to very much displease Dominarch.
“Well, if you are going to be like THAT!”
With a rather putrid anger, Dominarch smashed Litvir into the nearest wall, head first. Litvir tried to fight back, but after a second and third blow against the metal wall, he could barely concentrate. By the sixth blow, Litvir could feel the blood pooling in the back of his mouth, and could only think about how much his head hurt. Dominarch continued to beat the prisoner until they stopped moving.
“You little prick…” Dominarch tutted, wiping the slightly acidic spit off her face as she dragged Litvir off. “I’m gonna make you pay for this…”