“Why is there a fire in the middle of the canteen?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing…”
Retvik shrugged as he stood in the doorway, watching as Nisir and Isir worked together to snuff out flames and get rid of burning paperwork. By his side, Trismit was rolling his eyes and Kuta was bouncing up and down excitedly.
“We won!” Kuta muttered between ecstatic gasps. “We turned it around!”
Trismit glanced at Kuta, then back at Retvik. “What have you done now?”
“I will have you know that I have been in solitary confinement since the 29th of Noem and I am just as clueless as you are.”
“Ever since you arrived here, things have been going… wrong though. No, not wrong. Different. Worryingly different.”
Kuta jumped up and down some more, playfully slapping Trismit on the shoulder. “Not wrong! Better! We are not going to be sent off to a hellworld to die now! We are saved!”
“And WHY has Kuta been spouting gibberish ever since you got let out of solitary?” Trismit rolled his eyes some more. “None of this makes any sense. And that does not even begin to explain the massive pile of burning paper ahead of us!”
Suddenly, the hulking form of Eoman appeared behind the three confused Rethans. Amazingly, he was wearing matching armour, which was a rarity for the nice but often sidetracked captain.
“Hello!”
“Eoman hi!” Kuta bounced yet again. “We will not be dying!”
“Who said anything about dying? All I heard was that the General has completely scrapped that mission he wanted to send us on!”
“Yes, the mission on which we would all die!” Kuta beamed. “The General scrapped it! The General has also fallen in love with Retvik for some reason but that is beside the point! The suicidal plan has been averted! We will all live!”
Eoman shrugged. “Well at least the General has good taste in vok… So we are not going to the Void Planes or whatever it was called now?”
“The Void Planes do not even exist…” Retvik muttered. “I believe our general mixed fantasy with reality. There are only Void Spaces, within which the Skyavok reside.”
Before anyone else could continue, a massive wall of water and ice rushed through the room and out of the doorway, soaking everyone present. Grumbles and groans were heard as General Litvir appeared on the burning ruins, arms outstretched and welcoming to all.
“Good evening, my captains!” Litvir smiled. He pulled out a large brush and swept the table’s remains onto the floor, to be cleaned up later. With an odd twitch, Litvir then placed a large sheet of paper across the table, then disappeared into the kitchen, returning with seven large bottles of mead. The sheet of paper was filled with strange diagrams and pictures, most of which surrounded a large drawing of a portal with swirling energy and a doodle of a being with antlers.
“Come, sit down! I am here to give you all some good news! From today onwards, we are working towards a new plan! A new plan to meet with the Voidlord!”
Everyone immediately fell silent.
“Uh, why, General?” Retvik finally asked.
“Because the Voidlord is the only being in this universe who knows where your magic powers come from! And if we can get in contact with him, we may be able to stabilize you all! If we meet with the creator of divine magic ourselves, we may be able to solve our… elemental issues for good! Including my own ones!”
The captains all glanced at each other. Once everyone was settled and had a drink at hand, Litvir smiled, then began to walk though his plan…