Retvik felt hot, hotter than normal. This wasn’t good. Having the ability to manipulate things like heat, fire and plasma, Retvik rarely felt anything other than perfectly warm, as he would alter his internal body temperature to never feel too hot or cold. Right now though, whenever Retvik would cool himself down, about fifteen minutes later, he’d feel hot again.
Throwing his sheet to one side, Retvik sat up and made a conscious effort to lower his body temperature. It was harder to do so than it should have been. Once he’d cooled down somewhat, Retvik turned his head and glanced at the being he was sharing a bed with. Clearly Litvir was having similar problems, because he had uncovered himself and seemed to be sweating a little. What was surprising though was that Retvik’s movements hadn’t woken Litvir up. His partner was an odd sleeper, going into a deep sleep for twenty to forty minutes at a time, rarely sleeping for more than an hour, totalling about an hour of sleep for every fifteen hours awake.
As Retvik switched to his heat vision though, he realized that Litvir hadn’t gotten up in at least five hours. If he had gotten up, despite being rather cold blooded, Litvir would have at least left some warm footprints across the room. But no, he’d hardly moved at all.
Feeling even more concerned than normal, Retvik got out of bed, made his way round to Litvir’s side, then nudged him.
“Dear, are you well?”
It took a little too long for Litvir to wake up. He was capable of falling asleep in minutes, but would normally snap back to consciousness. Today though, Litvir was very groggy.
“I am tired.”
“You have been asleep for hours.”
“I am still tired…” Litvir rolled over. He looked paler than normal. It was hard to tell because of Litvir’s nearly black skin, but he genuinely looked rough. His glowing tattoos weren’t glowing, his eyes were dull and Litvir was breathing somewhat erratically. Litvir awkwardly sat up and reached for a nearby glass, only to realize it was empty. “I am also thirsty.”
“Hm, yes, I am thirsty too…” Retvik grunted as he got back up. “I have been thirsty for a while. But not hungry. I do not wish to throw up again.”
Currently, Retvik and Litvir were sharing a large room with a separate kitchen and an en-suite bathroom. Most of the rooms on the Shimmering Blade, the headquarters of the Phantai Decay Lords, had separate bathrooms, but the Phantai leaders were insistent that they treat the young Thantir leaders as well as they treated themselves. And because the Three Great Blades normally shared what was basically a very fancy studio apartment (despite having their own separate studio apartments as well), Retvik and Litvir got the same, on the condition that they share. The kitchen had very little in it, but it did have a tap and some glasses, and Retvik headed there to fetch Litvir and himself something to drink.
With a sigh, Retvik got two glasses of cold tap water then returned to the bed, handing one to Litvir. Litvir sat up and immediately downed his drink, then wobbled back to the kitchen with his glass and downed two more glasses of water and filled a third glass before coming back.
“You really are not well.”
“No, really?” Litvir tutted. “Both of us are ill. Fever, nausea, exhaustion, vomiting, overly frequent urination, headaches, sweating. The bowl of the toilet is showing wear and tear since your vomit is literally boiling and incredibly acidic.”
Retvik shrugged. “That is true. But you are more ill than I am. We must have some sort of stomach bug.”
“I do not think so. I have not eaten in a few days and normally stomach bugs pass quickly for us because Rethan stomach acid is very strong. On top of that, Elkay is not ill in any way, neither are our Skyavok friends, nor the Threan-type Retha who are genetically very similar to us. It is only you and I who are ill.”
Retvik thought to himself, then sipped his drink. But he found he was thirstier than he thought and he too quickly downed his drink. He noticed that Litvir had also finished his drink yet again.
“Do you want some more water?”
Litvir hesitated. “Yes. This sounds weird, but I am also emotionally hungry. I have not had to feed on the emotions of others since I became a Decayling, but my low energy levels are triggering those desires again.”
“Please do not feed on my emotions again. Or anyone’s emotions, for that matter!” Retvik shuddered.
“I do not want to do that, not any more…” Litvir frowned. He got up, taking both Retvik’s glass and the spare glass on the bedside table with him. One more, Litvir headed to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water, before throwing all three glasses in the sink, grabbing two large jugs from a nearby cupboard and filling those up instead. “I suppose whatever illness we have does not seem to be infectious. However the constant thirst and lethargy bother me greatly. I have not been this ill for a long time.”
“Yes, I have not been ill for a long time either. Admittedly, I rarely ever got ill even as a mortal.”
Litvir rolled his eyes as he handed a jug to Retvik. Both of them drank most of their drinks rather quickly. “You and Elkay are both examples of perfect Rethan genetics, even if Elkay is… a bit weird. I am the least mutated monster child from a large family of mutated monsters… Although, speaking of genetics, how DID Elkay end up with a pair of wings?”
“That… well… if I am honest, the Rethianos Tradition had a rocky start. There was definitely Skyavok genetics in the very early generations, and this was never properly bred out, to the point that us Rethianoi have indents on our backs where we could theoretically have psionic wings the same way Skyavok do. But Elkay is not… purely a Rethianos and has additional Skyavok DNA in him and that somehow gave him actual wings.”
“But Skyavok do not have wings.”
“Some ancient Skyavok bloodlines do…” Retvik paused. “Hm. Most of Loopblade also have wings, similar to the ones Elkay has. They are, in a way, Rethavok too.”
Litvir grunted, then downed the rest of his drink. He wanted more water, but was also feeling tired again. “They are from a completely different universe.”
“They are from the universe before ours.”
“Still…” Litvir trailed off. He placed his now empty jug on the bedside table, then got up to go to the bathroom. Thankfully, Litvir didn’t feel nauseous for once, but he did now need the bathroom. Litvir quickly excused himself and went to relieve himself. Retvik remained where he was, taking a moment to lower his body temperature again and waiting for Litvir to return. He listened as Litvir cleaned himself up, then went to get yet another drink, before coming back once more.
“You have had like three litres of water.”
“I am thirsty.”
“You are too thirsty. I think we need to speak to a medic or something.”
“Yes, I know…” Litvir sighed, lying down in bed. “I do not want to be prodded or poked though. The medics here are as bad as I was. Any medical curiosity they come across, they love to examine a little too closely. And I am almost certainly a medical curiosity and a half…”
“I get that, and I understand your concern, but you cannot see how bad you currently look, dear.”
“Fine… fine… but let me sleep for a bit more, first.”
Retvik patted Litvir on the head. “Very well. I will wake you in a couple of hours, then we can see a medic together.”
Litvir smiled weakly, then closed his eyes. In under a minute, he was already asleep.