“I am sorry to inform you that one (1) of your Decayling students is potentially unstable and must be terminated from the Decay Lord program.”
Galyn read the letter, then re-read it, making sure that he was reading it correctly. He then read the letter a third time, before scrunching up the letter and throwing it to one side. Being a digital letter, a new, fresh copy of the letter appeared by Galyn’s side. Galyn considered scrunching this copy up as well, but decided against it. Instead, he hit the buzzer by his desk and called for his fellow Decay Lords.
“I see you got the notice as well…” Vikalos grunted as he lumbered in, dragging up a chair and plonking himself opposite Galyn. “I swear, we did everything right. We did it all by the book. There is nothing dangerous about him.”
“He is by far the least dangerous of the three of them…” Galyn sighed, reaching for his personal computer. “The other two genuinely deadly compared to him.”
“And we are so close to finishing off their trials. They are so close to graduating themselves…” Vikalos leaned on the desk, very clearly upset and not bothering to hide it. “We have trained them so well. Put so much into them. It would not be right to split them up now, to leave one behind while the other two frolic. They all deserve equal treatment.”
A knock at the door interrupted the conversation. Itaviir was standing in the doorway, a snarl etched across his face. In one hand, he was holding a tray of tea. In the other, he was holding a leather-bound book, one that looked very well-worn. Galyn and Itaviir both looked up, before sighing and returning to their conversation.
“How did this even happen anyway?” Vikalos tutted. “We had them all checked over. They were all clean. I made sure of it. We made sure of it. We even had Kal make sure of it.”
“But what can we do?”
Annoyed by his fellow Decay Lords’ lack of any real reaction, Itaviir strutted into the office, slamming his book down on the desk between Vikalos and Galyn.
“There is a solution. But you will not like it.”
Galyn glanced at the book, then at Itaviir. “We cannot send them in to do their Trial now. They will die.”
“They will not die. They are strong enough.”
Vikalos shook his head. “You are asking a lot of all of them. To ask the other two to put their lives on the line for a slim chance to save their other.”
“They are bound to each other though…” Itaviir explained. “They have already bonded to the point that they want to remain together. Siblings, almost. If we explain to them that there is a chance for them to save themselves, then they will take it. Of course they will, because they are honourable beings.”
“At the same time, they may be honourable and not wish to risk each others’ lives…” Vikalos retorted. “They all understand the act of sacrificing one to save many. We cannot…”
“All we can do is ask…” Itaviir grunted. “Give them the options. Let them decide.”
Vikalos turned to Galyn, who simply shrugged.
“It is worth a try.”
“They could all die.”
“No matter what, there is risk. But they should be able to choose. We cannot choose for them.”
With a sigh, Vikalos relented. “Fine. We will give them options. But Galyn must be the one to tell Litvir. Because I do not think Itaviir or I can do so gently, and he needs to know first before we bring Retvik and Arkay into this…”