“So why am I hanging upside down?”
Retvik tutted to himself as his hands scraped across the ground.
“And how have you managed to hang me upside down so badly?”
Teekay and Eksi glanced at each other, then both shrugged.
“Eksi thought it might be easier to mind control you if all your blood rushed to your head.”
“Plus you’re really heavy and we couldn’t find anywhere to hang you from without breaking anything.”
With another tut, Retvik gained some purchase on the ground, enough to stop himself from swinging. His claws sharpened and dug into the floor, giving him enough strength to pull himself down. Unfortunately, as he pulled downwards, the rope tying him to the ceiling snapped, making Retvik fall into a massive heap of muscle and armour.
“This is stupid.”
The two Skyans both nodded.
“Yep, this is a stupid idea. Most of us don’t even use the ability to mind-control, let alone mind-controlling someone like you.”
Retvik blinked. “Skyans do not have mind-control?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Oh.”
“Honestly,” Teekay explained. “It’s not so much that we don’t have mind-control, it’s just that we train ourselves to keep it permanently turned off, so we don’t accidentally screw with each other. The punishment for using mind-control generally involves a long stint in prison. Being an uplifted being, or a guardian or whatever you want to call it doesn’t change that at all. Gotta turn it back on somehow.”
“Oh…” Retvik picked himself up off the floor. “So Litvir telling you two to mind-control me was pointless?”
Eksi nodded. “Basically.”
“Oh.”
Retvik remained silent, then turned his attention back towards the two Skyans.
“So you cannot mind-control me?”
Eksi shrugged, as did Teekay.
“We did try.”
“Yeah, we tried.”
“And you failed?”
“Yes.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Probably. Your brain is pretty walled off.”
“Huh…”
Everyone fell silent again, all feeling a little confused.
“So…” Retvik muttered. “Did Litvir just dump my unconscious body here so you could try and mind-control me?”
“Yep!” Eksi giggled. “You were out cold.”
“I really must have a word with him. I know I asked Litvir to help me strengthen my mind, but I did not consent to all his messing around.”
Teekay nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you should talk to him about that. It’s a bit silly.”
“Seems to be working though!” Eksi piped up. “We couldn’t mind-control you! Must be making some progress at least.”
“Yeah definitely.”
Suddenly, something knocked on the door.
“Come in!” Eksi beamed, knowing who it was. “Is it time to change shifts, Litvir?”
Litvir had a look of bemusement on his face. “In ten minutes, yes. I wanted to know if you have made any progress.”
Teekay shook his head, but Eksi nodded. “We couldn’t mind-control him.”
“Not bad, I guess. Maybe it is time to level up.” Litvir snapped his fingers, then paused. “Oh. You are still conscious, Retvik.”
Retvik grunted. “I worked out how to stop you from doing that. It is really not nice.”
“Well, that definitely is progress!” Litvir smiled. “Now we ought to take this to Galyn.”
“To Galyn?”
“Yes indeed. Come along now, Retvik, we’ll see how far you’ve come…”