"If it lives, we can slay it. And then burn it, just to make sure it doesn't come back from the dead," she said.
"...does that happen often?" he asked.
"Slaying? Yeah, duh? It's what we're here to do in the first place, dummy."
"I meant the coming...
"Is... is it safe to come out now?" Dimas squeaked. He and Alexei poked their heads out from their hiding spot, behind a furnace's massive steel bulk.
"You're still here?" Sadea quipped. "The two of you have guts, if nothing else. But it's really time to go."
"Oh, definitely. Just so you know, there are two maintenance shafts, one at the eastern corner of the room, and the other next to the sorting area." Dimas pointed to each laddered chute in succession.
"Which one will place you farther from the main entrance when you emerge from the building?" Raksha asked.
"The shaft closer to sorting area. Why?"
"Take that one. The corpses are trying to break out from the main entrance. You don't want to be anywhere near that."
The necromancers exchanged glances and nodded.
"Understood. Good luck, you two," Dimas said. Alexei was already shuffling away.
Raksha looked at the collapsed doorway and grunted. "Looks like you'll have to do that lightning thing again if we're going out that way."
"Acquired a taste for it, I see." Sadea grinned. "If you ask me nicely, I wouldn't mind giving you a ride every now and then."
Shaking his head, Raksha moved to sheathe Steelbreaker. As he did so, he withdrew his aegis from its blade.
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A crackling cobalt bolt burst from Steelbreaker's tip. It tore through a steel block festooned with levers and valves beside a furnace, turning it into a lump of molten slag, before striking the far side of the chamber wall and bouncing back.
Sadea thrust out her staff. The lightning bolt swerved to its tip and flowed down its length, like water running down a drain. It dissipated into nothingness before it reached her fingers.
"Goddamn it!" Raksha barked. "What the hell was that?"
"Simple cause and effect, you idiot!" Sadea snapped. "The lightning was traveling. You held it in place. Then you stopped holding it. What did you think was going to happen?"
"That it'd disappear?"
"I cannot even begin to imagine how stupid someone must be to think like that!"
"Yeah? You—"
"What have you done?" Alexei screeched. "This was the control panel for the furnaces!"
Dimas checked a gauge on a furnace. "The furnaces had been set to a steady burn, but this one's now blazing at maximum capacity, maybe thanks to an electrical overload. I'm going to guess all the others are the same, too. They're going to melt down within the hour, and this entire mortuary will go up in flames!"
"Can you stop that? Turn the furnaces off or something?" Raksha asked.
"Not without the control panel!" Alexei cried, wringing his hands. The necromancer had long past stepped over the edge of panic. Dimas, in contrast, had a thoughtful look on his face.
