CH625 (Patreon)

Test one thousand and ninety-seven… failed.

Over the course of the day, not stopping for sleep or rest, Ben had carried out his tests, looking for any sort of weakness in the barrier that trapped him that he might be able to exploit, coming up empty each time.

He hadn’t been expecting to succeed immediately, he knew that was too much to hope for, but he had thought he’d get more than that. A small scratch lasting fractions of a second, a dent or small hole that would refill itself faster than a normal mind could perceive. Anything that would imply that he had hope. That dreaming of escape wasn’t the fool’s errand that the galwaxian trapped beside him kept saying it was.

It's only been a day. Ben told himself, trying to keep positive. I have all the time in the world to try making it out. No reason to be discouraged about not getting it immediately.

As he thought it though, other darker voices in his head were making their opinions known. Everyone else trapped here has had all of the time in the world too, thousands of years of it without luck. Why would I be any different?

Stop thinking like that.

And it's obvious I'm missing some pretty crucial bits of knowledge. Look at what's trapped outside.

I'll worry about it when I get there.

Oaun mentioned something dead bound to me, that has to be-

Something I'll talk to the gods about when I get back. He thought forcefully, with his negativity going on.

Which gods? The one that looks just like Oaun in my eyes?

Yes. 

And if they're related somehow? How much of what I know is a lie?

Ben slapped his cheeks hard, feeling the sting of his powerful strike as he muttered under his breath. “Okay, if I don't get out after a century then I think I'm just going to end it all instead of being alone with my thoughts like this.”

“Ha, you think no one else has tried?” The galwaxian cackled, drawing his eyes. “Watch this.”

Before Ben could ask just what he was supposed to be watching, the man had grabbed tight his own throat, squeezing and tearing away vital chunks of flesh as blood sprayed out.

But before Ben could do so much as scream, the act was undone, the blood flowing back to where it belonged and the pieces of throat escaped his hand back to where they’d been pulled, letting him get back to his mad laughter.

“Joy oh joy, I'm immortal,” The alien mocked. “And so are you! We all get to enjoy eternity together, whether we like it or not.”

“Okay, point proven asshole, so anything else I should know? Any chance our captors are going to zap in any food or water at some point?”

“Why would immortals possibly need to waste time on eating? Or be spared the resources?”

That's… true.

Ben hadn't once felt hungry or thirsty since he'd arrived, something he hadn't noticed as he'd been focused on his tests, with what he'd felt in his current break being merely the psychological need for the stuff. His body thought it had been long enough since he'd had any that he wanted it but that was as far as it went. His stomach didn't growl, nor was he parched. Though he craved the brief stimulation that came with smells or taste, he would do without.

But he still needed a break, something that would occupy him as he came up with more ideas to test out as well as for whatever bit of mental recuperation he could get after having failed for so many straight hours, but he didn’t have many desirable paths to that. There was chatting with his overly pessimistic neighbour which he was sure would do nothing for his mental health and there was being alone with his thoughts which might have been even worse, but he had one more option too as he looked at the only thing he shared a room with. The strange metallic block he wasn’t seeing examples of in the other pens.

…No, let’s be honest about what it is. This strange metallic cube.

Given everything Ben had heard, both from the demon who’d caught him and its god, combined with the environment he’d been trapped in, Ben was fairly sure he’d been captured to act as a trophy of a world they hadn’t managed to claim a specimen from. Myriad’s world. There were other, conflicting issues with that fact that he was having trouble incorporating into that assumption but for the time being he went with it as the best explanation he had, so going from there, he was left to assume that what he was seeing was some sort of surviving artifact of Myriad's planet that had been filling his role until then.

I mean, it looks like him so that would make sense… Ignoring that any metal cube looks like him. Jesus, really need to draw a smiley face on the guy or something to make him a little more distinct in the future. Assuming there’s going to be a future where I see him again.

He wasn’t answering any of Ben’s prayers and Ben wasn’t exactly sure how distance influenced faith. Maybe if he tried to force his mind into a higher realm it would do something but he was just as worried that it might get Oaun’s attention, something he wanted to avoid when he was already doing his best to break out.

But for now, focus on the little cube. If I eventually go insane I’ll at least have something better to talk to than the neighbour so let's see if it holds anything interesting for now.

With that bit of curiosity to protect him from his thoughts, Ben began looking it over, flipping the thing all around to see if there was anything different about it before going on to trying to pass his mana through it in different ways and eventually even connecting with it, getting no result each time.

“Okay, that was lame as hell,” He muttered before bringing it into his ring, once more startling the one beside him who’d been discreetly watching Ben’s antics.

“What did you do with that?”

“Put it away. If I escape then I want to be sure I have it with me.”

If he got out he wanted to have it to ask Myriad about it, but the answer seemed to only draw the other’s scorn.

“Escape this, escape that, all of your stupid tests! Are you going to make me watch you struggle each time? Just accept reality, magus!”

“I’ve never once achieved anything by sitting back and accepting reality.”

“Then break down like all the others,” He grumbled, though not in worldspeak. It was clearly meant to be a private thought, spoken in his original language, which was where Ben made his mistake. He responded in kind.

“Yeah, well screw you too,” He said in the dead tongue, ready to go back to his testing if not for the reaction it provoked in the other beside him.

For a second he was silent, trying to confirm with himself what he’d heard, trying to verify that he hadn’t finally gone as mad as the rest around them before he was pounding on the thin barrier that separated the two, demanding answers.

“How do you know those words?” He screamed out, making Ben aware of the depths of his error in talking back. “Answer me, magus!”

Damn it, better to say nothing and let people think you’re an idiot than to open your mouth and prove them right. He sighed, going to ignore him until the man went on.

“Answer me!” He screamed again before continuing in a much smaller voice. “Please. My people, are they still alive? Is there any left?”

…Damn it.

“No. They’re dead, all of them. As far as I can tell, you’d be the last.”

“Then how do you know those words!”

“Because your asshole god dropped his trial on my world and someone tried to murder me by throwing me into it. When I reached the end I got the archive as a reward and spent some time trying to learn the languages it contained to see whatever secrets it held.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I’m a survivor of your god's irresponsibility. I’m sorry galwaxian. I have no issue with you or your people and I wish I had better news for you, but that’s just how it is.”

The man slumped down to the ground, what bit of hope he had completely destroyed by Ben’s honesty on the matter as a small part of him wondered if he should have lied, let the man at least have the comfort of knowing that his kind had continued on, but it was too late for that. With one less voice calling out among all of the other screams, Ben got back to work, testing what new ideas were coming to his mind.

Test one thousand and ninety-eight…