ORPHEUS: 13TH SQUAD

28: WELCOME TO ORPHEUS! WHERE WE KILL EACH OTHER FOR FUN!

I inhaled sharply and did as he said, I looked around and like I observed earlier, the hallways seemed longer and unending—wait there’s a gap between the lights and then it repeats. “Are those mirrors?”

“Correct. It gives you the impression that something is infinite, doesn’t it?”

“Are you saying that my time ability is not infinite?” I blinked. I mean, my ability doesn’t even last longer than seven seconds so I don’t know what he means. Is my time limited?

“how can time be limited when it’s just a relative term? Time is an illusion to help make things make sense.” Natahimik naman ako sa sinabi n’ya at hinintay ang paliwanag. I don’t really understand where things are going.

“Then what are you saying?” I asked when he didn’t follow up on anything. “You’re using dimension as a euphemism for my ability, are you trying to say I have to pull people in my dimension and not just myself?”

“That’s right! Well done, Johanne!” he clapped his little hands excitedly like a retarded seal. Maximillion seemed in pain between his arms. “You tend to use your powers in one direction, but time has no direction, so what if, let’s say, like this unending hall, you put an extension in the middle, and instead of it covering you like a veil, you cover everything but yourself making everything around you seem infinite.”

“What you said kind of make sense . . . ?” I sighed in disbelief. “But I don’t know how to make it make sense.”

He jumped up and spun around like the weird twat that he is before jumping up to pat me on my shoulder. “Time is relative, it only exists if you think it exists.”

And then he left. He went back inside the training grounds, leaving me, speechless and hopeless.

 

Aesir Academy, Refectory. Lunch, 11:30. (The next day)

 
“You're spacing out, what’s wrong?” Deus asked as he pulls the chair beside me. The other guys quickly got their own seats too. They’ve brought food as well, nice naman, marunong din pala silang maging considerate paminsan-minsan.

I groaned and sunk more and more on the table.

“Tungkol ba sa training kahapon?” Horus asked in concern while stuffing his face with whatever the fuck he’s eating. He swallowed first before talking again. “Hindi ako binugbog na parang si Deus pero ang sakit ng buong pagkatao ko.”

“What did he even do to you?” Freya asked in between chewing.

Horus began recounting all the gruesome details of his training with Rindelle Snow yesterday. He said, the whole hour he was inside the “room of nothing”—is what he personally calls it—felt like forever. He said he felt like going insane. At some point he even began hearing his own bloodstream! That’s nasty! We were so immersed listening to him we didn’t even realize our food’s long gone.

“So, did it work?” I asked hesitantly.

“Tingin ko? I can literally hear your heartbeat now, Nagi. I can also taste your distress in the air. I can smell the detergent you used at the laundry earlier today, and I can smell Freya’s coffee through Deus’s mouth. Nag-lips to lips ba kayo?” He gave them a pointed look. I don’t know but I felt betrayed. Even Hades is squinting at them.

Deus raised his arms in defeat. “We didn’t do none of that!” he squealed in panic. “How did you come to that conclusion first—seriously, that was my coffee and Freya took a sip! That was it!”

“LIES! YOU DON’T DRINK COFFEE!” I screeched. Sa ‘kin pa talaga s’ya magsisinungaling e ako nagtitimpla ng kape ni Freya at Milo n’ya?

“Ayan Deus, magsinungaling ka do’n sa maniniwala, ha?” Horus crossed his arms and scowled at Deus.