Chapter 625

Chapter 625

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.”Reêad latest novels at novelhall.com

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.

“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...