The Abyss

TIME: 2:35

DATE: UNKNOWN

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

NAME: TENDRA

AGE: 16 - 18

GENDER: FEMALE

After the revelation that our world was no longer the same as how we remembered it, no one had said a word.

We had all just eaten our food in silence and for the most part, it had been a rather calm but enjoyable couple of minutes.

I did find it hard to believe though. I mean, what proof is there supporting this story. Gaps in dimensions?, pearls linking worlds together? Was he really expecting us to just trust him and not ask any questions?

Yet, why didn't it seem like an impossibility. Why couldn't I just laugh at the idea and move on? It defied all my common sense and at the same time, it didn't.

"What has happened to our world?, tell us!", the girl with the flame colored hair was back at it again. Her voice wasn't really confident this time around, it sounded a lot lighter and had an aghast undertone.

"If you follow my directions, the truth will be revealed soon enough", Menteur wasn't trying to smooth things over with that comment. He was only stating a fact, at least that's what it sounded like to me.

The girl didn't have any comeback and simply ceased talking.

Menteur made a microscopically small grin that no one else seemed to notice, "Now that that's out of the way, shall we start your training?"

                                   * * *

All the tight corridors and claustrophobic rooms we had been in made the training hall look gigantic in comparison. The walls and roof were still made of the same boring gray metal, but the ground was a totally different story. To make it easier understanding, imagine a floor about the size of half a football field and it's divided into different sections. The left upper corner had a big cube that appeared to be made out of glass, it could've also been plastic, I wasn't sure.

To my right, which is also the down right corner, there was a big hole. All six of us could've easily jumped down in it without having to worry about getting stuck.

In the remaining two corners was the basic training equipment you could've found in any gym. Although, I didn't know the name's to any of them... Goes to show you how often I probably work out. Even so, a non-gym veteran like myself can still tell you, that a big glass tube with a screen attached at the top of it, isn't your standard gym equipment.  That's why, when a tube like that was standing together with the training equipment in the down left corner, well... It stood out like a non-fan of x-subject entering a Con for said subject.

"Welcome everyone, to this facility's great training hall! Here you will grow as individuals and gain a bit of muscle along the way."

Menteur was acting like a kid in kindergarten who was presenting the toy which they were so proud of to all the other kids. It was kind of amusing and cute.

"Are we supposed to just train here?", Mercury had a hard time hiding his skepticism towards "the great training hall!".

"Yes, but first I need you all to do something for me", Menteur raised his hand and pointed towards the down left corner, "all of you see that tube over there?" Everyone nodded in response, "I need all of you to go inside it, one at a time and when you walk inside, I want you to have the pearls, which you found, in your right hand. Let's start with you, Mercury"

Before any of us had any time to react, Mercury was already inside the tube. His right hand made a fist, tightening around the silver colored pearl that I could spot in the space between his fingers.

After a couple of seconds, a red light filled the inside of the circular glass walls. There was also a prominent sound that came from the tube, it wasn't especially loud, but in being the first thing which we heard that wasn't an old man's voice, it did leave quite the mark.

One more thing changed after Mercury entered the glass tube, a number appeared on the screen above the tube "3,2%" was the  digits which stood on its display.

Menteur signaled Mercury to exit the tube with a hand gesture and it was apparent that this wasn't the outcome which he had hoped for. The tube split in two like the many automatic doors that make up the entrances of your normal supermarket and Mercury was able to exit.

I had no idea what just happened, but after Mercury had walked out, it was Emeraldas turn. The same red light appeared together with the number: "4,4%" except for the number, nothing changed. Even after everyone had gone inside the tube, no major change to the results could be spotted. The red light continued to give a strong sense of failure to everyone who walked inside the tube and the alarming sound always enforced this negative emotion.

No one got a number above the five percent mark, Periwinkle even got a number which was below one percent, "0,7%" to be precise.

Even though I had no idea what the different percentages meant (if I were to guess it probably had to do with our "powers") Menteur clearly wasn't happy about any of this.

After Aka, who was the last one left to enter also got greeted with the red light, Menteur told us that we needed to train at the two stations for about an hour.

We all followed his instructions, it felt as if anyone of us were to question the older man right now, an explosion would go off.

I looked at my watch and the time was currently: "3:20" I walked over to the diagonally opposite corner. Emeralda and Mercury followed.

None of us really trained, we half-heartedly did some push-ups and sit-ups, but mostly we just discussed all that had happened today. Menteur was standing in the middle of the room, fortunately for us, he appeared to be thinking to himself and didn't really pay attention to what we were doing.

We theorized that this so called "training" of ours was mostly just a front to give Menteur some time to think. The thoughts that were going through his head; we had no idea.

                                    * * *

An hour passed and just standing around doing nothing started to get boring. We decided that one of us were going to ask Menteur about what to do now that an hour had passed. The method which we used to decide who was going over to him was an old classic, rock-paper-scissors.

I was currently walking towards Menteur while thinking about all this, so I guess you know who lost.

Before I was actually able to reach the man, he yelled, "Everyone!, would you please get over here!". Because of how close I already were to him, the strange skin colored watch that he had was easy for me to spot. Menteur was focusing on it with a serious expression.  In the moment, it seemed as if the watch could've been the most important object in Menteur's whole world, but it also seemed just as likely that it instead was his greatest curse.

Everyone had assembled once again and we were asked to enter the tube a second time. Menteur tried to put up a calm front, but instead it only made his stress all the more apparent.

The results didn't change the second time. The red light was just as eager to shine this time around as the first time.

Menteur let out a loud and long sigh, it was apparent that whatever he was trying to do, it wasn't going to work.

"Follow me...", he said with a tone that you couldn't exactly call enthusiastic.

We followed him towards the big hole. He stopped by the edge of it and asked us to look down. I was unpleasantly surprised by how my imagination about what the hole would look like turned out to be mostly true. The bottom of this deep abyss couldn't be spotted and instead it seemed as if the darkness which filled it continued endlessly. The only thing which made it look not entirely like a death trap was the lamps attached to the sides of the hole. They contrasted parts of the darkness with a white light.

"Some time's in in life, we're just unlucky...", Menteur's sudden decision to start speaking had surprised me and judging by everyone else's expressions, I wasn't the only one.

"But you should never let that get you down, we all know the old saying," mistakes are our best teachers". All six of us were standing with our backs turned against the dark abyss and in front of us was an old man who seemed to have lost it.

"Are you... Okay?", it was Aka who seemed to be feeling a bit empathetic towards Menteur. As if she was thinking that her constant complaints had slowly weared the old man down.

"... You don't need to worry, I haven't gone completely mad yet", he seemed glad about the question. It was probably the first time that one of us had approached this old man like an actual person.

"I just want you all to know that none of what happens from this point and onwards is your fault", the small sense of joy in his face vanished with that sentence.

"Hey... What're you trying to say old man?", it was Periwinkle who stood next to me.

"As I said, failure is the greatest teacher. But no failure, no matter how small, is without sacrifice. If you don't lose anything, nothing of value will be gained...", Menteur's eyes had remained emotionless this whole time, without making eye contact with anyone. That's why, when his eyes seemed to become full of what I presumed to be a great anguish and sadness, as they meet with Periwinkle's, a chilling wave went across my whole body.

"I'm sorry... It didn't work this time either, Periwinkle...", the boy besides me didn't seem to understand a word that the old man told him.

Although, I did spot something strange. The watch which Periwinkle had, it's color was the same strange skin color as Menteure's.

While I was inspecting Periwinkle's arm, a loud noise filled my ears. It didn't even resemble the sound which we had heard from the tube before. This sound hurt, like a small volcano that had suddenly erupted.

Liquid... There was some kind of liquid on my face. It had suddenly been splattered across my nose and cheeks. The body, which the arm that I had been inspecting belonged to, it started to fall backwards, into the deep abyss.

In what felt like an eternity, I turned my head towards Menteur. He was holding an all to familiar object in his hand. It was pointing towards Periwinkle, or at least it had been. Since the teenager's body was no longer there, the hole behind me had entirely engulfed the boy in it's darkness.

Menteur didn't seem angry or stressed anymore. He just seemed... Tired.

TIME: 4:40

DATE: UNKNOWN

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

NAME: TENDRA

AGE: 16 - 18

GENDER: FEMALE

DECEASED: ONE