God’s Cube

Another day had passed for Thesi in the Academy, and after dinner was over he saw his friends off to the dorms. He went back to a study area not too far from his dorms, it wasn’t too big as it wasn’t the central library of the Academy, but it offered enough tranquility for him to finish off notes from Cube Studies. The other students had already dispersed to their dormitories or library, as such he had been left completely alone. There were no classes tomorrow, so it was likely that was the reason for the emptiness of the area.

After having wrapped up his small study session, he made his way back to the dorms, but instead of taking the usual route, he decided to take a longer alternative, to see more of the Academy and to have more time to himself and his thoughts. At least that was the theory. Once he entered a slightly more run down looking corridor, Thesi halted. He would never have given the noise he heard a second thought if not for the faintest trace of movement behind the door. It had been so quick, almost a blur, but his instincts had kicked into gear. Before he knew it, he had silently slipped through the door where he had seen the movement.

The narrow passageway took him further down, deep beneath the main building of the Academy. The air felt colder the deeper he went, the walls closed in closer with every step down, the heavy silence pressing down until only his heartbeat echoed within the small claustrophobic space.

As he approached a sharp bend in the passageway, his pace slowed. His breathing was steady. As he turned the corner, the hallway opened into a room, darkened. He remained behind the corner, in the shadows, and took in the scene before him. What he saw was enough to freeze his blood.

Figures were huddled around a large table, faces obscured partially by flickering light from a single lamp hanging overhead. The air was thick from the damp stone and rest. He couldn't make out the faces of the people at the table clearly, but their voices were clear enough.

"It's time to move forward, ever since that man went silent we have halted all trials. We’re wasting time."

One said, his voice filled with frustration. ‘That man’, however unlikely it may be, Thesi's mind could only think of one person. Though his thoughts were interrupted though when another voice spoke up.

"We cannot just blindly follow the instructions of a ghost. We have the facilities, why not utilize our material."

Another voice quickly cut in. 

"Our material is not of the same quality as what we saw from that man’s experiments. Forcing it to develop too soon will just attract unwanted attention. Sure we can afford a failure or too, but we need to keep the numbers within our statistics.

Thesi was having a hard time making out every word, and more often than not, he struggled to make out what each word was actually intended to mean. But before he could start properly wrapping his head around these words, another figure appeared in the room from an entrance further down.

“This generation is special, I believe we should not make haste, but I do not believe our quality would be inferior to what that man offered.” A calm, cold voice sounded from the room, a realization creeping up on Thesi. He knew that voice, Professor Elara.

All of a sudden a noise startled everyone in the room. Thesi turned and saw Samir, one of his year’s Yellow’s looking at his feet. A crack had appeared in one of the steps and his foot had fallen into it. His instincts kicked in and he made his way to Samir, grabbed him and brought him back up the stairs as he heard a ‘What was that noise’ in the background. The Yellow seemed not to question his behavior, realizing probably that he had made too much noise. They made it out of the room without any further noise behind them and quickly made their way to the study hall which was still as empty as how Thesi had left it. 

Thesi spoke first, his voice low and tentative. 

"You shouldn't have followed me, Samir. That could have gone bad for both of us."

Samir gave him a tight-lipped smile. 

"I could say the same to you, Thesi. You weren't exactly being subtle standing there in the open almost, I could’ve been anyone else and what would’ve happened then?."

Thesi shook his head, still wrapping his mind around what had just happened. 

"You didn't see what I saw down there. That wasn't just some normal faculty meeting, they were discussing something weirder. Professor Elara was also there and she seemed a sort of leader to that group."

Samir leaned against the desk, his eyes thoughtful. 

"I didn't see much. But I heard enough to know this is bigger than us." 

He paused, again fixing his eyes on Thesi, as if trying to pierce through him. 

"Why were you down there in the first place?"

"I hadn't planned on it, I just heard noise and instinctively followed it. And now I'm not sure what I stumbled into."

Samir studied Thesi for a moment longer, his expression softening somewhat before he nodded. "Whatever it is, we'll have to be careful. This information sounds dangerous.."

They said nothing for a while then glanced his way, there was still something he was unsure about. Thesi asked a little more directly this time.

"Why did you follow me? What were you hoping to find?"

Samir regarded him thoughtfully, his face unreadable at first. Then, after a few seconds, he sighed. 

"Honestly? I saw you slip through the door and just got curious."

Thesi raised an eyebrow while waiting for more. Samir continued. 

"There's something about you, Thesi. Something I can't quite place. You feel different from the others. My powers, a part of them, tell me that you don’t fit quite right with the other first years."

Thesi straightened slightly, unsure of where Samir was going with this. 

"What are you getting at?"

Samir lowered his voice, as if the walls around him could hear them. 

"I've been around enough students, enough people who've gone through the Cubes, to pick up on patterns. Most folks who have survived a Cube walk out with… something on them. A residue. But you… it's more than the others. You feel… more similar to the Headmaster than to us.”

While his mind spu8n in a thousand directions, Thesi forced himself to sound casual. 

"I wouldn’t know what that could be, I’ve followed the same path as most of you here."

Samir gave him a small smile. 

"Maybe. But I can feel it, Thesi. You're not just any first-year. You're not like us." 

The conversation died out shortly after, Samir slipped away after they both agreed to keep today’s events to each other for now, and Thesi was left to his thoughts. While he had remained calm throughout on the outside, it was only now that he calmed down on the inside. Suspicion was nothing bad, him knowing shouldn’t be too bad, but he still worried. If a student could pick up on such small details, what about the faculty?

For the first time since his arrival at the Academy, Thesi felt the walls closing in around him, he was no longer sure if coming here was the right choice, and started to become afraid for his web of secrets.