Chapter 17: Rest at last

Ah. The bastard must have snapped my neck. Better than getting choked to death but still.

"Oh you are finally awake.", I heard Rajesh say, holding a cup of tea in his hands.

"Yeah… yeah I am you bastard. How long was I out?", I said, both frustrated because I lost that pathetically and because Rajesh looked like he was enjoying killing me.

"Oh c'mon it wasn't that bad, I even made it easier for you-", Rajesh said, before getting interrupted.

"About 5 minutes. He woke up in about 2 minutes.", Maria said, cutting him off.

"Wait so while you are inside that dream realm thing, you are asleep in the real world?", I asked.

"Yup. The one who dies first is the last to wake up too. I am assuming the clown drinking tea explained how this dream realm thing works, right?"

"… Yeah.", I said, looking at Rajesh stumble at being called a clown.

"Anyway Raj, we are going to head out to freshen up, alright?", Maria said getting up and grabbing my wrists.

"Alright then, leave the clown alone.", Rajesh said, staying seated while still sipping his tea.

"That doesn't need to be said.", Maria said, as we exited the room.

"You know our room number right?", she asked, as we were walking down the hallway, a good distance away from the cafeteria.

"No, what is it?", I said, not really paying attention. My neck was still hurting for whatever reason, and I was honestly just thinking about the dream realm. The possibility of having a dream realm, where you are free to do anything was just too much for me to just ignore.

Could I create buildings in there? Could I light a city ablaze? This was basically like handing a sandbox to a toddler.

"It's room 231. Remember that, just in case I am not there. Oh and I had a spare key made.", she said handing me the keys.

"Oh…", I said, snapping back to reality. "Oh yeah and who was Rajesh?"

"He is a batchmate of mine. This place is a training facility, closer to a school than anything. He is in my batch of 'students', if that's what you want to call them.", she said. She might have tried to hide it, but there was an extreme look of unease plastered on her face.

I didn't know her for very long, but I could tell something was up from the way she seemed so concerned for me.

"I heard you meet the director. What did he say about David?", I asked, attempting to break the uneasy silence.

"Oh yeah… the director.", she said, paying zero attention to what I said. Then something lit up in her eyes, like a sliver of hope. "Cecilia.", she said, stopping me and looking me straight in the eyes.

"Yeah? That's me."

"The director will call you to his office in some time. He will probably transfer you to a batch too, for training purposes. When he does that, insist that you have to be in my batch, batch 2, alright?", she said, all of a sudden.

"Uh… alright… why though?", I asked.

"Just do it.", she said, going back to walking, trying to seem unconcerned.

"Ok…", I mumbled. Why was she saying this all of a sudden?

"Oh, and I forgot to ask you this."

"What is it?", I replied.

She came closer to me and started whispering, "Did you unlock your talent or something?"

"I think so.", I replied. I was going to ask her about this anyway, so it didn't hurt to tell her about it.

"What do you think it is?", she said, hiding her excitement.

"I think it is the ability to perceive time slower.", I said. It couldn't have been slowing down time itself because I was slowed down too.

"Oh…", she said, disappointed. Ouch. She could have at least tried to hide her disappointment a bit.

Then she looked at me with a pitiful glance.

"C'mon, it isn't that bad… is it?", I said.

"No no no, I never said it was bad…"

"Do you take me for a 5-year-old?"

"No no no, it actually suits you quite well.", she said.

"How so?", I asked. Was it that good? Or was it that bad?

"Your ability is utter dogshit."

"How do you control it exactly?", I said, ignoring her blatant taunt. Then again, was it really a taunt…? She might be right. Back when I was fighting the tree, I could do virtually nothing but dodge…

"The same way you would your eyes and tongue. It becomes 2nd nature to you, like a sixth sense."

"Thank you Ms. Helpful. Your wisdom truly knows no bounds.", I said, sarcastically.

"If you use it a few more times, you would probably get the hang of it. It's just experience, that's all.", she said, shrugging.

We had reached the corridor of metal with a bunch of rooms with them. To the left was room number 231.

I didn't realize how big the corridor was the first time I came around, but looking at it now made it seem like it was a metal backroom with no horizon.

Both of us freshened up, and jumped onto the bed. I didn't even realize I didn't eat anything. I just fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. Sleeping on the grass and sleeping on a bed really were completely different things.

…

I woke back up surprisingly early. The clock said 6 a.m. I brushed my teeth, changed clothes, and headed out to grab some food.

I grabbed the keys Maria gave me earlier and went out of the room to go to the cafeteria. The door locked itself, which was a pretty neat thing. Thank goodness I didn't forget my keys.

Unlike last time, I knew the location of the cafeteria, so finding it wasn't really a problem.

I went into the cafeteria and saw that it now had food on the side tables, buffet style. I opened the lids off the pots, and saw a variety of cuisine. How the hell did they make this much food with such variety?? Well don't question it, I told myself.

The food looked really good, so naturally, I took a plate, and started taking as much as I could. If I got this food everyday, I wouldn't complain about staying here.

Once I was done with my food, I finally took a look around me. There was one girl sitting alone, with nothing but coffee in her hands.

"Uh…", I blurted out by mistake. "Hello?"

The coffee girl finally noticed me. "You are talking to me?"

She had disheveled black hair and spectacles. She had literally no other defining trait. She seemed to be shivering, either scared of something or feeling extremely cold.

"Yeah…", I said. "You feeling alright?"

"This is pretty normal for me… is this your first time here?"

"Yup.", I said, sitting down in front of her. I could see her eyes twitch a little, but I just ignored it.

"I guess that explains it. My talent causes me to unconsciously shiver.", she said, continuing to sip her coffee.

"What exactly is your talent?", I asked.

"It is your first time here so I guess it's forgivable.", she said, her tone changing slightly.

"What do you mean?", I asked. Did I ask the wrong question?

"A person's talent is usually kept secret. This place has a lot of competitions and fights in relation to that after all. Do you know about them?"

"Not really.", I said. Both of us just sat there silently.

"What did you mean competitions and fights?", I asked, trying to initiate a conversation in the awkward atmosphere.

"This training camp has many events, and you can initiate a spar with anyone at any time by just shaking their hand and saying 'Do you believe in gods?'.", she said, sounding more and more irritated by the second.

Then the loudspeakers blared. "Cecilia Carpenter, come to the director's office as soon as possible."

"Welp I have to go now. What's your name?", I asked, picking up my plate. "Oh and where do I keep this?"

"… My name is Cyrla. The plates area is behind the coffee machine, in the far corner."

"Alright thank Cyrla, See you later.", I said, getting up and going towards the area.

"Yeah.", she said, half-heartedly.

I drank some water and headed out. The director's office was surprisingly easy to remember, so getting there wasn't a problem.

While walking there, I began thinking. What's that girl's problem? Who the hell gives out their surname instead of their first names? This place isn't Japan or Korea.

I opened the door to the office and went in.