Merlin's POV:
'I shouldn't be engaged to anyone at all. If I just listen to my guts and try to stay away from conflicts, maybe I wouldn't end up in this situation.' I thought to myself, my heart heavy as I slowly walked up the stairs of the basement. I looked up; there I saw sunlight—a pale, fragile glow that felt far too cheerful for my mood.
Looking at the sun, standing still and staring far too long made me pass out. Then I saw with my two own eyes a glimpse of Cedric walking up to me.
Two Hours Later...
No POV:
Merlin woke up in the infirmary, lying down on the bed with a white pillow behind his head. On his left side, Cedric sat next to him.
Merlin slowly arose from his bed.
"You can't get up yet," Cedric said in a worrying tone.
"I know," Merlin paused for a second. "Thank you for waiting."
"No problem, but the thing is I waited too long. So you owe me one," Cedric replied.
"What do you mean is too long? It's just an hour," Merlin's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped in disbelief.
"It's not. I don't know what's happening below the basement, but you've gone far too long," Cedric said.
"No it can't be. I swear it's just an hour long," Merlin murmured, then he stood up from the bed.
"Wait you can't get up yet, you're not fully healed!" Cedric exclaimed.
Merlin paused before he even touched the door of the infirmary. The weight of what he was about to say made him hesitate.
"I was there for one day. The time moves fast there," Merlin murmured.
"What? What do you mean?" Cedric questioned.
Merlin glanced back at Cedric.
"Follow me."
They left the infirmary and walked in silence until they reached a secluded area of the school, away from prying eyes and ears.
"So what are we doing here?" Cedric murmured.
"The time moves differently down there. Let me tell you step by step," Merlin said.
"Sure."
"In the basement there is a hidden door that you can open. I don't know how they do it but they do. If you enter that hidden door you'll see massive, large capsules like from the space movies," Merlin explained.
"In conclusion, you're saying that up here it takes one day while inside the hidden door it takes an hour or you feel it takes an hour. Did I get it right?" Cedric asked.
"You sure did."
"So what do you call this room anyway?" Cedric questioned.
"It's called Capsule Project, going inside of one of those capsules travels you to a different world, I don't know what world you'll be getting transported to, that's the problem."
"Well what do you know, we thought we're going to have a normal high school life and here we are," Cedric said.
"Slice of life don't you think?" Merlin chuckled.
"Where is Lancelot anyway?" Cedric questioned.
"He... He was. Will you believe me if I told you?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, maybe, or not. I don't know, you tell me," Cedric said.
"Lancelot choked me," Merlin whimpered.
"Straight answer huh? What's the reason?" Cedric asked.
"He wanted to go home using the capsule, but I said he can't, telling him it doesn't work that way. Then he choked me, telling his reason why he wanted to go home, also telling me that transmigration ruined him," Merlin explained.
"I understand, why did the Transmigration ruin him?" Cedric questioned.
"He was about to get a promotion of his dad and be rich."
"Money does really make you greedy if you don't have self respect and self control," Cedric said.
---
"You would be staying here for a while," Ben said.
Lancelot glared at Ben outside of the jail cell.
"You're just gonna leave me here? In this filthy jail cell?" Lancelot asked.
"Well it kinda fits with your personality, don't you think?" Ben replied.
Then Ben walked away.
Lancelot scanned the jail cell looking for possible way to escape but no luck as he only saw a toilet bowl screwed over the right wall, bunk bed on his left side.
"Hey! Are you still there? How can I shower!?" Lancelot vociferated.
---
"Are you sure he can't escape?" Ben asked, his hands form tightly behind his back.
"I built that jail cell, I know he can't escape. And if he does manage, he can't pass the guards of this school," the principal said.
"There is another way. The Capsules," Ben said.
"I know, but he doesn't know the consequences of getting inside that capsule," the principal said.
"Do you mind telling?" Ben asked.
"Getting inside the capsule isn't easy. Going inside without any permission from higher up, like me, that capsule will become a jail cell, locking him up."
"Smart move," Ben said.
"You forgot something?" Principal said.
"Sir."
"Very good," the principal continued.
"I don't know if it's too early but should we start it?" Ben said.
"Fine. They're getting a graduation today, prepare the things for graduation. I'll make an announcement."
"Yes sir."
---
The radio turns on surprising everyone, because the principal never opens or uses it.
"Mic check, mic check," the principal said tapping the mic.
"Good morning to all students, you must be very surprised right now considering I never use these, now let's get straight to the point. You're all graduating today! Congratulations to all. You can all go out of the school, take your things from your dorms, and good luck outside."
"That's fast, we're only one year here, we haven't even started yet in the third quarter," a frantic voice shouted from the thick of the crowd.
Instantly another voice can be heard across the crowd.
"Be Quiet!" One student bellowed, clapping loudly then resting his hands on his hips.
"Shut your mouth before they hear you," a student hissed next to him, his hands shaking.
Amidst the crowd another one talk.
"I haven't even confessed to my crush," piped up a small boy holding a textbook.
"Who cares anyway, this is better than suffering for two years," a student drawled sitting on the ground of the park.
"Give us our diplomas now then!" a voice heckled from the crowd, causing a ripple of laughter.
"Do you think we believe you?" Girl scoffed with her arms crossed tightly.
-----------
"Oh look at that, the principal did something, do you think it's connected to the problem you engaged into?" Cedric asked.
"Probably, Lancelot attacking me is very much a big problem if you ask me, I think it never happened before, cause It's only this time the principal did some announcement like he said," Merlin explained.
"Yeah, so what should we do outside anyway?, we cannot let this slide, we have too much information to just let things go," Cedric said.
"You know Ben right?" Merlin asked.
"Yeah, I tried talking to him to get him to join our study group but he refused."
"Let's get to the point. He anticipated me following him, he asked me to create a group to defeat the others. The others that principal once mentioned. A metallic ball hit me on my sacred part and ask me to create the team name. I called it REM," Merlin said.
"What does even REM mean?" Cedric asked.
------------
Amidst the crowd one stood in silence and then mumbled.
"Operation Ephialtes."