The God of Gravity part 2: Olympus

Wrong Place to Be

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He looked at his own food, the man who helped the child earlier. His plate is full of three dishes on one plate and there's a cold beverage in a cup beside it. He is alone in the corner of the canteen. Others finished their dinner and he is here taking his time thinking about the things he saw in this canyon. Like rewinding a cassette, his memories were clear as day - his memory of the faces of the people and children who were shot to death. Then he wondered if the people who worked all day long without rest are eating the same amount of food that he has. He wishes that they are eating more than he is eating but it goes against the orders he follows.

He wore a white T-shirt that fitted his well-trained body as a soldier, long camouflage pants, and army boots. He is putting his elbow on the tabletop while clasping his hands before his lips.

"Colonel Saadah," said a young man behind him while standing straight. "may I sit with you, sir?" Saadah nodded and so the man sat. "Thank you, sir."

"Are you a recruit?"

"Yes, sir. I am Private Khufu and I want to know more about how things work here."

He smiled but then was startled as Saadah said, "You came to the wrong person. Although I have been here for a week, I already hate this place and it is something not worth knowing about."

"Pardon?" asked Khufu.

"Everything in this canyon. I became a soldier so that I can help fight against the rebels who want nothing but destruction in our continent."

"It didn't go the way you expected, did it, sir?"

Saadah nodded as he is chewing. "They want to make the children, women, and the elderly carry those heavy loads after the attack on the oilfields the other day. And I am here making sure that all of you follow the orders that were given."

"Then you have no reason to feel guilty about, sir."

"I'm letting it happen. I just watched them being shot and dragged out of the way by the men that I briefed about the orders."

"We're just following orders. It's not your fault, sir. Besides, we make them mine this canyon so that the Realm can build its projects that will benefit everyone and they are rebels that threatened the peace of this continent. They deserve to be punished, sir."

Saadah scoffed, "Even the children?"

"That's right, sir. They are destined to do the same as their parents anyway, sir."

Saadah slammed the table with his hand and stood up. He looked with a wrinkled nose at Khufu for he despised how this recruit talked to him casually and not thinking about the things he Is saying. The food left on his plate has been spilled and his drink tipped to the side and the juice poured out.

"I'm sorry, sir," apologized Khufu as he stood straight.

He didn't say a word before leaving the canteen and everyone was watching him after making that loud noise that startled them. Khufu just shook his head in disappointment as he saw his food and drink got ruined too.

He delved deeper into his eyes as he sees himself as worse than a mindless maggot in the mirror. Saadah is here alone in the bathroom as he leaned closer to the mirror with his hands on the edge of the sink. The water on his cheeks after he washed his face was dripping from his chin as he panted. The drizzling sound of the water spewing from the faucet and into the sink was like the screams of agony of the people he heard during his time in this canyon. He hit the side of his head with his palm to remove the thought but it would not go away.

"Stop...," he whispered to himself and closed the faucet to stop hearing the screaming water. The screams just became clearer in his mind. "Stop!" he grunted and covered his ears but the sound he hears is coming from within. "Argh!!!" He squeezed his head trying to squeeze out the thought from his mind but to no effect. Then he looked at the sharp corner of the solid metal sink and thought about how it could help him get the voices out of his head.

"It is a good idea" - he thought. "Dying means that I can't hear nor feel anything. And it is an easy way out of this place."

He stepped closer and touched the edge and he smiles because it is perfect. He grinds it with his fingernail until it bled. That's when he knew that it is an ideal edge to do it. "A skull of a demigod like me hitting against this, would c***k open, right?" he asked himself and then nodded to himself.

He bent his back to give him enough momentum to do it to make sure he does not survive or else it would cause him so much pain. He looked at the light bulb at the ceiling for a moment and he smiled. He feels he is already in the afterlife and the light is already welcoming him. Although he can still hear the screams, it didn't bother him anymore because he knows that this is the last time he is going to hear them.

"I'm free," he said with a smile on his face.

He squeezed his abdomen to bend his body forward to start his descent to his death that he considers freedom. His boots slipped on the wet tiled floor so he lost momentum and aim that made his whole face bashed onto the flat surface of the sink. His nose cracked and his forehead bled. Some of his blood went into his eyes.

He felt like his face is gone because of the numbing sensation followed by pain on the back of his head. He just feels that his eyes were opened but could not see a thing. He is not even sure if he can see or not. All he feels is just numbing and the ringing of his ears that pained his jaw. Then the pain flooded into his neck that made it hard to breathe. It felt like he's choking himself to death until he saw faces behind the bright light from the ceiling mixed with the redness of his blood on his eyeballs.

They were the pale faces of men, women, and children who he saw had been killed because they could not lift lifeless bags of rubble from the earth anymore. They were spinning around the edge of his vision back and forth until he realized it was just one face. It is the face of the child he helped earlier.

The boy smirked then "Colonel Saadah!" he yelled and Saadah heard it muffled but a few seconds later, he realized his vision was blurry as well as his hearing. And it cleared up a few seconds later then he realized that it is Khufu as he patted his cheeks and asked, "Colonel, are you alright, sir?"

"Nrghh...," he groaned as he sat up.

"Are you okay, sir?" he asked again.

Saadah just massaged the back of his head and there was no blood as well as on his face. He touched it and he has no wound but he was sure that he hit the sink hard enough and bashed the back of his head on the hard floor. He found it so strange that his face was nothing but unsettled. Then he thinks that it was just a hallucination.

"I'm okay," he said.

"Let me help you, sir," said Khufu as he held out his hand for him. "I'm sorry for earlier, sir. I just realized I was wrong."

"Just shut your mouth from now on!" he spat.

"Sir, yes-" he stopped as he thought about the last order so he just nodded and pulled Saadah out of the floor.

After a few hours, he went to his office to report about the things that have happened. His office is located at the center of the whole area of the canyon where the mines are located. It is in a building that is built on artificially leveled ground. It served as the base. There are other people inside his office to assist him in technical matters like setting up the connection for him or monitoring the cameras around the canyon.

And someone is sitting on the throne made out of chitin of giant bugs. He is sleeping and snores like his lips are made out of mandibles. It's not only him that is snoring as a giant centipede that is winding its long body around his own and makes slithering sounds. The exoskeleton to the centipede glistened from the light from the holograms and light bulbs inside this room.

Saadah stood before him, waiting for his audience. It took a while until the centipede wiggled its body to wake its master. "Wha- I....," he stammered. "I was having a good dream!" he yelled at the centipede as it pointed one of its legs to Saadah.

"Good evening, Lord Lateef," he bowed.

"What do you want?" he asked as he yawned.

"I came to report in the time you told me to report, my lord."

"Oh, right...," he cleared his throat. "Go ahead."

"Forty-three people have been shot today, my lord. The reasons were mostly because of tiredness that they can't lift even their own body so my men got no choice but to shoot them as you ordered."

Lateef nodded and smiled. "Good. Is there any resistance?"

"Yes, sir. We dealt with them by hanging their corpses on the cliff walls and made their children and women work in the mines.

"How about the cobalt production?"

"The mining operation team reported to me that the production of cobalt is still the same, my lord, since we made women, children, and the elderly mine them from the shafts and neglected the use of machinery. I suggest that we use machines to boost our production, my lord."

"No," he said.

"May I beg your pardon, my lord?"

"I did that not for the sake of mining those stinky stones but as a reminder for them to never even think about causing trouble. That Hammad and his men escaped and destroyed the oilfields to the north and I am sure that these people knew that Hammad is going to do it but they decided to keep their mouths shut. The fault of that stupid lizard is all of their faults. Not only do they have to behave themselves but expect others to behave too so that they will think twice about doing the same thing he did if they care about one another. It pissed me off! I can't believe that he's been going in and out of this canyon without me even knowing about it for my ten years of service here in this stinky canyon filled with worthless humans! I also told that Emaan to watch over his own people if he doesn't want them to be food for my centipedes. But I am merciful, so I will give them one last chance to behave. And did you already did what I told you to do with him?"

"Yes, my lord. There is no space to burn your rune onto his skin, my lord."

"Good, and did you record his screams?"

Saadah hesitated. "He's... He did... Uh, he didn't scream, my lord."

"WHAT?!!!" he roared as he rose from his seat. "Why didn't he scream?"

"We don't know, my lord. He took everything without even grunting."

"Come with me! I'll teach you how to make him scream in agony!"

He walked outside as his centipede went ahead of them as they walked in the halls. Saadah swallowed before walking to follow him.

"What will you do to him, my lord?" he asked with a slight shiver ran down his spine.

"Oh, I am still picking the tortures I have invented that made the men who I tried them on, bite their tongues to kill themselves." He cackled so hard that Saadah felt like he's the one who's being tortured.

Then just as Saadah passed by an open door to his left, through it, he got a glance of the thin man he thought had been killed by his men. The man smirked at him as he passed by so he went back to see if it was real.

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