The Infinite Stage (89)

"You all will remain here... forever."

Those words sank deep into the hearts of everyone.

Gin was the first to speak out. "Forever?! What do you mean forever?! You have to let us out eventually right?!"

Merlin calmly sipped his tea. "Do I? I don't remember making such a promise. As I said. Forever. None of you are leaving this place. Do what you will for the rest of your days."

Akasan realized something was wrong. He lowered his voice. "Judah. I can't use energy."

Judah whispered back. "My magic is gone too."

The others also noticed shortly.

Gin ran up to Merlin and hit him.

Merlin simply turned into blue mist and vanished.

The mist regenerated somewhere else and he returned. He took a sip of tea. "Ah. Peace and quiet. Wonderful is it not?"

Akasan looked at him. "No, it's not! I have to get back to Arbok after this! I don't have time for forever!"

Merlin smiled. "You don't have time? Forever can not be measured by time, therefor forever has no length. So what don't you have time for?"

Akasan waved his arms around. "This!"

Merlin looked around. "But there's nothing here."

Akasan groaned in frustration. "Fine! Two can play at that game."

Akasan sat down and started meditating.

Nori was sitting quietly. He didn't say a word.

Annya walked around. She realized that the room really did stretch forever in all directions. There was no end.

Gin sat down scowling at Merlin. He folded his arms.

Judah decided that he might as well meditate too.

Hours pass.

Judah opened his eyes. Kawa was next to him. Akasan was sleep. So was Gin.

Annya was filing her fingernails and Nori was being himself.

Judah turned his head to look for Merlin. He was still in the same spot, sipping his tea.

Judah narrowed his eyes. "You've been drinking out of the same cup for six hours?"

Merlin raised his eyebrows. "You're counting. Impressive, but pointless."

As Merlin took sips of tea, Judah noticed that the tea never ran out. It was an endless cup of tea.

Judah shook his head and returned to meditating.

More hours pass.

Now Annya was sleeping, and Akasan was laying down, still sleep.

Gin was working out, doing pushups and sit-ups.

Kawa was sleep.

Nori was being himself.

Judah turned his head to look for Merlin. Still drinking tea in silence.

Judah found himself getting hungry. He'd been getting used to eating multiple times a day, and now he hadn't eaten in fourteen hours. He was getting bored out of his mind. He looked at his palm. His black cross appeared. *"So Holy Blaze still works in here. Good to know, but useless. There's nothing to hit."*

Judah laid down on his back and went to sleep. He woke up. He pulled a pocketwatch out of his pocket. *"It's been over a whole day now. And nothing's happened. It isn't a magic effect either, because our bodies are reacting to the time passing. We get hungry, sleepy, and thirsty. But Merlin hasn't moved. He's still drinking tea."*

Judah got up and walked over to Merlin. "Is this your real body?"

Merlin looked up at him and smiled. "Yes. I am actually here." He held his hand out.

Judah touched it. *"Real skin."*

Merlin took another sip of tea. He looked at Judah. "How will you spend *your* eternity?"

Judah squinted in suspicion. "You can't spend an eternity. It goes on forever."

Merlin smiled. "Correct."

Judah started walking back to where he sat.

Merlin called to him. "Judah. How long have we been in here?"

Judah stopped and turned around. "37 hours and 16 minutes."

"Wrong."

Judah frowned. "What? I've been counting this entire time, how could that be wrong?"

Merlin looked at him. "It's been four years, eight months, seventeen days, one hour, and fifty-nine minutes."

Judah's eyes widened. "Huh? Four years? No, that's not possible. I've only slept once." He looked at the others.

Everyone was asleep. They hadn't heard what Merlin just said.

Judah thought to himself. *"Has it really been four years? But none of us look any older. Am I going crazy? FOUR years?!!"*

Judah slowly walked back to his spot as Merlin sipped his tea. He sat down and laid on his side. He closed his eyes to sleep again.

He woke up. "A dream?" he said.

Akasan was working out, so was Gin.

Annya was taking a walk, and Nori was being himself.

Judah frantically looked for Merlin.

Merlin smiled at him seductively. He mouthed the words; "*Six years, two months, five days, fourteen hours and three minutes."*

Judah's heart sank into his stomach. What would happen if he told Akasan? What would happen if he told anyone? Would they all go insane?

Time was quickly slipping out of their hands, and he was the only one who knew.

Judah turned to Akasan. "Akasan, how long do you think we've been here?"

Akasan looked at him. "I dunno, a few days?"

Annya jumped in, "No way, it's been at least two weeks!"

Nori opened his eyes. "I thought it's been an hour."

Everyone yelled at the same time, "It's been way longer than that!!"

Judah put his hand to his chin. *"Okay. Let's think about this logically. Everyone is having a different perception of time. I've been counting this entire time, but Merlin is saying it's been over six years. I can't take it for truth, but I could tell he wasn't lying. Still, none of us died from starvation, or showed signs of aging. Nori said an hour, but he's been sitting in the same position. Time is moving faster for Annya than Akasan, and for me it's only been two days so far. What can I do?"*

They sat around and did anything they could to cure their boredom for a very long time.

Then Akasan walked over to Merlin's table.

Judah looked over. *"What are you doing, Akasan?"*

A second chair appeared at the table.

Akasan sat down.

Merlin held his hand out. "Tea?"

Akasan nodded. "Please." A cup appeared in front of him.

"Why did you decide to come over?" Merlin asked.

Akasan held the cup. "Well you were making it look so good, and I've got nothing else to do."

Akasan took a sip. "Oh, this is still warm..."

Merlin smiled. "Did you think I'd serve cold tea?"

Akasan chuckled. "No I guess not." He held his cup out to the side of him and turned it upside down. Tea started spilling out.

Merlin paused. "What are you doing?"

The tea covered the invisible ground in a puddle and continued spreading.

"Well. I was just thinking. You've been drinking that tea for a hell of a long time without needing to refill it, so I'm just gonna pour all of the tea out."

Merlin lowered his eyebrows as he took another sip. "But it'll never run out."

Akasan smiled. "That's the point."

Everyone looked at Akasan like he was insane.

Gin laid himself on the floor. "Well he's finally lost it. Not too long before the rest of us I imagine."

Annya and Judah both caught on at the same time.

They walked over to the table. Two extra chairs appeared.

They sat down, and two more cups of tea were on the table.

They both took the cups and overturned them, spilling tea everywhere. And it wasn't stopping.

Gin tilted his head up, looking at the three. "Hey, Nori."

Nori looked down at him. "What?"

Gin sat up. "I might be going insane too, but doesn't that look fun?"

Nori watched Akasan, Judah, and Annya pour out tea.

Kawa got up and did the same.

Gin and Nori stood up to pour out tea as well.

They all felt stupid for doing so, but in the world where tea was the only thing that existed, this was the most fun they'd ever had.

They were all laughing and splashing tea everywhere.

Merlin's eyebrow twitched as tea splashed on his face. "I thought we were going to enjoy this peace and quiet."

Akasan stopped pouring tea. Everyone else stopped as well.

"Why'd you stop?" Annya asked.

Akasan got up from his seat and walked towards Merlin. He overturned the cup over Merlin's head.

It was hilarious. Everyone started laughing and did the same.

Merlin endured this madness for a good while before he finally blew his top. "Enough!!"

Everyone got blown away by a blue shockwave. All of their cups fell out of their hands as they landed and rolled over in a shallow pool of delicious tea.

Merlin put his hand to his face and took a deep breath. "This space is made up entirely of magicules. Time doesn't exist in this room, which explains why none of you have died from normal illnesses such as starvation or dehydration. You always exist in this room in your subconscious."

Akasan chuckled. "None of us could use magic because there's an overwhelming amount of magicules in here. It's disturbing the flow of mana and energy."

Annya looked at him. She was impressed.

Merlin dried his hair instantly. "Yes. This represents your connection with the world of magic. We put our examinees in here so that they get a better feel for creating mana. So when I said you'd be here forever, I meant that truthfully. You will always be connected to this room in one way or another."

Judah's face lit up. He thought to himself, *"So no matter what times he told me, they were all true... that's why all of us experienced the time passing differently. This place is actually infinite in all dimensions!"*

He shook his head. "Thinking about it was a fool's game the entire time..."

Merlin smiled. "Yes. It was. But seriously, I've had people come here and try many outrageous and ridiculous gimmicks to get me to let them out, but never did they just make a mess..."

Akasan laughed. "Sorry, I got bored. You looked like the type to hate disorder."

Merlin sighed and snapped his fingers. They woke up outside on the same concrete platform that they started on.

Merlin stood in front of them. "I commend you all for passing the third stage."

Akasan held his stomach. It rumbled with hunger pangs. "Ow... seems like some sort of time passed..."

Everyone else nodded.

Merlin snapped his fingers.

whoosh!!

Akasan started falling into a swamp. He splashed into the murky, muddy waters. He spit mud out of his mouth. "Blegh! A swamp?! Really?!"

Someone else fell into the swamp not too far from him. There was little light, as the sky was covered with giant trees. Akasan couldn't make out the shadowy figure.

A woman appeared not too far from Akasan. She was glowing. It was one of the women that was with Merlin back when the Trials first began.

"My name is Fiorra. I will be overseeing this portion of the stage."

Akasan was puzzled. "Overseeing?"

Fiorra held her arm out towards the shadowy figure. "The both of you are to fight. To the best of your ability. That is the Fourth Stage."

The shadowy figure sloshed through the water until he got into some more light.

Akasan saw his face. "Judah..."

Judah looked down. "I had hoped it wouldn't turn out like this..."

Akasan looked at Fiorra. "What happens if I lose? Can't I just throw the match? I don't really need to become a Magi."

Judah started glowing green. "Hey, Akasan!! Is that how much respect you have for me?! You think I want to win by default?!"

Akasan thought about it for a second. He closed his eyes and faced him. "You're right. Sorry. How could I just forfeit after everything we've went through?"

Judah smiled. "I'm glad you've come to your senses. Don't hold back on me, 'cause I'm going all out!!"

Akasan went into Crimson Fire mode. He opened his eyes as the Kamigen glowed in the dark.

Judah's right eye changed. It turned into the Lunar Eye. "Prepare yourself."

Fire roared from Akasan's aura. "I'm as prepared as I'll ever be."