'Poisoned by an ally, again. Awesome.' Ryan sighed mentally, not letting his real feelings show through.'At this point I can only blame myself for this mistake.'
Ryan remained silent while Aron drove toward the university. 'I was too careless, I was certain I had understood Aron's and the Boss's profile. But all of this was a mistake! Damn it…' Ryan held back the urge to clench his teeth. 'Even so, there's no use complaining, I need to find a solution as soon as possible. I can no longer simply trust that Aron will give me the antidote or stop the assassinations. There is too much at stake to trust blindly.'
Ryan then took a long, deep breath and closed his eyes, his consciousness ignoring the outside world before plunging deeply into his own mind. He needed to regain control of the situation as soon as possible, and so he would.
As for the poison, despite having been absorbed through a common candy. He had no doubt about any of Aron's words, after all, he himself could feel the transformations of his own body.
And if the poison was real, the assassination threats were too.
Ryan could perceive the changes. Just a few moments ago he had been fine, as expected. But now, his heart was accelerating faster and faster, while the force of each beat increased with no apparent limit. At the same time his breathing became short and shallow against his will, forcing him to breathe through his mouth like a beast.
He tried his hardest to ignore the transformations while formulating new plans, even so...
A scorching heat spread through his body, reaching his head where it felt like his brain would soon melt. While his muscles spasmed, contracting and releasing, with crushing pressure, making Ryan feel agonized.
That feeling was terrible.
He almost felt like a runner in the last fifty meters of a race, except that a runner felt that way for mere seconds. While he had already been enduring this for several minutes, all while sitting still.
Without a shadow of a doubt, if he had had a weak heart he would already be dead.
"So? How do you feel?" Aron asked, breaking the silence. Even so, his eyes never left the road, treating Ryan with levity.
Meanwhile Ryan glanced at him with voracious intensity, his desire was to grab his neck and snap his bones killing Aron, but in the end he chose silence. "Don't be like that, your situation isn't as bad as you think it is." Aron glanced at him from the corner of his eye and said:
"After all, Ryan, do you know the difference between a poison and a medicine?" Aron's question made Ryan frown. "The dosage." Aron kept talking without stopping:
"The 'poison' I gave you is an extremely coveted drug, it's going to enhance your physical and mental performance and even give you enhanced senses, elevating you to the level of a superhuman for some time. We call this drug 'Overclock' "
As Aron explained, Ryan could feel his voice rising a few tones as he also began to hear new sounds and noises. But even more, suddenly the light became more intense making him narrow his eyes and even shield his eyes with the palm of his hand. Strangely, even the clothes on his body seemed to be scratching his skin at that moment.
Ryan soon understood that, his five senses were being rapidly heightened by the drug. He soon grabbed his own head feeling a lacerating pain, his mind seemed to be catching fire as even time seemed to pass more slowly.
Aron's voice now seemed so slow and distorted that it was comical.
"This is a cheat for the special exam, the best I could get for you." Aron smiled proudly. "The only problem with Overclock is that it doesn't have an off switch, it's going to try to make your heart beat faster and faster until it sounds like a drum while your brain becomes more and more electric until every nerve and synapse fries completely." Aron laughed softly.
"What's going to happen to me?" Ryan asked, lowering his head with growing dizziness.
"If Overclock isn't stopped, or rather, turned off." Aron looked at him with amusement. "Eventually one of the countless components that make you you is going to fail. Maybe it'll be one of the less important ones, like the liver or a kidney that explodes from pressure, who knows, maybe you'll only lose control of your pinky finger after the nerves burn out completely, that's at the beginning. What comes after is a cascade effect. If the kidney fails, the liver will too and then the stomach, lungs, heart. Like party balloons, they'll burst one after another. Meanwhile your brain will turn into a mush that will drip out of your nose and ears."
"Damn it!" Ryan cursed, hitting the glove compartment. His face completely flushed.
"Your body is getting hot, Ryan." Aron opened the glove compartment which was full of water bottles. "Remember to stay well hydrated, we don't want you exploding too soon, do we? So drink plenty."
"Okay..." Ryan grabbed the bottles, he accepted the situation he found himself in... for now. But his mind was already full of new schemes.
***
Before they could realize it, they had arrived at their destination. Aron soon got out of the car staring at his silver pocket watch while Ryan shielded his eyes from the sunlight as much as possible, his pupils contracting and dilating rapidly the whole time while every hair on his body stood on end feeling the breeze around him carrying countless smells and other tactile information.
It was to much of information all at once!
His mind was going to overload soon, Ryan was certain.
"This way." Aron led the way as they quickly passed by a series of buildings and monuments. All made of pure marble with corners and details made of solid gold. Each of those many pillars and monuments carried golden geometric symbols of perfect symmetry, among squares, prisms and stars.
As soon as Ryan saw that, it was as if with hot iron the images were seared into his brain.
Ryan cautiously observed the new environment, doing his best to avoid overloading. Soon they arrived in front of a wide building with an extensive staircase. In front of it, there were ten statues that narrowed toward the doors.
Each of the statues had its own peculiarities, but all of them carried open books which they pointed to with their index finger or else seemed to be reading aloud. Teaching those around them. These were the statues of the founders, old bearded men regarded as sages.
Together they climbed the staircase while from the top they could already see a small group awaiting them. In front of them, a gray-haired woman stared intently at a golden pocket watch.
As soon as Aron and Ryan stepped onto the last step, standing face to face with them. She then murmured the time, closed the watch's lid and laughed, entertained, before looking at the two of them with a friendly smile.
"Director Cynthia, it's a pleasure to meet you here." Aron bowed slightly, the tone of his voice dropping a few tones in reverence, Ryan could feel a genuine and profound respect in that voice. Simultaneously, that action seemed extremely natural for Aron, Ryan noticed that too.
However, for Ryan there was something disturbing about it.
'How does he know her?'Ryan frowned deeply. 'Aron is one of the greatest leaders of the Savant Mafia, a criminal of the worst kind. People like this would never have business with him.' Ryan's mind sharpened to search for answers. 'How do they know each other?'
But, as if to answer Ryan's doubts, Cynthia laughed softly and said mysteriously:
"I'm always intrigued by your punctuality, professor Aron." Cynthia said, holding the watch like a pendulum in front of her. Ryan's eyes widened as he understood everything from a single sentence.
Ryan was taking the special exam on the recommendation of a professor at the university. However, he had never wondered who the professor helping him infiltrate the place was. But now, things made more sense. Ryan wasn't the first person from the mafia to try to infiltrate it, Aron had been the first, and he was a renowned professor at the institution.
But if Aron had already infiltrated the place and had free access to the university, why did they need someone like Ryan? A professor has far more power and connections than a student. Something was wrong, very wrong...
"And I'm always intrigued by how observant you are. Others would certainly let it slide, but you always point it out whenever we meet again." Aron said in a relaxed manner. While Ryan thought that this alone was reason enough to silence her.
Director Cyntia regarded the pair with an amused expression, Ryan didn't like at all that she had noted one of the mafia's most distinctive traits, their clockwork precision. Even so, she apparently viewed it merely as a curious detail and soon added:
"As you well know. We humans have always been enemies of time. We are like passengers on a bullet train, on a short trip which we call life. Just waiting for our station, our final destination, death."
She sighed. "Our life is so short, that one would think we'd treasure every second of it. But in truth, most of our precious time is spent on frivolous and futile matters. That's why, in a way, I admire you, Aron." Cynthia looked deep into his eyes. "Your time is perfect, not a second more or less. You treasure every second of your infinitesimal existence like we all should."
"…" Aron remained silent for a few moments before saying. "You think too highly of me. I just didn't want to waste your valuable time."
"Indeed, my time is valuable." Cynthia nodded. "Even more so now, that little of it remains to me. Honestly, I've begun to understand a little of this human fixation with immortality and transcendence. Who knows, maybe I too should search for the elixir of eternal life? At least resources wouldn't be lacking for a new research project!" She laughed, amused, before looking at Ryan.
"Hmm~ In any case, is this your protégé? Is he the one you recommended for the special exam? Isn't he a bit too young? I don't know if he'd manage to fit in around here..." Cynthia glanced at Ryan without much interest, after all, he was meant to fail anyway…
But then suddenly she stared at him again as if to confirm what she had seen before by accident.
Almost as if to confirm that she had seen a ghost.
Her brow furrowed as her eyes betrayed her terror.