The carriage stopped where the road ended.
A barren wasteland, without a single tree. With no shade to block the scorching sun, all life on earth groaned in the heat. In this wilderness, where even the mounds of dirt seemed to exhale shimmering breaths in their exhaustion, a lone signpost stood tall, declaring the end of the road.
Seeing the signpost, the two officers realized they had arrived at the right place and that it was time to proceed with their task.
The officers split up. While one approached the signpost, the other headed to the back of the vehicle, fiddling with the steel baton at his hip.
The officer heading to the rear of the vehicle was tense. He gripped his only weapon, a steel baton, tightly in one hand. It kept slipping in his sweaty palm, but he had no time to care.
Transport vehicles were for criminals, and those audacious enough to break the laws of the Military State were prone to resisting at the slightest opportunity. The officer had always given such criminals a harsh taste of his steel baton, and he had always been satisfied with the results.
But today, for the first time since he'd earned the epaulets on his shoulders, he wondered if this steel baton would be enough.
Their destination was Tantalus, the prison of the Abyss. It was a place that housed only the most heinous criminals, those who could never again mix with society. A legendary land that people entered, but never left.
It was said that to learn of its inmates, you were better off consulting history books than newspapers. Even the mighty Military State, with all its power, could do no more than lock them away. It was a land of sin, where monsters with the power of entire nations, kings of beasts, and warriors who had single-handedly crushed armies were said to roam like common folk.
And the person they were delivering today was a criminal destined for that very prison.
'Damn it, I heard he was a first-time offender. What the hell kind of crime did he commit to be sent straight to Tantalus?'
I fervently agreed with him. What kind of crime gets you sent straight to Tantalus without so much as a trial? Especially someone as harmless and upstanding as myself. There had to be some kind of terrible mistake.
The officer took a deep breath and banged on the rear door with his steel baton.
"Get away from the door if you don't want a beating!"
The Military State treated criminals the way one might handle explosives: with extreme caution, wrapped up tight.
Even petty criminals were bound limb and limb and hooded. At an officer's discretion, they might also be gagged or put in a straitjacket.
Having been told the transport was a Tantalus-bound criminal, the officer had used the maximum restraints permitted. A blindfold, a hood, a gag, and a straitjacket. It wouldn't have been surprising if a normal person had suffocated.
And since I was a normal person, I was having trouble breathing. Help me.
But even with a prisoner who couldn't so much as freely draw breath—a basic necessity of life—the officer didn't let his guard down.
He couldn't expect common sense from his charge. This was, after all, a criminal bound for the infamous Tantalus.
The fact that a low-ranking officer like him had been assigned this duty suggested the criminal wasn't high-risk, but he couldn't afford to be careless. Not for the sake of duty, but for his own life.
Well, it wouldn't have mattered if he had been.
I couldn't even untie a simple rope, let alone escape a straitjacket.
"Opening it!"
The damn officer left no openings. He opened the rear door and quickly stepped back, body tensed, steel baton aimed at the criminal within.
The rear door opened, and the cursed, heinous criminal revealed himself to the world once more...
...still trapped in a straitjacket, rolling around on the floor.
Slightly relieved to see me in the same state, the officer started to approach... then suddenly raised his steel baton high. Reading his intent, I let out a silent groan.
Ah, wait. Sto—
"Oof!"
The steel baton slammed into my gut. A pained groan escaped me at the bone-jarring impact, but the gag muffled it completely. I couldn't resist at all as he beat me.
The officer struck me five or six more times, as if making sure I was down for the count, then seemed relieved by my reaction.
'Good, the restraints are still on. No need to worry about a surprise attack.'
Reassured, the officer grabbed a strap on my straitjacket and pulled. My body, sprawled on the floor of the vehicle, was jostled around before tumbling out onto the ground. The officer looked puzzled as he dragged my limp form.
'I heard he was some heinous criminal bound for Tantalus, but what is this? Hitting him feels no different from beating any other petty crook.'
Reading his thoughts, I swallowed my rising indignation and writhed.
Of course it felt that way.
I'm no Tantalus-bound criminal, no terrorist of the century. Forget history-making crimes; I'm just a back-alley swindler,
a petty crook whose only real skill is reading minds!
*
I was in the middle of my usual card game, playing against a few suckers for the deeds to their houses.
People who say gambling is bad are just prejudiced. If you have money, connections, or—in my special case—the ability to read minds, gambling is like scooping cash right off the street. The world is full of morons willing to bet their life savings for a cheap thrill, and I was like a priest in a paid confessional, one who truly understood their secret desires. Instead of a tithe, I only took half the pot, though.
Just like any other day, I was in the middle of winning myself a house off some chumps when a commotion started outside.
The old lady downstairs, who always got a cut without playing, gave the signal. One of the suckers, who'd been sweating over a bad hand, suddenly looked relieved and flipped the table. I put my dream of homeownership on hold, hid the evidence, and waited. That's when unfamiliar military police kicked the door in.
MPs on a surprise raid, gamblers clearing the table—so far, it was business as usual. Just as I always did, I reached into my jacket to give the MPs their cut.
The next thing I knew, an MP had grabbed my wrist.
'By order of military law, you are all under arrest.'
The MPs on the raid beat everyone senseless and hauled us away.
The Military State was far crazier than I'd ever imagined. I tried desperately to defend myself, but they put me on trial without a shred of evidence or a single witness. It took less than twenty-four hours to turn me into a major felon. In a closed courtroom, I was powerless as they sentenced me to a labor sentence in Tantalus.
My mind-reading ability was useless in that sham of a trial. The MPs claimed we'd been using the card game as a cover for some conspiracy, and the judge banged his gavel, knowing perfectly well there was no evidence.
Bang, bang, bang. Guilty. As the wooden gavel, that symbol of justice, struck three times—as if banging its head in apology for its own injustice—not a single person spoke up.
Logic? Principles? If this country had any of those, the military government wouldn't have staged a coup to begin with.
I was thrown onto the cold floor of a holding cell.
And then transported to Tantalus, the worst prison in the world.
*
Recalling the past while bound and helpless only made me feel worse, but the officer had no sympathy, dragging me along without a care. Thanks to him, I got to feel the earth with my entire back. Every time he pulled the strap, sand and pebbles scraped against my skin.
Ah, Mother Earth. Your skin is so rough. You could really use some moisturizer.
I was treated like a sack of luggage for a while longer, offering my blasphemous prayers to Mother Earth, when the officer by the signpost looked over at my handler with concern.
"Sir, is this really okay?"
"What does it matter? He's just a criminal."
"No, I mean... is it wise? This is the kind of guy they lock up in Tantalus. What if he escapes and comes back for revenge...?"
"He was blindfolded when they handed him over. The bastard doesn't know my face or my name."
The inspector hoisted me up by the strap on my straitjacket and unceremoniously dropped me. My body slammed against the ground. I shuddered at the impact.
I'm a mind reader, you know. Inspector Evian of Edelphite. Just you wait. When I get out of here, I'm coming for you first. You'll get your bloody revenge.
"Besides, how's he supposed to get out of Tantalus? Stop worrying and send the wire."
"I'm just worried for you, sir. You heard about that incident at Tantalus, right? If this bastard gets out..."
"If this guy could escape from there, he would've escaped from our carriage already. Stop wasting time and call the warden. Let's hand over the new meat and get out of here. One trip to Tantalus is one too many."
"The wire's been sent. We just need to wait for a reply..."
Just then, the arrow on the signpost began to shake. The two officers and I—reading their minds—tensed instantly.
An arrow painted on a steel sign. For some reason, what should have been a simple painting was vibrating madly. We all watched it in silence. The painted arrow shook more and more violently, then began to spin as if caught in an earthquake—
—before pointing straight at the ground.
Crrrack. The sound of something shattering echoed.
The two officers couldn't believe their eyes.
Where moments before there had been only wasteland, a bottomless abyss now gaped open.
The sudden appearance of the Abyss was utterly surreal.
A vast wasteland. Not a tree or a blade of grass in sight, just an open plain where you could see clear to the horizon.
And in the middle of it, a bottomless hole had been punched into the earth without rhyme or reason. It was too vast to be a man-made trap, yet too unnatural to be a work of nature.
Not only the officers, but I too—reading their minds—wondered if it was a hallucination. But the endless darkness, the kind only a true void could possess, and the wind drafting down into its depths insisted it was real. The officers stared into the chasm, speechless.
Just as the two were wondering if they were sharing a dream,
[Confirmed.]
A monotone voice emanated from the signpost. As the two officers jumped in shock, the signpost continued to speak mechanically.
[Mission parameters confirmed. Please conclude your assignment by transferring custody of the prisoner to us.]
Overwhelmed, the inspector saluted the signpost. It was a ridiculous sight, but both men were in awe, as if the signpost itself were some powerful entity that had created the Abyss.
"S-Sir! Inspector Evian of Edelphite. Where should we deliver the prisoner?"
[Your mission is to escort the prisoner to Tantalus.]
Tantalus.
The prison in the abyss, said to have been built by the gods to imprison giants.
The name was surely taken from mythology, but it was easy enough to guess that Tantalus lay somewhere in that deep darkness. The inspector stared down into the vast abyss and swallowed hard.
"D-do we have to go down ourselves?"
[Your accompaniment is not required. The method of transfer is left to your discretion.]
Hey, signpost. Hold on a second.
The inspector gave a faint smile. He understood exactly what 'transfer him without accompanying him' meant.
Actually, it wasn't that he had to figure it out. He'd been planning to toss me into the hole from the start.
The signpost's words just gave him the justification he needed.
"Hey, you. Grab his legs."
Understanding his orders, the junior officer hesitated before grabbing my legs.
"I-is this all right? He won't survive a fall like that..."
"So what? They're sending him to Tantalus because he's irredeemable trash. Who cares if he dies on the way down?"
Wait, hey, no, officer. Let's all just calm down.
I'll turn over a new leaf! I'll read minds in moderation, I'll swindle less, I promise! If you have to throw me, at least use a rope...
"But even so..."
"You don't like it? Then how about you and I take a nice trip down there together, huh?"
Apparently, he didn't like that idea, because he quickly hoisted my legs. I struggled desperately, but bound as I was, I couldn't do a thing.
Holding me by my head and feet, they began to swing me in unison. One... two... With each swing, I soared higher into the air.
And on the third swing, at the very peak of the arc, their hands let go.
A feeling of absolute freedom washed over me.
...Ah.
And just like that, I was thrown into the depths of the unfathomable Abyss.