“Hey,” Someone whispered beside him.

Baekhyun jumped.

“You okay?,” Harmonia asked, looking at her half brother with furrowed eyebrows.

“I’m fine…” Baekhyun sighed looking around at the sudden crowd of campers who were lining up for their daily training, “What kind of training do you think we’re doing today?” 

Just then, he saw Kyungsoo and Mina. He hadn’t seen them in what felt like a week. He’d missed rooming with them.

“I heard training is just gonna get more difficult by the minute,” Kyungsoo responded to his question. 

Baekhyun nodded, turning to examine Mina warily, “You healed?” His eyes were dead set on her casted arm.

Mina frowned, “Just barely.” She admitted.

“Sit out for today, you don’t have to fight,” Baekhyun insisted.

“I can’t just let you guys do all the work while I wait it out,” Mina said.

“You’ll break another bone if you do any training today, I don’t care what the general says-”

“Baekhyun please-I said I’m fine,” Mina said quickly, her voice so stern the son of Aphrodite was convinced she’d used charmspeak.

“I-okay, fine,” He said.

Kyungsoo and Harmonia looked between each other, wondering what the sudden tension was about. To be fair, Baekhyun didn’t understand either. He wondered what had gone wrong with Mina. She wasn’t usually the type to put herself in danger like this, much less willingly participate in training. He looked at the son of Ares for answers who could only shrug wondering the same thing.

“Today’s training regime will be like no other. As we approach the final queue for D-day is fast approaching, it is only necessary that the training becomes difficult.”

Kai soon appeared by Chanyeol's side, eyeing all of the rogue demigods carefully.

“You have all been training with intense energy and force this entire month. Now..it’s time to test your brains…” Kai began, he walked around the demigods with his arms behind his back. 

“Today there won’t be any weapons necessary. Only your mind will be needed.” Chanyeol announced.

No one dared to question the general, well except for Baekhyun ofcourse.

“What exactly do you mean?” 

Everyone turned their head to Baekhyun in shock that he’d spoken up.

Chanyeol side eyed the son of Aphrodite before answering him, 

“A test of strength. Mental strength.” He then walked over to a table that had been set up beside him.

Chanyeol's footsteps clambered, making the entire room go silent. Kai then handed him a black ceramic jar. It’s designs show a bright orange. It had on a cap, a small spherical knob right on top.

Baekhyun eyed the jar in shock, wondering why it looked so familiar. It had small zigzagged engravings and dotted patterns circled around it. To a mortal the jar was called a vase, but any demigod knew a traditional Greek jar when they saw it.

“Is that…'' Baekhyun couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

“Pandora’s Jar,” Harmonia confirmed his beliefs. 

Kyungsoo was in disbelief, “How did they...get their hands on that. I thought Pandora’s jar was just some legend.”

“It’s a very real thing,” Harmonia explained, “Last it was seen was Olympus to be sealed away. You guys know the story...Pandora, the first human created by Hephaestus who was so curious she opened a secret jar she was instructed to be left shut. When curiosity got the best of her she opened it and what unleashed was fear, hunger, famine, cruelty, murder all the bad things of out world.”

“How do they have it?” Mina asked.

“Since Hesphestaus is running this underground resistance it makes sense why he has ownership of the jar,” Harmonia explained.

“Everyone queue up!” Kai said.

Being the first in line was too dangerous, but being at the end meant they’d wait too long for their turns. The group of demigods resorted to standing in the middle while Chanyeol gave instructions on what the exercise was.

“Today all you demigods will open this jar,” Chanyeol began

The crowd gasped, some began whispering fearfully.

“There is nothing to fear. The contents will not spill out. Only...your hand will go in to protect what is to come out,” Chanyeol explained.

He then pointed at a random demigod in the line and told them to stand in front of him. The unnamed demigod nervously looked at the general and sat on the chair he had lined in front of the table with the jar. Chanyeol took the demigod's hand and placed it in the jar.

At first there was no reaction, but when Kai suddenly came to stand beside them. He pulled out a sharp and thin needle holding it only a fraction of a millimeter away from the demigod.

“You move your hand out of the jar, this needle will prick you only the tiniest bit.” Chanyeol said, eyeing Kai’s needle cautiously. 

“The needle has snake venom. One prick. It’s fatal. If you manage to keep your hand in the jar for at least three minutes, you’ve passed the regime.”

The demigods all grew nervous in unison. 

“Begin,” Chanyeol wasted no time.

As soon as those words were uttered, the demigod who had his hand in pandora's jar he went slack. His face yellowing and jaw tightening. He looked like he was in pain. He let out a small grunt before clenching his jaw tighter to hide his pain.

Whatever was happening to his hand in that jar wasn’t good.

Baekhyun stepped forward to get a better look, he noticed that nothing was physically wrong with the demigod's hand, in fact it looked completely fine. But the demigod's face was telling them otherwise.

“Pandora’s jar will twist and play with your emotions. It will take all the bad moments of your life and translate that into physical pain. The more difficult your life, the worse the pain will feel.” Kai explained, continuing to hold the sharp needle to the demigod's neck.

Three minutes had passed by then.

The first demigod who had done the exercise looked like he’d run a marathon when he removed his hand. Chanyeol scribbled something on his clipboard then called for the next demigod to go.

It went like this for an hour. It didn’t look so difficult and so far no one had died from the prick of the needle. It was weird for Baekhyun to witness such a dangerous and fatal training regimen. This type of thing would be banned at camp half blood, but considering the immediate danger they were already in being part of the resistance, it made sense.

Finally, it was Mina’s turn. Baekhyun looked at her warily. He knew he wouldn’t be able to step in and help her like that time. Especially since Kai had such a sharp needle against her neck. It was going to cause too much trouble if he in. 

This time, he could only watch.

Yet, three minutes passed with ease. Mina did not even flinch even the slightest. 

“Strong mental capacity,” Chanyeol told the campers, “Some demigods have outstanding physiological capabilities,”

Baekhyun watched Mina in shock as he came to stand back beside him, “Did you feel anything?”

Mina shrugged, “No, nothing,” 

“Next!” Chanyeol yelled.

Baekhyun scrambled forward, taking a seat on the chair and the letter Kai brought the venomous needle near his jugular artery. The son of Aphrodite gulped. His eyes naturally found Chanyeol’s who quickly looked back at his clipboard like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“Begin,” the general said slowly.

The pain hit him like a truck. Baekhyun gasped, his breath getting stuck in his throat. He hadn’t felt such pain in a long time. This was worse than the time he’d been stabbed in his left thigh. This was worse than any fatal injury he’d ever experienced. Not only was his hand throbbing in pain, but his mind felt like it was wobbling in time. His head began to pound and eyes got blurry. 

His hand felt like it was being scorched with a hot metal rod. It felt like his hand’s bones were disintegrating. It also did not help that his mind was helping him visualize this very feeling. 

“Argh!” Baekhyun tried to breathe, but it felt like his lungs were being compressed. 

He could feel all the demigods' eyes on him, the atmosphere grew tense.

Yet, Kai had the needle close to his neck, his expression unhinged.

“Two minutes left,” He announced.

Baekhyun's lips could feel like they were turning blue. His urge to remove his hand from the jar was stronger than ever before. His hand slightly shifted, earring a concerned look from Kyungsoo.

His hand was shaking. At any moment, Baekhyun felt like he’d give in.

“One minutes left.” Kai said.

Baekhyun’s eyes began to tear up. He took one sharp inhale, but now he couldn’t breath. He felt his hand slipping. 

Out of the corner of his eyes he watched Kai’s needle grow closer and closer. 

Although his vision was blurry he could make out Chanyeol who had taken his eyes off the clipboard now and focused on the demigod instead. His eyes followed the venomous needle.

The general stepped forward, but Kai put his free hand to his chest, “Stay down,” 

“That is enough, he’ll die-”

“He must pass the test,” Kai insisted. 

Baekhyun could only make out some of their conversation. All he could think about was camp-half blood, his mom, all the people that he’d let down until this very moment. His pain was immeasurable. Just when he felt like his hand would eventually slip out Kai spoke,

“Remove your hand from the jar. You’ve passed,” said the son of Hesphestaus. 

Baekhyun quickly removed his hand and looked at it shaking violently. It hadn’t been physically harmed. Not even a scratch. What kind of sorcery was this?

Baekhyun looked back up at his friends who all looked like they were about to witness their friend dying. Then, his eyes met with Chanyeol who could only take a step back and flip through his clipboard again acting like nothing had happened.

Had the general come forward to save him? Or was he tripping? If it was true, did that mean Chanyeol was growing closer...that he was somehow remembering his past?

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