Silas awoke with a blanket draped around his body. Suddenly jolting awake, he felt the rush of falling from a dreamless sleep before coming to his senses in a brightly lit room.
The mattress he was on was industrial. It felt cheap, formal, and alien. He could feel the metal framework underneath it and the springs, too. The blanket wasn't fluffy or soft, but instead like a tarp. That being said, it wasn't dirty at all. It was clean in an artificial sort of way.
Silas looked around. The first thing he searched for was the exit. It was a few feet in front of him to his left, through a glass door in a glass wall that left him completely exposed to anyone walking around in the great expansive hallway beyond the wall. He felt like an animal in a zoo, or a fish in a fish tank.
"Don't worry, I'll close it," a mature, deep voice from his side sounded. Silas jumped, he hadn't noticed a presence. A huge error on his part.
Charybdis the All-knowing was lounging on a leather seat in the corner of the sterile white room. In one claw, she held a coffee cup. The index talon of her other claw pointed smugly towards her thin lips, which were curled up in a satisfied smirk.
She waved her claw, and a remote drifted from the top of a cabinet which would otherwise be unreachable to her. It hovered in midair as it floated into her hand. She pressed a button on it and Silas heard a large whirring sound. Black mesh curtains slowly descended from the top of the ceiling to cover the wall of glass, giving them privacy. Charybdis pressed another button and the rapidly dimming room became filled with orange and yellow light as the rectangular lights on the ceiling turned on.
Charybdis took a conspicuous but dignified sip from her coffee as she looked Silas up and down. Silas drew his tan blanket closer to his chest in apprehension.
"Yes, it's me. Charybdis the All-Knowing. I'm sure you've heard of me, have you not? All sorts of tales. I wonder… is this what you were expecting?" Charybdis gave Silas a wink.
"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what you mean," Silas stammered, cursing himself for appearing so nervous.
"Hmm." Charybdis gave him a piercing stare, and he felt extremely vulnerable all of a sudden. He felt like someone was looking into his mind, like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Silas wondered… did she have perceptive magic like Saya?
Please, Silas begged inwardly. Please don't read my thoughts.
But Charybdis showed no response to that. Instead, she set her coffee down on a wooden coaster and crossed her legs, bouncing her heeled feet up and down.
"Well, you must know how exceptional I am at finding the truth," she said, clicking her forked, thin tongue. "It is in my name, after all. And I am a scientist. It is our job to find the objective truth, no matter how ugly it may seem."
She giggled, waving her talons. A cabinet door opened and a box of gloves levitated down. Charybdis caught it gently and took out a custom-made pair for merfolk like her. She put the latex gloves on with an ominous snap.
"However, you're a truth that I don't mind finding. And I daresay you are not one of the ugly ones." Charybdis edged closer to Silas, drawing herself up to full height. Her slender draconic figure towered over Silas, who sat on the small bed before her. The dim yellow lights from above illuminated her figure with a menacing backlight.
"I'm against tampering with your mental state. It must remain as untouched as possible. But I search for knowledge, and in order to bring it out, I am not above… certain means. Do you understand me?"
Silas nodded, his eyes widening. He clenched his teeth, hoping he could stop his shaking, but Charybdis noticed and smirked.
"Good. Now, what is Last Stand and how were you able to evade us for so long? There's been no records. None at all, nothing from surveillance drones or any of the cameras stationed in the outskirts of Lachlan. In fact, the oasis we found you in was completely surrounded by cameras, and there was no possible way you could've entered the oasis while avoiding detection completely. Not only that, but all of you have magical powers – something no human should have."
"Tell me – I'm extremely curious. Just what are you doing here, hm?"
Silas didn't reply. He thought it'd be the best decision. Charybdis carried on.
"May I…" she purred, pressing her fingertip on Silas' cheek, gingerly ticking the edge of his skin. He felt the sharpness of her claws. While not as long and lethal as Redd's, they still could fatally rend his skin in a matter of seconds. "see your mind?"
Silas felt a burst of energy shoot out from Charybdis' finger like an electrical current. It traveled through his skin and through his head. His brain recoiled as it came in contact with Charybdis' magic. It reached his eyes, frolicking over the whites of his eyes as it commandeered his vision. Suddenly, his eyes ceased to work, his vision flashing to black, even though his eyes remained open. His clenched jaw relaxed and dropped as Charybdis' magic made all his muscles slack. He started to fall backwards as his back muscles were no longer holding him up, but Charybdis kicked them back into motion.
Silas was barely conscious as Charybdis piloted his body, forcing him to stand up, swing his legs over the edge of the bed, and walk like a zombie or a stiff puppet to a seat that Charybdis pulled out for him on the other end of the small table. Charybdis picked up her coffee mug, took a small and satisfied sip, before sitting in the other leather chair opposite Silas, folding her arms politely on her lap.
As for Silas' himself, his blackened vision no longer seemed like the back of his eyelids but a vast and infinite area – a starless space. He became aware of himself but knew no senses. He couldn't feel, nor touch, nor see. He was only aware of himself and of another presence within his mind.
"Even with your magical capaibilities, you were unable to resist," Charybdis noted. Silas heard a small chuckle in his mind, one that he could not hear in real life. Charybdis was transmitting her own thoughts into his cranium.
"No…" Silas managed to think. He was so disoriented, his mind was reeling, full on incoherent thoughts that had neither drive nor logic. Everything was spinning, in upheaval because of Charybdis' entrance.
Deep within Silas, something snapped. He could imagine his brain, the pink neurons fracturing and splitting as it was torn apart by one prevalent emotion: fear.
Nothing made sense. The fear wormed its way into his brain like a virus or a drug, acting rapidly and lethally to disable any rational thought. Charybdis saw this and frowned sorrowfully, but she pressed onwards.
"You've been through a lot. I can tell. And soon, I'll see just what is hurting you, dear. Just hold on a second. Keep your mind together so I can read it…" Charybdis' voice echoed in Silas' soul. A burst of emotion came from somewhere deep within – a feeling of safety, of comfort. Charybdis' voice was stable, something that he could latch onto. He focused all of his attention on her voice as the tumultuous cacophony of pain started to fade into background static.
"That's it. You're doing great. This will be quick and painless. Just focus on my voice, and nothing else. I'll be the one to guide you to safety. You're saved. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's okay."
Suddenly, Silas felt an energy penetrate his thoughts, as if his mind had been illuminated. As he focused on the sound of Charybdis' quiet and rhythmic breathing, he felt the anguish he'd been trying to ignore be alleviated and slowly subside.
It only took a few moments for the same energy to exit Silas' mind rapidly, without any warning. It felt like a bullet through the heart and jolted Silas out of his internal stupor. Control of his body came rushing back to him as his muscles began to obey his command. He caught them as his body was about to crash to the ground. Charybdis' claws propped him up as he stumbled, trying rapidly to remember how his body worked.
Charybdis' face was concerned and agitated. She pushed up her glasses, which had been knocked off-kilter. They still sat a little crooked on her human-like nose.
"There's nothing there," Charybdis muttered to herself, staring at Silas as though he was an alien.
"There's nothing there," she repeated, stepping back away from Silas in something akin to fear in her eyes. "There's nothing for me to remember."