"I don't know anything about you," Silas admitted, seizing the chance to win favor with the enigmatic dragon scientist. It was a foolish ploy, but if it had the slimmest chance of working, perhaps…
"Don't tell me every one of you is like this," Charybdis asked, her voice cracking in the middle of her sentence. In her surprise she bumped against the back of the wall, the fingers of her small wings scraping against the paint. The impact made her coffee mug rattle ominously on the table.
"None of us can remember anything. We've all lost out memories," Silas explained.
"No… this can't be happening," Charybdis looked straight at Silas with an expression that was completely different that the predatory glare she'd given him just a few moments earlier. Her expression was not one of fear for her own safety… but it was one of utmost pity.
"I'm sorry," she said, her tone sincere. Her face was crestfallen, until some sort of steely resolve appeared in her eyes. They flashed an ominous, dangerous blue.
"You must remember something. Do you have any clues about your identity? Do you even know how you got to the oasis?" Charybdis' asked frantically. Silas could hear her heavy and quick breathing baring down on him.
"No," Silas shook his head, whispering meekly.
"A memory wipe. A complete erasure of the episodic memory of an individual. But only the episodic, and nothing else. Incredibly precise and exact… what type of magic is this? Who is responsible?" Charybdis visibly shuttered, her face breaking into a twisted grin, her eyes terrified.
"Last Stand, no memories, magical powers… how is this possible?"
Charybdis grabbed Silas by the shoulders, pushing him against the back of the leather chair. She peered into his eyes, examining every piece of tissue, every little bit of skin. She ran her long, dangerous claws through his hair, sifting through the strands for something more. Silas' breath caught in his throat as the menacing dragon continued to inspect him.
"I have no time. I can't be expected to escort you so soon! There's so much mystery, such an enigma… I have to figure it out. I have to record it all. It's going to be nearly impossible… but I can make it work."
Charybdis pressed her face even closer to Silas, until her eyes were almost touching his. She gazed deep into his pupils as if there were some unforeseen answer there.
"But I'm going to need your cooperation. Listen, Silas. I want to help you and all of your friends. I want to help humanity. But you and everyone else are going to be shipped out to RimTech in a month. There, I won't be able to visit you. It'll be top-secret under maximum security. But here, in the next month, I can make you immortal. I will make sure that you'll never be forgotten. I'll keep you from being eradicated, you mark my words. But I'll only be able to do that if you help me."
"Why should I trust you?" Silas asked, pulling away from Charybdis' gaze. But as soon as he tried to get up he felt a firm tug on his shoulders as Charybdis pushed him down easily. He realized that Charybdis had already known his name. He'd never told her or anybody besides the other members of Last Stand, which she hadn't interrogated yet.
"You don't have to. I understand that having a monster invade your mind then ask for help is a confusing and disorienting situation. But I will not hurt you. You have my word."
Charybdis extended her clawed, gloved hand. Silas considered it for a moment. It didn't seem like Charybdis would be angry at him and hurt him if he refused. But the polarizing way she'd been acting set him on edge. He didn't know where he was, who he was with, and what their goals were. No way he'd take her hand.
"…I see. Perhaps I've got a little explaining to do, if you're not keen on blindly accepting my request. I respect that, you know. The human mind is so wonderful, I still can't believe I have the honor of knowing eight, even if it's for a month."
"I'm sorry if I seemed a little too invasive earlier. I was just so excited to unlock your soul's mysteries… here. Take a seat, and this time we'll have a civilized conversation. Yes, that's it."
Silas gripped the edges of his chair tensely as Charybdis sat back down in her chair, slouching a little. Her shoulders slumped tiredly as she took another sip from her cup to calm her.
"Right now, you're in the heart of Lachlan, a city-state in the country of Leagionis. In the very center of the city is where we, RimOps, have our base of operations. In addition, PSEF's regional headquarters is right next door. I take it you know what both of these organizations do?"
Silas shook his head. Even if he did know, he'd still shake it, cause he wanted to hear what Charybdis had to say about the organization she worked for.
"Well… this is a bit awkward," she laughed, looking down at her feet. She raised her eyebrows, surprised Silas didn't even know what was hunting him. "It seems they, whoever they were, extracted that part of your memory too. That's incredibly interesting – if you've had any prior knowledge of it, then they shouldn't be able to remove it with just an episodic wipe. Either they could cherry-pick sematic memories as well, or you've been sheltered enough to never know…"
Charybdis snapped her claws together and a holographic blue screen appeared in front of her. Silas couldn't read the backwards text on its interface, but only watched in awe as Charybdis took a finger to her head and drew out a long strand of light. Upon closer inspection Silas realized that the light began to morph into letters and numbers as it neared the holographic projection, until merging with the hovering rectangle and converting into text.
Charybdis snapped again and the projection disappeared, stowed away for future viewing.
"PSEF is a secret governmental organization of Leagionis whose goal is to eradicate the entire human population living with its borders. It stands for Private Sapien Extermination Force. However, since Leagionis' human population is one of the last surviving human populations in the world, RimTech, an international company, would kill to get their hands on one of the… specimens, if you will."
Charybdis sighed, looking away from Silas' face, half-ashamed.
"PSEF has largely succeeded. The last human was captured recently – the rest are all dead. That is, that's what we believed, until we found you."
"That means… you're the last humans. You're humanity's… Last… Stand." Charybdis' eyes widened.
"Hold on, we have a lead here. We quite possibly have a lead," she muttered to herself, looking down at the ground and beginning to pace rapidly. She stole quick glances at Silas, peering at him curiously. "A precise memory wipe… and it was like you just teleported to that oasis. Wait… teleportation isn't possible, isn't it?" Charybdis muttered to herself, tapping her foot on the ground. Silas shrunk back into his seat, watching her from behind the back of the leather chair. "In that case…"
Charybdis stopped, pushing up her glasses and digging a sharp gloved claw into Silas' shoulder.
"I will uncover all of your secrets."