In Somnis Veritas

[Manticore]

[Author's Note: This is a private story for the time being.]

ID: UNKNOWN
Location: UNKNOWN

The passage of an eternity in the mere blink of an eye.

She breathed. The simple act sent an involuntary shudder through her body. The sweet, clean air filled her and she paused a moment before slowly exhaling.

Her dark eyes fluttered open. The blinding haze of colors slowly focused and she could see again.

Grey stone, arches, inscriptions. The only light in the room came from glowing pink crystals set into the walls and ceiling. She slowly pulled herself up off the floor, but her movements were clumsy and sluggish. Her mind was still awash with haze.

This place was a tomb of silence. The walls seemed to absorb any sound she made.

She looked down. She was wearing a white lab coat, slightly torn in a few places and splotched with dust from the floor.

She glanced up with a start. Her mind was beginning to clear, and she realized she couldn'€™t remember... anything. Why was she here? Where was '€œhere'€, anyways? And most importantly, who was she?

That realization was the true terror, she thought. Her mind still wasn'€™t right, but she felt, deep within her core, that something about this place was wrong. She had to get out... somehow.

She glanced around, fully aware of her surroundings for the first time. This was definitely not a familiar place, in fact; she would go so far as to call it '€œalien'€. Yet she realized she was in some kind of large alcove, and there was a hallway right through the archway behind her. The pale pink light left long shadows that made the place look even more alien, and she felt an overwhelming need to escape.

So she ran. She ran down the hallway, into a labyrinth of corridors, turns, and intersections. She chose her direction with a panicky randomness, and the halls seemed to stretch onwards unto eternity. The walls continued to devour the sound of her footfalls, and the pale pink light illuminated things just enough to ensure that every hallway looked the same.

Just when she was about to decide it was endless, she saw a white light down a long corridor to her right. Turning towards it, she ran. The light grew larger until she saw a distinctly metal hatch with white light shining through the window.

Plastered across the hatch were the words DECONTAMINATION CHAMBER.

She engaged the hatch and pulled it open, closing it behind her. She had an idea of what to expect, but was surprised with the thoroughness of the decontamination process. She pulled open the hatch on the other side to be promptly blinded by the comparatively bright white lighting in the hallway. Her eyes adjusted, revealing a plain slate-grey hallway, with a few doors along the sides and what looked like a lift door at the end of the hall.

Then, she noticed a young man wearing a white lab coat identical to hers emerge from one of the doors and turn to look at her. He looked slightly alarmed as he walked towards her.

'€œDoctor, is everything okay?"

For an instant, confusion crossed her face before she realized the potential danger behind that innocent question.

'€œDoctor, what'€™s going on?'€ the man repeated. '€œYou checked out from the ruins over three hours early.'€

Again she felt the twisting of disorientation in her stomach. The man seemed vaguely familiar, but she had no idea of his name or position at this... facility. His white lab coat was identical to hers, equally devoid of any identifying marks or even a nameplate. Yet, aside from him, the hall was silent, and she felt that they were -- for the moment at least -- alone.

She decided to gamble. Moving to walk past him, she calmly said, '€œI'€™m fine. Don'€™t worry about me. I just need to...'€

As she passed him, she felt him snatch her wrist and spin her around to face him.

He fixed her with a searching gaze. '€œDoctor, what'€™s my name?'€

'€œI, well... uh... Of course I know your name, why wouldn'€™t I?'€

'€œThen what is it?'€

She could only respond with a blank stare, and abruptly started moving to force her way past him.

'€œDamn it, I knew it!'€ he exclaimed. He reached into his front pocket and drew out a small syringe. '€œNow just relax, doctor. Everything'€™s going to be okay.'€

The needle moved towards her, and suddenly she felt a vast strength well up inside of her.

'€œFalse,'€ a cold voice that she didn'€™t recognize emanated from her lips.

Then her hands moved, and she was stunned while they leapt forward and deftly grabbed the syringe and the man'€™s hands, and with a strength she didn'€™t know she possessed drove it into his chest.

He stared at her for a moment, and then looked down at his chest in shock.

He muttered a single word, and then collapsed onto the cold steel floor.

'€œOmega.'€

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