“So Adam, mind telling me why you were acting strangely back there?”
We sat on a dirty bench facing away from each other, but still close enough for us to start our conversation. Although, Smith’s demanding question had caused me to stay silent for a moment as he continued to stare at me with his piercing gaze.
“Why? What do you mean by strange?” I announced from my end, deciding to answer his questions with truthful answers. He sighed in response, “you were screaming back there, Adam. It scared the hell out of me!” he snapped, causing me to chuckle slightly in an awkward manner.
How could I explain it to him? As much as it is easy to tell everything truthfully, I cannot share my secrets about myself with him. My feelings and thoughts are all bottled inside of me and never shared with anyone in fear of being judged or hated. Exception is Lilith of course.
“Well kid, are you going to answer my question or what?” He disgruntledly questioned while tapping his finger on the bench table in front of me, as though he was impatient with me. “Fine, fine,” I huffed in annoyance, “I am not sure what happened, but suddenly, the pain and burning sensation came upon me.”
“Oh, I see…”
I frown in thought, wondering what he was about to say.
“You know Adam, it is not uncommon for people in this place to be slowly driven insane,” he replied with a comforting tone while staring straight at my face. I could sense he was trying to figure something out, but I could not understand exactly what it was. He continued his line of questioning, asking another question that puzzled me greatly as he spoke, “did you fight back?”
Wait, does Smith know? No, no of course not. Good thing that he is more interested of my well-being than anything else. Possibly, I can even change the direction of the conversation about this subject without going about what I have experienced…that would work.
“It was not worth fighting against it,” I said in a low voice, slightly leaned back on the bench, feeling uncomfortable as Smith stared at me with intense eyes. “What do you mean?” He asked with raised eyebrows, waiting patiently for my reply.
I sighed with a shake of my head, knowing that it would not help anything if I kept holding back these things from him. He might think that I am crazy. So what if I did? At least now we are on equal ground where both of us can trust each other since we are both already going crazy.
“I..meant that It was worth fighting against or something? But the growing sensation of my sanity had slowly dripped away like sand slipping through my fingers until I almost lost all senses of my body and mind had within reach made me lose the remaining strength of will I had.” I explained to him with shivering breaths.
He appeared shocked, gasped softly before letting out a loud sigh before letting his head fall backwards onto the wooden desk in front of him. He looked exhausted after listening to my tale; it must have been a lot harder to hear than what I expected.
“Are you okay Smith?” I inquired worriedly, having watched him rest his face down on the bench table’s surface while keeping his hands resting on top of the desk. His breathing slowed down as his shoulders heaved up and down, exhaled loudly before lifting his head up and turning towards me again.
His gaze fell to the floor for a few seconds, trying to find the words to speak in response. Eventually, he turned his head back to look at me with tired eyes and a look of sympathy, “Adam…Christ, I-i-just do not feel comfortable seeing kids like yourself going into the brink of insanity…” He muttered quietly before closing his mouth and shaking his head lightly, clearing it off.
He stood up from the seat, walking closer to me before sitting beside me in reassuringly display, “ha, you remind me of my two children in the village. They grew up together and became close as young siblings despite being half a world apart. It distressed seeing how they are getting sucked into this shitty cold and dark world we call earth.”
Okay, that was weird? Smith is now talking about something that has nothing to do with our conversation. However, I want to see where this goes, especially when we are all alone here in this seemingly abandoned cafeteria.
“What happened? Whats wrong with your children?” I asked curiously, wanting to know why he brought up his children in the first place. “Because you remind me of Bobby and Alice,” he said simply with a somber expression.
Wait what?!
“You know Bobby and Alice?!” I exclaimed with wide-eyed shock and a slight panic attack in my voice. My mind raced, desperately remembering about those two siblings I once considered to be friends before having to end our friendship because of a misunderstanding between us.
Seeing my flabbergasted gesture, Smith gave a surprised and worried expression that quickly morphed into excitement, “you know them?” He chuckled nervously while scratching his head as he continued, “they are my kids. Well, technically I am their father too but that is another story. Since you appear to know them, I want to ask-are they safe?!” He demanded with a mix of excitement and worry in his tone.
My eyes widened in surprise, “Bobby and Alice? You mean those two siblings? Yeah, they are fine. In fact, I am friends with them,” truthfully that is half-truth, I was actually friends with them before we had to part our ways.
The surprising part of this conversation was learning he was their long-last father that had mysteriously left their home and had not come back for likely days now, causing them to grow distant and depressed from each other since there were no longer any signs of him around or contact whatsoever.
I looked at Smith with curious eyes, having another question in mind. Remembering that a day or two ago, their father left on those specific days and now he is here with me, appearing all malnourished. How could that happen within just a few span of day or two?
Smith ignored my gaze, wanting to explain his previous statement with a serious look further, “I do not want to sound rude but I am glad to hear they are okay for now. Though I hope we can go home safely so I can see my children and wife again,” he replied with a sincere smile that brightened my mood for a bit.
“If you do not mind me asking, how were you so malnourished when you were here in this dungeon prison for just a day or two?” I questioned him curiously, his face darkened from my inquiry, beginning to explain in detail of his experience as a prisoner and how he managed to escape his cell.
“You would not want me to tell you,” Smith began, pausing briefly as he stared with a stern expression on his face. His gaze softened, “do you really want to know how I was kidnapped and then escape from this prison?” He asked me with a curious expression.
I nodded, wondering what his answer might be.
“Then I shall share with you.” Smith stated with a firm yet sad and terrified expression, “I met a mysterious and alluring woman in the village. Rumors of her beauty and angelic presence had made many of the men chase after her as she appeared like someone out of fairy tales. She even claimed herself to be the perfect partner,” Smith paused for a moment as he took a breath and continued with a somber tone of voice, “however, that was all just facade.”
Wow…this is terrible, I did not realize that those two women from before were even considered to be that beautiful? I mean, they look pretty average to me.
“A facade? What do you mean by that?” I inquired with curious interest. “Well,” Smith explained with a serious expression on his face, “that woman turned out to be a monster than I ought to be. From every moment of time we spent , the more I became susceptible to her seduction and charisma to the point of eventually making me unable to stop thinking about her.”
“That’s horrible!” I exclaimed with shock. “How come none of your family noticed this?”
Shamefully, Smith shook his head, replying back with a regretful look on his face, “never told them. Did not want my wife and the kids to know that I was interested in another woman. It was wrong of me to do this and I guess that this is karma for trying to cheat my wife and lying to my loved ones,” he said, regretfully looking down at his hands.
“So what happened next?” I asked him curiously.
“Yeah, I will get to that,” Smith replied, his eyes becoming distant, remembering the events that transpired between himself and her. “It was rather nighttime and the moon was bright enough for us to walk around without fear of getting lost,” Smith started telling me as he recalled the event in vivid details. “As we kept on walking, we came to full stop in the middle of the woods.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked with concern, noticing his uneasy expression from his eyes.
“Nothing, it was just something strange…” Smith responded with nervousness.
“Strange?” I repeated questioningly.
“Yes,” Smith answered nervously. “She-how do I explain this? I think she is able to bend reality around us like it was some playground set. Everything changed and looked different; trees, the starry sky and snow were replaced with the interior of dungeon prison like where we are at.”
Holy! They can do that?! How the heck do they do that? Normal people cannot do that, probably without technology or perhaps if there were aliens?
“I do not know how she did but they definitely did,” Smith continued explaining. “I think that is what we call Psyker.” He paused and stared at me in curiosity, “you know what psyker is right?”
Psykers…psykers? The term feels familiar or perhaps I heard it before.
“Not really,” I answered hesitatingly. “What is psyker anyways,” I asked him, curious on what kind of abilities they possessed.
“A psyker is someone who possess the capability to warp reality,” Smith explained carefully as though he was afraid of upsetting me or causing me to lose interest in him. “From what I heard and learned, Psykers are known to be treated as outcast for their immense powers and also feared from the pubic due to the potential of causing city-wide nuclear explosion from their own body if they couldn’t handle the ‘truth'” He paused briefly again, staring at me with a grim expression. “They are dangerous folk, walking nuclear bombs waiting for the moment they explode.”
“Wow!” My jaw dropped. “That sounds pretty serious.”
“Indeed,” Smith said quietly. “But there is more. Aside from their what they are, every psyker has different powers and such, most fall on several classifications that were named by a mysterious psyker only organization.”
Classifications?
Seeing my confused face, Smith went back to describing these classification types. “There are four main ones which I am aware of,” Smith started talking slowly while looking at me intently. “‘Oracular’ are these individuals that completely range from different types of abilities they have as it is completely random. Some of this psykers can be as powerful to whole army or being useless as ant with barely impressive display of psychic powers. Regardless of the notion, they are unpredictable and dangerous type, including their power level as it is completely varied. Usually, most psykers fall into this label.”
“What about the others?” I ask curiously while focusing in anticipation.
” There are three remaining classes of psykers,” Smith continued explaining, looking at me with a stern expression. “The second one is ‘Beta.’ One of the common classification for psykers to fall in, these individuals utilize various mind-altering and telekinesis abilities that varies from one person to another. Nonetheless, they are dangerous individuals due to their use of controlling and messing with people’s minds, moving objects and energy at a mere whim. Usually, telekinesis individuals use hand motions or gestures to affect the physical things around them, but those that are skilled enough can move the physical objects around them through thought alone.”
“What about the third class?” I asked curiously. “Is it like…”
“…The same thing?” Smith finished my question after giving me a look. “No, it is not. It is actually something much more terrifying than the previous two.”
More terrifying? How could that even be possible?
“I know you might think it sounds ridiculous,” Smith said while raising his eyes towards me. “But this classification is called ‘Alpha.’ Psykers who are “Alpha” are uncommon bunch, famous for their use in Spatial Manipulation. Allowing them to bend space-time at will, teleporting others and themselves to discerning the secrets of the universe through looking at the past or future at any moment.”
“That sounds amazing,” I said with interest. “How come we do not hear more about those people?”
“Well,” Smith said while rubbing his beard with a sigh. “Psykers are rare to find due to being outcasts and are normally shunned by society.”
Damn, that sucks for them.
“Are there anymore classes?” Innocently asking, I did not expect Smith to continue this conversation about these classes.
“There are,” Smith replied while looking at me with a hint of curiosity.
“What is it?” I asked.
“There is one left,” Smith answered with a slight hint of fear in his voice. “However, it is scarce for someone to obtain this class.”
“What is this last one?” I questioned again.
“This one is known as ‘Omega.’ They are capable of tapping into powers beyond our understanding,” Smith told me with awe in his tone. “From what I heard, they have the power to manipulate reality at their own leisure through willpower and imagination,” pausing for a moment before continuing on. “Walking disasters if you ask me,” he added with a grimace.
So that is what psykers are. Dangerous people with superpowers, that sounds awesome to have.
“So anyway,” Smith coughed to gain my attention back. “After that whole ordeal, she then forcibly placed me on a bloody bed and then…I was raped and used to be her ‘fuel’ so to speak,” his voice cracked when speaking about the experience. “I do not want to go into detail, but whenever our lips met; my body becomes skinner as if she was draining all my energy.”
I gulped at this shocking revelation. If this is certain, then those two must be complete evil people. No wonder there are tortured people here.
“That is horrible!”
Smith chuckled in anguish as he continues, “and if you wondering how I escaped? I had to gain her trust and eventually, she spawned a floating key out of nowhere between my eyes, allowing me to escape. She was likely furious after that.”
“What?” I gasped in shock. “She let you go?”
“Because I promised her, that I would return after getting my family,” Smith replied bitterly before grinning in pride. “Like I will ever return to that crazy bitch. I was only pretending to be nice so I could get out of this hell-hole.” He paused for a moment before adding. “What about you, got anything else interesting to tell me like how you got here?”
I said this before, I cannot tell him everything about myself…but at least I can lie, right?
“Well,” I began with a fake smile. “I really do not remember about how I was sent here,” that was a total lie, those two kidnapped me and mommy in this place!
“Really?” Smith laughed in disbelief.
“Yes,” I replied as I felt a sharp pain in my chest like I had swallowed a knife. “That is all I know but what matters the most is finding mommy,” I looked away from him, my eyes starting to water up with tears of sadness and loneliness.
“We will find her,” Smith assured me with confidence. “There is no way we will not,” he gave me a pat on my shoulder. “You do not need to worry anymore,” he spoke with a comforting voice.
“R-Really?!”
Smith smiled warmly, “We are going to find your mother and get out of this place as soon as possible. I promise with all my heart.”
I nodded slowly with relief. That was something I needed to hear from someone besides myself. It feels good knowing there is another person out there willing to help me.
“Thank you so much,” I whispered while hugging Smith tightly, ignoring his lack of hygiene.
“You are welcome kiddo.”
