Lumai's Mind

Chapter 31: Silencer

"Don't speak unless spoken too."

"Don't make eye contact."

"Don't disrespect Silencer."

"Don't respond sarcastically, untruthfully or sassily."

"Listen and obey unquestioningly."

On and on. Again and again. Rule after stereotypical rule. Ray, for some reason, wanted to make sure I didn't die or at least had a good chance at living. He kept repeating the same obvious rules when meeting Silencer.

I held in a smile just thinking of that name.

"We just gotta tough out the introduction and never call them by their code name." Tarnyx reassured me with a smile in her voice.

I reluctantly smiled in my fight of repressing a chuckle as I thought about how this meeting could go.

"And never, never, go beyond the light." he stared me dead in the eye.

"Why?"

"You'll be silenced, to say the least." I could almost hear an underlying humour in his tone.

'Seems like we're not the only ones that like to joke about their name.' I smirked at Tarnyx and she gave me a freaky grin. Cheshire cat, I mused.

We stopped at a door, dead centre of the corridor and heavily fortified. Two guards posted beside it and graceful symbols caved into the grey metal door.

"New recruit ready to meet Silencer." Ray gave me a warning look but my lip twitched anyway. "Remember the rules." With that had walked away, the door was opened and I took that as instruction to enter.

The room was dimly lit by a single bulb hanging from the roof in a halo of weak gold light. In the shadows I could barely make out a short table in front of me and an lean figure behind it.

"Who are you?" He murmured when I had stepped directly under the light. "Why have you come?"

"This can't be silencer he seems ... scared?" Tarnyx brushed against my leg, jokes were out the window now. This was unsettling, to say the least.

The man burst out laughing, and for a moment I thought he heard Tarnyx's comment. "You're the new recruit to be. If you pass the test. Who are you!"

'He's mad.'

"We're all mad."

"Do you mean my name or character?" I said without thinking, now that I was actually in his presence, he was not so funny.

"You have a tongue, a quick one at that. You should be careful about who it speaks to and what it says." He warned, "Who are you?"

I squinted in the darkness, trying to pick up any feature, "Who are any of us? A name is the only constant in identity, our hearts change with our fickle minds. Who we are is the side affect of who others are." I could see nothing, didn't focus on what I said. Didn't care, either. He should be an illusion anyway. Nothings real but Tarnyx. That was my unstable, insubstantial hope. Dwindling the longer my cat companion, my rock, remained beside me.

"Wise words from a young soul, or is it an old soul and a young body?" His silhouette shifted closer but I still could see nothing. "What is your name? What is your story?"