The Merlin Paradox (undergoing revisions)

1. Escaped lab rat

Waking up to a blinding green blaze was about as pleasant as bleaching his eyes. Bright spots had imprinted themselves on the back of his eyelids long after the flash had subsided, and his head burned from the inside as if someone held a torch to his brain. While painfully blind, he outstretched his arms, looking for an anchor to lean against and wait it out, but his fingertips slid down a smooth surface, making him tip off balance.

And then it ended so abruptly, he wondered if he had imagined the agony. His vision returned, though everything was still blurry, and his head was blissfully quiet and calm.

For some reason, he was surrounded by glass, a dome only large enough to fit him standing up, and there was no exit out of it. That was curious. He mumbled to himself, "What did you get yourself into..."

He searched his mind for a name to address himself by, but none came. No, he had to have a name. Everyone did. Or did they? He couldn't remember the names of anyone, not family, friends, pets, or famous persons. He couldn't remember faces or places or any event prior to the green light as if he was born within it. Absurd. It was likely temporary. Hopefully so was his vision problem.

"Excuse me, is anyone there?" he yelled out, struggling to see out of his glass prison.

No answer came but something banged against the glass behind him. He turned to the sound and froze, seeing a hairless red tail flick side to side behind him—his tail. He had a demon tail.

"I'm a cambion," he said to himself and paused to let the thought seep in. He was a cambion, half-human and half-demon. It felt true, like common knowledge and no big deal. He shelved that revelation for later and focused on the challenge at hand. There was no lever or a handle to pull to open the endless wall, and he worried that he'd run out of oxygen soon.

He banged on the glass with sweaty fists. "Hello! Anyone there? Can you please get me out of here?" His scream was too loud in his prison, discouraging him from trying again. He waited and listened, but no one came to his rescue. The cramped space was closing in on him and another shallow inhale of the sticky air brought no relief.

He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and resumed inspection of the sphere. The glass was smooth and warm to the touch and there was something etched into it from the outside—symbols, not words, a set of elaborate circles within circles, miniature runes his defective eyes couldn't decipher.

For lack of other ideas, he lay on the rounded floor and aimed a good kick at the glass. It didn't budge. He kicked again and again, fueled by sheer desperation and anger at whoever was responsible for trapping him here. The crack of glass was the most beautiful music to his ears, and it gave him a spike of adrenaline to keep going. It took many more kicks before he expanded the hole enough to climb out. Shards of glass fell out with him as he crawled out, and he hissed at the pain in his hand. He pulled a glass chunk out of his fleshy palm and closed his fist to stop the bleeding. The pain was worth the freedom though.

He gathered himself to a standing position, swatting glass shards off, and caught sight of his tail again. It moved independently as if it had a mind of its own but obeyed him as well. Did any other surprises await him? He took stock of himself: two hands, two feet, and clothes that hung loosely on him though he wasn't skinny. His head was full of soft unkempt curls and had no injury that would explain his amnesia. Overall, he felt quite well. He didn't know what he looked like but judging from the fuzz on his chin and above his lip, he was a teenager. The verdict was in: he was a teenage cambion with a tail. It was comforting to know something about himself, but it wasn't a name. It was like naming a cat Cat.

Hoping that seeing his face would jog his memory, he searched for anything reflective, but his poor vision did not help. The further the objects were, the more their colors blended in with each other, forming a reality soup. Where was he anyway? The spacious room was bathed in yellow-tinged lighting and housed several steel tables cluttered with colorful trinkets and scattered papers. Yellow glow caught his eye. It came from a glass orb only big enough to fit in his palm. He brought it close to his eyes to examine and immediately became transfixed by the twinkling light swirling inside.