Saphora: vol.1 Retention (The Athena Universe) Read online

  Saphora

  Retention

  Acknowledgements

  I’d like to thank my family for being there for me and giving me the support that I needed. Thank you for believing in me and pushing me to do what I love. I want to thank all of my friends for their support as well. For giving me feedback on my stories telling me their honest truth. Thank you to all of my teachers and professors for walking me through the wonderful world of fiction. And of course, I’d like to thank all of my fans and followers! You keep me engaged and humble.

  Chapter 1

  It was a Saturday evening, atop a winding hill in an old abandoned house. It was pouring and hardly anything was visible in the onslaught of water, which made for the perfect cover up to the crash-landing. Something – someone had landed in this unsuspecting home. Everything was damp. The roof of the kitchen had caved in, the windows were shattered, the tiles were cracked and covered in debris, the cabinets had been crushed, the pipes were bent and leaking water, and all that was left standing was an island marble counter. On top of it, lay the child that came crashing through. Her body lay limp, and her mind was settled in an unconscious state. She was an odd being, what with her pastel mint coloured hair, and her ruby coloured eyes, hidden behind closed eyelids. Her long hair curled slightly around her neck and chin as she breathed long, smooth breaths. But that peaceful slumber would soon be rudely interrupted by a man who had been ordered to bring her back with him – dead or alive.

  Tebias was a man of power. A man of defiance. A man of severity. A man to be reckoned with. He wore an attire of stealth, allowing him to move through the night without a trace, and to be feared by anyone who dared lay unwelcome eyes on him. With each step he took towards the entrance of the kitchen, his thick combat-fitted boot crunched down on scattered debris from the dismembered roof. And with each crunch, it shook the child’s sleeping mind further towards consciousness. It wasn’t long before she began to stir, her body making faint, but noticeable movements as a whimpering groan left her parted lips. With eyebrows pulled together, her eyes slowly fluttered open, the pupils dilating and taking in their new and unknown surroundings. Her dim ruby eyes squinted, as they glanced about while her limbs began to trudge about the counter top, making movements to sit up on the cold, damp marble. Tebias stepped into the doorway of the kitchen as she lifted herself up with weak arms to lay eyes on the man unknown to her. A knowing grin tugged at the corners of his thin lips as he looked over the vulnerable child who looked onto him with wonder and confusion. He took a step towards her, shaking his head in amusement as he took a look around the decrepit room.

  “My word, Saphora. Look at the mess you’ve made…” he mumbled to himself, kicking a wooden plank out of his way. The child flinched and looked down at it as it was moved, before looking back up at him, wondering who he was. He was in fact her hunter – hand chosen. Saphora stayed silent as he continued to grow closer to her, moving with careful and planned actions. He raised an eyebrow, carefully examining her expression.

  “… Why do you not run, I wonder,” he said to her, tilting his head, his slicked back red hair shifting in his ponytail. Saphora moved her head back as he drew closer.

  “Run?” she repeated, obviously not comprehending. With raised eyebrows, Tebias was taken aback by her response, before the grin that had been tugging on his lips finally broke through.

  “Could it be…Do you know who I am?” he asked her as he would a child. She timidly shook her head no. He let out a chuckle and shook his head, giving a glance to the ceiling, before returning to meet her confused eyes.

  “What fun. And tell me. Do you know who you are, child?” he asked her, leaning forward with an extended hand. Her chin lowered at the question, her eyes darting to the side for a brief moment before answering.

  “…I am, Saphora?” she asked, more than answered, having heard Tebias address her as such. He nodded and smiled, looking down at the cracked tile.

  “Indeed you are. And do you know…what you are?” he would question her again. This time her brows pulled together as her lips parted to answer. But nothing came out. She did not know.

  “That’s quite alright. You don’t need to know. Just come with me,” he said, almost demanding it. But Saphora was hesitant, as she should have been. She gently shook her head and began to move back. But the moment that caught the eye of Tebias, his hand slammed down on the counter, making her flinch and yelp, her eyes going wide.

  “Now,” he breathed, his grin fading into a hard line. After swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, she sheepishly began to slide forward, but was immediately stopped by an urgent voice ringing in her head.

  “No, Saphora!” it yelled in a whisper, stopping her completely. The woman’s voice rang in her ears as her eyes darted about, while Tebias’ hand gripped the edge of the counter in frustration. His temper was not one to be toyed with.

  “Don’t listen…”

  “Is there a problem?” Tebias asked with a snarl, making Saphora refocus. She wasn’t sure of what to say. She was still trying to figure out what, and who she had just heard, and if she had in fact actually heard it.

  “Move,” Tebias demanded. And once again, Saphora began to move forward. But again, she was stopped by this ringing voice of a woman, strangely familiar to her.

  “You mustn’t go with him, Saphora. Listen,” she echoed into her ears. And then with a grunt, Tebias reached forward, his patience having been worn.

  “Alright then,” he said, going to grab her by the wrist. She gasped as she was yanked forward by it, her face scrunching up in pain and discomfort. She pulled her wrist back, only to have it yanked on again, this time dragging her across the counter-top.

  “No!” she shouted in protest, shaking her head and pulling in resistance again, to no avail. Tebias pulled again, a frown forming on his face as he pulled Saphora onto the floor, and proceeded with dragging her out of the kitchen. Saphora’s bare heels dug into the floor as she desperately tried to use her own weight as an anchor against his force. She clawed at his gloved hand that was tightly secured around her wrist as she was continued to be pulled. And then the voice rang again.

  “Listen to me my child. Quickly! Repeat after me…” she whispered in her ear. Saphora flinched and muffled her whimpers, long enough to listen to the woman’s words. Noticing the sudden lack of resistance, Tebias turned around to look at the girl, who had her head somewhat down, seemingly in deep thought. He tugged on her wrist cautiously, making her trip forward, expecting a reaction. But the one he got was something he was unprepared for. Saphora’s head snapped up, revealing her now wide, glowing white eyes. Tebias almost immediately jerked back and released her hand, so that he could raise his own in defense. But it was too late. An immense amount of energy launched from Saphora’s body into him, sending her hair whipping behind her, and sending him flying through three dry walls before finally landing unconscious against the forth in one of the bedrooms. Saphora stumbled back onto the floor after the ambush, her lashes fluttering as tears welled in her stunned eyes. She took in gasping breaths as she took in the sight before her, the dust and rubble slowly clearing from in front of her. She coughed a couple of times before wobbling to her feet, and leaning back on the marble counter, which seemed to become somewhat of a sanctuary to her. Her blurring eyes looked around as the woman continued to talk to her.

  “Now run, Saphora. Get out of there!” she yelled. And within the instant, she took off, not exactly knowing where. She stumbled a couple of times, holding onto the wall or whatever was around for support until she found the front door. It had been kicked in, so all she had to do was run out ont
o the driveway. She breathed heavily as she looked around the abandoned lot. It had only just stopped raining, so the air was moist and thick, making her drags of breath longer and more strained. She took a quick look behind her to be sure Tebias wasn’t after her before she ran out into the driveway, and then down the hill to where ever the winding road would take her.

  Present Day.

  With a startling jump, she awoke from a dream all too familiar. A memory of her first experience on Earth. The only experience she could recall before the beginning of her new life. Gripping the sheets that were now somewhat damp, she sprang up into a sitting position and gasped for breath that she felt she had lost. Looking around the room, she groaned, throwing her fists up and back down on the mattress. She was tired of this - of these dreams that she could never grasp. They always ended the same way, leaving her in fear and anxiety. She wanted to get more out of it. But that was proving to be more difficult than she had hoped. So difficult in fact that she was seeking therapy for the dreams. The memories. She, and everyone else were convinced that the dreams were causing her headaches. So she attended therapy twice a week to try and cure what had been determined to be amnesia. Monday and Friday. Today was Monday. And her appointment was in two hours, at one o’clock pm.

  Saphora sighed, shaking her head and looking at the clock on her bedside dresser that read 11:04am. Great, she thought. I over slept. Now I’ll have to fly there. Contrary to what most people believed to be fun, flying took a lot out of her. Sure, it was fun for a while. But Dr. Lupin’s office was almost thirty minutes away by flying – longer by car. Keeping her concentration for that long put a strain on her, and added to her constant headaches. It was funny, she thought. That sometimes having to go see her therapist, the one who was supposed to be treating her headaches, would be the cause of them. And some of the worst. Exhaustion was one of the worst types of headaches. Because not only was there pain, but there was also fatigue. She didn’t take it for granted, the fact that she could fly. But if she could go about her day without it, she did. She usually only flew when she was stressed. Being above the clouds always calmed her nerves. And almost always helped put her to sleep. Because it wore her down, it usually did the trick. Saphora hardly ever used the gift for joy rides around the city. It just wasn’t in her. She didn’t know how or when she had come up with the ability, so in the back of her mind, she was always wondering when it would be briskly taken away from her. She had always thought that it would be, so she never wanted to press her luck. She never flew too high. Just high enough to stay above the clouds. She never went too fast, and she never did any tricks. She was a very careful girl. Just because she could fly, didn’t mean that it would be the death of her.

  She was ready in less than twenty minutes, and was out the door in the next five. Fran had left a note on her dresser, reminding her that she had an appointment today, and not to do anything “rash”. Which to her, meant not doing what she was about to do – fly. Fran was the woman that found her on that fateful night. She was one of the only things, if not the only thing, that made it certain that her dream was in fact a memory. Saphora had gone running down several streets, crying and screaming for help, until finally a light in a nearby house turned on, drawing her attention to it. Fran came out shortly after and went running to her, fearful of what had happened that had caused such a reaction in her. Fran eventually ended up taking her in, after failing to find out where Saphora had come from or what had happened to her parents, and ended up raising her as her own child.

  She was very accepting of Saphora’s abilities, Fran. But she was also a very cautious woman. She was worried that if the wrong people saw what she could do, that they would question, bully, or even harm her. She believed that her little girl was very special – and for good reason. And she didn’t want anyone taking her away, to do God knows what to her. So she was constantly warning Saphora, although she didn’t need to. Saphora knew all too well the dangers of what could happen if she were to be found out. It was unexplainable, which to the public, meant highly dangerous. It wouldn’t matter what Saphora said. She would be branded as a threat to the United States, and therefore the world. Unless she had done something to help everyone, like Superman, or Dr. Manhattan. She would have to become a hero in order for the label of threat to be removed. And that just wasn’t in her. She wasn’t the hero type. So she always took Fran’s words to heart. After all, in every movie, if the target resisted if they were found out, it was always their families that suffered in order to get what they wanted.

  But we’re getting off the subject.

  “Hello, Saphora. You can go right in,” the secretary at the front desk said to her.

  She didn’t even look up. She never had to. She always knew who was coming in, and who was coming out. Saphora couldn’t help but wonder if there were cameras around the office. Some of which would be facing towards the door. The screens of the cameras could be on the computer that was in front of her, granting her access to where everyone was.

  Saphora nodded, walking past the desk and making an immediate right down the hall to the elevator that would lead her to Dr. Lupin’s office. The walls in the hall, as well as a majority of the office, were bland. They were a beige colour. Very dull. Here and there, there were paintings, or what looked like paintings, hanging up on the walls. Tulips, lilies, roses. The only source of colour in the office. But they weren’t actual paintings. They were pictures of paintings. They had all the detail of the brush strokes, with no texture. She knew because she had touched them before, having once admired the paintings. They were, at one point, the only thing she admired about the place. Now, there was nothing. She only came to please Fran. Because frankly, there had been no progress in her case since she had started coming nearly three years ago. She understood that progress didn’t happen overnight. But to have never missed a session in three years, and still have nothing to call an accomplishment? Of course, there may have been the fact that she wouldn’t take the medication prescribed to her for her headaches. But she highly doubted that that was the reason. After all. There was no medication for amnesia.

  It had gotten to a point where she had wondered if she minded never remembering. Except for the nights that the dreams haunted her. It had been almost sixteen years since that night, bringing her to about the age of 22. They couldn’t be sure, because she didn’t know how old she was when she was found. But those years were more than enough time to create a new, comfortable life without her past. Aside from the nights with dreams, she was beginning to care less and less about whatever she was missing. She would, however, like to know how she gained the ability to fly. She remembered perfecting it, but not obtaining it.

  “Ah, Saphora! Come in, come in,” Dr. Lupin greeted, putting down his cup of coffee. The scent filled the room, and Saphora’s nostrils as she entered the room. The bridge of her nose scrunched up at the smell of it. But she knew that her nose would eventually become immune to it, once a few minutes had passed. She closed the door behind her softly, keeping the handle turned until the door was shut before letting it quietly click back into place.

  She sat down in the chair in front of his mahogany desk, and gave a faint smile. He returned it tenfold, making his glasses bounce up as they were lifted by the roundness of his cheeks. As she situated herself in the chair, she watched as the doctor took out one of the many files about herself. She found it strange. She and the doctor had only ever talked about so much and yet there were as many as four binders filled with information. And unless he was rewriting everything they had been talking about, she doubted that there could be so much from just the small conversations that took place. She had never seen what was in the files, and had never asked. But each time she met with Lupin, her curiosity of what could be inside grew.

  He placed the fat binder on the surface of his desk with a somewhat loud plop, before smiling up at her. She couldn’t help but narrow her eyes. It was things like that. The subtle references of mocking that made her hat
red for him fester. It was like he was saying, “I have all this information – on you. And you’ll never get to see it.” But again, she set aside her feelings of distaste, and powered through for Fran.

  “How’re you doing?” he asked, looking up at her. She cleared her throat.

  “I’m alright, thank you. Yourself, doctor?”

  He laughed and proceeded to open the binder, flipping through the many sheets of paper, trying to find a specific area to stop at. She didn’t know what or where that was, but considering that they always started with the repeating of her dream and/or memory, she could only assume that it had something to do with that. He grumbled softly as he flipped through, before chuckling again.

  “You’ve been coming here for nearly three years, and you’re still so formal with me. Why’s that?” he asked, taking a sip of his coffee and pushing his glasses back up onto his nose. She shrugged and answered simply.

  “Because you’re still in a formal position,” he glanced up at her, setting his mug back down with raised eyebrows.

  “True … Why don’t we get started?” he said, having found the page he was looking for. She nodded, somewhat indifferently.

  “Have you been waking up out of breath still?” he asked. She nodded.

  “Yes. I woke up like that today.”

  “I see. And yesterday?”

  “No.”

  “The day before?”

  “No.”

  “The day before that?”

  “Yes.”

  “And before that?”

  “No.”

  “I see,” he said, scribbling away onto the page. Perhaps it was some sort of chart, taking note of her sleeping patterns. That was in fact what it was. But she couldn’t be certain. The binder was at an angle that prevented her from seeing it properly. She watched as he wrote, before he started talking again. “And have you been having any headaches when you wake up like that?”