A Shadowed Birthright

A Shadowed Birthright - Chapter Nine {Separo 1}

Pic of Cyan--->

November 26th 2236  

- Third Person's P.O.V -

Beep, beep, beep.

The sound of the monitor resounds through the empty gym as Clara enters in the format for the treadmill, the Shade taking a sip of water from her bottle while pressing enter. The treadmill starts to move slowly and Clara places her water bottle in the compartment as her feet begin to move.

She starts off with a leisure walk at first to get herself warmed up before increasing the speed when she feels her body is ready. Sooner rather than later, her walk has turned into run, the heavily pounding of her feet on the conveyer belt echoing throughout the empty gym. Her toned legs tense each time they land on the belt, showing the strength years of training has made. Her exposed arms that pump beside her are also tense has she holds it up at a ninety degree angle from the forearms and move back and forth alternatively.

Twenty minutes have passed when little beads of sweat dot her forehead and her breathing transitions from light to heavy but nevertheless she controls it, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth, doing it exactly how she was taught at the Father Facility.

As she exercises, her mind drifts to the artefact.

Four days have passed since she had handed it in and it manages to haunt her mind. How can something so old and small cause a significant amount of foreboding? The artefact may not be her possession any more but it sure has left her mind reeling non-stop. She hasn't got a good night's sleep in days. Today is proof of that. Two-thirty in the morning and here she is, running for only God knows how many virtual miles.

Fire. Destruction. Betrayal. Death.

Clara can't get those particular words out of her head. She tries to forget about it, going as far to ask Remy how his Zylem is going. She couldn't care less about it but it was the only way for her mind to be concentrated on something else.

That nostalgia feeling hasn't disappeared either but in fact intensified, leaving an anxious feeling in its wake. Not only couldn't Clara get any sleep but she feels like something is going to happen.

Or does she want something to happen? The red head can't tell the difference between the two anymore. She wakes up, she's anxious. She goes to bed, she's anxious. Round the clock anxiousness is proving exhausting. Clara is thankful that she's a Shade otherwise her fatigue will be easily seen, especially by one as perceptive as Remy.

The Shade rolls her eyes and groans in annoyance. And there goes her mind again, drifting back to Remy when she should be concentrating on something entirely different.

Lately, Clara can't get the Ember out of her mind either. Even when she is doing something somehow her train of thought always goes to him and by God, it's really irritating! From noticing how he's eyes give off such luminosity to the smirk he wears when he finds something amusing or challenging.

Clara is now able to tell the difference between his amused smirks and the ones filled with lust. How in the hell does her mind focus on such things eludes her completely.