Prologue: You Can't Go Back

4 Years Ago
Year 186 D.R. (Descendant Reign)
Location: The City Proper

“Ada! Wake up!” a voice hissed in her ear.

A claw-like hand gripped her upper arm, jerking her bodily from the small bed she’d been sleeping in. Shaking her head, Adaira Rokiana attempted to wrap her sleepy mind around why she was being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night.

“Wha…?” she murmured sleepily, her brown eyes slowly going closed as she swayed on her feet.

“ADA!” said the voice in a pitch that could only be described as a muffled shout.

Gasping, she opened her eyes again, then frowned, her black eyebrows knitting together.”What, mother? What do you want?”

She’d been having a rather nice dream and was a bit annoyed to realize it was cold in their apartment, again, and she had no socks on.

“He knows!” Her mother hissed the words.

Suddenly Ada’s arms were filled with material. Her eyes went wide as fear shivered through her body at those two simple words. Without further urging she took the clothing in her hands and jerked it on. How could he know, she wondered. Had she slipped up recently? Forgotten to reapply the make-up scanner to some part of her body? She couldn’t recall.

The clothing she had dragged on in haste turned out to be a long sleeve cotton shirt, cotton pants and a pair of sturdy ankle boots, all deep blue in color. Once she finished pulling the boots on, she rose to her full five foot ten height, only to be surprised by a small bag being tossed against her stomach. She grunted as she caught it.

“Follow me,” said her mother, worry and fear threaded her voice.

Her mother was shorter than Ada by almost a foot. At the young age of twelve Ada had shot past her mother’s height, while still maintaining a thin frame. Now at eighteen, she was finally filling out. Her clothing was fitting tighter because of that. However, the current situation was hardly the time to ask her mother for a new shirt because it was getting too tight across her breasts.

“How?” Ada asked, looking down as she followed her mother out of her room and down the hall.

She kept re-thinking the past month, trying to remember a time when her step-father had been around and actually noticed her. Most of the time he was occupied with business or trying to coerce her mother into their bedroom.

“I… I don’t know,” her mother said, as they hurried into the living room area.

Ada knew she was lying and it stung to realize her mother could still be loyal to such a man as her step-father. He was cold and indifferent to Ada, always seeking out chances to insult or degrade her because she was not his daughter. She could only imagine how he would treat her if he knew the truth about her lineage.

Swallowing back her fear, Ada looked down at the small backpack in her hands. She’d almost forgotten it. Unzipping it she found another change of clothes and boots, these were all in black. She also found a credit disk and a com device as well. She frowned at the latter two pieces, knowing they were like nothing she’d seen before.

“Mother… what is this?” she asked, holding up the disk and com.

They’d stopped near one of the smaller windows in the living room. Her mother at the window, fingers shaky on the small keypad in the window frame as she entered codes to bypass night time security which kept every entrance point locked down. The small woman paused to look over her shoulder at her daughter. Her face unreadable, she turned away when she heard the keypad beeped its approval. She grunted as she pushed the window open.

Terrina Rokiana then turned to face her daughter fully. Her smooth, round face showed no signs of aging. Not since Ada could remember had she seen her mother looked any less young or lovely. Her long dark hair was pulled back into a haphazard twist. Her makeup-less face was drawn into a worried frown that still did nothing to detract from her beauty.

Tiny fingers nervously tightened the belt on her house robe, before Terrina finally answered. “A new credit disk, with money not associated with myself or your father. And-”

“Step-father,” Ada absently corrected, though she was more focused on what her mother had to say.

With a sigh her mother continued. “And the com is the latest model. It’s not associated with us in anyway either. Now, go out the fire escape and left down the alley.”

Ada gaped at her mother. “What? You want me to leave?”

Her mother’s expression turned sorrowful. “It’s the only way I can save you, Ada.”

Ada’s features were pinched as she looked down at her mother, “I’m your flesh and blood. Why can you not stand up for me? He was bound to find out sooner or later. And I’m your daughter. I should have some rights as half of your blood.”

“Yes, but someone like me has a better chance than someone like you,” her mother said quietly.

Her face now mottled with rage, Ada gritted out, “I’m the same as you. You just refuse to see anything but my real father when you look at me.”

Terrina was hesitant and silent for a moment; her soft, honey colored eyes looked away. “Ada, you must go and seek out your real father. Perhaps he can protect you.”

Ada gasped. “What? He raped you and now you want me to go find him!?”

Her mother’s eyes filled with tears as she bit her lip. In a voice that quivered she said, “I… was angry with him, so that’s what I told you. When you find him, ask him to tell you what happened. I… I can’t tell you.”

Red filled her vision as Ada grabbed her mother’s thin shoulders in a vice-like grip. She shook the smaller woman once. She demanded tautly, “Where is he?”

Her mother flopped like a rag doll in her grip. She said softly, tears streaming down her cheeks, “The Deep.”

The Deep was what lay underneath the City that Ada currently lived in with her mother. It was said the Deep was the remains of an ancient urban sprawl that had been sealed away because of the criminal activity and rampant biological decay. Those who lived in the Deep now were tossed there for crimes against the City as well as anyone with a genetic mutation that made them look less than human. The mutants were known as Transies due to their scientific name, Transitional Evolutionary Variant. They were all failed experiments from the Genetics Council.

To find out that Ada’s father was in the Deep made everything click into place. The reason her mother had her hide behind make-up and skin treatments wasn’t because her change at puberty had gone awry, turning her into a blue freak, it was because she was half Transie. Ada’s gaze dropped to her hand on her mother’s shoulder. Her skin was beige due to the artificial make up treatments that were designed to cover flaws. It left her skin smooth, tan and without any hint of the icy blue coloring that lay beneath. Ada’s fingers clenched, which in turn pulled a slight whimper from her mother.

Ada jerked her gaze back at the woman and with an angry snarl, she shoved her mother away. Her features contorted with rage and hurt. “How dare you not tell me this. You knew him and never once said anything! How could you lie to me?”

“I did it to protect you. To protect us! It was for the best.” Her mother’s words trailed into a whisper as she looked away and hugged herself. “Now go. Seek out Cedric, he use to run a bike shop in The Deep, near the Delta Sector.”

Red nails bit deep into her palms as Ada balled her fists. Her body shook as she glared at her mother. She was so angry she could hardly move for fear that she’d do something more violent to the woman who had given birth to her. Lips pressed together, Ada swallowed the bile at the back of her throat. Once she had taken a few breaths and composed herself, Ada finally slung her backpack into place between her shoulder blades, then went to the window. Stepping out on to the small landing, she glanced back.

Small and huddled to one side, her mother looked up only to shift her gaze quickly away. “Go,” she choked out, “You can’t come back.”

Ada’s jaw worked as she fought back her own tears. She shot one last glare at her mother before she stepped into the night and shut the window behind her. When she heard her mother press the lock button on the keypad she flinched. The widow secured itself with a small click.