A Time For Change

Chapter 4

There was no answer.
Silence.
In fact, there was no movement from the professor at all.
Mari waved her hand in front of his fixed stare.
"Professor? Hello?" She said.
Mari felt uneasy.
The air felt thick and the room had fallen into an almost forced silence.
She looked up at the clock whose slow ticking sound had provided a comforting background noise as it chipped away at the seconds, minutes, hours and days. But even that had stopped as though both it and the professor were one. Maybe they were, she thought. Mari stood and went to the door and opened it in the hope that there was someone else waiting. But it was as silent as the room she now occupied. She closed it again and went to the window, steering a wide berth around the professor as if expecting him to jump out at her, something she had seen in so many of the old horror movies she had binged on in her youth.
The room seemed darker somehow. Colder.

"Such as discimination. Persecution and war." Said a voice from the shadows.
The voice, dripped with malevolence and hatred, cutting through the air like a knife made of ice. Ice that seized Mari's soul and stopped her in her tracks...She let out a cry of alarm as she turned sharply towards the sound.
'Who's there?" She said. Too loud and too shaken.
Part of the room seemed darker than the rest. A small corner that had been used to house a half table and an equally small, innocuous houseplant looked as though a hole had swallowed them up. A hole that swallowed even the light, and it was from here that the owner of the voice detached themself. When the apparition stepped into the light, Mari put her hand to her mouth so as to stifle a scream. Her body began to tremble with fear as she backed away, stopping only when she bumped into the professor's desk. The accompanying taste of bile in her mouth and the warm sensation running down the inside of her leg as she lost bladder control caused Mari's knees to give out, and as she fell to the ground Mari kept her eyes fixed on the demon that had manifested itself from her darkest nightmares.
"Please don't hurt me." She pleaded. Mari despised her own weakness and inability to protect herself. "Who are you?" She asked, correcting herself when the apparition came closer into view. "What are you?" she added. Whatever it was stopped before her and bent at the knees. The black, metallic like dress it wore fell away as if it was made from silk, revealing a long slender leg that was covered in scars. Intrinsic circles and signs bore witness that these were self induced upon flesh that matched the colour of the dress exactly. This mutilation continued upwards, concealed only by the rest of the garment until reappearing between breasts that suggested that, whatever this was - was definitely female. Overly large, green eyes examined Mari like some science experiment, unsure if what was under the glass should be allowed to live or flushed away like so many of its predecessors. The marks continued across its face - Her face - and on skin that was not just dark, but jet black, but most striking of all was the hair. Flame red ribbons that burst from her scalp like an erupting volcano, flowing down her back like rivers of lava. She tilted her head to one side, her eyes flicking down towards the puddle this woman sat in. She was used to the looks, the screams and the sudden reverting to a religion they used as a safety net in case of - Well, her. But this was new. She'd never had one soil themselves before.
"It would take millions of years to reach what you see in front of you now, if you keep what you know to yourself. Years of selective breeding and chance that it may, or may not reach its potential. Years of persecution and segregation of what your peers will be unable to understand - Or unwilling." She added. "But ultimately you, and what you are now will fall into extinction."
Mari's mouth moved up and down, but no words came out. Shocked, as they were into silence.
"It's a map." Sighed the apparition, in reference to the scars.
"A - A map?" Said Mari. It was an odd thing for the woman, female - Whatever it was to say.
"Of what?" She asked, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.
"Time." Came the reply, and on holding out her hand she said. "My name is Destiny Sails. You, Mari Jenson, and I have much to discuss."

Mari stared at Destiny's hand for a while before realising that she was offering her assistance to stand up. Mari wasn't sure she wanted to but took it anyway. With some help she made her way to the chair. The female, who had introduced herself as Destiny Sails, had skin that felt like silk. It was as though it was outside the rules of friction and restrictive force, covering a frame that housed muscles that moved like powerful snakes. An engine almost, and with that thought Mari wondered if this strange woman was of the same ilk as the professor himself.
"Most of me is organic." Said Destiny as Mari sat down. "In case you were wondering."
"But human?" Asked Mari. "Or of human descent."
Destiny shrugged. She sat next to the inert professor and prodded him with her long slender finger. He rocked slightly before settling back into his original position.
"No-one is sure anymore." She turned her gaze back to Mari. "What do you think?"
Destiny smiled. Her white, pointed teeth bore resemblance more to a shark than to anything human. Demonic even, reflecting Mari's first impressions. The smile did not come natural and looked as though the practice of which was read about, rather than something born of joy or happiness.
"A creation maybe - But I am speculating that this, sorry - You are a result of what paths we take from this point."
Destiny sat back and crossed her legs. The dress fell away once more causing Mari to look away as the view compromised the already limited modesty the garment afforded, as she spread her arms along the back of the sofa and the already plunging neckline opened further, adding to this macabre spectacle of sexual contradiction. Her beauty was horrific in its nature - Compelling in its ability to stir both feelings of terror and eroticism.
"A result of a path, yes. But one both you and I will take today." She said.