A/N: Hi lovely people! I'm sick! Which means new story. Sorry about that. New stories are just so much easier, because there's no loose ends or puzzle pieces.
I wanted to write a story from the pov of a character I dislike, which is new to me, but refreshing.
There will be mistakes, there will be growth, there will be cruelty and sweetness, as always ❤
This is unedited.
Chapter 1.
Nile stood up when his name was called and headed into the doctor's office.
"How's it going, Nile?" Doctor Lanell turned from her screen and smiled, blue eyes crinkling.
"Fine, Syre." Nile returned the smile and made a show of sprawling confidently into the plastic chair. "I'm still at the top of my class and I'm ahead in sports too."
He was failing senses, but the doctor didn't need to know that. Besides, he would probably catch up soon.
The woman nodded, turning to look at her screen, expression going distant as she started typing. "Any dreams?"
"None." Nile lied and glanced at the screen, but it was tilted away from him.
He had been having recurring dreams, where he was intermittently falling and then flying through the air. But sharing that might make him sound unstable.
"Alright. I'll just have a look at your throat." She pulled on a pair of gloves and used a pen-light to examine Nile's throat, holding the boy's chin firmly. His palms went damp and he wiped them discreetly on his trousers.
"No back teeth yet." She said and released Nile's chin. The boy swallowed hard and blue eyes turned towards him, nearly making him flinch. "But some kids are late bloomers."
That had to be it. Nile forced himself to smile lazily. "Yeah, I'm not worried."
The woman nodded and her expression lost some of its intensity. "And there's no reason to be. It's an honor to become a Fei or a Syre."
Easy for a Syre to say, Nile thought bitterly.
Fei were servants and Syre were their masters. It was blasting obvious, even if no one said it out loud.
"Let's proceed with the examination." Lanell stood and gestured towards the table.
Nile stood too, unlacing his boots and undressing from the waist down. He pushed himself up on the table and swung his feet into the cold metal stirrups.
He stared up at the ceiling, looking at the familiar butterfly mural painted there, as the doctor squirted lube onto her fingers and probed his anus.
This was the worst part. You would think after almost four years of monthly examinations Nile would be used to it, but it was still just as awkward and uncomfortable as the first time.
"No abnormalities." The doctor said neutrally. "No wall either." She withdrew her fingers.
Nile's hands clenched, before he made them to relax. No wall. Most Syre developed those around the age of thirteen.
"It still has time to appear. Greet your House from me." The doctor stripped off her gloves and washed her hands at the sink.
Greet my father and brothers you mean, not my Fei mother, Nile thought with a grimace, but he responded politely. If he'd known his mother, he wouldn't have greeted her anyway.
He would be one of them soon. He was tall, he was fit and every man in his lineage had been a Syre. He was worrying over nothing.
He walked out of the clinic, ignoring the cheerful greeting from the delicate Fei receptionist.
.....
He returned to class and headed for his seat.
"What did the doctor say?" Jaim asked expectantly, the boy's eyes were already a vivid blue and the tips of his hair was turning the white color of a Syre, only the roots were still brown. He had the build too, tall and muscular, but he wasn't as tall as Nile.
"Nothing yet." Nile shrugged, as if he wasn't worried. "She said I'm just a late bloomer."
"Yeah." Jaim's immediate nod was reassuring. "You're pretty much a Syre already, apart from the coloring."
Nile threw the boy a smile and dug his writing pad out of his bag.
"Um...sorry, can I sit here?" A timid voice spoke.
Nile frowned up at a slim boy with dark hair and eyes. Nile had a vague memory of hearing his name; it might be Tamper, but he wasn't sure.
"No." Nile dumped his bag on the spare table. "It's taken."
The boy flinched and scuttled away.
"Thanks, man." Davek dropped into the seat beside him, stretching out his long legs. His skin was darkening to a deep bronze that made Nile's stomach twist with envy. Another Syre in the making, that was for sure.
The first two lessons were history and social studies, then physics and senses. Several students, including Davek and Jaim, were able to bring light crackling to their fingertips, but Nile couldn't, no matter how hard he tried.
He glared at his boring ordinary fingers until his eyes went blurry and his head ached. Jaim shook his shoulder and he realised the teacher had been calling his name for some time, making him look up and flush.
He stalked out of class, fuming, but he tried to hide it. Why did he have to be a late bloomer? It was humiliating that he still looked like this!
He wanted to shout, to kick something. Preferably the metal lockers where his leather boot would leave a satisfying dent, but that wouldn't do. A Syre was always in control of their emotions.
"Blast it." Lao said viciously, a lean girl with waist length blonde hair and the glacial eyes of a Syre. She was staring at her fingers with a deep scowl.
"I'm sure it'll happen soon." A mousy girl chirped, hovering around Lao like a lost puppy.
"It better be! My parents are breathing down my neck!" Lao flounced off in an embarrassing display of temper and mouse girl hurried after her, carrying two bags.
After school, Nile went out with his friends to eat at a new restaurant with exorbitant prices. But money wasn't an issue, when your father was the CEO of a successful company.
Nile savoured the cuisine, served by smiling Fei, and his luxurious surroundings and the attention his table was getting. People were probably wondering: who were these beautiful young Syre, on the path to success?
This was the life he was used to and it was his birthgiven right. No one was taking that away from him.
Later they went to a party, hosted by a girl with Syre lineage. Nile was heading to the kitchen for his fourth beer, when he noticed the small boy from his class, Tamper, pressed up against the wall by a much larger guy. Tamper looked terrified, but the big guy had the coloring of a Syre.
Personally, Nile didn't see the appeal in an unwilling partner (how undesirable did you have to be to resort to force? It was just embarassing), but it was none of his business what other Syre got off on. He took a beer from the fridge and strolled back into the crowd.
It was difficult to remain calm with the thumping music and damp bodies writhing around him. He was becoming twitchy with suppressed energy and (even worse) he was getting bored.
Jaim had gone upstairs with a Fei girl a while ago and Davek had blasted off somewhere too. Nile recognised some of his classmates, playing a drinking game in a dimly lit corner, but he couldn't bring himself to join them. He couldn't sit still.
A few Fei approached him, but he wasn't in the mood, and he ended up leaving early. He shut the door on the stifling heat and took a deep breath of the cold night air. His head felt clearer outside and he ended up running all the way home.
When he reached his front door he was shaking with exhaustion and drenched in sweat, but the exercise had taken the edge off his nerves.
He met his brother on the staircase. Hart was only a year older than Nile and they were the last ones still living at home. Their three older brothers all had their own lives in the city. Not all of them shared the same mother, but they never referred to each other as half-brothers.
Hart lifted his pale brows and grinned. "Rough night?"
"Nah, I just ran home." Nile dragged himself up the steps.
"You ran? For how long?" Hart had paused on the stairs and turned to look up at Nile.
"I dunno. Maybe an hour or two?" Nile shrugged.
"Why?" Hart asked mildly, ice blue eyes studying Nile.
Nile's heart thudded and he bit the inside of his cheek. "I ate a lot and had four beers, I needed the exercise."
Hart stared at him a moment longer and then the corner of his mouth quirked up in a mischievous smile. "Well I wasn't going to say anything, but you're getting fat. Your steps wake me up at night."
Nile smiled and his shoulders relaxed. "What about you, huh? Big as a whale. That's why dad switched to ordering diet everything."
Nile personally thought his brother had the body of a bronze god, but he wasn't about to tell him that and boost his already huge ego.
Hart flipped him off with a grin and strode towards the doors. He was dressed in a black silk shirt, fitted black trousers and leather boots with silver buckles. His night out was only just beginning.
....
The months flew by way too fast and Nile's anxiety grew each day. Most of his classmates had changed and graduated by now, but Nile was still the same, with his ordinary dark hair and eyes. He knew his nerves were starting to show and he could see the doubt start to creep into his classmates eyes when they looked at him.
A month before his birthday, his father had had enough of waiting and took Nile to the clinic.
"I want an explanation. He'll be seventeen next month." His father's voice was calm, but his eyes blazed with anger. "He's a Syre, but he still has the coloring of a child."
The doctor nodded serenely and took a saliva and blood test from Nile.
Three days later Nile's father received the test results at breakfast. As a minor, Nile wasn't privy to his own medical records.
Nile Thoren Ledje was stated to be a sixteen year old healthy male Fei. His change was complete.
His father read aloud the results quietly, expression utterly blank. Nile's insides turned to ice and he stopped breathing.
There was a long horrible moment of complete silence. Then his father slowly stood and left the dining room, not so much as glancing in Nile's direction. The door clicked quietly shut behind him.
Nile heard his own breathing, harsh in his ears, and his head swam. Shame was rising up in his throat, threatening to choke him.
No
No No NO!He wasn't one of them. One of the tools. A conductor of power to be used and discarded at whim. He didn't need supervision or corporal punishment to control himself. He was a Syre! He was a god!
"Nile..." Hart touched his shoulder and it came as a shock.
"Don't touch me!" Nile pushed away from the table so violently that his chair crashed to the floor. A hot tear slid down his cheek and he dashed it away with his hand. Syre didn't cry!
In the next instant a howl burst from his mouth and he was sprinting out of the room, into the foyer and heading straight for the doors. He didn't know where he was going. He just knew he needed to get away. Now!
Someone tackled him and he snarled, heart hammering with rage and fear. He latched onto whatever he could grab and started biting and scratching like an animal.
Fingers clamped onto his neck and white hot pain ripped through him, feeling like a thousand knives tearing into his skin. He convulsed and then lay shivering in his brother's arms.
"That's it." Hart murmured, stroking Nile's damp cheek with the back of his fingers. "That's it, relax."
Nile's breaths were ragged and his eyes were squeezed shut. He felt much calmer, even though echoes of pain left him weak. Hart was handling him like a Fei and Nile was responding like one.
"But I'm not." He rasped and opened his eyes to gaze up pleadingly. "You know I'm not one of them."
Hart smiled softly, not easing his grip on Nile's neck in the slightest. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be alright."
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