100% Mine

Okay so this is my first Sci-Fi so if you have any tips or advise for me it would be very welcomed. As well as any other constructive criticism. I wrote this without an editor because I wanted to see how well the story did first, so please comment and rate. Hope you like it!

*****

It's the same thing each night. I'm in a small bright room surrounded by the colors red, blue, yellow, and orange. Others are speaking all around me, but I can't make out a single thing that's being said. There's the constant sound of what I believe to be children's laughter, but I see no children. I see nothing but the colors, the beautiful never changing colors. That is until they arrive.

Who they are I do not know, I only know that no matter how peaceful and simple the dreams starts it always ends the same. With them turning it into a nightmare. They resemble no creature I have seen on my planet or any other, but I believe that is because my subconscious created them to look this way. As if my mind has forgotten their shape and form, but has yet to forget the feeling of fear they'd installed in me. And yet though I remember the feeling of fear I can't recall why it is I fear them. So they come to me in my sleep, almost as if their sadistically trying to remind me why I should be afraid of them.

Their tall, taller than the buildings in the city, yet they manage to fit inside the small room with an unnatural ease. They have no faces and no expressions, yet I feel their eyes stare upon me with cruel malice as if I am something to be devoured or dissected. I know immediately that they do not belong in my small colorful room because all they wear is black and all they are is darkness. And then one by one they grab the colors that surround me, taking them with haste and sick pleasure as if their enjoying the action of stealing color from my world. And with a mixture of both fear and disgust I realize they do enjoy it.

The colors are stolen from me and soon become replaced with gray's, whites, and other dull colors. Yellow is the first to go and I shed a tear at its kidnapping. Orange goes next and is quickly followed by the taking of red. I scream at the black figures and demand that they return my colors, but they ignore me. I then begin to beg them and plead at them to return my colors. Yet my requests are denied.

Then they reach for the color blue and I feel a pain like no other. I know I must protect blue, even at the cost of my own life. I get up and I kick at them and punch them. I pull at their thinly shaped forms, but my hands seem to change to those of a child and my attack is ineffective. I run at them determined to get blue back when a new figure appears. It is different from the others. It is large and bulky, and has no color. It is not gray nor is it black, it is colorless and soon so is my small room. And then I wake up.

Or to be more precise I am woken up by the sound of my alarm ringing. My amber eyes flutter open in a mixture of both panic and relief as I take in my surroundings hastily. Dark purple walls embrace me as bright sunlight enters through my open window, followed by a gentle easy breeze that caresses both the curtains and my sharply pointed ears. With a relieved sigh I run my fingers through my thick hair. I'm in my room, I'm safe. There are no tall dark figures around me, and colors have not been kidnapped in need of rescuing.

Wait, how would one even go about kidnapping a color? I mean it's a color, you can't kidnap a color. Can you? They're not alive so...wait why am I thinking about this in depth? It was a dream! With another sigh I quickly shut off my alarm. Noticing that I'm running late I mutter a small curse under my breath before quickly jumping out of bed and running towards the cleaning room, eager to be rid of the memory of my strange nightmare. As soon as my feet leave my bed and set themselves upon the floor I am greeted by a robotic but comforting female voice.

"Good morning Cyra," the robotic voice says to me in greeting as I make my way toward my cleaning room.

"Good morning A.I., is it not a beautiful day?" I ask the artificial intelligence knowing full well how she'll respond.

"Yes Cyra it is a beautiful day. The day is currently at its highest temperature of eighty-three degrees, and will remain sunny all morning and afternoon. There shall be very few clouds in the sky and the chance of rain is negative five percent. The warmth and brightness of today makes today a statistically beautiful day," the A.I. says.

"Great so I'll wear shorts," I say as I step inside the cleaning room.

"Yes shorts would be acceptable for today's climate, but be sure to take your vitamins because as you are one hundred percent likely to know and seventy percent likely to remember your species the Kyrid's have eyes that are sensitive to sunlight. Would you like me to begin the cleaning process?" A.I. asked.

"Yes A.I.," I answered as I close the door to the cleaning room and begin removing my night clothes.

I place my night clothes on top of one of the large white tiles in the corner of the cleaning room floor, watching as the tile flips itself over and removes my clothing from the room. Transferring it to the laundry shoot in one swift movement.

"Please stand in the center of the room and I will comense your cleaning," A.I. instructed.

Walking to the center of the cleaning room I stretched my arms and legs as far as they could go (without falling) and opened my mouth wide before closing my eyes.

"I will commence the cleaning process after the initial ten second safety countdown. Please keep your mouth open, your arms and legs stretched, and your eyes closed for the entire process," A.I. instructed.

After counting down from ten A.I. began cleaning me. It wasn't the normal relaxing cleaning I enjoyed when I had the time to do it myself, with water, soap, and a sponge. The cleaning process was much different than bathing. Just as the cleaning room was much different than a bathroom. For example there was no bath in the cleaning room, or shower, or toilet, or sink. It was just a large (or in some cases small) all white room with large all white tiles. There is nothing in it or around it, it's completely empty except for the presence of the person entering and the invisible (but ever present) A.I.

The cleaning process is swift, with it's time being normally under a minute and your eyes must be kept close through it all (unless your not particularly fond of having your eyes in their sockets). The process is actually better than manual cleaning because it cleans one hundred percent of your body, but personally I prefer cleaning myself.

"Cleaning process complete, you may now relieve yourself of your current position and open your eyes," A.I. said

"Thanks AI," I say as I nakedly leave the cleaning room, my light caramel skin now feeling clean and refreshed.

Entering my room I noticed my bed had been made, my window had been shut, and my clothes had been set out. A simple pink tank top with black high button shorts and pale pink ballerina flats. I thanked A.I. again (because I know she had done these things) before quickly putting on the clothes and exiting my room making my way down stairs to the dining room with haste.

"Good morning Ms.Cyra," my housemaid Katia greeted me as she set a plate down on the large dining room table.

"Good morning Katia," I said before frowning at the sight of the dining table and it's singular plate, "is Landis not joining me for breakfast?"

"I'm afraid your grandfather left early this morning for work miss and said not to wait up for him tonight, for he'll probably be working late," Katia said as she placed a drink next to my plate and handed me my vision vitamins.

I quickly swallowed the little pink and blue pills before eating my food hurriedly, but still ever aware of Katia's words. She said she thinks the reason my grandfather Landis had been working more than usual was probably due to The Forgotten Ones. A group of extreme activist who appeared on our planet of Iaria five years ago. They had started out slow and quiet in the beginning, their presence being nothing but confusing to the usually peaceful people of Iaria. That is until three years ago when they got serious, and started attacking the council.

The council is a group of eleven people that make up the highest government in our planet of Iaria. All members of the council are Kryid, the dominant and original race of our planet. And one might think upon first hearing about the activist group that they were taking a stand against an all Kyrid council making planetary decisions. This however is not the case with The Forgotten Ones because all their (known) members are Kyrid. And their leader is rumored to be Kyrid also. This confused others as to what they stand for or what their cause is and some say they don't even have one.

Yet their reasons didn't matter they'd unleashed a civil war, that has hurt hundreds of people and they hadn't given (or simply do not have) a reason for it. And not to mention my grandfather Landis was also a council member and their civil war was making the man sprout more and more gray hairs as of late. And I was sincerely starting to worry for his well being because The Forgotten Ones had already made a successful assassinations on another council members life. And I didn't want them to make another successful one on Landis's.

"Ms.Cyra," Katia's warm melodic voice broke through my dark thoughts as her old scaly green hand placed itself gently on top of mine. I looked up to see her overhead of me with caring yellow python eyes. As a warm smile graced her thin aged lips.

"There's no reason for you to get worried about your grandfather miss. He's a smart man who wouldn't dare get himself hurt by one of those young foolish activist. And they wouldn't even dare think about hurting him either. Mr. Landis is the kindest person on that council and in my opinion is the kindest person ever. Or at least a close second when compared to you miss. Why he even gave a Nathair like myself a job in his house. Despite the fact that the Nathair race is known for being liars and betrayers he let me into his house when I had no home to call my own, and even let me raise his granddaughter some. And I raised her to be woman who didn't worry," Katia said with a kind but scolding look at my worried expression.

I couldn't help but smile at her words. I didn't care what anyone else said about the Nathair race, Katia was the most honest and kind person I'd ever known.

"Thanks Katia," I said with a relieved smile and she returned it with a bright fanged one of her own.

"No problem miss. Now you best hurry up or you'll be late for work," Katia said as she started gathering my empty cup and plate.

Work! I had almost completely forgotten why I'd been in such a rush earlier. Moving with the speed my race was known for I quickly left the kitchen table and kissed Katia's scaly cheek goodbye before speeding out the door. With great agility I crossed the front yard and called out to A.I. to open the front gate, she did so quickly before wishing me a good day. I smiled at the sentiment but doubted I'd have one. With The Forgotten Ones constant activity it wasn't just the council members that had extra work to deal with, healers like myself were being run ragged as of late. Trying to give some sense of comfort and control back to the people whose lives and loved ones had been taken or altered by The Forgotten Ones and their selfish actions.

I had seen more tears of widows than I ever care to remember and could sense that today would be no different. It was this tiring thought that made my movements sluggish and become less hurried as I walked to the pod stationed outside my house. I placed my hand gently on top the silver egg-shaped hovering device and waited for it to scan my prints for recognition. I waited for several moments before the pod made a few high pitched beeping sounds before opening its singular door, allowing me into it's limited space.

"Please name your destination," the pod's A.I. asked me before it automatically closed the door behind me as I entered it's plush insides.

"The City of Remsen," I commanded the A.I.

"Understood, we shall arrive at The City of Remsen in the estimated time of seven point five seconds after the safety required five second countdown. Five... four...three...two...one...we have now arrived at The City of Remsen. Due to the use of supersonic speeds you may experience some brief dizziness upon exiting the pod. Please watch your step before you exit," the A.I. instructed before opening the pod door.

I however ignored the A.I.'s instructions as I rushed out of the pod (the dizziness was only something first time users experienced). Upon exiting the pod I was immediately greeted by the clashing sounds of the busy city. Shouting and speaking of different alien languages from different species surrounded me as the pod behind me left with unmatched speed, going to serve another somewhere else. I barely noticed it's departure however as I was immersed in the ambiance of the city, my mood instantly lifting from the intense atmosphere it projected on to me. Standing inside the large city with all of its distracting signs, unique races, and towering buildings I could almost forget the impending work that awaited me. Almost, if only it wasn't for a current news special on The Forgotten Ones showcasing overhead of me on a three dimensional billboard.

"There would be no escaping them today," I thought bitterly as I made my way through the busy city streets while maneuvering myself around it's equally busy occupants.

*****

He watched her as he always did, his dark blue eyes not missing a single detail in her movements as he watched her delicately but swiftly maneuver herself through the crowded busy streets of Remsen. Her dark golden brown hair was left out looking undone and appearing as if she just rolled out of bed without any care for appearances. And he loved her this way, natural and without a care. After all the years of torment that he faced, after all the years of suffering he'd endured, seeing her like this everyday happy, innocent, and blissfully unaware of all the hidden evils that laid within this very city, was enough to make him want to cry with joy. And if there was one thing Rhys didn't do it was cry. Not at death and not in torture did Rhys ever once shed a tear, but seeing her rushing hastily on her way to work nearly had him in tears.A small smile tugged the corners of his mouth as he shook his head at how easily she left him defenseless.

With a content sigh Rhys followed her through the city streets. His long legs easily keeping a languid pace with her rushed ones as he escorted her to work from a safe but insufferable distance. He wished to close the gap between them, to reach out and touch her. To become immersed in what had been denied to him the past twenty years. But he knew he could not, for he knew they were watching her just like he was. Hidden in the shadows from an unknown but reachable distance they categorized each of her movements, using her as bait to lure him to them. And it had worked the first time.

After spending so many years without her in darkness he had rushed to be with her again in the light, not willing to waste a single moment of his new found freedom without her. Yet the moment he got close enough to almost touch her they had pounced, knowingly waiting in the shadows for him to arrive, aware that he could not be both free and without her. And they were right, freedom without her would be meaningless. So in his eagerness to see her again he acted ignorantly and it nearly cost him his recapture. Which is why now he stayed within the edges of the city and near the crevices of the shallow walls to avoid their detection as he watched her from afar. Walking her to work everyday furtively.

Yet it was a maddening process to be so close and yet so far away from her. As he watched her small subtle frame slip inside the tall dark glass building away from his line of sight he felt himself let out a small growl of frustration. Yet in truth his growl was really a cry or plea of hopelessness for their situation. He knew he could do this no more. Madness was etching away at his mind, and grew steadily as his days went by without her. He needed her. It wasn't a desire or a wanting.

She was a necessity that he needed to possess, like air for the lungs or water for the body. It was both as simple and as complicated as needing her to survive. Yet what could he do? He could not approach her and take what was rightfully his. The tireless eyes that watched her were everywhere and unlike him they weren't restricted or confined to the shadows. And he hated them for that. He hated how even though he was now a free man he was still chained by them.

Chained by their invisible iron shackles. Unable to act the way he wished, as a free man should because they still held the one thing that could still break his seemingly broken soul. Her. As long as they continued to hold her in a cage of her own ignorance he could not act as he wished. This he knew and yet he was still hesitant to set her free. To end her blissful unawareness and open her eyes up to the reality that was The City of Remsen. And if he were to break the well constructed cage surrounding her and leave her bare to the reality of the world's cruelty what would happen to her then?

Who would protect her veil of sincerity then? Who would have the strength to protect her from the harsh world? Or perhaps the better question is who would have the strength to protect her from him? No one would. Because he wouldn't let them. He would have her as he was always meant to. And no one would stop him, or have the power and will to stop him.

She was his. She was always his. The hundreds he had killed to be with her would not compare to the thousands he was willing to kill to keep her. And the millions he would enjoy killing if they got in his way.