Sapphyra [Adult Superhero Progression]

It didn't feel like water. It felt like I hit quicksand, sluggish yet fluid. The thing probably should have been hot too, but it wasn't. Not to me, at least. 

I remember seeing the helicopter fly overhead and stretching my hand out towards it. Towards Bayani, like he'd come down and save me. In my mind, on the way down, it felt like my time was up.

Or at least that's what I should have felt. 

There was something about sinking into that lava that just freed me. I'm not sure what it was freeing me from, but when I was engulfed completely, all the pain and awkwardness I'd felt growing up with the protrusions on my head and then in my back, it disappeared. My wings sprouted, my horns popped out, and my tail, oh, it was here to stay. And even though my clothes had completely gone. My skin tingled, and not a painful tingling, but a happy tingling. The kind you get after placing your hand on a vibrating object. 

My skin tingled, and tiny pink scales emerged, covering my whole body from head to toe. I was transformed. And for anyone else, this might have been the end of their story, but for me it was just the beginning. 

I clawed my way out of the volcano, and I stood at the edge, looking down. I could see all around me with sharper vision than before. It was as if I'd needed glasses my whole life, yet I always thought I had perfect vision. But now I can take in sights from a mile away. I could smell the creatures beneath the dirt with pinpoint accuracy. Now, when I was a child, it was all confusing. 

It was too much at once. I was scared. 

But then I heard a noise, and it was the same noise that I would continue to hear for the rest of my life. It was a scream, a bloodcurdling please-come-save-me kind of scream. And maybe it was because my mom was a cop or my stepdad was a firefighter, but my body just sprang into action. 

My wings were still wet with lava so my landing wasn't exactly graceful; I rolled down the hill like a pink snowball. That's okay, superhero landings will come later. 

At the bottom of the volcano, I saw it: a creature that was not human at all, part slug, part spider. It was black all over, yet it had cracks on its body like it was living lava itself, and it was scuttering towards a young boy, probably not much older than me. His skin was dark, his hair was short and frizzy, and he had a patch of white in his hair. He was skinny, too skinny for my taste, but he was cute even with his thick glasses on. He was trying to climb up a tree, but that creature had its sight set on him and from the way it‌ started spinning webs of black and ‌red I had a feeling that tree wasn't going to be his safe harbor 

It was going to be his prison. 

“You leave him alone!” I yelled. 

The creature didn't hear me, or maybe it didn't care. It shot out its web at the boy, but a new strength had come with my transformation in just enough speed to. I leapt in the way and I grabbed its web. 

The boy gasped; the creature jerked as if it were in shock that anyone could do that. And though it was slowly melting in my hands, I used it to tug the creature towards me, and though it wasn't elegant for my first monster battle, I head-butted it really hard. So hard that the resounding crack of its skull opening was heard several hundred yards away, stopping tourists in their tracks. 

Now defeated, the creature’s body lay on the ground, slowly sinking into the dirt. I looked up at the boy and ‌smiled. 

“Don't worry, you're safe now. My name is Sapphyra. What's your name?”

“Wyatt. Wyatt Hart,” He said softly, looking at me like I was a nightmare or dream, but clearly something to be noticed. 

And though I hadn't completely forgotten what my father had done to me, at the moment, all I cared about was making sure my new friend was safe. And just like that, we've been friends ever since.

“But there's a little more to the story, though, isn't there?” Mnemosyne said. 

She almost had a hint of disdain for what the story had unfolded into it. I mean no why it helped me to get reunited with my mom and we kept in touch. 

“But did you ever meet his parents?” Themis said. 

“What does that have to do with my trial? This is my trial, right?” 

“Of course this is your trial, but you have to understand we're painting a clear picture of you from start to finish. That includes the moment your life took a turn and started going downhill.”

“Wait, wait, wait! What the hell do you mean it went downhill?” I was really starting to not like these two. 

The more this trial went on, the more I had a feeling they weren't actually here to measure my guilt, but I still couldn't figure out what they were actually trying to do. I guess the only way forward is to suffer through it for now. But if I'm thinking this, then no doubt Wyatt’s thinking the same thing.

“We can fast-forward a little. Yes, you two have been friends for several years, but there was a seven-year break. And then after that break, he came back into your life, but from that moment on all of your decisions were skewed towards him and what he wanted.” 

Mnemosyne said it with such confidence. Like she’d been with us her whole life. She didn’t know shit.

 I scoffed at her words. 

“You're insane if you think any of my decisions have been affected by Wyatt and what he wants”

I didn't want to admit it, but in the back of my mind, she was right. There were times in life, times where I would have done one thing, but because Wyatt was the smart one, I just went along with his plans because I thought they were better. 

“Are you sure about that?” Mnemosyne asked. “Think deep, think back to all the times in your life when your decisions changed and not changed for the better because of him. Do we need to pull up examples?”

So I can stare the evidence in the face? No, thank you.

A shuddering breath left me. My hands clenched. 

“No, you don't need to pull up any examples.”

 I looked over at Themis and saw the other stone had grown. This wasn't good. 

“I suppose we can get to the heart of your trial now, Sapphyra. So let me ask you this: If you had known of all ‌his sins before he put you in Sanctuary, would you still be with him?”

Why do I get the feeling that's the question everyone has been silently asking me since I woke up? 

More importantly, why do I not know how to answer it?

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