07/01/2026
NEW STORY: ASHES OF EDEN
CHAPTER 1: THE BLOOD NEVER LIES
Lagos, Nigeria
The sweat was the first thing Adira felt.
It wasn't the "glow" you see in movies. It was that sticky, annoying Lagos heat that clings to your skin like a wet blanket.
The power had just gone out—again—and the company big yellow generator outside was taking its sweet time to kick in.
In the sudden silence that unfolded as a result of the sudden power cut, the only sound in the lab was Adira’s own breathing and the pounding of her heart pumping and beating rhythmically against the ribcage
She sat in the dark, staring at a computer screen that was slowly fading to black. She suddenly realise the system power reserved was not working.
"Please don't do this to me today," she whispered. Her voice sounded small and stiff in the empty room.
She wasn't just a woman at work. She was a woman tired of fighting.
Fighting the traffic, fighting personal demons amd struggles, fighting these rich men on the other side of the world who treated her like a tool they could just turn on and dump at will.
The generator finally roared to life. The lights hummed. The lab filled with white floursecent light and the computer screen jumped back to life.
On her screen was a picture of DNA—the tiny, twisting ladders that make us who we are. To most people, it looked like delicate worms stranded together in an interesting loops.
But To Adira, right now, it looked like a mess. It was actually a sample from an old grave in the desert, thousands of years old.
"Dr. Olayemi? Are you still there?"
It was Julian. He was calling from Europe. His face on the screen looked like it had never seen a day of hard work or a drop of sweat. He looked "clean"—the kind of clean that make you feel inferior.
"I'm here, Julian," Adira said, wiping her face with a crumpled tissue and dropping it on her table
"Apologies, power went off,welcome to my world." She said with a smirk
"The results," Julian said, ignoring her statement. "Is it the 'pure' blood we’re looking for?"
Adira looked at the screen. She felt a sudden, sharp ache in her chest. It wasn't a medical pain; it was the kind of heavy feeling you get when you know something is wrong but you can't put your finger on it. The kind of pain you feel when you have an idea that your partner is cheating om you but you have no evidences yet.
"I don't know about what you mean by 'pure'," she said softly.
"This blood sample feels heavy, Julian. Like it’s carrying a weight and substance that’s been passed down over a long, long time."
"Stop talking like a poet and look at the numbers," Julian snapped.
The conference call ended.
Adira looked. But she didn't see numbers.
She saw something strange, it scared her but then she must go on anyway.
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