THE OASIS

★★★★★

There was a distant sound playing in the air, some kind of tintinnabulation of a bell. Zayn could hear it from where he sat on his couch deep inside his inner room. He stretched his body out on the couch, throwing his head backward which made his hair fall loose behind him. It certainly wasn't his first time hearing that sound. He had heard it many times before, only that this time it was all in his imagination.

The wind chimed, blowing the curtains off their usual balance. He could almost hear the sound of raindrops but there was no way it could rain in December.

The sound of raindrops, and the wonderful chimes of the wind, combined with the knelling cry of funeral bells, come together to form an unnatural acoustic melody.

The sound became more audible as he shot his eyes close. He ran a hand over a fluffy Hanamy. She sat gracefully on his lap coiled up in a peaceful silence, just simply enjoying the soft evening bliss.

"You hear that, Hanamy?" He said in a whisper and the cat adjusted her position on his body as though she understood the meaning of his words. "It's the Oasis. It's calling me, telling me to come home." He said to the fat white creature. She was one of the most beautiful and very few things he held dear to his heart. To him, Hanamy was more than just a pet, she meant more to him than he knew. They had always enjoyed each other's company, even then when they were in the States together. They had been together for so long that they could almost communicate in an unspoken language.

Gently and slowly he lifted Hanamy off of his body and sat her on her pet bed, a silky cushion that was crafted from a royal red velvet material.

He walked up to his closet and changed into something pleasant; a pair of loose trousers and a white thobe. It was time for him to meet with his father at the appointed time and location. It was a long time ago since he last visited that place, the Oasis where he shared most of his childhood memories. Realization hit him that all he remembered from the past was just him being there, he couldn't remember any of the events that had occurred there. For instance, what he did while he was there, and the people he met there. Nothing seemed to make sense from the blank images in his head.

The Oasis wasn't an orphanage, at least everyone thought it was. It was a secret underground facility built to help gifted children. At the oasis, gifted children were modified into what could be described as metahuman. There was a secret laboratory where the professor always hung out. No one in the family besides Zayn knew about it.

After fixing his headgear the Arabian style, he left Hanamy in the room, heading for the bottom floor. Veem was waiting for him at the garage. He tossed the car keys at him and took the back seat of his scintillating black Toyota SUV, one of his numerous cars.

They drove around the city until they arrived at the hospital which was at least five storeys tall. The oasis was an underground facility situated deep beneath the hospital. To the outside world, it was just a regular private hospital, owned by the renowned surgeon, Prof. Hassan Ali, but there were a lot of classified operations going on down there.

The oasis was headed by an elite group of scientists, popularly known as The Owls with Zayn's father as the chairman of the organization. Their activities were run stealthily so not so many people knew about the existence of the organization. That was because the scientists were on a secret mission they called The New Revolution; a mission to raise kids with superhuman abilities, kids with higher brain capacity than any normal human.

*****

Veem drove into a large tunnel, descending the slope until they were just a level below the grade where the underground parking garage was situated. Many cars were aligned in there but there was a small space at the end of the tunnel where he had parked the car as ordered by his master. Partially hidden was a small black car that filled the space next to it. Zayn immediately recognized it as Aylin's car.

His eyes scanned the area not sure why he thought she would possibly be around there somehow. He had no doubt it was her car. What could she be doing there? How did she even know about that place? The thoughts kept playing in his mind as he made his way toward the entrance.

They headed down, deep into the vestibule, and finally came face to face with a huge security door that was framed off steel metal. There was a vertical rectangular portion on the door that was made of glass. He looked through the glass and saw that the area was deserted. Now he had to call his father to inform him of his arrival. He needed to be granted access to the basement.

He was about to take out his phone when suddenly the door slowly opened. He made his way through and his bodyguard followed behind him. As they walked toward the Antiqium his past rapidly flashed through his mind with scattered fragments of his memories mingling with his present. At that moment he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head as the only thing he could remember vividly was the sound of a bell ringing and some kind of electrical impulse rushing through his head. And almost abruptly he held his hand to his head and groaned slightly in pain.

"Are you okay, sir?" Veem asked in astonishment as he didn't seem to understand what was going on with his master.

Zayn rested his back on the wall to support himself as he moaned in agony due to the excruciating pain and conflicting images racing through his head. He could hear Veem talking to him in a fading voice but all he saw was an image of a man in a white lab coat approaching his younger self with a hypodermic needle.

The Antiqium was a chamber separated into a cell-like confinement where the subjects, mainly children were kept in an individual room. As a child, he had spent six months of his life in the Antiqium but unfortunately for him, he couldn't remember anything that had happened there. He only knew that he had been there some time ago when he was very little.

"Are you alright, Sir!" He heard Veem ask again, this time he could see him, and the pain in his head had stopped but not completely. He just couldn't explain what had caused the shock he experienced.

"It's okay, I'm fine." He uttered with a raise of hand after he had collected himself. His body suddenly felt weak. He felt like sitting somewhere to rest, but they had to keep going.

As they headed forward along the corridor he sighted a brunette lady, there was no doubt that she was Aylin. She stood by a huge glass door, and beside her was an older man with bigger sideburns and a crooked jaw. The man looked like someone in his late sixties.

He looked a little taken aback that she was actually there. She seemed to be looking at something on the other side of the glass. He saw her write something down on a hardcover book she held in her hand and then turn to look at the man. She was discussing something with him as she took notes.

"Aylin?" He called as he approached her and she turned to look in his direction. Her face lit up when she saw the source of the voice that had called her name. She walked up to him immediately.

"Assalam alaikum Zayn!" She extended a hand towards him and he reached for it with a reply.

"Wa alaikum salaam." She saw the look in his eyes, as always she didn't know if he was delighted to see her or not with that firm expression he had on.

"So how have you been?" She asked knowing that she hadn't seen him in a few days, since the party on Saturday. He ignored her question.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned, tightening up his expression and she felt her body tense a little. She knew she should have informed him before coming there in the first place but she didn't expect to run into him. And she was going to tell him perhaps during their next meeting. Now that he was there she had to tell him why she came there.

"My uncle used to work at the Oasis. He brought me here to see your father." She explained directing his attention to her uncle, Dr. Abduljabbar. Both men looked at each other, taking in each other's appearance before extending hands and greeting each other warmly. The man immediately recognized Zayn to be The Professor's son.

"The professor, your father, and I go back a long way." Said Abduljabbar with a smile. Zayn didn't know him from a bar of soap. He just nodded at the man's words, still slightly annoyed that Aylin would come to see his father without him knowing. As in what business did she have with his father?

The man looked at Zayn pleasantly and he was forced to smile back at him because he was an elderly man, probably one of his father's old friends.

"You're your father's son, I see. A chip of the old block." The man complimented. Zayn knew this man was lying because he didn't look anything like his father. He might have inherited his father's intelligence but nothing of his physical appearance. The two were very different both in height and complexion.

The man soon disappeared after engaging in a light conversation with Zayn which he found to be pointless by the way. The man seemed to know too much about his family.

He returned his attention to Aylin who was looking at something interesting inside one of the cell-like confinement. There was an eight-year-old kid there. She was interested in the kid's unusual appearance. When she saw that Zayn and her uncle seemed to be quite deep in a conversation she decided to busy herself by penning down small notes before her formal meeting with The Professor.

"So what are you doing?" He asked softly, moving closer as he watched her from behind. He noticed how her wavy brown hair fell on her back, covering the scarf she had around her neck. Her hair was long and shiny, she always had them swept over one shoulder when they were all stretched out. Just what was so special about her that made him take note of such tiny little details?

She turned to look at him, closing her journal, and then put it away in her handbag."I was taking notes."Her pretty face creased into a nice smile. Forced to smile back, he lifted his gaze from her and focused it on what she had been looking at. They both stood beside each other in silence as they watched the little child. The child was performing a mental task assigned to him by one of the scientists at the facility.

Zayn looked at the child intently and saw that he was looking at an image of The Vitruvian Man, an ancient drawing of anatomy by Leonardo Da Vinci. He saw that the child was taking dimensional measurements of the painting. The child was quiet and so focused on what he was doing that he didn't notice the spectators by the glass window.

"What do you think he's doing?" Aylin whispered, drawing Zayn's attention. He looked at her, slightly astonished that she didn't know what the child was doing.

"The Golden Ratio." He uttered in a barely audible voice. He didn't think she understood what he meant by that phrase. So he questioned her, "Haven't you read The Da Vinci Code?"

"I have, but that was a long time ago. I remembered reading about The Vitruvian Man. Something that has to do with The Divine Proportion."

"Exactly," He nodded. "So you should be able to guess what the little one is doing then."He pointed out and she shook her head in disagreement.

"I have no idea. Do you mind teaching it to me?" She set her journal open. She was always ready to script down every piece of information she could find, no matter how irrelevant it may be. She was curious and always hungry for knowledge. 

"I suppose I'll have to teach you everything. Won't I?" He said with a sly smirk and studied her expression. She was eager to learn, one of the marvelous traits he found most intriguing about her.

"Oh no! I feel intimidated already." She jeered with an amused smile.

"What a novice." He taunted, playing along. "I recommend that you major in a science field since you're so obsessed with research. That way I don't have to always explain little things like this to you." He said jokingly.

"What would you have me major in?" She laughed at his suggestion. She was used to him always teasing her like that. She kind of liked it because those were the only times she got to hear him make a joke. His jokes might pass off as mockery, but that was okay because his sense of humour was kind of dark. She liked that about him and she admired him for being quite unpredictable.

"Medicine, what else?" He said purposefully in an attempt to spite her, knowing how much she hated the sight of blood and anything that had to do with human anatomy.

"I won't do well in that area and you know why."

"Which area might you fit in then?"

"Psychology." She beamed and he chuckled lightly.

"It will suit you perfectly." He admitted.

"Yes, I know."

"Don't think so highly of yourself." He smirked and they both stared at the little one for a while before she broke the small silence that was about to take over the moment.

"Zayn, your father is amazing. I can't believe I'm finally going to meet him." She said with admiration evident in her tone. She thought of the fascinating things she had heard about the man.

"Meet him? What for?"

"I thought I'd told you."

"About what?"

"About the book, I've been writing." She saw his expression change slightly. He looked at her as though he wanted to say something but immediately swallowed his words

"Didn't we talk about it the other time?" Her voice was soft. She hoped that she didn't upset him.

"We didn't talk about you writing about The Oasis." His thick voice shook the air around her, and his eyes dimmed.

"Zayn, you don't understand. I know you don't welcome the idea but this is what I want to do." As she waited for him to speak she saw his brows crease into a small frown as he searched for the right words to relate his displeasure towards the idea of her overstepping her bounds.

"Listen Aylin, when you said that you were writing about my family. I didn't think you would involve the family secrets. This is classified information. You can't make them public in your writing."

"I'm writing about your father, not The Oasis." She came clean but he was already overwhelmed with dissatisfaction and a small level of disappointment.

"Miss Aylin, I can see you've already been acquainted with my son. What a pleasant encounter." Both their eyes turned to meet a light-skinned old man with wild hair, wearing an oversized lab coat. He was heading towards them with his hands tucked in the giant pockets of his white lab coat.

"Hi, son! I see you've met my Biographer. " The old man grinned widely at his son and Zayn just stared blankly at his father. Unsure of what to say, a confused smile made its way to his lips. He had not seen the man for almost twelve years now and all he got was 'hi son' on their first meeting after all that time.

He was disappointed in himself again by expecting too much from the enigmatic wild animal he called a father. What did he even expect from him? A hug, a kiss, perhaps a handshake?

"Father?" He uttered, taking his mind back to the main issue. He had always known his father to be quite eccentric. It doesn't bother him that the old man didn't give him the proper welcome that he deserved. What he found questioning was how he got to know Aylin.

Being that Aylin was born and raised in the West, she didn't know a lot about the country and the people. She had only spent three months there because of the book she had been writing. The only family she had there was her brother-in-law whom she normally came to visit. His father on the other hand, hardly ever left the vicinity of the oasis. He was always there, doing research. He wondered how they both came to know each other.

The truth was that the professor had invited Aylin over through his friend, Abduljabbar. He needed someone to write his biography and have his works documented.

Zayn looked at Aylin with the corners of his eyes as she spoke with his father who had his full attention on her. She seemed pleased to have met with the renowned professor. Her gaze at him held a certain level of admiration. He looked away from them not understanding why he felt sidelined. He knew it was silly to feel jealous over such a trivial thing, but he had come here to see his father not to listen to his pointless conversation with a woman who was supposedly his only female friend.

The professor, after talking with Aylin for a few more minutes, decided to reschedule another meeting with her because he had something really important to attend to, plus his son was running out of patience waiting for them to end their discussion. He could tell by that arrogant look in his eyes. This time they would meet at a restaurant somewhere in the city. He wrote down the location of the place on a small note and Zayn watched as his father and Aylin exchanged contacts. For no meaningful reason, annoyance surged through him. Why did she get to be so comfortable around his father on their first meeting?

*****

When Aylin had taken her leave, The professor returned his attention to his son who was busy talking to someone on the phone. Once done he put the phone away and stared at his old man.

"This way, Son." He gestured to him to follow him, leading the way.

"Thanks for reaching out to me, father. I know you've been busy." He tried to start a conversation with the man as they walked along the hallway. Hassan looked at his son over his shoulder, then lifted his gaze to meet a mute Veem.

"I see you've gotten used to having him around." He was referring to Veem here.

"Why is it necessary to have him monitor me?"He questioned his father and watched as a smile formed on his lips. He looked thoughtful in a way.

"Do you know how to play chess, Zayn?"

"Yes, why?"

"As the game goes on the number of pieces on the board gets smaller and smaller. But as long as your king survives you win." The old man said, now walking side by side with his son who could not relate to the parable in his speech.

"What do you mean, father?"

"I've made quite a few enemies in the past. If they can't get to me, they'll find you. And I'd rather be dead than let anything bad happen to you while I'm still alive." Zayn stared blankly at him as his words sank deep into his mind.

"So you're saying someone is after my life?" He knew his old man was serious about what he just said.

"Exactly, and that is why I hired him to watch over you. He is one of the best of his kind, a combat machine handpicked by The Owls themselves." The man announced, making Zayn stare in disappointment at him.

"You know," he mumbled "I'm disappointed at you for not putting much of your faith in God. You think he can protect me?" He turned to look at Veem, not minding if he was listening to their conversation. "I don't know if you believe in destiny but take this from me, only God can protect someone."

"My idea of Qadr is far different from yours, son. I do not believe in miracles and I also know that God only helps those who help themselves. I have a duty as a father to protect my son. I must keep the king alive."

"If you cared about me that much, why didn't you stay when I needed you the most in my life? You abandoned your family all for fame and needless pursuit of greatness." Zayn had quite several questions he wanted to ask the futurist, like why did he always distanced himself from his family. What did he aim to achieve by establishing a taboo in the name of 'The Oasis'? And why did he relinquish ownership of the throne as the rightful Emir of Kano?

The man turned to his son with soulful eyes. He placed a hand on his shoulder. Their first contact after so many years. "I had to stay away because I wanted you to have a normal life. I didn't want to interfere with your childhood."

"Is that why you abandoned your wives as well." With a dissatisfied heart, he threw a dirty look at the maniac he called a father. 

"Look, I know I cannot convince you, Son. I had to sacrifice everything for the sake of my generation yet unborn. You and your siblings mean so much to me and if staying away was the only way I could protect them, then I'll do it over and over again no matter how painful it is." The old man was enduring more pain than anyone else in the family. He had a lot hidden under his sleeves and for the sake of everyone's happiness, he had to drag these dirty little secrets with him everywhere he went. Though the load on his neck may wear him down a little, he just had to hold strong and push forward. He was almost there, where he'd one day open up to his son. He hoped that the child didn't hate him after hearing what he had done, his little white lies, and the sacrilege he kept for secrets.

"When was the last time you saw Aliya? Imran? or even grandma? Your daughter doesn't even know you, she could barely recognize you if she happened to run into you." He kept interrogating his father, unsure of what he hoped to find. The old man was a hardcore freak, he wouldn't divulge the truth that easily. It would take more than interrogation to make him do that.

"I don't mind as long as I reach out to you I've reached out to everyone. I see them in your eyes, even now. They own a special place in your heart. Your voice speaks for everyone. It's the only reason I want to talk to you most of the time." Zayn stood mentally exhausted behind his father who was trying to access the security door in front of them. He had run out of what to say. He didn't have any more accusations against the old man.

Soon the door opened and his father led him into a large conference room that had a giant screen mounted on the wall. There was a white man seated elegantly across one of the chairs. Zayn immediately recognized him to be Prof. Stein, a professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at the University of California. He was one of his professors from his medical school.

"Hi, Zayn." The man acknowledged their presence in the room and immediately closed the files in front of him. He uncrossed his legs, sitting up to collect Zayn's hand into his.

"Prof. Stein!" He said as they shook hands.

"I asked to see you." The man confirmed his doubt before he could ask the question at the tip of his tongue. He knew his father would not call him here unless someone else was involved, perhaps he needed his help with work.

Zayn sat next to the white man, across from his father and The Professor sank back into his chair and watched as his son and the man carried on with their interaction. They seemed to be quite acquainted with each other.

"Dr. Zayn, we have a case on our hands." The man said, directing Zayn's attention to the large screen on the wall. Zayn turned his face to the screen to see a person lying motionless on a hospital bed.

"Son, we have a complicated case on our hands." Said his father, opening a file in front of him. He pushed the file to his son and the Doctor subsequently went through it.

Not understanding the content of the pages his father had shown him he read the front page of the file before going through the patient's medical record:

Subject: Yusuf Khalid Idris.

Sex: Male

Age: 22yrs.

Genotype: AA

Blood group:O+

Height: 5'9 feet tall.

Weight: 78.9kg

Those were the patient's old reports. He read through them to have an insight into his medical history, only to learn that the subject's size and weight had decreased drastically. The patient was now weighing 45.1kg which was the average weight of a fourteen years old.

Zayn was interested to learn what had caused those immense changes in such a short time. The patient had only been sick for just four days, and that short period is nearly not enough for someone to lose such an amount of weight unless the individual was on some kind of drug.

"What is this?" He paused to look at his father, flickering his eyes to the screen. "There's nothing here, no report of his vital signs." He pushed the files back to his father after having read through them.

"That's because there is no known cause for this disease. We don't know what is growing inside of him. That is why we've called your attention to it. If there's any way you can help please do. We need all the help we can get right now. Some of The Owls have withdrawn their hands off the case." Prof. Stein explained and Zayn looked back and forth between him and his father.

"I have never seen or heard of anything like this. How could this happen overnight to a twenty-two-year-old boy." The professor said drawing Zayn's attention back to the screen. He saw that the patient had shrunk in size with wrinkled skin. The patient was on life support. "Even I cannot save him should he run out of blood and oxygen."

Zayn now learned from his father that the subject wasn't only deteriorating in Mass but also needed to be provided blood and oxygen constantly, or else he would die. The monster growing inside of him was feeding on his blood, and he was slowly running out of oxygen.

"I know this is unrelated to your field. Please don't turn your back on this case. We're already running out of time." Prof. Stein pleaded.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to," Zayn assured them, resting his hands on the table. "Not knowing anything about the diseases is already a risk for me. It might be contagious."He put forward as he listened to what Professor Stein was saying.

"We appreciate it. Our lives are on the line as well."

"We must do exactly what we can to unravel that mystery. But we must put our lives on the line to do so." Said Zayn's father.

*****

After the meeting and deliberation on how to go about the case, Prof. Stein presented him with a membership card. He was now a member of The Owls. Not like he wanted to join them in their secret mission which he knew absolutely nothing about. He had only accepted to be part of the team because as always it was in his nature to latch on to any opportunity that involved saving a life. It was what he had always wanted to do. He was one of the few people in the world who truly enjoyed their career.

That day after swearing the Hippocratic oath he knew he had accomplished his dreams of becoming a Surgeon. It was his father that inspired the physician in him. He had always looked up to the man even though they both had vast differences in their resolve. He wanted to be many things but mostly he was overwhelmed with the idea of becoming a thinker just like his father.

Zayn was a little disappointed that his father couldn't bring himself to present the card to him. Just maybe after all those years he finally felt the shame of not living up to the expectation of the child. Many times he was never really there when the child needed him. The boy wasn't really angry at his father for forsaking their not-so-strong relationship, instead, he just wished that things were different.

His heart went out to Mr. Saleh, who was the closest person he could call a father. The man was more than a teacher. He was ten times the man his father ever was.

"I guess our work starts tomorrow?" He asked Prof. Stein as they strode out of the basement with his bodyguard following behind them.

"Yes, it is crucial that we begin immediately. We'll meet tomorrow to discuss it." The man told him, and they said their goodbyes before getting in their various cars, and then left the area.

★★★★★

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