The sun was already rising over the Greek island Crete, casting a harsh light through the small east-facing window. Given little chance to awake herself in a slow manner Athenodora was ushered from her uncomfortable Kline, despite her family's status with the nearby village and their clearly large amount of slaves to do house-work and accompany the woman. Athenodora was expected to awake early in order to prepare for the day ahead; her mother had already left out a rather extraordinary dress with a multitude of colours all of them intense as if the cloth had only just been dyed.
As a young un-married Minoan the female was expect as any other to dress in such a way to reveal her breasts, it was tradition here upon her island and she would respect it. But that did not mean she was willing to spend the rest of her life with the selfish man her mother had described to her, but she had little choice in the matter. Her father was a respected and well known as far as Egypt, where he was currently in order to finish a trade of some sort. The female exhaled a slow sigh, as she stood with a quiet stillness allowing the female slave who had stood with respect in the far side of the room dress her.
She was instructed that her mother was waiting in the room beside her own, as Athenodora made her way to the close destination the bitterly cold stone sent shivers up from her bare feet. She greeted her mother in their native language, before taking a seat beside her upon the kline of which Athenodora herself slept on as a child. It was far smaller than her current and made for a cosy day-time seat; her mother needn't say a word the elaborately coloured clothing was a statement in itself.
Her marriage had been postponed quite some-time already, at the age of 15 she should be living with her husband at this very moment not sat beside her mother. But thus far they hadn't found a man who was willing to marry Athenodora; she blamed her unusual hair-colour, the snowy-white that no other in their village bore. However her personality seemed to be also off-putting to possible suitors, so far none were able to deal with her cold persona despite the wealth and status that accompanied her name.
It was becoming increasingly urgent to her parents to find her a suitable husband, but until today it seemed as if perhaps her mother was finally giving up. The slave that had accompanied Athenodora in her personal quarters was waiting in the door-frame; her eyes were trained upon the ground as a sign of respect to herself and her mother. She spoke in Minoan informing the pair that their guest had arrived and was to be waiting in the court-yard, giving Athenodora no time to think her mother swept her down-stairs.
Their guest left only mere hours prior to the sun setting; Athenodora had been hushed to her personal quarters left alone without a word. Nothing needed to be said she knew her fate had been sealed, she herself highly doubted another chance would come a-long. But clinging to the hope that perhaps one day she might meet someone who took an interest in her snowy hair, she whispered a plead for help desperately wishing that her Goddess would hear her.
Instead Athenodora was greeted with her mother, who had slipped quietly into her room. She seated Athenodora upon the kline, and slowly she began to brush her daughter's hair in a soothing manner. Athenodora herself felt her frustration leave her slowly, however the persistent feeling of failure did not.
5 years later
She had only been on land for a few days but she was already craving to explore once more, Athenodora's time at sea with her father were soon becoming her fondest memories. Sat upon the sandy bank she was sorting through a barrel of foully smelling sea creatures, the creatures that were mature would be taken to her mother while the others would be thrown back into the sea.
The task was hardly bothersome, but it was certainly not as exciting as travelling the seas to the far off lands with her father. Lost in deep in thought of the exotic sandy landscapes of Egypt, she hadn't realized her weaved basket was full with the wretched creatures. The chilling sea breeze pulled her back into reality, and with the help of a nearby fisherman she released the remaining creatures in the barrel back to the water.
Wrinkling her nose at the stench that was so intensely strong, she began her journey home. Still living in the very same villa from when she was a child, it was quite a walk from the coastline in-fact it was just outside of the village. The sun was beginning to sink below the horizon, with self-pitying eyes she wondered if even the sun too wished to punish her.
She had very little time to pursue these thoughts any longer for by the time she left the small fishing village she was forced onto un-finished paths, she had walked this route many times before but tonight uneasiness began to spread through her stomach. All too suddenly the sunlight was diminished, leaving on the light of the moon and the distant flickering flames to guide her.
The next few seconds were a blur to Athenodora, all she can remember before the pain struck her was a flickering white flame. She neither knew how long she endured the pain nor if she was still alive. It seemed as if no matter how much she screamed and withered against the intensity, no-one heard her and ultimately no-one helped her. In the very last hour the concentration increased and the pain surged like electricity through her veins, to her heart and within a matter of minutes her heart stopped. Certain she was dead she fell into a deathly stillness waiting for her Goddess to take her soul away, in those dark moments of desperation she pondered on whether she even had a soul.
However despite being so certain that she was dead, when she finally found the courage to open her eyes she discovered she was not far from where she had been walking. There was an intense new clarity about her vision, it was a dark night far darker than the one she had been walking in previously and yet she could see every detail of the un-carved stone she lay upon. Pushing her torso from the terrain her eyes began to search her environment; it was then that the thirst struck her.
For Athenodora it was far worse than anything she had experienced, it burned through her mouth and throat. Before any rational thought processes could occur, she was on her feet impulse pulsated through her and the very next thing Athenodora remembered was sitting amongst the dead fisherman.
The smell of blood wafted through the air and begun teasing the lingering wisp of her thirst, she pushed herself to her feet unsure of what she should do next. However the foul sound of a heart beating and the uncertainty of what she might do, forced her to run once more. Only this time it was away from the village.
Athenodora lived in limbo, starved of sanity by the thirst and yet horrified by what she was capable of. The latter seem to become a positive, as time passed by she soon began to learn how to remain in control of her innate impulses. Piece by piece Athenodora regained her sanity, but she still lived at the edge of society. Watching the village from afar, months turned into years and years turned into decades; before she knew it Athenodora watched her mother fall ill with grief.
Without warning she watched a generation slip away and a new one emerge, and after the death of her father the villa that once was her home became nothing more than an empty shell. With gentle foot-steps as if to avoid disturbing the bones, Athenodora visited her home for the first time in two decades fingers gracing the stone cold walls. However to Athenodora they seemed bizarrely warm, she ignored these feelings continuing to her personal quarters.
She was met with an abstract seen; her quarters hadn't been left how she had left them. Instead she saw her mother's distinct mark on arranging her belongings, the dress her mother had sewn for her lay across her kline. Her mother's brush rested not far from the smooth purple fabrics, she lunged across the room her fingers reaching towards the familiar items. However her mother's bronze mirror was also adorning her kline, when she gazed down upon it she was met with the same reflection that she had some twenty years ago.
She gave herself no time to dwell upon it, something she learnt wasn't always the best way to go; she wrapped her belongings into the fabric of the dress. With the elegance and speed of a vampire, no longer a new-born in terms of years however she was no going to cling to her past life. Athenodora was going to start a nomadic life, travelling the oceans that her father hadn't even considered before.
Author note - I hope you have enjoyed the first chapter in Athenodora's story, this chapter is really just setting the scene for the next to come. I won't give to much away but the next chapter will be set approximately a thousand years after this one & that's all I'm revealing!
Finally this is SM's character, however Athenodora has no mentioned background so I'm simply giving my vision of what her life might have been like. All that is known about Athenodora is that she is one of the oldest vampires in existence, for this reason her change is not due to another vampire.