The Illusive Phoenix

My kind has lived for many centuries. The Egyptians called us Bennu, the Chinese call us Feng Huang, and the Japanese call us Hou-Ou, but most know us as the Phoenix.

A bright fiery bird that never dies.

But that’s a myth, we can die.

We can die by choice, throw our lives away sacrificing for another, or our fire can go out.

From those three, some of which might be considered suicide, our fire burning out is the most painful.

Another myth is that only one bird can live at a time.

Actually, before technology and curious humans, a whole colony of hundreds survived in the high mountain blizzards.

I was born there, on a cliff’s ledge while the freezing high winds did their best to try and tip me over as a baby.

I was born as a bird; my brightly colored feathers still slicked to my body and my fire not yet seen on the outside.

Then I spent five years flying in the air, a trail of flames following behind me. It was a very dangerous time; fore if a bird can’t shift to hide itself then it is vulnerable to predators.

On my fifth birthday I shifted for the first time. It was scary and exhilarating all at once. My new body was cold without the warmth of my fiery feathers and was difficult to move around in, but once I became used to it I loved the freedom it gave me.

Sure, I can fly as a bird, but as a human I talk and interact.

I can be more.

When I turned twenty-two my colony was destroyed.

A pack of rogue demons, which are immune to our fire, attacked and locked my family into a large steel box and sunk them into the Arctic Ocean.

Efficiently burning their fire out.

The only reason I was able to get away was because I was the youngest in the colony and in my human form.

Basically they were horny rogue demons and liked the look of my human form.

But they didn’t count on my stubbornness and were shocked when I was able to torch their campsite around them.

I escaped and travelled the world, seeing the new sights and watching with enthusiasm as humans interacted with each other.

I wanted to be just like them.

Until the night I witnessed a serial killer kill an entire family of five.

Not even having the mercy to spare the little five year old girl.

So I travelled to a new city, one where I could become anonymous.

One where immortals and mortals coexisted.

One where I could help save people who were innocent.

Just like that family of five.