“Dammit, Gantz! I thought I assigned this case to you!” the chief yelled, “Why aren’t you over there investigating?!”
“Sir, you told me to keep an eye out for a Loch Ness monster or dragons! I assumed you were joking about this case too!”
“I told you to investigate the weird crap that’s happening in this city!”
“Sorry sir, I’ll get right over to the hospital right away!”
Detective Gantz took his squad car, but he didn’t go to the hospital. Instead, he pulled a piece of paper from his jacket and headed towards a small apartment building not far from the University. He soon found himself standing in front of an apartment door, with his fist raised to the wood, but he didn’t knock. Taking a breath, he knocked on the door, and a familiar girl with silver hair answered.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I’ve just come to talk.” He said.
“There’s no one here in the shape to talk.” She said.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Nothing you could help with.” She said coldly.
“It was him, right? At the hospital?” he insisted, but she still kept staring at him with her cold eyes.
“It was.” She said.
“Is he here? Can I speak with him?”
“He’s gone.”
“Where?”
“Gone.”
“You mean?” he gasped.
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t going to bring him back.” She coldly said.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asked.
“Not unless you can resurrect the dead.” She said. The lack of emotion in her voice sent a chill down his spine.
“Well, here’s my number if you need anything.” He said, handing her a card. She took it and closed the door in his face. He sighed and turned to leave, fingering his smokes in his pocket.
“Got a minute?” Gantz had just stepped inside the lobby when by coincidence, the person he was looking for happened to cross his path.
“Sure, what do you need?” Michelle asked. The University seemed to be somewhat empty today, and the lobby was just about empty as well.
“Let’s go for lunch!”
“My aren’t you forward?” she said with a smile.
Ten minutes later they were sitting in the cafeteria. Gantz had only a coffee and Michelle took her sandwich out of her bag.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“I want to know more about dragons and your research.” He said.
“Why?”
“I guess you haven’t heard.” He said.
“Heard what?
“Ryu is gone.”
“He’s gone missing?” she gasped.
“Sort of.” He said, “They said that he died.”
“Oh my God! That’s terrible!” she cried, putting her sandwich down, “How?”
“Not sure. Neither Rosette nor his sisters will tell me anything about it.” He said, “But this is why I came to you. I did a little digging at the hospital where it happened, and they said that Rosette’s mother, Diane, was terminally ill and in intensive care. Her room suddenly exploded after they got a signal in the nurses office that her heart had stopped, and they found her miraculously healed with Rosette and her father lying out in the hall. Her room was totally destroyed, but both her and the bed she was on didn’t even smell like smoke, let alone have any burns.”
“Amazing!” she gasped, “And interesting.”
“How so?”
“Well if any of the texts I have read are true, that’s just not possible.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“When a dragon dies, their bodies are left behind, even if they use up all of their magic powers.” She said, “They only remain for a short period, but the firefighters should have found something.”
“Nothing was found, I can assure you.”
“Then he’s not dead.”
“But he’s a fire dragon. How can he bring someone back to life and cure them of a cancer not known to any doctors?”
“I have one theory.” She said.
“I’m all ears.”
“Have you ever heard of the king and queen of the dragons?”
“No, that’s why I came to you.”
“The queen of the dragons is supposed to be evil. Her name was Tiamut.” She said, “She’s supposed to be a water dragon as well.”
“And the king?”
“He was supposed to be the direct opposite of Tiamut.” She said, “If she was water, he was fire. If she was evil, he was good. His name was Bahamut.”
“So what does this have to do with anything?” he asked, confused.
“Tiamut was evil and brought destruction, so Bahamut should be good and bring salvation. In other words, Bahamut was a holy dragon, capable of healing and blessing.”
“Ryu isn’t Bahamut.” He said.
“I didn’t say he was.” She said, “But if they were both fire dragons and this has happened, wouldn’t you say there’s a possibility that he could even be related to Bahamut?”
“But they said that Ryu died in the fire!”
“A fire dragon, dying in his own fire?” she laughed, “Not possible. He is fire, Gantz.”
“Then what, in your opinion, happened to him?”
“I don’t know, but I have an idea.”
“A theory?”
“No, an idea.” She said, “A theory is a statement about what you believe to be true, based on unbiased ideas which may be fact.”
“Well what is it?”
“Do you know what a Phoenix
“A mythical bird that dies and is born again from the ashes.” He said.
“I think he may also be a Phoenix.” She said, “It doesn’t make sense for things to end this way. Not like this. I believe there is more to this story yet.”
“So that’s why this is an idea and not a theory, eh? A bit biased, isn’t it?”
“A bit.” She said, taking a bite of her sandwich, “Your coffee is getting cold.”
The park was eerie this late at night. The only streetlight was fifty feet away on a hill, so it barely gave enough light for him to read his watch. He was supposed to meet him here, but he was late, and the hands on his watch kept ticking forward.
“You have more news?” came a voice from behind him.
“Jesus! We have to stop meeting like this!” he said, trying to get his heart out of his throat, “Can’t you come to my office like a normal person? Can’t I even call you instead?”
“Anonymity is a privilege, Tom. Not everyone is able to conduct business like this.” He said.
“What kind of business do you do anyway?” Tom asked. The man behind him shifted uncomfortably on the bench.
“You don’t need to know.” He said, “I hired you to gather information. That is all.”
“I was just curious.”
“Didn’t you have something to report?” he asked.
“Sure, but you might already know it.”
“About the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“All I heard was that there was a disturbance there, nothing more.” He said.
“It was him.” Tom said, “He sacrificed himself to save the girl’s mother.”
“What?” the man behind him seemed speechless, “This is awful!”
“I thought you were out to get him?” Tom asked, “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“No! I never wanted to harm him at all!” the man exclaimed, “Something that magnificent should never be harmed, let alone destroyed!”
“So basically, you wanted him for yourself. You wanted to rise to fame, using him to fly you to the top.” Tim said.
“You have me all wrong, Tom.” He said, “I merely wish to make him happy.”
“He was happy.” He said. He felt a tap on his shoulder and an envelope landed in his lap.
“I thank you for your services, Tom.” He said, “I may need to call on you in the future.”
“I don’t want to do this anymore!” he yelled, “I don’t need your fucking money!” he spun around, ready to throw the envelope back at him, but he was gone. He searched all around the park, but in the dim light of the sole streetlight, it was pointless. Instead, he pocketed the money, lit a smoke, and walked off into the darkness.
It took her a while to notice that she was going around the same block over and over. Rosette tried to concentrate on the route to the University, but her mind kept drifting elsewhere. Sure she was happy that her mother was getting out of the hospital, but there was a huge empty place in her heart that kept eating away at her, and she felt that it would never be filled. When she finally arrived at the school, she received stares wherever she went, partly because she looked so depressed, but mostly because she didn’t have Ryu trailing behind her as mostly every one was used to by now. Her first class made things even worse, when she had Mythological Studies, and the teacher noticed the empty seat.
“Rosette, where is your friend?” the teacher asked. Rosette sunk lower in her sear, trying to hide the tears on her face. It was true that most of the class sat in the front two rows and she sat near the middle of the auditorium, but the lighting in the room made it clear to the other students that she was upset, but the teacher didn’t catch on.
“H-He’s not coming.” She whimpered. Now the teacher realized that something was wrong.”
“Are you alright, dear?” she asked. The class looked up at her with soft eyes.
“Y-Yes. I’m fine.” She said. Her voice came out in a squeak.
“Can you go through with this class?” the teacher asked.
“Yes.” She said.
“Alright.” The teacher sighed, “Well today we will be starting a new chapter and to help with the introduction, Michelle Higgins has agreed to come back to give us her insightful opinions, however, she seems to be late.”
“Sorry I’m late!” Michelle rushed inside and down the ramp to the front, where she stopped to catch her breath, “I had a lunch meeting that ran a bit late.”
“You shouldn’t let your personal life interfere with your work.” The teacher said. A few girls in the class giggled.
“My work is my personal life!” she said, “But all that other stuff is none of your business!” Again, the girls laughed.
“Anyway, today we will start with another mythological being. I mean dragons are still interesting, but we can’t do the entire course on them.” The teacher said.
“If I may, I’d like to talk about one in particular.” Michelle said.
“Go on.”
“Let’s discuss the Phoenix
After talking about the Phoenix
Then she saw it; the dark figure at the other end of the hall. Someone was standing in the middle of a sea of students, sticking out like a sore thumb, wearing a black cloak with the hood pulled over his head. Her heart skipped a beat as her hopes began to fly, and she found herself briskly walking towards him, becoming more and more excited with every step. Without warning, a tall man stepped out of the sea of students and bumped into her, blocking her view of the hooded figure. He stepped out of the way, but the person in the cloak was gone.
“Sorry about that.” He said.
“It’s alright.” Rosette said, halfheartedly. She ignored him as he passed by and kept scanning the crowd, but found nothing.
For a week straight, she thought she was going crazy. The school was the worst place for it. In fact, just about anywhere there was a crowd. She swore she saw a hooded figure in a black cloak. Then near the end of that same week, she began seeing him everywhere.
She awoke that Saturday morning with his face still lingering in her dreams. As she passed by his room, she stopped to look in. She kept it the same as before, not wanting to move anything. Of course she kept what she saw to herself the whole week, afraid that she would be admitted to a hospital if she told anyone.
She was alone again in the house. After her mother had gotten out of the hospital, her parents stayed for a few days then returned home, leaving her with her friends across the road, if she needed anything. This morning, she decided to go for a drive to help her think about things, and hopefully sort things out. After going through the drive though for a coffee, she hit the highway, going wherever the car would take her. Her mind drifted off the road and she began thinking about Ryu. Before she knew it, she was pulling up to the cottage in the woods, and she turned off the car.
The hills were beautiful in the morning and sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight. The smooth surface of the lake reflected even more light onto the hills, making the sparkles dance. The coffee in her hands went cold as she stood staring at the magnificent sight.
She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn’t notice at first. As her mind slowly cleared she took the time to really see what she was looking at. The bright surface of the lake was accented by a rather dark patch in the middle. Before she knew what she was doing, or why she was doing it, instinct took over and she began running out over the ice. Her heart began beating faster and faster as she neared it, and she finally recognized it. It was a dragon. This time, she wasn’t seeing things. Not only a dragon, but a red dragon, curled in a sleeping position lying on the ice. Her excitement was erupting from her as she neared him and couldn’t contain herself.
“RYU! I finally found you!” she cried. Warm tears hit the frozen lake as she skidded to a stop next to him, but he didn’t move even when she placed a hand on his head. It was Ryu alright, he was breathing too. It’s just that for some reason, he wouldn’t wake up, no matter how much Rosette cried in front of him.
She couldn’t get a signal on her cell phone to call for help, and she could have used it too, when the ice beneath her made an earsplitting groan, and the sound of cracking ice filled the air off in the distance. It wasn’t just the ice. Even the snow around here was beginning to melt because it was spring time after all and a fire dragon here just made it worse.
“Ryu, please! You have to wake up!” she cried, giving him a shake, “We have to go!” still he didn’t budge. Instead, the ice cracked again under her feet.
“Ryu, I don’t know what I would do without you! My life has been a mess while you were gone! I need you, Ryu! So please, wake up!” her cry was met by yet another crack in the ice.
“If you don’t wake up, the ice is going to break, Ryu!” She cried, “I can’t lose you! Not again!” the tears began running down her face as she pressed her forehead against his scaly cheek. “Come back to me, Ryu! Please!” The ice beneath him cracked several times and began to give away, and Rosette screamed, but held onto his neck.
“Please, Ryu! I love you!”
The dragon’s eyes snapped open and he struggled to stand as he pulled her onto his back at the same time. The ice gave away completely underneath him and his wings shot out to catch air, but he wasn’t fast enough, and plunged into the cold water below. He somehow managed to keep Rosette out of the water, but as he clawed at the edge of the hole, more ice broke off and he kept falling in. Rosette held on as he flailed and flapped his wings but he was getting nowhere fast.
They were both too concerned with trying to get out of the water to pay attention to anything else. Unknown to them, above a large flying object cast a huge shadow on the lake surface, which headed straight for the two fighting the frigid waters. Rosette heard the rush of wind and turned to see a huge black dragon swoop down and snatch them from the water, and drop them on the shore next to her car, and then fly off over the hills, out of sight. Rosette was too shocked to say anything, until she heard Ryu begin to cough and try to stand, and she rushed to his side, glancing back over the hills where the mysterious black dragon had disappeared.
With a trunk full of groceries, Rosette headed back towards the cottage with mixed emotions. She was elated that Ryu was alive, but after the phone call with Crystal
“Hello?”
“Crystal
“Rosette, you called my cell phone. Who else would it be?” Crystal
“Crystal
“Who?”
“Ryu! I’ve found him! He’s alive!” she cried. After this, there was a long pause on the phone.
“Rosette, are you feeling alright?”
“Never better!”
“Maybe you should go see a doctor.”
“What for?”
“Because these delusions aren’t healthy.” She said in a monotone, “And you’re making it worse on us saying these things. Ryu is gone, Rosette.”
“He’s not! I found him! Really, I did!” she said.
“Rosette, just come over and we can talk.” Crystal
“I’m telling you the truth! It’s not a dream!” she yelled.
“Rosette, there’s no way!”
“Look, if you don’t believe me, then come to the cottage! He’s there!” she yelled, and slammed her phone shut.
Even though that conversation had ended only minutes before, tears formed again in her eyes as she turned off the highway onto the dirt road leading to the cottage.
“I’m not crazy.” She muttered to herself, “I’m not….”
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