Nine Feathers From a Phoenix’s Tail
By Nike


I. The Nest

	The child was afraid that he missed it. The nest was still very fresh. The ashes were still warm and, in some spots, smoking from the rare event that had just taken place.
	The child shivered as he stood there alone, bathed in a mixture of moonlight and starlight that seemed to defy the darkness. He sighed and was about to give up his search and go home when he suddenly heard the soft sound of flapping wings nearby.
	It was then he realized that he was no longer shivering and that it wasn’t cold. He turned around, not daring to hope, and gasped.
	Twin pools of molten lava regarded his small prone form carefully.
	“Why did you come here?” She asked in a soft gentle voice that resembled the tinkling of small bells. “What did you hoped to see?”
	The child swallowed hard, craning up his head to gaze at the large glowing figure before him.
	"I wanted to see if the stories were true," he nervously began. "I want to know if you really exist, that if you are real."
	She tilted her head back and emitted a series of chirps that sounded like laughter.
	Finally, she stopped and regarded him seriously once more. "What is real?" She asked. 
	The child couldn't answer. He was only a child, after all. He wasn't ready for such grown up ideas like that.

******
II. The Star

	It was said to be the last beast from Long Ago to leave this world, for stories about them still flourished long after St. George had killed the last dragon or the last unicorn was hunted for its horn. Long after people stopped believing that the world was flat and that the moon was made of green cheese. It continued to stay, thinking that maybe a prince would come look for her and ask her to sing for an ailing king in need of a miraculous healing, or maybe a wizard would need her tears to make to potion that would cure all sorts of poisons. 
       But nobody came. Nobody believed in her anymore.
	Finally, she got tired of waiting. "That does it. Nobody needs me anymore." She sadly croaked; her voice weary and hoarse from centuries of helping man. 
	And when the time for her to go, she chose not to die and be reborn again into this world. 
	Instead, she spread out her tired wings and flew to the heavens, thinking that the world no longer cared and that she won't be missed.
	That night, the astrologers and so-called wise men discovered a new group of stars in the southern part of the night sky. They named it Phoenix for it could only be seen during the darkest of nights when no other star could be seen. And after a while they forgot all about it. After all, there are a lot of stars in the sky. What's so great about another group appearing in the heavens?	
       But she was wrong. They all were wrong. For when the group of stars first appeared in the southern night sky, a young poet gazed up and sadly shook his head.
	"The world will be a lot colder without Hope." He whispered.  

*****
III. The Siblings

	Blag!
	The six year old boy winced as he watched his sister, a young child about four, fall off the bicycle for what seemed to be the nth time. He let out a long sigh and, shaking his head, made his way to help his younger sibling, who was sprawled on the concrete ground beside the fallen bicycle.
	Surprisingly, the girl made no move to cry. She was still grinning despite the numerous bruises and gashes that she sustained from her fall and from numerous failed attempts before that.
	"You know? Maybe you are not ready to use a grown up bike yet. That's the gazillionth time you've fallen off this afternoon." He pointed out, ready to attach the training wheels in the bicycle.
	"It's okay," she replied.
	"What?"
	His younger sibling faced him, still wearing that confident grin.
	"It's okay...because I know that if I fall, I can get always get up and try again until I get it right..."

*****
IV. The Soul Box

	Once upon a time, there lived a lovely young girl who loved to play out in the open where sunlight filled the sky and the Maya birds sang their concerts to the unknowing listener. 
	One day, this young girl thought she could hide her soul. 
	So, she kept a small wooden chest where she placed small things that represented her life. Some were bought in a store. Others were given to her as a gift. While some were found at the unexpected places and times. A small chest that others thought were filled with clutter and trash. But to the girl, they were worth more than any treasure found under the sea. They have to, for that small chest contained small memories of her life.
	That small wooden chest contained her soul.

*****
V. The Night

I saw two ethereal forms
Alike in beauty
Yet so different
Twisting far apart
In a sky full of stars.
I wanted to share with them.
I tried to join 
First with one 
Then with the other
To fly
To smile
To love
The first never spoke
Barely returned my caress
"Go away but don't go."
It said with a smile
And I turned away
Disappointed 
It would not play with me
The second welcomed me
Entwined with me
Flew high and 
Twirled round with me
For the briefest 
Of moments 
We were one
Then they saw
Each other
And I saw
Them leave me
And I watched them perform the most
Tentative dance
I saw 
Them intertwined
I saw them
Fly blind
And I see
The crystal wall
That they don't.

*****

VI. The Student

	I saw her again several years later. She appeared in my room, claiming to have entered through the window that I had left open earlier that day.
	She was a lot smaller than from my first memory of her. But even then, her form nearly took up all the space on my desk. Right down to her long tail feathers.
	"Are you still wondering whether I am real or just a figment of your imagination?" She asked as she delicately perched on top of the pile of papers that I left lying on the table.
	I didn't answer. Nor did I dare ask her how a bird of her size could get through such a small grilled window or why won’t the sheets of paper burn despite having a large flaming bird sitting on it, and why couldn’t I see her reflection in my dressing room mirror a few steps away.

*****
VII. The Sun

	"....He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again..."
	The event illustrated by those words happened over two thousand years ago. It changed the world as we know and it still influences us today.

*****
VIII. The Angel and Death

She stood up bravely and unafraid.
Face to face with Death, she spoke
While he lay pale in a deathbed
"Take me instead," the angel began to cry.
"My life for his life, for I don't want him to die.
He'll live long, be happy and free."
Death sighed, reaching out a bony hand.
"If I take your life, then you'll forever be banished in my land.
No longer will you see him again."
The angel kissed him goodbye, thinking not of the pain.
"It doesn't matter. I loved him, you see.
I will still live, if he remembers me...." 

*****
IX. The World

       "You know? What really hurts, is knowing that I am not real." She told me that night.
	"What do you mean?"	
	"I only exist in your head, in the remnants of childish innocence that still cling in you. Yes, I am a fabulous beast of legend but that was a very long time ago. Now, I only live in your mind and in others like you. But soon, you'll turn into an adult and stop believing in me. And when that happens, I grow smaller and smaller until I fade away like any other idea." She looked away.	
	It was then that I saw the small trail of moisture that slowly ran down her red-feathered cheek, dampening her soft, glowing plumage and turning them into a darker shade of crimson.
	I hesitated, unsure of my words. "Are you...are you crying?"
	"I am not real." She bitterly whispered. "I can't cry."
	She didn’t move when I wrapped my arms around her long graceful neck.
	“It’s all right.” I quietly assured her, gently ruffling her golden mane of feathers on her head. “I’ll always believe in you.”
	She turned saddened flame-like eyes at me. “Promise?” 
	She sounded so small then.
       	“Promise.” I told her. 
	But I lied. I was no longer a child then and already I was starting not to believe in her.