Igniting the Phoenix

Igniting the Phoenix-Prologue thru Chapter 4

Prologue

I'll speak this one time, but no more. The issue is with me and my enemies. However, ordinary people play a small part, like a stalk of wheat on the battlefield, a harvest worth fighting for. It's all around them—the war. They feel the war and the others. Sometimes, there's thickness in the air, a lump with every swallow taken, a chill as they enter a room. They know something is there...

waiting...

watching.

Those are the others.

Some people often believe they're strong enough. Many make claims to have strength, but failure soon follows. Failure takes over by barely grasping a measure of reality. Maybe within dreams, but then again, they're channeled there. They're left vulnerable by a clear mind and naively opened to a hidden battlefield, another dimension where mind games are used by the others. Like a toy on a string, it's their favorite method. For those who seek answers without mind games, without lies, or hidden forms of deception, I'll give a story, a personal one.

A story about my daughter, and how I couldn't get to her in time. About what I did to keep my promise to her. My enemy took what was precious from me and I wanted her back.

She was abducted on her wedding day, the day the war began. The day it crouched at everyone's door. The way was closed for me, so that I couldn't step foot there any longer. Even the ground was cursed. Only one thing remained... she had hope.

She was psychically linked. Barely. She was fading away from me and closer to them and into the darkness where shadows have teeth, and the others wait.

From the moment it happened I knew. I knew exactly who I would use. A soldier so hidden he changed his name, disguising himself in every way, but someone I knew I could trust with her. He himself had suffered a great loss, a loss he couldn't repair on his own, so he tried to forget. As he tried to forget, he was drowning himself in the only practice he found would work for him. His intentions weren't to be selfish, but to sustain what was left. What he really needed was the one thing he feared asking for and believed he didn't deserve. Help. The time was ripe for him, and help was coming. He needed a new identity. A new start. An intervention. So that's what I did. I choose my soldiers carefully, and I know whom to trust. I trusted him.

The soldier I chose had become a myth. He was the last anyone would expect, for his breed had become no more than a fairytale of legends. Well-known, but forgotten in a sea of unbelievable stories, but his unbelievable story was very real.

He was special for a reason. He is armed with special abilities: ultra-speed, telepathy, telekinesis, and much more. I designed him that way. He's my weapon of war. My biggest secret. My phoenix.

I have a connection to him, but it has been diminished by his activities. He, and most of his abilities had fallen asleep. No matter. I knew his true intentions were never to cut ties with me. I knew that because we were connected. I'm connected to everything he knew, and I won't abandon him.

As aforementioned, I will not speak again. This is my only introduction. The rest is history. I'm known as the general, a powerful leader of a hidden army. And this account is just one of my stories.