Heart of Fire, Part 1

I woke up to a bird screeching in my face. As my eyes were adjusting to the bright light I looked around to try and see where I had fallen asleep.

"Must've fallen asleep on the roof again" I said, trying to remember what had happened last night. I had gone to bed, had not been able to sleep, so I climbed the ladder next to our house and apparently fell asleep up here. I thought back, i had been doing that ever since I could remember. Some times I did it because I felt the sky just....call to me. I couldn't possibly describe it in any other way. The dream I had last night was weird. I was falling through the sky, with my internet friends beside me. Their internet personas, all dragons, appeared in a spiritual form beside them, with a phoenix beside me. We reached our hands out, then they absorbed into us. It was weird, as if a part of me I never knew was missing had...returned. I shook off the memory and climbed down the ladder and went inside my house through the back door that was still unlocked from last night.

I stepped in the kitchen and looked at the clock, which read 6:30. That meant my mom had left for work, my dad was asleep, and I had 30 minutes before the bus came. I walked into my room and just admired the posters of phoenixes all over the place. I loved the creature. It was just  so amazing. I grabbed some clothes and hopped into the shower.

After a relaxing 20 minute shower I walked in to the kitchen and found my dad awake and cooking breakfast.

"Want anything Nate?" He asked.

"I'll take some bacon" I replied.

I looked at him. He was about an inch taller than me, at 5'10, with light blue eyes. He had brown hair, but barely any on top. He was wearing his Shelby cobra shirt this morning. He had vowed that after he retired he would buy one. He absolutely loved that car. I suggested painting a tribal phoenix on the side if he got one, but he had replied it would ruin the cool factor of the car.

As I waited for him to cook the bacon I walked into my room, looking for my shoes and backpack. I looked at the clock, which said 6:55. "CRAP" I yelled, grabbing my backpack and bolting out the door. I ran to the end of my driveway, and just in time as the bus pulled up. I climbed aboard, found a seat near the back, and enjoyed the relatively peaceful ride to school, well as peaceful as it could get with adrenaline pumping through your system.

I got off at the middle school and walked into the cafeteria. they were serving chicken biscuits today which I really liked. I went through the line and found a seat where my friends were sitting. When i arrived they were talking about if either Dustin or Alexis would win at 1 on 1 basketball. We talked for a while and ate until the bell sounded.

"See y'all later" I said, getting up to go to pride class.

After another 9 hours of my life I'll never get back, school was finally over. I walked to the doors, and saw the glass above one was shattered, and two of the doors had been ripped off the hinges."wow" I said, not giving it a second thought when i saw my friends outside and walked up to them.

"What are y'all doing" I asked.

"We were talking about going over to Dustin and Alexis's house" my friend, Chris, said.

when he said that the new kid we got today, josh I think his name is, walked past Dustin and Alexis and said hi. They talked for a second like they had known each other for a lifetime then he bolted for the busses.

"You know him?" I asked them.

"I guess you could say that" Alexis replied.

"Anyways you wanna come?" Dustin asked.

"No I can't" I said. "My dad wants me home by 3:30.

"Oh, ok I understand" he said.

"I hate having to be on a schedule" I said.

"I know how you feel bro" my other friend, Jeffrey, said.

"Alright well I better get going" I replied.

After that I took off down the street. I decided to walk home because the busses in the afternoons were so crowded you were lucky to find a seat without 4 people in it. I went down a road twoards the industrial park, known as my "shortcut". It was known fact that walking through the city was shorter, but the industrial park was less hilly and was a straighter shot to my house. I got closer to this abandoned warehouse and felt drawn to it for some reason. It was like something deep within me woke up and was yearning to go inside. With every second that passed the urge got stronger and stronger until I was forced to give in. I looked and saw no one around, so I hopped the short fence and walked up to the building, then went inside.

Inside was fairly unimpressive. Just a bunch of broken and rusting machinery. I looked around and saw a staircase so I went down it, and it opened into a hallway with an open door. At the end of the hallway was the loading dock for semi's to pull up at. I approached the door, then an older man stepped out, nearly scaring the crap out of me. He looked at me for a second, like he was surprised I found the place, then fell on my shoulder.

"Are you alright?!" I asked, trying not to let him fall.

"I'm more than alright" he said. "After all these years, I've found you at last...."

"Found who?" I said.

"You, my fellow fiery friend" he replied.

"Me?" I asked, now thoroughly confused.

"Yes. You have a spark in your soul, a heart of a Phoenix" he replied.

He sparked my interest when he said the name of my favorite creature. "What do you mean?" I asked.

He got up and said "just watch"

When he said that feathers began sprouting all over him. His feet grew scales and his toes fused until he had only 3 on each foot. A black claw came out of each and his toes and feet grew longer. Bright crimson feathers covered his entire body while orange and yellow ones grew out of his tailbone. His fingers fused into one and it extended, and brown feathers came out of his arms and longer orange ones grew below them. The crimson feathers shot up is face and his mouth grew into a beak.

"My name is Drecon" he said. "Here is my gift" then he slashed my arm with his talons.

"WHAT THE HELL!" I yelled, holding my bleeding arm.

I suddenly began to feel very itchy. I passed it off as just my body reacting to the three long gashes in my arm, until my feet became really dry. Unable to withstand it any longer, I sat down and took my shoes and socks off to see what was causing it. "What......the crap" I said, as scales were growing out of my feet. They started right above my ankle then went downwards. I felt my toes fuse together until I only had three on each foot, then a black claw shot out of each, then my feet and toes cracked and extended. orange-red colored feathers suddenly sprouted out of my legs and quickly spread up to my body. There was a pain in my backside and I felt my tailbone grow a couple inches longer, followed by a row of the same orange-red feathers, with longer yellow feathers that grew past them. The feathers grew up my side and on my back, with bright crimson feathers on my chest. My fingers suddenly fused into one extension of my arm and grew longer, then was consumed by bright orange feathers, with the same longer yellow ones growing past them. They spread up my neck, then my mouth fused with my nose and pushed out and hardened into a beak. Longer feathers grew out of either side of my head and down my neck. My eyes began to burn so badly I was forced to close them.

I opened my eyes and tried to stand up, but immediately fell back down. I tried again, and found I had to stand on the balls of my feet, which felt oddly natural. I walked up to the window and was startled at what stared back. Looking back was a full fledged, non imaginary, phoenix. I had searing yellow eyes, long crimson feathers on either side of my head as well as down my neck. My chest was covered in crimson feathers, while my back and lower body were covered in orange-red feathers. My wings were bright orange on top with longer yellow feathers making up the bottom. I stretched them out, and saw I had a good 11 foot wingspan, easily twice as long as I was tall. My new tail had a foot long row of bright orange feathers, with almost three foot long yellow feathers that grew past them. My legs had changed,and reminded me of a dragons back legs. My feet and toes had grown longer, and just above the ankle scales started and came down,  with each of my six toes ending in a long, black claw.

"I look........i look amazing" was all I could say

I stood there admiring myself for a minute then it hit me. How would my parents react to this?

"What...what the hell did you do to me" I angrly spat at Drecon.

"I gave you a gift" he said. "I lit the spark in your soul, I turned you into the feature of your dreams. A phoenix."

"YOU CALL THIS A GIFT?!" I yelled. " HOW CAN I RETURN TO MY FAMILY LIKE THIS, SEE MY FRIENDS, OR EVEN GO TO SCHOOL!"

"You could turn into your human state" he replied, very calmly.

"What" I said, dumbfounded.

"Just focus on what you used to look like, then the transformation will take place" he said. "But be careful, you will only be able to stay human for 2 hours at a time"

"Then how will I go through a 9 hour school day?" I asked.

"Don't worry, you've only just transformed. The longer you spend in your Phoenix form the longer you will be able to retain your human form" he replied. "Now, how about some flight lessons. Your gonna have to learn to use those wings sometime"

He led me back upstairs in the big empty space and for the next few hours Drecon taught me how to fly, shift into my human form, and control the bursts of fire that would appear on me at times. By the time I looked at the clock it was 5:08.

"CRAP I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HOME AT 3:30!" I yelled, rushing out the door only to be halted by Drecon.

"Don't let anyone unesesarily know that you are a phoenix, only those who must know" he said.

"OK" I replied, then gripped my backpack in my talons and took off.

The flight would only have taken 15 minutes, but I stopped and landed about a 5 minute walk away from my house and transformed, then walked the rest of the way. When I got to my house, I found the door unlocked and walked straight into the living room, where my dad was sitting.

"Where have you been?" He asked.

"its a long story" I replied.

"I have time" he said.

"You really don't have to know" I said, getting worried.

"Your going to sit in that chair, and tell me where you've been" he replied, getting angry.

Seeing I had no other option, I sat down and gave him the entire story, from start to finish. He looked surprised, then just stared at me for a minute.

"Son...." he said. "If its the truth, show me this phoenix form"

"Alright" I replied.

I felt the uncomfortable human body begin to fade as the changes took place. This time they were painless, like it was natural. The feathers exploded all over my body, my feet changed, my arms turned into wings, and my face turned into a beak.

My dad just sat there with a mixed expression of awe, fear, and shock on his face. After all, his son had just turned Into a full fledged phoenix right before his eyes. He sat there for a minute, then i found myself staring down the barrel of his colt revolver.

"Your not my son, you freak!" He yelled.

I squaked in fear, then dove behind behind he chair.

"Dad, I'm your son, Nate!" I exclaimed.

"Shut up you monster!" He yelled
In tried to remember something to prove who I was, anything. Then it hit me.

"The model number of that gun is printed under the handle. Its 462185. Its the reproduction I went with you to go pick up in Edmonton county" I said.

He looked at me for a minute, then dropped the gun and fell back on the couch.

"N-nate....it is you" he replied, knowing i was the only other person who knew that.

I snuck out from behind the chair, then my father said,"j-just go to your room. We'll sort this put when she gets here"

"O.....k" I replied, then scampered off into my room and colapsed on the bed. I didn't bother transforming, my phoenix form was now my true form and was really the only way I was comfortable. I turned over and stared at my room. There were phoenix posters and drawings I had done pasted all over the walls. I noticed that I looked similar to my drawings.

"Now  to relive that experience with mom" I said to myself.

"Looks like the fun has just begun"