Phoenix Fyre

Ms. Fyre found me in the back when she was finished with her reading, but I did not immediately notice when she came to find me. I was in my meditative state in the snow-covered back yard of the co-op house, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the rudimentary, but effective, stone circle the residents had erected some years back.

I had entered into this state in order to slip into the Spirit World in order to look for John Red Bear. I first went to our usual meeting place in the Lower World, the only sign of John that I found there was a ragged patch of bloody fur that lay in the clearing, surrounded by paw prints of more than one animal type. My skills at animal tracking are sorely lacking, but I I could make out what appeared to be the larger paw prints of John’s bear form, and what appeared to be a number of different sets of large dog or wolf prints. So, either John was chased or captured by someone who could also enter into the Spirit World, or there was some sort of danger to this stuff that he didn’t tell me about. I sort of hoped it was the former, since I would not know how to face such danger myself in this form.

Coming back to my body, I noticed Ms. Fyre standing just outside of the cirle of stones, but what caught me off guard was the fiery spiritual phoenix that burned brightly behind her. This being seemed to be both part of her, and yet distinctly different, maybe like an alter ego. While Ms Fyre’s physical body seemed to be looking only at my motionless body, the spirit phoenix fixed its baleful glare squarely onto my returning spirit, seemingly evaluating whether or not I was a threat. It seemed to flash briefly brighter as I merged back into my body, and completely disappeared from view as I locked into place and turned my head to see her standing behind and to my left. Only a surreal afterglow and an aura of power remained, alternating between red and orange.

“How long have you been waiting for me?”

“Not too long.”

“So, will you be able to help us out?”

“Us?” She asked.

“Yeah, John and myself, I found signs of a struggle in our usual meeting place in the Loswer World. I’m not sure what to make of it yet, but I think he is in some serious trouble.”

She remained silent for a moment as I unfolded my legs and got up.

“If your blog is accurate, than this Drake Kampmann must be stopped. We need to find John, if possible, and help him if he needs it. I don’t know how much John has told you about me and our group, but it is vitally important to find him before they, whoever they are, can find out more about us than I fear they may already know.

“I am going to turn the tables on your Rusty, and ask you to help us. I can’t tell you all of the details of who we are, but I can you that John and I are members of a secret order who have pledged to assist each other in times of trouble and who are charged with the protection of of those who cannot protect themselves.

“From what I have seen and read about you, you are a noble soul who has been trapped in a terrible experiment. I know that John was hoping to help you extricate yourself from this situation, if you wished to be released. But I think you also know now that you are free to continue on your spiritual journey.”

‘Yes, he had been helping me. And yes, I know I can leave this world behind at any time. I am no longer trapped here in this body, thanks to John. But I am not ready to go right now, I want to help John before it is too late, and I want to find out more about your group and what your work is.” I smiled. “I am not ready to move on just yet. You might think I have some noble soul, but I am going to track that bastard Kampmann down and bring him and his cronies down before I go anydamnwhere.”

She reached out, touched my arm. “We share some goals there Rusty. I think your Mr. Kampmann may be invovled with what has happened to John.”

After that, we moved back inside the co-op house. I was busy shutting down my computer and putting that away, while she left to another part of the house to make some phone calls. She returned shortly, with a concerned look on her face.

“I just got off the phone with one of John’s students on the reservation where he lived. It looks like he went out on a distress call into the desert nearby. He never made it back, so a search party went out. They found his truck about twenty miles away, it had been in some sort of accident, but there was no sign of John, or anyone else, other than some bloody pieces of his uniform. There were tracks leaving the scene, but they got obscured after a few miles.”

“I want to get out there and help.”

“I’m glad, because I want to go desperately too, but am unable to leave my other duties here. If you can go, I will make sure you have some additional contacts of those who might be able to help, as well as get you some other resources. While you help find John, I am going to spend some time doing research on this Kampmann fellow, see what others in our group might know about him and his goals.”

“Good, that’ll work. I will head out west and help find John. And when he is safe, I am going to come collect anything you find on that bastard. I have some serious scores to settle.”

We parted that afternoon, after exchanging some other numbers. She gave me a firm hug as we parted, and somehow I felt a little hope bloom as I got in my car and headed into the sunset.

My last image of her as I drove off was of her standing waving, with the afterimage of a phoenix rising up behind her, its glare a little less dark as it nodded in my direction.