Trust me: The Final Tale of Phoenix the Ashen

When Phoenix woke up he momentarily lost senses. The previous day had condensed itself
Into a blur of events. What he knew was that he was on the grass. And he didn't want to leave it. That is until he heard James on the staircase. Phoenix scrambled up, his robe straddled on either side of his body, only his bare chest and pants showing for the first time. But the real surprise were the markings along his skin, branching up in the center and spreading once reaching the clavicle bone, what James didnt notice about them were that they were actually blood vessels. James mouth was slightly gaped for the time as he looked at Phoenix and his underground garden, it'd been the first time he'd ever seen the door open and his curiosity got the best of him. To most people it would come as a surprise to find such life in a dark place where sunlight could not reach. Phoenix had been hiding this from him for a long time and james didn't look too surprised. Phoenix had little knowledge of the outside world. All the factors of his lack of knowledge and the years of companionship with Young James placed further puzzlement and disruption on Phoenix's face at the sight of a gun pointed at him. The only word that ceded the silence was a silent "finally" from James's mouth. After that a large bang sound and darkness crept to Phoenix's vision.

James left the scene knowing the FRS would eventually discover the body, anybody nearby would have heard the gunshot. He left the scene in a slight Jog, disappearing into the trees across from the monastery. The only records of him being there has been destroyed, all that remained was his name in the books, a fake name that he'd used before, James Addler.

Trust me: The Tale of Phoenix the Ashen 4 The Cement Jungle

How any creature could bare the ceaseless constraints of the city was beyond him. The overbearingly high buildings and the darkness within the corners made the exemplary home for crooks and consuls alike. Exploring the district was as if he was navigating through Daedalus's labyrinthine trap. Few areas held asylum for nature within the concrete bars of civilization. Such inconceivable amounts of people grouped in one place. What horrible conditions were these people stuffed in for an excuse of living space. He crossed a few living spaces as small as a door, or rather the box the door came in. Any welcoming sight such as welcoming scents and the such directed him to run down excuses for food vendors. What he could find in the rabble of people was a ubiquitous feeling of intense despondency. Such despondency that caused even he, a man filled with prospect and virtue, to doubt the future. He would look upon that day and remember the only thing that kept him from the brink of losing hope, was the articulate mother that could be heard as he walked through the streets that night, the berceuse that rang around him like a bell, such a wonderful and loving tune that even the most impetuous of actions would slow. From there Phoenix returned home, finally finding a light at the end of the day. Even for a man who'd lived over two hundred years and still had the body of a twenty five year old, he collapsed from exhaustion after making his way down to his basement garden, not even minding to lock the door before going down and into the grass, literally falling asleep.

Trust me: The Tale of Phoenix the Ashen 3 Meeting With a Friend

As Phoenix returned home, he phase from the bark of the old tree he'd grown in the basement, it required a lot of nourishment and attention but it was worth it. He headed upstairs to consult with his assistant, James, the person who he'd grown to trust and was now his manager of everything business related. James was sitting in an upstairs room with a cup of tea and a newspaper. He was a stockholder in Pear, the company that created such things as the uPad, until the previous month, the company had lost two hundred dollars worth for each stock.

James looked up at Phoenix when he walked in. James didn't know about who Phoenix really was, but of course he'd had theories and questions of why he'd not aged even a year, at least he didn't look to have.

James was the first to speak. "First time you leave in the entire time I've worked here, and you don't look so good coming back." Phoenix look weary and a little jaded.
"The world has not changed for the better, no." Phoenix hadnt only gone out to meet Grimm, but also to see what the world had become, and it was so overwhelmingly horrible for his eyes.
"What about it? I understand that the world isn't what it used to be, but things must progress in order to get better. The world must change to suit its inhabitants."
Phoenix's eyes straightened at that in a small scowl. "It is not the world that must change. Humanity has forced it to change, but humanity must change itself to suit itself to a doomed world. They've wrecked this one. Another ice age at least."
James laughed to himself. "We'll all have to live like Eskimos. Except you I suppose, you'll get along just fine wouldn't you?"
"Yes. And I would do it quite excellently too."

"What do you plan now? You've shown you face to the world. It may have been subtle but people must have seen you."
"I plan to stay in my home and maybe take one last trip out. The world has changed but that doesn't mean I can't understand it."
James smiled and laughed to himself, "how is it that young, but you act so damn old?"
Phoenix chuckled a bit to himself, if only he knew the truth. "Make sure the basement is locked James. I'm going to look around the immediate area now." Phoenix said getting up and going downstairs and out into the city streets, the once cloistered area at the edge of town, the monastery facing the wilderness.

The cars were bolting past. He wasn't entirely sure what they were, or his they were made. But they weren't a part of nature, and they made a lot of noise. Much of what he saw was foreign.

Trust me: The Tale of Phoenix the Ashen 2 a Grimm interruption.

From what he could feel, Phoenix had a reason to leave the Monastery, something near had disturbed nature in a forceful way. Almost disrupting it entirely. He made his way to the tree in his basement garden and phased to the location, appearing in a tree close to the disruption itself. He noticed Grimm shooing at crows and interrupted her business. "You make the trees nervous." Phoenix Said from the jointed branches that created a V like formation within which he stood, Phoenix was bent on his knees and crouching to attain a perfect balance. "You could have bled this place dry, but that won't stop crows."

Grimm swatted at the crows. "Ok, nice, could you get these flying feather dusters off of me?!"

"Crows are the Angels of death. The prowlers of famine, the demise of any living thing can be marked with crows. They seem to be drawn to the essence you carry. Death is a powerful scent that is intractable. Difficult to manage."

Grimm grabbed one of the birds and stared at it. It cawed once, then fell to dust.
"Fascinating..." She grumbled

"Yes... Quite riveting isn't it?"
Phoenix jumped to the ground and landed softly, then crossed to one of the avian beasts and picked it up, stroking its feathers and allowing it to caw once. It rested perfectly cupped in his hands unmoving, docile.

Grimm had been afloat at the time and now landed, kicking the last crow away. "Beat it, buzzard."
It cawed indignantly and flew off.
Grimm sighed, then froze.
"Wait... Why aren't you running away from me?"

"Why are you asking?" Phoenix replied in an inquiring tone. His talent was to make people think. It amused him to witness the numerous amount of thinking caps that such people adorned during these moments of deep thought.

"I'm a reaper, terror of all, living nightmare, the original Boogeyman!"
She narrowed her eyes. "Don't you... Fear me?"

"You tell me." Phoenix said looking the thought stimulating person up and down. Evaluating them by sight and posture, attitude, formality.

Grimm stepped closer. "I think you should be concerned for your well being... Phoenix."
Grimm hissed.
She hated that calculating gaze, his cool calm, and outright refusal to tremble before her.

"Ah so you know me, but I know not your name... Miss boogeyman. I find nothing to fear, because I fear nothing. Fear is always conquered easily by understanding. Knowledge... Even a bit of philosophy."

Grimm switched her tail irately. "Fear? I'm more than fear... Death, despair, pain, sorrow, the darkness that sucks away at that last glimmer of hope that lights the eyes of the living..." She smiled, just thinking of it brought satisfaction.

"That's only if you believe in such a thing. Of course I do, all things exist, it's just a matter of where you find them, in this case you will find none of that in me. You know already but I will introduce myself nevertheless. I am Phoenix, I am Ashen."

"...Grimm Reap," she said shortly.
She stomped her feet.
She had a nutritious temper.
"Enough with the games! What do you want?"

"The boastful brain that you blankly beat requires the believing of a boisterous body in which biased positions blithering on about broad topics in which but nothing is solved. Of course I am blithering myself so you may say that I simply see things in my own way. My way does however seem to be correct though, at least to me."

Grimm's face twitched. "..........Forget it. I'm... Fed up..."
She turned and stomped off, tripping over a rock, she hissed and kicked it into the woods.
She muttered darkly to herself.

"Fed up with what exactly? I only see what troubles you. You don't even know what i am, however you know who i am. What else do you know of me?"

"The fact that you are as annoying as those crows!"
She was mostly flustered by the fact she couldn't intimidate, something that had never happened before.

Phoenix pet the feathers of the crow in his hands, it had begun to sleep as it was cozily tucked into his skin. The warmth of his hands had lured into peaceful sleep. "It's not the crows you should be worried about, nor me. You let yourself get annoyed, I did not cause annoyance. It is the way in which you translate my words that matters, not the way in which I say them.

Grimm held her head in her hands. "I need an aspirin or something..."

"Aspirin?" Phoenix had never used modern day Medicine, it never helped anyone. It simply sent them from one mess to another.

Grimm shook her head and pointed at Phoenix. "Why am I even wasting my time, I have to go find a new hunting ground."

"You tell me. I'm not the one that needs to find a new hunting ground." Phoenix said with an inner smirk.

Grimm sighed. " just ignore it,
Grimm, just...ignore it and it will go away..." She was really low in her ferocity.
Normally, nothing would be left if him but a pair of shoes.
But Grimm couldn't muster the energy.

"We are very different you and I... You seem to adore death, abhor life. I realize the need for death but I see the world full of life. And I embrace that."

The trees cracked around Grimm
".........."
Her eyes sparked with black light. Her temper had been stirred

Phoenix felt the air around him change, but he knew that trees could not be used against him. He was one of them after all. He released the crow and it flew up into the sky, waking up and cawing away.

"Do me a favor... And scat, before I really lose myself." she hissed.
"Doesn't matter if he isn't scared... Food is food..."

Phoenix bowed and turned back to the tree. "As you wish." He said walking into the tree and disappearing within the fibers of the bark.

Trust me: The Tale of Phoenix the Ashen 1

A slim form walks through the monastery grounds. They have been abandoned by the monks who live there from the rain that now poured down on the form. It's figure was hidden under the cowl of a sweatshirt as the figure approached the large doors. The figure pounds on the doors and waits. After some long moments in the rain the door opened a crack. The one that came from the crack in the door was shocked for a moment by the figure in front of him. The only thing he could see was the figure's eyes from beneath its hood. They were young. But they seemed so full of knowledge. The monk in the door opened the door up more being the kind people they were, they would not abandon a person who was on their doorstep. The monk led the figure to a elderly monk that was sitting in front of lines of men that looked like the first. When the figure had approached the elder, the elder raised an eyebrow at him. The figure uncovered his face and bowed his head at the elder. The elder could tell he knew his place. The face was young, and mysterious. This interested the elder and he got up, taking a step toward the young one and lifting its face to examine it further. The elder bowed his head in turn and respect for the young one. The young man did not move his eyes, or any muscle. The elder was almost impressed by the young man. Almost. He welcomed the young man and tried to start a conversation with him. "You may stay As long as you need. There is a group of empty beds on the upper floors" the young man nodded and smiled in thanks. " I appreciate your hospitality. There is little to find anymore." The elder did not climb the steps with him but stopped at the base. "You are very welcome.

Over the week certain things started to stand out in this young man. When wandering the grounds he would not stray from the paths. He would already know customs of respect for nature that the monks would practice. When he came upon the pond he would bend over and go to touch the pool of water, yet his hand would always sway just before they hit the water and avoid getting wet. One day in the second week, one of the monks had watched this. As the young man left the pond the monk approached it himself, seeing new life forming at the edge of the pond where the young man was standing. The monk approached the elder and shared this with him. Other monks nearby had heard the conversation and word spread. The young man was peculiar indeed. One monk in particular did not take to the young man. He did not like his strange ways. He would speak amongst other monks of how the young man would "take apart our way of life. Peace and tranquility and isolation. Nothing changes in this monastery. Nothing has in a hundred years. And nothing should change." This monk was not the newest, but actually a mutually respected man in the monastery. He eventually rallied support and took it to the elder. "He's been here for months. He has no place here. There must be a limit to our hospitality." The elder did not like the monk as he made his point. However the support he'd rallied was irrefutable. During the next gathering at the monastery the young man was there, and the elder had gone up to him. The young man had adopted wearing the monk's robes since he'd only had what he'd worn when he'd first arrived. The monk who'd desired the young man's absence had approached the two as they met so that he could make sure that it was being done as he desired. The elder looked at the young man that he'd grown partly attached to over the months and was saddened. "I am sorry young friend. But we cannot have you accompany us any longer." The young man nodded and smiled to his old friend. He then turned toward the monk who had approached the two of them. By this time they had drawn eyes and ears of the room. The monk nodded and did not smile. He had gotten what he desired. But to his surprise the young man lifted a hand up to the monk's shoulder and asked him "what do you see?" The monk did not know what to say, he was about to answer with "a boy who has overstayed his welcome" but he'd paused as he looked into the young man's eyes. They had seemed as if they deepened. The monk was frozen as he was seeing the young man's eyes glow in front of him, the light enveloped him and he entered another world. There he stood on a barren landscape. Cracks in the earth below his feet that swelled with heat. He heard the question once more surround him. "What do you see?" The monk was in shock but still managed to speak of the spectacle. "I see a world. Empty, there's nothing here." He said looking at the landscape over the course of minutes. The land before him changed, the cracks sealing, the ground changing to soil, areas forming water, Algae forming in the water. He voiced all of this as it happened. The land changed more, forming grass, trees, bushes, wildlife started to appear and he spoke of what he was seeing. "There's animals here! They're all strange looking. There was a big flash of light. Everything is covered in snow? It was only just warm." As the snow melted and time passed, more creatures came and went through his vision, almost in the blink of an eye. Then what he started to see amazed him. The grass did not regrow. But humans came to the place in front of him. "What do you see?" The question pierced the world around him. "There are people now. They are changing the land. They're building walls. It's the monastery." Time slowed around him as scenes familiar to him were shown, monks had moved in, robes were worn, he even saw himself come through the doors of the sanctuary as the walls of his home formed among the nature that was the monastery. Time slowed more as it reached the current time, the young man entered the monastery, welcomed by the monks. Then time slowed to just above normal pace and they came upon present day. He saw himself go up to the young man and the elder, then he saw the young man grab his shoulder and ask the question. "What do you see?" That's when he saw what he didn't expect, the young man's eyes did not glow. He just stood there with his hand on the monk's shoulder. It went on as the monk started to blurt out words. He was watching the world not change once more, but simply go on, as the onlookers turned and became spectators to what was happening. They caught up to present time and the young man turned his head to where the monk was looking at himself. He did nothing but look. "You understand?"
The monk and hisself said at the same time"I understand."Then the world around him crumbled as he woke from his trance and was looking at the young man. "Life must adapt. It must change and be destroyed. Because in order for life to be created, it must make way for it. There is time that passes between life and life, and that is death. You must pave a clean slate for nature to renew. " The young man smiled and nodded at the monk. the young man walked off toward the door satisfied that he could cause one to understand, relatively. The monk turned and went after him trying to think on the spot. "Wait! You don't have to leave! You can stay! You just need to become one of us. That's all you need to do. You'll be welcome among us for as long as you live." The young man smiled and nodded one last time before looking at the elder. The next day he'd shaved his head and over the next month, he excelled he was one of the finest monks there. - 200 Years prior to present

Present- the monastery has been built up and has reached it's downfall, it is no longer the sanctuary it was, as it was forced to mend with time it was forced to shrink, downsize. The grassy field, trees, ponds, all of it was taken away and replaced by roads, stores, homes, a town formed around the monastery. Unfortunately the monastery was hit by hard times, and was now no more than a yoga studio. The young man had made his home in the basement, where he'd created a small square that was preserved, the pond that he would stand over so long ago, it was as healthy as ever, the fish in it swimming around and the clear water reflecting the young man's face grown, he looked only five years older. His head was still shaved, and he still wore robes of the monks, there were very few of them left, and none but he wore the old accustomed robes. Few cared to bother themselves about the young man who lived at the yoga studio, not many ever saw him.

Life

In life,
There are two ways,
The way toward happiness,
Which passes,
Through hardship,
And pain,
Or the express,
Through happiness,
Into pain,
Disappointment,
The all natural,
There are two,
Different types of people,
The lost,
And the found,
The ones who persevere,
So tell me,
Who are you?

Driven

Trying to write this poem now
I write,
Close this last chapter and I write.
I've been trying to find a way,
But god will give me none.
Now I say god because I'm programmed to,
But I don't think there's one,
Kids are running loose,
There's hands are on a gun,
Trying to forget this pain now
I write,
I was raised to live my life,
but I can't see none
They've left me to rot
And they know that they have won.
They're hanging up the noose now,
I still see no holy one.
I'm trying to leave this behind
I write,
I'm closing this last chapter now.
I thought I could change,
But now i realize this,
I felt I could make it on my own
And create my Fate undone,
But now I see that my fate
Is in the hands of another one.
They're kicking out the chair now.
I'm waiting for the end.
I write,