Chapter 5

By: Erik Brown

Regrettably he realized, that he should have worn a heavier coat. Not that it would have helped much. Created by the chilly night air, invisible spears of ice, stabbed at his sinuses. Much too cold outside, harsher days were yet to come, and little respite waited for him at his still colder apartment.

He puffed out his chest, as he strode along the cracked sidewalk, in between the scant few passersby, and other walkway obstructions. Cars noisily sped by him in the road, the drivers fixating their thoughts on wherever the heck they were going, giving him no heed.

The neighborhood he lived in was in poor shape, had been that way since it was built, and he'd be befuddled if it was ever able to lift itself from it's wallowing point. Hookers and druggies filled the dark foreboding alleys, selling their misbegotten wares to their woebegone customers. As other nefarious and not so nefarious poor souls teetered on the brink of life, willing to cut off their own hand to go another day. Or maybe they would be willing to kill a passer by, all to steal some trivial coins. To them the ones that lived in buildings, and who ate food bought at stores, had lives by far more meaningless than their own.

Half closed, shaking, reddened eyes watched Rei from the poorly constructed cardboard home they were in. Where the body the eyes belonged to, shuddered, as the cold attacked the bare parts of his body, and the air killed his yellowed lungs. In his shaking fists was a half-emptied bottle of hard alcohol, and when the cold became too unbearable, he would throw back his head, and drain the brown liquid into his stomach. There the vile poison would continue to kill his already heavily saturated liver.

Rei paused, as he saw the poor thing staring at him. Those eyes that stalked his movements, pierced his very being, telling him that others live a life much worse than his own. And for a moment he thought of leaving, but something inside of him quickly he vetoed that idea. In response his body wanted to rebel, and his common sense wanted to drop all guard and making a fleeting run for shelter. Everything that was sane and capable of rational thought inside of him said depart, and yet the part inside him, of which the motives are never clear, told him to do something quite different.

One hand went for a pocket, while his mouth began to utter words to the man, "Good evening sir."

In a quaking, yet all-together voice responded simply, "Good evening to you."

"It looks like you're somewhat down on your luck."

The man looked down at his fists, down at the bottle that he clenched, and then he looked back up at Rei with a look of ' yes you could say that'. Instead of iterating the obvious, he demanded, "Why should you care?"

Rei had already gone over this in his own mind (another part that said to leave), and had come to the conclusion that what he was doing was idiotic and unbecoming of him. So instead of giving up, or taking a mere five out of his pocket and tossing it to the wino, he instead did something that he couldn't quite figure out.

Thrusting the one hand into his pocket, he took out his wallet and quickly purged it of every last bill. With the other hand he pantomimed looking at his watch for the time, and before he had finished saying, "Look at the time," he was down the street with an empty wallet. Quickly the man hid the bills that the stranger had given him, and thought that perhaps the stranger had been an Angel. Perhaps he might go to church the following Sunday.

…

Breathlessly he closed the door behind him, locked it, and bolted the latch. Then he querulously looked out the peephole to check for any followers. Bleatingly he thought to himself, "What was that all about?" What had possessed him to do such an act? He must have given the bum a couple hundred dollars. That was enough to feed Rei for a month!

Soothingly that strange rebelling part to him calmed him, he could feel that it was just as good. He had enough money to pay the bills, to eat, and even enough for any unforeseen expenses. And that poor creature was sorely out of luck, had been for some time perhaps. Maybe this might turn his life around, if not to finance an effort, then to at least strike an initiative of shame for taking such an abject amount of charity.

Rei massaged his beating temples, breathed deeply in and out until he had calmed down a little bit. Relax, just take it easy. Everything was okay, nothing was wrong. No harm had been done, in fact if anything, some good was done. He might even be able to write it off on his taxes. Life was just fine.

Slowly he began to wind down, as he made his way to his small kitchen. On the way he took a small blanket from the back of the recliner, and wrapped it about himself. Life in the apartment was more livable than the streets, but not by much. Just ask the cockroaches. Quickly he reached into the much too cold refrigerator, and produced his own medicine.

Although not quite a frosty bottle in a paper bag, Rei had something that he used to get through the cold nights. He took a bottle from the refrigerator, and poured it into a waiting glass. He shambled over with drink in hand to the couch, and laid himself on top of the furniture. Setting the glass on a nearby table, he pulled the discarded day old newspaper up from the floor. Flipping quickly through the news, he soon came to the, as of yet, untouched local news and opinion pages.

And out of those, he quickly picked through the local blither. Some people found their lost puppy; some lucky sap won the lottery, and other miscellaneous filler about the general liveliness of the near-ghetto neighborhood he lived. On second thought, saying that was a service to the paper, rather he didn't live there; he just barely survived in this concrete jungle.

Taking a drink, instantly gulping down the fiery oil, and then he allowed his heart to sink into the depths of his being. Finally he had gotten past the dirt and mud of the newspaper, and found the Opinion section. Yet sadly, all but a shred of one page remained. Instead of finding even a single column, he instead was left with only a single headline.

Simply it read, "Fools are the ones who do not believe in the fantastical, and fools know nothing…" and that was all. Every other letter from the pages was gone, leaving only that cryptic message behind. Knowing the writers, and journalists in general, the phrase was only a vague representation of the article itself. But what a message!

The very fact that it was written made it powerful. This scrap of paper said that if one did not believe in it, then they were a fool. It was a message that no one should easily shrug off, and Rei surely wasn't going to.

But then what did it do for him? It didn't answer any questions. In fact it really didn't raise any either. Convincing and perplexing, that single sentence could lay the groundwork of a myriad of philosophies. Was it design, or chance? In of itself it said it outright, that to not believe in the very words, was to not believe anything at all.

Rei was tired though, and his drink was getting to him. Fluttering like a dying bird, he let the paper fall to the ground. Slowly he got up so that he could get ready for bed. As he got up from the couch he turned around, and noticed that half of the words of the headline were visible. "… Fools know nothing…"

If he were not to be a fool, he would have to believe. Believe in the fantastical, that's what he had to do! The real world was a drag, and he had been in a rut for some time now. Chained to a desk job, stuck in a freezing apartment, lost in a stone wilderness, and no one to share it with.

Sure everyone always say that life gets better, but Rei thought differently. Instead of looking towards the sides of life, at all the wonderful shiny toys, he instead opted to keep a keen eye down the straight and narrow. Straight to death, where all of the junk accumulated in life, became meaningless. Life wouldn't get better, just longer! He would have to make it better himself!

Maybe he could escape, to cut the chains that bound him to his meager life style. Call his work, tell his boss that he was fired, cut his losses, pack his gains, and go somewhere with blue skies and bright sun. Maybe the tropics, they should be having good weather that time of year. Then he laughed, wasn't the weather always good there?

Then his heart sunk again, how? He could cut his losses sure, but what gains did he have? He had a savings account, only enough to get him to the city limits. A slim inheritance that he could use to his advantage, enough to get him away from the city. Anything he was missing? His only relatives were a few cousins, a poor uncle, and his mother. They had sold the old house, and even the cabin in the woods. The amount was just enough to keep his mother in a home on a sick bed for the rest of her years.

Unable to keep inside the sense of joy, he shouted out, "That's it!" Why hadn't he thought of it before! He knew exactly how he would get to the tropics. With his fist in the air he went to the bathroom to finish getting ready to go to bed. The following evening he planned to be sipping a margarita, as the sun sets into the southern seas. It would happen, nothing could possibly stop him!

But Rei was acting as a fool now! He didn't know it, wouldn't think it, but he was. Perhaps he had gone over all of the possible possibilities in his head, and concluded that his plan was feasible and doable. He concluded that nothing could get in his way. He had thought of the possibilities, and had thought of all of them, except those that involved beings that were higher than him. The chance that ghosts were real, and that they could remotely have some effect on the lives of the living, had escaped Rei in his delusional moment of grandeur.

And outside, eyes watched his window, as the light went off in the apartment, and Rei laid himself down to sleep. Bright orange-red eyes, peered from the shadows, and waited, ever so patiently, for the sun to rise once again. As it waited, it breathed in rhythmic beats, to a melody that it had never heard before.

…

It was common that on mornings he would rise, and with great struggle, lift himself from his bed. As he turned off the alarm clock, and slowly and labouringly, took a shower, fixed a cup of coffee, and made himself breakfast. And for but a moment he almost did just that. But joy flooded his mind, as the red glow of the clock filled his eyes, and adrenaline filled his body.

Quickly he leapt from bed, unplugged the time-telling appliance, and dropkicked it out his window. This action came to the great dismay of a casual passerby, whom Rei courteously apologized to. Then he was into the kitchen, as he fired up the coffee maker, and in a blur of gold, and the scattering of gold feathers, was in the shower. In another instant he was dressed, neatly groomed, and downing a quart of sticky black ooze.

Slowing down, as he felt the coffee flood his innards, he madly rooted through his closet. He slid into a brown leather jacket, shoved some tennis shoes over his talons, and jammed a small suitcase full of semi-exotic, faux-tropic, gear, and not to mention his passport. Then he took his bowling ball bag, a hobby he had long since lost the time for, and took the ball out. He then took both case and bag with him into the living room.

He could feel the caffeine beginning to replace the adrenaline in his blood, as he went through a drawer looking for a hammer. Finding one, he went over to the couch and moved away from its position. Then he haphazardly began to pull up the carpet with the claw of the hammer, working at it for ten minutes until he successfully came to hardwood. Working quickly, he pulled up nails and threw them aside, and eventually he came to the thing he was looking for.

As he picked up the chunk of metal, it gleamed in the rays of sunlight that came in through the window. Perfectly round, and perfectly silver, he held it in his hands. Rolling it around he came to what could be the face of the thing. Red ruby and blue aquamarines flashed from the light of the sun. The site took his breath away.

This was his one-way ticket to easy street. This was never ending days on the beach, it was his key to the ultimate gratification that his world could provide, and that was complete and utter succession from the daily grind! Carefully he wrapped the silver orb in towels, and gently placed it in the bowling ball bag.

A quick trip down to a collectors, and he could strike a deal to get him on the road to easy street. All he had to do was hammer out a decent contract with someone downtown, and then he would be granted a generous sum to sustain a permanent residence in a far off land.

Scooping up both bags in both hands, he fled to the door. And he didn't look back as he reached for the knob, and abruptly closed it. No more of that wretched roach-infested den. No more cheap lukewarm meals, in an apartment that was doomed to be freezing for all eternity. No more, no more.

And with quick caffeine-driven motions, Rei was out the door to the apartment building, and into the warm sun.

…

"Howdy", "Hello", "How are you."

Never had those words come so freely to his beak, as they poured out of him like a waterfall that morning. Happiness made him feel alive, and joy kept his shoes just a few inches above the pavement. A suitcase in one hand, and a bowling ball bag in the other, he looked quite odd. But the pleasant manner that emanated from the bird, it either made a passer-by fill with quiet rage, or in turn greet the joyous bird with a smile and nod.

Briskly in the brisk morning, he turned down streets, crossed crosswalks, and floated above sidewalks. Except for the people that he greeted, those that walked and those that drove, all ignored him, as they always had. They wouldn't be able to understand his happiness; they had no way to measure the dimensions of his joy! Nor would he want them to, for only jealousy and larceny could come of that!

Soon he was at the great glass doors of the bank. As he strolled inside he took a deep whiff of the pine-scented, vastly over-sanitized, air. It made him giddy. With ease he merged into the line, waiting to reach the teller. He could just about feel the sand under his talons, and the warm salty air on his skin. So close.

It didn't take but a moment, the people ahead of him were taken care of, and he was standing in front of a teller. She was a short mouse, all gray fur, with tiny round eyes, and a twitching nose. Standing on a stool she looked at Rei, impatient that he hadn't stated his business, and wondering why he had such a stupid grin plastered on his face.

"What'll it be, buster?" The teller indignantly asked.

Rei chuckled, "I'll be taking everything, please." Setting the suitcase on the ground, he put both hands on the handle of the bowling ball bag.

Shaking a bit the teller eyed Rei suspiciously, "What was that?"

"Oh, I said I'd be taking it all," And Rei gave the bag in his hands a little pat. His mind swam in endorphins, and he only thought of beaches, drinks, and exotic dancing birds.

A dozen assorted animals stared at him with worried eyes, as the teller in front of him began to noticeably sweat. Rei noticed that one of her paws was reaching for something under the table.

"Okay buddy, just don't do anything foolish. Everyone just remain calm." Her whiskers didn't twitch, as sweat painfully rolled into her eyeballs.

"What?" Something inside was beginning to click, normally when he withdrew money, the teller didn't reach for the silent alarm. "Aw jeez…"

Suddenly a youngish hog boy let out a shriek, "Omigawd! Does he have a bomb?"

Now it was Rei's turn to panic. Beads of sweat began to bud beneath his feathers. It could hardly be blamed on instincts, but at that moment Rei raised the bag above his head, turned around to face the crowd, and shouted, "It's okay, no one's gonna get hurt!"

Moron, imbecile, and nincompoop! What was he thinking? Better yet, what was he going to do? Surely he couldn't show them what was in the bag? And even without proof of there being no incendiary device, how would he explain the priceless artifact he had with him when the police eventually showed up?

Faintly on the distance he thought he could hear sirens, but he wasn't sure. Sweat poured in streams down his forehead. He shook all over. Frightened for his life, and not to mention his dreams. Weighing his options he realized he was ruined anyway. Staying and letting the police catch him, would equal, no job, some jail time, and an even more Spartan life-style for him.

Perhaps he could act like it was a bomb! He could demand transport to another country! All he needed was a hostage. Eyeing the crowd he thought better of it. Not only a cruel thing to do, but also it wouldn't take too long for the cops to see through his bluff.

Well then, anything he did, would just lead to more trouble. And before he could weigh which trouble would be the easiest to take, he realized a different option. He would run as if every denizen of Hell were fast on his heels! Which they very well may have been.

Letting loose a primordial call, he ran right into the crowd, with fake bomb in hand. Under the assumption that making a beeline for the door, and then running through the entire city would help, he ran right for the entrance. Of course, as his plans seemed to be going recently, it utterly and completely failed.

First off he had never thought to realize that when the teller tripped the silent alarm, she also accidentally triggered the alarm. And so the crossed wires had not only called for the police, but had also sealed the doors so tightly, that it may had been a brick wall that Rei was hurtling himself into.

Now the second thing he hadn't thought of, was that their was a slight chance of a large lizard with a sword not only blocking the entrance from outside, but that the reptile would also promptly explode right in front of him.

Some sort of blast, like a cross between a lightning bolt and St. Elmo's fire, had thrown Rei backwards through the air. Shards of glass, and the dry smell of burnt everything, filled the air in the room. Painfully Rei stood up again, and pinched himself to check if he was still alive.

"For the love of…! Is the whole world against me? What the heck did my horoscope say this morning, 'You will be blown up and shot by Police'!" Huffing and angry, he brushed the shards of glass off of his jacket.

All around him people laid about, rocking back and forth slowly on the ground. Many were burned, a lot had been hit by bits glass, and all of them were in shock. They groaned in pain, just barely able to move. Rei looked at them, and thought what tough luck they were in. Despite having caught the force of the blast, he was fortunate to not have caught any of the debris or glass.

But what of that lizard fellow outside? So what, he had probably been thrown through the wall of the store on the other side of the street! But what about Rei? The police were closing in on him! Soon the place was going to be a zoo of confusion, Cops, and paramedics. Not to mention fire fighters and TV anchors!

Again he solved the age-old choice with a yellow spine. His options were simple, and what he planned to do was clear; he was going to run as fast as he possibly could, and this time nothing was going to stop him!

Nothing, save a huge foreboding lizard, who not only carried a sword that was four feet long, but also, happened to be built like a brick-wall. At least Rei ran a little bit, but still, crashing into a brick wall was still none too pleasing. The thing that stood in front of him hadn't even moved, just stood there like an immovable rock, as Rei had thrown himself haphazardly into the creature's unbinding chest.

As Rei rolled on the ground, and nursed his bruised beak the monster reptile bent down to help him up. The bird smacked the thing's hand aside, "Aw get' away! Just stay out of my way!"

With fluid motions Rei leapt up, and scooped up his bowling ball bag, and was just about to run past the great green brute in his way, when suddenly it got worse. He could hear the telltale sirens grow louder. Not for the last time Rei tried to run past the lizard.

"Just a moment bird, sir," the thing stoutly told Rei, as it bowed low to the ground.

"Gah! Don't you know what's going on? The cops are coming, they're gonna shoot me!" Rei raised his right fist in the air and shook it under the lizards nose. Despite having the size, weight, and general advantage over him, Rei fear the beast in the least. In fact he felt like he really could order the lizard to do his bidding.

Kneeling down the lizard gripped the sword it held with one hand, and offered the hilt to Rei, as it spoke, "Does an enemy bother you my liege, I will fight till the death for you!"

Surprise, anger, and confusion filled Rei, "What the heck is your problem? What the heck are you anyway?"

It took a long breath, "I am your servant milord. Whatever your command, I shall do it to the best of my abilities."

Deep inside the bird chuckled, who was this joker anyway? Just as Rei had woken up, charged with energy to leave the country, did this lizard decide he would place himself into servitude to the next animal he saw?

Then Rei was lost in thought, as he looked down the hilt of the sword, two things grasped at his attention. The first was the finite beauty of the hilt, intertwining gold, and a magnificent, albeit small, green pommel stone were just a few of the highlights. But it was the curious insignia that took his breath away.

For on the silver of the blade, was placed a set of red ruby, and blue aquamarine. Together the precious stones formed a curious eclipse, which while smaller, was not that different than the design on his own piece of treasure.

But before he could ask where the thing had gotten it, sirens and lights filled the air about the two. Hissing loudly the lizard whirled around, and clutching the sword by the handle, it shook it menacingly at the Police cars. "Do you knaves dare to come after milord?"

Finally Rei saw a true window of opportunity. As long as this crazed beast kept the policemen away, he could slip away undetected. And before he could come up with any pessimistic objections, he was away on swift feet. Rei hardly even thought of the noble sacrifice that the lizard was doing for him. He lightly brushed off the thought though; the dumb reptile was probably doped to the gills.

Briskly jogging along the street, with a bowling ball bag in his arms. Rei weaved in between casual passersby. Some of them were walking over to the bank to see what was happening, others knew that if it was important enough they could catch it later on the news. Rei didn't really care where they were going anymore, just where he was going. Hurriedly he turned down corners, and ran across crosswalks. As long as he lived, as long as he lived.

For a moment he had heard the great clamor of guns unloading their deadly shrapnel of metal, mostly into the perpetrator they thought had tried to blow up a bank. The thing was probably dead, or all of the cops were. For one moment their had been a great clamor of exploding gun powder, and the next moment there was silence. But after that last moment ended, worried optimism, turned to bitter pessimism.

The bystanders he had passed by, began to egg the cops on in the direction of a 'suspect with gold feathers and a bowling ball bag', and he madly dashed past them. Obscenities poured from Rei's mouth, as the din of sirens flooded his ears.

For the most part he had been sticking to the nicer streets and side roads. Hoping for that he wouldn't have to turn down the alleyways, and the more reprehensible parts of his disheartening city.

Now the alleys that once shunned his over clean clothes, had quickly manifested themselves as his sanctuary. To narrow for a squad car to drive down, and possibly to tight a fit for some of the officers as well. Just the right fit for Rei to keep running. Little got in his way that he couldn't just jump over.

It wasn't too much longer, that all the running was getting to him. His throat was beginning to taste funny, and his stringy muscles were feeling worn out. That's what years of living in a busy metropolis will do to the lungs, and what a few decades of not going to the gym will do to the muscles.

Achingly Rei raised a hand to his ear, and listened for any pursuers. He smiled, as the only sounds that greeted him were the sounds of a drunk breathing heavily. Sitting down with a sharp motion, Rei cracked his knuckles in front of his face, and gently settled onto some piss stained ground. Nasty dirty smells filled his nostrils, and a heavy hand shook his shoulder, and a gruff voice spoke to him.

Suddenly it dawned on Rei where he was, and what he was doing. If it hadn't been for his thick gold plumage, the bum that shook him wouldn't have believed at how white and pale Rei's skin had suddenly gone.

Rei mumbled a bit, in response to the man's drink-tinged words, "W-w-what?"

A huge toothy and yellow grin was in front of his eyes, as the creature in front of him asked, "I said, are you down on your luck, man? Oh, and a good evening to you sir."

…

Chief of Investigations, Detective Teip Grans, eyed the charred corpse in front of him carefully. It looked like an overdone holiday fowl, and it reeked like a dead wino. Obvious bullet wounds had made a great mess of the thing. After it had been shot, it had somehow managed to burst into flames as well. At least that's what a whining private had told him.

Following the pattern of the fried muscles could make one dizzy. The burnt meat just wound round and round the bones, this almost seemed like a new species. If anything they should have some egghead scientist looking it over. But not right now. It was his job at the moment. To try to make sense of the entire mess.

Running over the barely connected events, he tried to grasp the overlying meaning to all of it. First their had been some over-zealous bird, who strolled into a bank with a load of explosives in a bag. The bird's name was Rei Kiljrow, that much they had found out. Stupid idiot actually forgot his passport and wallet at the scene of the crime. First-rate amateur!

Next he attempts to run out the door, which was found to have been locked by a faulty security system. Then this Rei detonates the bomb! Somehow everyone in the bank is injured, except for him and some freakin' monster. Heck some people thought it looked more like lightning than a bomb, but the sky above was a clear blue day. Finally some buck private opens fire, and soon every Cop with a gun is pumping lead into a giant. Then to top it off, some squad cars had been neatly sliced in half by a sword, and the perpetrator, Rei, had gotten away.

Teip sighed, life just wasn't easy. Again he looked at the sizzling hulk of burnt flesh that had once been alive. Looking down the spiraling arm muscles, he kept going down. Past shoulder, down the biceps, to the wrist, and then to the singed hand. Clutched in an immovable death embrace was, of all things, a four-foot long silver sword!

The thing flashed in the sagging afternoon sun. Marvelous was the only word that came to mind. Struggling to do so, Teip cracked a smile, and strained some of the muscles on his face in the process. He massaged the throbbing spots on his scale-covered face. There was definitely something oddly familiar about the twisted corpse on the ground below him. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"We're both lizards, eh? So you won't mind if I take this from you, right? After all we might have been brothers." It beckoned to him; the sword spoke soothing words into his mind. He might have all that he ever wanted, but just to touch the sword, and find ever-lasting life.

Reaching out, and trying to convince himself not to, he clutched the black charred wrist. With his other hand he began to twist the gnarled claw that held the sword. A dull and ash muted snap followed, and except for some dusty ash, the fist came neatly off. Along with some wrist and a sword.

It was a bit heavy and unwieldy, but it was worth a fortune. Walking over to halved squad car, he beat the blackened hand on the bumper, until the fingers weakened and fell the ground as dust. He gripped the sword with a sure hand, and felt energy course through his fingertips. He let out a startling sound of joy, alerting a squirrel detective not to far from him.

It was one of his men. "Hey there Detective Grans, never thought I'd ever see you smile."

Teip looked at the squirrel with gleaming eyes, and a sharp toothy grin, "Well, I've just suddenly got a lot to be happy about."

The squirrel shook a wavering finger at him, "Hang on a sec'! Wotcha' got that thing for?"

Suddenly Teip switched over to barking mode, as he deftly took off his coat, and wrapped it around the blade, "What the Sam Hell you gawking at! Get me a report on the double! Don't just stand there!"

Reprimanded, the detective cowered, and protested "B-but the evidence…"

Veins popped out from beneath the scales, and steam just about burst from his reptilian ears, "I'll take care of the evidence, and you take care of that report, do you understand?"

Shaking, the squirrel with sagging bushy tail behind him, went over to write up a report. And Teip turned around and coddled the sword. As he did that, a curious song crept into his mind, and because of his great mood, he began to whistle it aloud.