Blind Phoenix

Curiosity of Change

The two sat in the living room, silent. Maria was fiddling with her thumbs while Byur, with a slouched back kept his arms loose on his thighs. It was painfully silent; no noise came from outside or in. The only thing that could be heard was the pendulum of an old clock. The girl took in a short breath as to speak, but Byur cut her off.

“Welcome to…my home. I hope you…feel welcome.”

“Ah! Yes…thank you. I’m sure you already know, but my name is Maria, nice to meet you.”

He gave a faint smile, but she was unable to notice it.

“Yes…my name…is Byur. The feeling is...mutual. My grandmother is…out buying food…right now. Please…feel free…to look around.”

            She felt easier from his words; she leisurely looked at the room and its decorations. The wind from yesterday had come back; Byur put on another shirt and approached an open window in order to close it.

            “Excuse me” he said as he reached for the window behind Maria. Byur closed the window with difficulty, his weak muscles flexed with all their might, providing minimal strength. Maria saw this, invoking sadness and a bit of curiosity towards the severity of his condition. Byur sat back down, visibly tired. Maria anxiously asked him “Sorry to ask you this, Byur, but I want to know something.”

            He tilted his head a bit questioningly, talking with the little breath he had left. “By all means…ask me…anything. Your questions…will not hurt me.”

            “Alright” she said. “How exactly did this happen to you? Your condition, I mean.”

            “A man with too much time on his hands-“He took a deep and coarse breath, “decided he would…burn my…face and…my lungs. I do not…know why, but…at this point…it does…not matter.”

            She leaned a forward a bit and said “Did they find him?”

            “Hah…no”

            The room was silent yet again, this silence continued for about a minute. The wind could be heard again from outside, louder than before. Byur looked at Maria, played with his hair and spoke.

 “Well, now it’s…my turn. Tell me…about yourself.”

“There isn’t much to tell, really.” She gave a light chuckle. “I’m 18 years old, my Father works as a bartender. He makes about 23,000 Euros a year. My mother has no job and I just graduated from High School a few months back.”

“I see” he said, “and your…hobbies?”

“I’m a martial artist. I’ve trained in many fighting styles.” This peaked Byur’s interest. “I know kickboxing, judo, wrestling and Muay Thai. I’ve been told I’m very good at it, but I’m also not allowed to show it to the public.”

Byur’s eyes glistened under the wrappings. “I…I love martial arts. When I was…a kid, I…always watched…movies and cartoons…based around them.” He sat a bit closer to Maria and said “Please…tell me more.”

Maria was taken by surprise by his strong reaction. He seemed to be a very calm person to her, such energy was not expected. She was completely comfortable now, her mouth stretched into a large smile and her tone grew more friendly.

“You know, I’m not supposed to tell this to anyone, even my family, but I’ll make an exception, just for you! I’m giving this information to you since you seem like trustworthy person and I was going to have to tell you at one point anyway.”

Byur laughed briefly and urged her to continue.

Maria spoke softly just in case anyone else would hear.

“I’m part of a secret organization of extraordinary fighters. Every single one of us has high amounts of inner energy, which I can explain to you later.”

Byur leaned forward cautiously as he talked “Just how…strong are you?”

The girl removed one layer of her uniform in order to free her arms and stood up. “Watch” she said. Maria closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She pulled her right arm back and positioned it next to her hip after making a fist. Opening her eyes suddenly, Maria punched directly in front of her and seemingly out of nowhere, a large current of wind was released from her fist.

The entire room began to shake and papers flew into the air. The noise that the outside wind made was drowned out by the energy of Maria’s strike. Byur covered his head and waited for it to end. He slowly lowered his hands and sat in awe. Looking at Maria, he stood up with such a large grin that it was visible under the bandages.

“That…was marvelous!” Byur said in the loudest voice he could make. “I thought…power like this…was only a myth.”

Maria was picking up all the papers and items that had fallen. Nothing had been damaged; she was in control of the entire thing. After she finished she sat back down in the same spot. Byur wanted to ask her so many things, but he was unable to speak. He was at a loss for words.

“I can feel your confusion, no need to speak. I will answer all your questions soon. Just know, there’s a much deeper reason as to why I’m here. This meeting isn’t by chance, but by the command of my organization.” She stood yet again and offered Byur her hand.

“I see that you are tired. Let me help you to your room”

He nodded and grabbed her hand. She gracefully walked him through the long hallway leading to his bedroom. Maria turned around and asked “You’re blind, but you can sense everything around you, right?”

“Yes” Byur responded.

She smiled, “Perfect.”

The young man was confused by her words, but the excitement had rendered him exhausted. His mind had thousands of thoughts juggling around, but he remained quiet. They arrived at his room and she gently helped him prepare for bed. After this Maria slowly walked to the door and said “Good night, Byur.”

“Yes…goodnight.”

Maria closed the door and left his room. As Byur dozed off he could hear his grandmother entering the house and unpacking the food she had bought. She and Maria were speaking cheerfully, but he could not make out a single word. After a few more minutes, he was asleep.

Morning came as it always did, sunlight shined on Byur’s bed from the window. Today’s weather was nice, it was cool but the warmth given off from the sun countered it. The air was fresh as well, it couldn’t get much better. Byur removed the blankets from his body and stood up. He then stopped, feeling his abdomen, legs and face with his hands. He had gained weight, at least two or three pounds. Byur felt a bit scared, he rushed into the living room as fast as he could, going faster than usual.

            “Why does my body feel lighter, this makes no sense” he thought.

            The young man arrived at the living room, but his grandmother was nowhere in sight. He began to panic and frantically turned his head, hoping to feel her presence. She was always home, every morning. There had not been a single day where she had been absent without notifying him first. He knew right away that something was wrong.

            After searching for a minute he became nearly exhausted. He had called for her at least 10 times as loudly as he could. Sweat dripped from his hair, eyebrows, arms and the entirety of his body. Not a moment later he noticed an aura of energy he had failed to pick up. It was unfamiliar but familiar. It was someone he had met lately. It was indeed Maria. She was sitting calmly at a small table near the kitchen Byur and his grandmother always used while eating.

            “Sorry about hiding my energy like that, but that was a test.”

            He approached her, every muscle in his body strained from his actions, he grinded his teeth and spoke.

            “Where is my Grandma?” He was able to speak without his lungs faltering. He put his right hand over his mouth. He shouldn’t be able to speak so easily, he thought. Byur’s confusion and anger only grew stronger. Maria still remained calm, taking a sip of tea before speaking.

            “My organization I told you about, they took her away. Please don’t worry, she was told everything, the situation you are in and why we must do what we did.” She took another sip and noticed Byur’s anger had not faded yet.

            “I know this is very sudden, but you have to trust me. Where we’ve sent her, she’s probably going to have an easier time than most wealthy people.”

            Byur was still panting, attempting to remain as calm as possible, like he had always been taught.

            “When will I get to see her?”

            “When the man who did this to you is found.”

            Maria finished her tea and set the cup into the sink and began to wash it. Byur stood there, still panting.

            “So the things you told me yesterday…about your family, that was all a lie? Do you even have any interest in becoming a caretaker?”

            “No, I don’t.” She said. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t take care of you, Byur. As for the things I told you about my family, yes, most of it was a lie. My mother owns several companies and my father, while still a bartender, works for the Organization of Legends, otherwise known as “OWL” for short. The one I told you about.”

            “…There’s no ‘w’ in Organization of Legends.”

“…yeah.”

            Birds began to chirp outside. The fresh air from the opened window blew in, entering the young man’s lungs with ease. Byur, having some of his questions answered began to calm down.

            “Let me talk to her.”

            Maria smiled kindly and handed him a phone. “Here, hold the number eight for a few seconds. She’ll be surprised to hear you breathing so well.”

            He took the phone and paused for a terse moment “I’ll have to ask you about that as well.”

            After conversing with his grandmother for a good half hour, he turned off the phone and set it down on the table. He brushed his hair back. While doing so he felt his muscles contract, but only slightly. It was as if he was almost back to normal. His face no longer pained him and his lungs did not feel as if they were falling apart. His blindness remained, but at this point it did not bother him in the least.

            “So” he said. “How did I miraculously recover, how can something like this be possible? Did you inject me with something while I was asleep? Most importantly, why are you interested in the man that harmed me, what could you and your allies benefit from finding a psychotic man such as him?”

            Maria explained that she had transferred energy to him the night before. When he had grabbed her hand, she already began the process. The improvement was temporary, but he was told that there was one way of making him normal permanently.

            “I do have to tell you, though, you’ll be far better than normal. As for that man…there is a reason he targeted you, and you are far from the only one who will be harmed by him.”

            Byur scratched his head. “Why? He has a plan, or something?”

            “Of course, every month a child is born with a great hidden power inside of them. The Organization of Legends trains those children to become powerful martial artists starting from the age of 15. We were a bit late in finding you and for that, I am sorry.”

            He was in shock, disappointed in himself for thinking such an event could have occurred for no reason. When he had been burned, he noticed that the man had used nothing but his arms. There was no torch, no lighter, no wood or anything else to be used in order to start a fire near the vicinity when it happened. He recalled how the black flame seemed to burst out of the hand of the strange man. Being able to forget such a major detail perplexed him, but then again, he was scared immensely and nearly died that day.

            “He…he used to be one of you, didn’t he?”

            “Yes, he definitely was. He became the strongest of us all, just like he always wanted. His name is Tenno and we think his goal is to reach immortality and perhaps rule the Earth, that is why he executes every child he believes will one day become stronger than him.” She was disgusted from just mentioning his name, but continued. “I guess you were his first mistake.”

            “I don’t get it” Byur said. “Why doesn’t he just kill the entire organization, doesn’t he fear that one of you will-.” Maria cut him off and said “No. he is arrogant and knows that none of us could ever reach his level…he found a way to increase his power so much that I would not be able to get near him even if he had his arms bound. He’s almost like a demon.”

            Byur’s energy levels were still rising, he looked straight at Maria’s face and said “Every day I spend idly is another day I could have spent trying to stop that heartless maniac. Please, Maria” He grabbed her by her shoulders. “Show me how to recover so I may begin my training. I believe we can defeat him, we just need to figure out how”

            Maria was surprised when he did this and responded “Yes, of course…I uh.” She looked at the floor momentarily. “Lynn”

            Byur raised an eyebrow.

            “What?”

            “We must go and find my close friend, Lynn. She will take care of everything we need. I hope you’re ready to go outside for once Byur. Everything is going to change.”

            Maria smiled yet again and they both prepared to leave. Byur put on a black buttoned t-shirt and white pants that Maria had brought with her. The clothes felt strange, he had not worn anything but an old shirt and sweat pants for years. It felt weird, but nice.

            Maria spoke enthusiastically “Ready to go, Byur?”

            “I can’t say no at this point, nor do I want to.”

Byur opened the door and stepped outside, his feet wobbled a bit from the unfamiliar and hard ground. He composed himself and looked forward. A new world waited for him, a world that would only be experienced by a select few.