Blind Phoenix

Rumors of True Enemies

At 10AM, a local sandwich shop in Barrik was packed, over twenty people stood in line, aggravated. It was not only a busy day; it was also a hot one. Everyone was at their brink, ready to burst at the slightest inconvenience. The next customer was a relatively short young man wearing a hoodie and sweat pants. He stepped forward and looked up at the menu, taking his sweet time deciding what to choose. Another young man, a highschooler lost his patience and said, “Hey punk, hurry up and decide.”

            The hooded customer turned his head and stared at the individual for an extended period of time. The highschooler and two of his friends walked forward.

            “What the f**k are you looking at, midget?” he said as he pulled the hoodie off the young man. “Oh man, look at this guy, bandages and orange f*****g spikes for hair, what kind of freak are you?”

            The stranger pulled a bandage down to reveal his eye, his pupil was white, its stare made the boy freeze in horror. Everyone was looking at them, wondering why both had suddenly gone silent.

            “I’ve decided my order” said the stranger in a guttural voice. “Burnt human flesh, haha!” his laugh was strange. It was almost like he was choking on his own words. He grabbed the highschooler by the arm and set him ablaze. The fire was black and purple. It quickly ate away at everything in its path. The building was engulfed in fire. As it spread it became its original color but became no less violent. By the time anyone had arrived, the culprit was gone and every single person near the vicinity was dead.  Not a single trace of him was left behind. All cameras near the shop had miraculously shut off minutes before the event. Before long it was on the news in several different locations and only became more popular as the hours passed.

            A certain someone with grey hair lying down on his couch heard the news. He thought nothing of it at first until one statement in particular was said. Witnesses reported seeing a dark purple flash before the fire began. Also, the young man had been wearing bandages on his face.

            “Dark purple? Is it him? No…must be a connection though.” said Byur. “Ah…why am I talking out loud when I’m alone?”

            If the suspect was still in the area, Byur could snuff him out by sensing his energy, no matter how well hidden it was. The young man dressed himself in a navy blue shirt and black shorts before setting off. For some reason the weather was cool, unlike before. Clouds crowded together and gave hope of rain. Yes, hope of rain, but that is all it was. It would not rain today, now was not the time for it.

            Byur walked to the area of the incident. He felt around him miniscule powers and stressed hearts. He also felt the cold eyes of the men and women glaring at him. The perpetrator of the fire had worn bandages, and Byur’s certainly grasped the attention of those around him.  Was he the criminal? Could he have been the one? He knew what they were thinking, it would only be natural.

            A close by alley way was giving off an ominous aura so Byur went to check it out. It was short in length and led to a dead end, something behind Byur was slowly approaching him. The person raised his hand and placed it on Byur’s shoulder.

            “Looking for someone?”

            “Is it that obvious, James?”

            James had seen Byur looking around, looking confused according to him.

            “Haha, yes, although I have no facial expressions to work with in your case, I can notice people’s emotions quite well.”

            “Sounds like a nice power.”

            “Oh? It’s not a power, I’m just like that.”

            “I see, apologies. James I hate to ask you to do me a favor all of a sudden, but could you help me find a man with bandages on his face, just like mine? He should have a fairly large energy.”

            “Ah right, I’ve been meaning to ask you what your bandages are for, I didn’t see your fight yesterday. Sure, though, I’ll help you find him.”

            Right then, a marble fell onto the floor between the two. They looked up and saw a silhouette of someone squatting on the rooftops. The person was emitting an enormous amount of energy.

            James turned to Byur and said, “I think we just found our man. Hey, you there! What are doing?”

            The figure stood up and ran across several rooftops in seconds. Byur and James pursued him. The culprit was fast, although to say he was merely fast was an understatement. The individual harbored such glorious speed that Byur and James, extraordinary humans, could all but keep up. With those same ice cold white eyes, the stranger looked over his shoulder.  He stopped abruptly and grabbed both of their heads and rammed them into the roof’s floor, leaving them near incapacitated. Through hazy eyes James looked at him, trying to maybe recognize him. All he could see was again, eyes of a demon. The stranger crouched down and tilted his head.

            “What is this? Mmm, you fellows are too strong for humans, aren’t you?” It felt like he was talking with pebbles in his throat. “Why do you pursue?” The stranger turned his head and looked at Byur, saying “Your smell is familiar, ah, yes. The child with grey hair is grown up. How nice. Hah, he will like this, very much. I implore you, live long enough to die when the time is right. You have yet to even see the greatest fighters in this universe!”

            Instead of instantly escaping, the stranger calmly walked to the edge of the roof.

            “Wait!” Cried out James, “What is your name?”

            “Anthroph” said the stranger. He pounced off the roof into the air and flew away. The two friends remained on the ground and slowly passed out. When they had come to, the sun had already set.

            “Byur, are you alright? That guy pushed me down so hard I think he almost dislocated my shoulder.”

            “He was so strong…”

            “I know. I can’t believe we met someone like that, must have been following us.”

            “So damn strong, I can’t wait…Oh, sorry, yeah I’m fine.” Byur brought himself up, “This headache is killing me, though. Need help getting up?”

            “No it’s ok. The only thing he truly hurt was my pride. First Nico, then you and now him, I’m starting to feel weak.”

            “You’ve…fought Nico before? I didn’t know he was a fighter.”

            “Damn, friend, you’ve got to be joking. I’ve seen him take on Lynn with two fingers, he was struggling, but he won. That was a year ago, I bet he’s on a whole ‘nother level now.”

            “I had no idea, thanks for telling me. We should probably get out of here, let’s go get something to eat, I’ll buy.”

            “Sure, while we’re there tell me what’s up with those bandages.”

            “Sounds fair.”

            The two friends found a hot dog stand bought a couple to eat.

            With his mouth full, Byur started talking. “Well, you see,” He quickly swallowed his food, “the bastard I fought thought it was a good idea to impale my eyes at the cost of being disqualified. We fought each other even after that, but I was clearly in the lead towards the end. I killed him, now I’m just waiting to see what they do. I might not even be allowed to fight tomorrow.”

            “W-what?! You don’t seem bothered at all, are you sure you’re fine?”

            “No use worrying about it, I have no control over it at this point, might as well leave everything to the people who know best.”

            “They might not know best.”

            “I trust them” said Byur.

            “It’s good to have friends like that. I live alone with my father nowadays. I just stay home and take care of him, I don’t mind it though. He’s been a good father since my mother left. Maybe you should come and greet him some day.”

            Byur finished his food and stood up. “One day, James. For now I need to go back and rest. I heard my opponent is going to be one heck of a fighter, and that stranger, Anthroph, I have to get to his level.”

            They both said their goodbyes and parted. Byur once again saw the white cat from when he first left his house. It meowed at him and for the first time, it came closer. Byur squatted as the cat brushed up against his leg. He gently massaged the back of the cat’s ear and in return, the cat licked his face. The two were not always on good terms, but even an animal can feel the pain of others.

Byur entered his house through his newly installed door, on the couch his three friends were sitting, drinking tea. They seemed calm, not happy, not sad, calm. It was an appropriate way to hold themselves, they thought.

            “So what’s the final verdict? Fifteen years in some space prison?”

            Maria began talking and said, “No, they’ve agreed to let you off this one time. Several other crimes Yuig had committed came to light during all of this. Since the intergalactic justice system supports some cases of citizen decided justice, all charges anyone could bring up against you were dropped. It was a small victory.”

            Byur’s bandages now only covered his eyes; he smiled at his friends and said, “Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. The fight with the lizard man is going to be tough. At least I won’t have to worry about anything else now.”

            “That’s not all” said Nico. “The surgery, for your eyes. They found a way to fix them. It will take fifteen years for your vision to come back. That puts me at ease, but not much.”

            “Hmph, fifteen years huh. That’s a small price to pay for stopping you-know-who. I even found a lead, one of Tenno’s friends burned down a sandwich shop and I was able to find him, for a short while…He said his name was Anthroph.”

            “Anthroph is a sly arsehole, bruv. He’ll never tell us where Tenno is until we beat the living heck out of him. Finding him is just the beginning. There are several others that stand in our way, each stronger than the other. I could just interrogate him myself. He’s much weaker than the three of us. You’re the only one he has a chance against.”

            Byur put more confidence into his voice and said, “And I’ll be the one fighting him. Leave him to me, Nico. I must defeat him. I will prove to you that I’m worthy of being the hero, that your trust and time won’t go to waste.”

            “First you must defeat your current prey, bruv. Worry about the big ones later. We all know you’re worth the time. All that’s left is to show that to Tenno and his dogs, he’ll get his fair share of pummeling too.”

            Byur formed his hand into a fist and said, “Damn right.”