Ice Phoenix

by Sulin Young

  Terrana had seen this place before— many times actually. However, she had never been able to enter. Would she succeed this time? She released her breath, slowing her descent. She could see the dragon now.

  The ‘dragon’ was an enormous structure built into the side of the mountain, and Terrana had taken a while to figure out that it wasn’t alive. With its head raised to the sun and a mouth partially open, she could discern people walking inside. Its eyes were soulful yet fierce, and the upper half of the dragon’s body rested above ground. Without knowing how, Terrana knew that the rest of it entwined its way below, into the great lake that seemed to stretch on forever.

  Every detail of the dragon was intricate, down to the ridges on its red scales, to the splayed claws on the ground. She landed lightly on its head, took one step and fell right through.

  No one noticed her as she fell through the floors, unable to exert any of the control she had possessed earlier. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she reached the bottom. Her bare feet sank into a soft, beige carpet that felt wonderful. She also felt heavier and more solid. Totally intrigued, she studied her surroundings — and was completely blown away.

  A large hallway meandered towards the left, heading upwards. However, it was what lay on the other side of its transparent walls, majestically lit up by angled lights to reveal a whole new worldthat robbed her of her breath— she was under water.

  Transparent domes and esplanades weaved in a serpentine fashion, further embellished by strange and elaborate sculptures. Terrana was struck by how clear the bottom of the lake was; a combination of soft, white sand and smooth pebbles. She could see people, mainly young students, moving through the esplanades. She wasn’t sure how they were moving, but they weren’t strictly walking. Her eyes widened in surprise to see a boy crawling along the ceiling like a slug.

  None of the students were human. They weren’t restricted to the dry confines of the domes either. As she inched closer to the glass, she saw there were others swimming outside. Long, graceful bodies with forked tails swept past, and Terrana noticed their faces were strangely alien, with tiny nostrils, glassy eyes, and very sharp teeth.

  A gigantic creature, similar to a manta ray, rose from the lakebed. Terrana gaped in awe as it enveloped her in the shadow of its enormous, wing-like pectoral fins, each spanning over ten metres. Its fantail consisted of slender fins, implying to Terrana that this creature was a master acrobat and speed-king of the lake. Other aquatic creatures swam by; they were all fascinating in their own right with their wonderful array of colours and compositions.

  Terrana tried to see up to the surface of the lake and failed. Disappointed, she left the hallway and headed towards the top of the dragon. Eventually, it opened up into a grandiose domed room where several daises were suspended in the air, connected by large disks that formed paths throughout the dome. It was swarming with students hovering around weird monitors. She guessed it to be a library.

  She came to a fork in her path and chose left. She had come to the conclusion that no one could see her, contrary to her time spent in the city. She encountered another fork and picked left again, heading upwards. After what seemed like forever, she arrived at a door. Constructed from wood, it appeared out of place with the rest of the school and its winding, transparent esplanades. The sleeping face of a strange creature was carved into it.

  Even in sleep, it looked frightening. Hairs stuck out of pointy ears. Eyes blended in with the deep wrinkles on its forehead. Its nose was almost nonexistent. And Terrana did not fail to notice the sharp teeth peeking from its wide mouth. Not knowing why, she reached out to touch the face. It came as no surprise when her hand passed right through, but it was a very big shock when the creature’s eyes opened. She screamed and jumped back.

  “Oh hoo, a cheat!” it said nastily. But it couldn’t see her. Its face emerged from the door, rotating left to right, trying to sniff her out. Terrana’s worst fear came to life when it stepped out the door completely, like a stubborn glob of snot.

  The creature was nearly as tall as her, with a stunted but muscular body. It wasn’t wearing any clothes and she did her best to avert her eyes from certain areas while trying to inch away from it.

  “Hide all you want, I’ll still find you,” it wheezed. Terrana didn’t think that’d be too hard considering it was almost standing on top of her. Its eyes popped out suddenly, bouncing up and down on springy cartilage.

  “Eeew gross!” she cried out as some something thick and slimy touched her face.

  “FOUND YOU! I can see my goo!” It tried to grab her with both hands but her reflexes were quicker. She ducked beneath them, diving through the door. It was still shut. How she knew she’d go through, she had no idea. She picked herself off the floor quickly, eyeing the door warily. Behind her, the door stretched and twisted, but no matter how hard it tried, the creature could not penetrate. Refusing to give up, it continued banging on the door.

  Terrana ignored it with practised ease gained from dealing with her brother. Instead, she decided to study her surroundings. By all appearances, it resembled an office. She padded across the smooth, wooden floor to the old bookshelf, curious about the type of books she would find. Most of them were leather-bound and tightly wedged in. She pulled one out, flipped through the pages and placed it back. Not a single word had made sense. She focused her attention elsewhere.

  The furnishings in the room were surprisingly sparse. It contained a single wooden chair and a mirror hanging over the fireplace — that was all. She’d seen more stuff in a toilet than in this room.

  She spotted a crystal ball above the fireplace, pranced over and picked it up. There were planets inside and perhaps … stars? She wasn’t sure. She returned the ball to its place and chose to study the mirror next. That was a little more interesting with its delicately wrought metal frame featuring ships and cars. She glanced into the mirror and her heart flipped. There was a man reflected in it and he was watching her!

  “Just a dream, you’re in a dream,” she told herself. “No reason to be afraid.” She reached out and touched the mirror. It was solid. Frowning, she turned around. A bare wooden wall met her eyes. If she were to go by the mirror, the man should be sitting behind that wall with a window at his back. Convinced that anything could happen in dreams, she took a deep breath and strode towards the wall. She didn’t stop when she reached it.

  She passed right through and found herself looking into the eyes of the man behind the desk. He was smiling. Terrana couldn’t help herself — she smiled back.

  “Hello,” he said. “I was expecting you. What is your name?”

  “Terrana. How’d you know I’d be here?” She was curious now. He was the only person in this school who could see her. Also, he was the most human-looking.

  “We have monitors in this school. We know when someone else other than students and staff is here.”

  “Oh.” Then, “Are you a teacher here?”

  He smiled again. “Yes.”

  “This is a really cool school. I like it here!”

  This time he laughed. He looked much friendlier. “Well, if you like it so much, why don’t you become a student here?”

  It was her turn to laugh. Fancy someone from a dream asking her to attend dream school! “You’re funny. You know I can’t. You’re a dream!”

  He looked surprised. Very surprised. “A dream? Are you trying to tell me that you don’t think this school is real? Or that I am real? That you are dreaming about us right now?”

  She nodded. She didn’t know why but she was starting to feel uncomfortable. It was becoming really hot in the room. The man asked her several more questions, which she answered, but she was beginning to sweat. Unable to bear it any longer, the words rushed out her mouth. “The air is so hot! It’s getting hard to breathe. Please open your window!”

  He rose from his desk quite suddenly, knocking his chair over, and was at her side in an instant. “Don’t be scared.” He took her left arm, as
if he was checking her temperature. Something on his face changed as he studied her.

  “Terrana, listen to me closely. You are in great danger and you need to wake up right now! Do you understand me? You need to leave this office, this school, this place and wake up right now. Go! Leave this place immediately!”

  “You’re hurting me! Let go!”

  “Wake up, Terrana! Get away from here! Wake up!” He was shouting. If he had intended to scare her, he succeeded. Terrana wanted nothing more than to get away from him. The heat around her was unbearable. Her dream was going all wrong. Suddenly, there was that gut wrenching feeling as she felt herself being sucked away. When she opened her eyes next, she knew she had woken up.

  She was back in her room and — her ceiling was on fire. Like a movie played in slow motion, she stared transfixed as the beam above her bed gave way and fell. Pain. Terrana screamed as it caught one of her legs. Her sheets burst into flames.

  With a strength born from desperation, she hauled herself from under the beam, struggling to ignore the excruciating pain of being burned alive. An ordinary person would have panicked while going up in flames, but not Terrana. She landed heavily on the floor and began rolling back and forth to put out the fire on her legs.

  Where were her parents? Why weren’t they running into her room to rescue her? There was another danger now. Smoke. She could barely breathe and whatever she drew into her lungs choked her. She knew she had to get out of the house.

  “Muum.” It was only a whisper, but by uttering that single word, Terrana released all her fear and anxiety into it. Something was terribly wrong. Her parents were light sleepers.

  The pain of getting to her feet almost caused her to faint. She didn’t realise that her left leg had been fractured by the falling beam. The sharp pain had been disguised under the agony of her burns. Very slowly, she dragged herself to the door and stepped onto the landing. Her parents’ room was at the end.

  Terrana’s world crumbled.

  Her parents’ door had been left open to allow in the cool sea breeze which filtered in from the living room. Ironically, it also fanned the flames writhing inside. If hell really existed, she was looking at it. No one was getting in or out of that room alive. No one.

  Despair. It rose in her chest like living darkness, suffocating her. She couldn’t scream. She couldn’t cry. She could only watch as the fire consumed all that was in that room. Never again would she see her mum’s smiling face while stirring a pot of stew, or her dad, snoring in his hammock under the mango tree. Fate was cruel, leaving her this last memory of her parents burning in their room, as the house fell to pieces around her.

  A hazy figure stumbled through her vision. Archie. Miraculously, he was still alive. But it didn’t take long to realise that all was not well with him. The right side of his face was red and bleeding. His right arm hung limply at his side. Seeing her brother like that awoke her from her stupor and she limped over, slipping under his left shoulder to support him.

  “We gotta get outta here, sis,” he mumbled.

  “Mum and Dad …”

  “They’re not coming. We need to get out quickly.”

  Archie’s only thought was to get his sister to safety. Choking and coughing, the two of them hobbled along the landing, towards the living room. It was the only way out now.

  Fire dropped like liquid from the ceiling beams. Terrana had never seen anything like it. They were forced to hug the wall, but as they approached the living room they could see that it was no better than the rest of the house.

  “There.” Archie pointed to a narrow path between the kitchen and the living room that led to the main door. Fire licked at it, but they could avoid the flames if they were quick enough.

  “Hurry,” Archie urged. “Before the fire eats up the floor.”

  They hobbled as fast as their injured bodies would allow them to, biting back the pain as their bare feet came into contact with the scorching floor. They had just passed the kitchen when a whole section of the ceiling collapsed. Because she was so focused on helping Archie, Terrana didn’t see it. But Archie looked up, and in that instant he understood they wouldn’t be leaving the house alive.

  His feet stopped moving and his arm slid off his sister’s shoulder. Then, before she could turn around and before his courage failed him, he shoved his sister with all his strength towards the door. The ceiling came down. The last thing he saw was Terrana’s horrified face as she whirled around and stared in horror.

  Run. Don’t come back here. You have to live.

  She couldn’t reach him. The relentless flames seared her hands and face, keeping her away. Her brother was right there, under all that rubble, but he wasn’t moving.

  “ARCHIE! ARCHIE!” Anguish. Why? Why was this happening? What had her family ever done to deserve this? The cursed fire evaporated her tears before they even reached her cheeks. She collapsed to her knees in front of her brother’s final resting place, unable to feel anything anymore. Her world had just died with her family. They had meant everything to her.

  The gas cylinders used for cooking exploded outside the house, setting off a reaction that brought down the rest of the ceiling. But Terrana neither heard nor saw any of it. Neither did she feel powerful arms lifting her up.

  The stranger looked around, trying to sense life in the fire. He felt none. With a sorrowful sigh, he gathered Terrana closer to his chest and walked out the house. The flames licked his body but fell away like water.

  “I came too late. I’m so sorry, child.”

  5

  Goodbye, old friend

  He could have been from the future or another planet. One thing was certain, he wasn’t human. He wore a dark, knee-length skirt that was light, almost metallic in texture. Fire, water or acid could not leave a mark on it. His vest was made of the same material, distinguished from his skirt by a broad heavy belt resting on his hips.

  Long white hair flowed down his back, an indication of race rather than age. By human standards, he would have appeared around thirty or thirty-five. He was also tall— around two metres— and his silver eyes glinted brightly in the firelight as he headed to the beach.

  The sea failed to touch his boots as he walked across its surface, and when he had gained enough depth, he began to glide over the water. Despite his distance from the beach, he could hear voices coming from the houses. The neighbours had finally woken up. He glanced back, admiring the manner in which they formed lines from the beach to the burning house, throwing buckets of water into the fire. The only problem was— they were too late.

  He looked away, gliding faster over the water. On this moonless night, no one saw him and the girl in his arms, or so he believed. He barely avoided the large form that torpedoed out of the water. Taken by surprise, he failed to see the tail descend. It caught him on his right shoulder and he grimaced as he felt it dislocate. He came to a dead stop in the middle of the ocean.

  It hadn’t been a shark— the tail had assured him of that. He eyed the water warily, ready to defend himself if necessary. It was circling beneath, moving really fast, and it disturbed him to feel the intense fury emanating from it.

  He shifted the girl slightly and she groaned. He looked at her with obvious concern in his eyes; shock had set in and her pulse was dangerously weak. He needed to get her to a hospital right away. But first, he needed to rid himself of the threat in the sea.

  Puddy broke through the surface quietly. The stranger spotted him and tensed, preparing to attack. They remained still for a few long seconds, facing each other. A startled look crossed the stranger’s face. “You know this girl! You are trying to protect her.”

  Puddy swam closer. When he was only about a metre away, he released a sad and curious sound. Years of friendship had created an unbreakable emotional bond between him and Terrana, and his call acted as a life-thread, reaching to her in the darkness.

  She heard it, a safe and familiar sound in a world gone drastically wrong. It was an anguished v
oice, pleading for her to come out, and she couldn’t ignore it. She still had someone to love, one very important friend who had not left her.

  The soothing sound of the sea filled her ears as her sight returned. Stars twinkled in the sky and she could see the Milky Way running clearly through the night. Someone was carrying her.

  “Puddy?” she mumbled through burned lips. Her hand fell from her side and would have dropped into the sea had not the stranger shifted her slightly. He was kneeling on the ocean, cradling her to his chest.

  A wet, familiar beak placed itself in her palm. Puddy made little sad noises.

  “Puddy,” she whispered. She tried to turn over and cried when her body refused to move. Her burns were excruciating. Puddy nudged her palm gently, as if trying to tell her it was okay; that she didn’t have to move to see him.

  “They’re gone Puddy … they’re all gone. The fire … took them. Why did … it take them?”

  Puddy nudged her palm gently.

  “Archie … pushed me away. He pushed me!” She choked, overcome by emotion.

  The stranger looked around. He was worried because he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was being watched. “I’m sorry, child. I must get you to a hospital.”

  “Let me go.”

  She was obviously delirious, he thought.

  A low, mournful cry came from the dolphin and, surprisingly, it began to pull away. Terrana’s fingers clutched empty air and she called out his name. He resurfaced a few metres down, releasing another cry. The stranger also rose to his feet.

  “Please, I must see him,” Terrana whispered hoarsely. He acquiesced and, applying as little pressure as possible, he shifted her so that she could see the dolphin. Puddy was still there, waiting for her.

  “Please, put me down. I can swim.”

  “Terrana,” he said her name for the first time, “it’s time to say goodbye.” It pained him to say that. He could feel her trembling in his arms and he sensed she wasn’t going to give up.