From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust. A phoenix rises and soars above. Over the vast trees and tallest mountains, it soars high into the endless blue skies free for all eternity from the hands of man. From the shackles that bound it in their grasp. It soars high and burns its flames above the azure blue skies and into the starry night. Guardian of the mountains, protector of the forest, teller of the seas, keeper of the skies. It has many names and duties that it plays, but one thing shall forever remain the same, from ash to ash, from dust to dust, a phoenix is born anew. A myth to some, a hope to others. Tales of this great creature passed down from generation and generation. Like a torch that is lit and passed down, the phoenix lives on for all eternity. Even if none can see it now or hope to obtain it’s eternal fire, it is of no consequence. For even if this great bird can no longer be seen, it’s fire lives on burning eternally. The fire now passed down and lies in the hearts of man who have once tried to bound the bird in chains and seek its power. The phoenix saw that the humans and it were more alike than it thought. From this endless cycle of pain they are reborn anew and hope ensues. The phoenix has passed it’s fire to humans and it’s eternal flames lies in the hearts of man. Giving them hope. Giving them pain. Giving them freedom to live for another day. From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust. A human rises and soars above on wingless feet. Free from the shackles that bounded them for all eternity. To reach towards the sky. To reach towards the stars. To find their freedom that needs no cost. Nor a life.

#Phoenix #Ashes #Dust #Rebirth #Sky #Wings #Humans #Freedom #Hope

Sheldon Smith seemed like an ordinary child, with ordinary parents, and an ordinary neighborhood. What was so extrodinary about Sheldon, however, was that there was a poltergeist living inside him. At least, that’s what the legendary medium, Cassandra the Wise, told his parents when they went to go see her. But how was a poltergeist living inside of him supposed to explain the hallucinations Sheldon often experienced. How was a poltergeist supposed to explain his unusual attraction towards the attic in his parent’s estate? How was a poltergeist supposed to explain the voice that often conversed by itself, as if reading a monologue? His parents initially brought him to the best psychatrists in the country, but they were baffled, for Sheldon’s brain was totally ordinary, like any other brain. It was after seeing Sheldon floating in the air while he was asleep, that they decided it would be wise to visit Cassandra.

Inside a dusty room in a dusty caravan, Cassandra the Wise sat by a gleaming crystal ball (which surprisingly did not have a single speck of dust on it). Her eyes were not focused on the polished ball, but rather, were latched onto the clouds instead. The clouds were rather peculiar today, and foretold a deadly spirit coming to visit her. This was odd, for all Class A and B spirits, (with the exception of malevolent Ice Spirits living in Antarctica) were all destroyed by spirit hunters back in the 70′s. She mulled upon how strange this omen was, but noted it in her journal nonetheless. Perhaps the cloud had been misread, and it would supposedly mean that a low level Class C spirit would visit her instead. Before the war on spirits, it was quite common for small, lantern shaped spirits to float into her caravan, seeking her help. As a divine seer, she would be able to look into their past, helping them figure out what they had forgotten to do when they were still alive. She frowned, for there were few of those kinds of spirits left, but the clouds never lie. “What could it mean?” She was left wondering aloud to herself, as she got up to answer the doorbell that Sheldon’s parents had just rung.

Sheldon did not like this woman. Something about her made his insides shrivel up, as if the very sight of the divine medium was burning a part of him. His parents, on the other hand, were chatting avidly with Cassandra. Although Sheldon did not like the mystic woman, he took interest in the dusty objects inside the caravan, such as an hourglass that happened to flow in reverse, a ruby crested cutlass that was mounted on the wall, and a deck of cards that shuffled themselves. This deck of cards was what most puzzled Sheldon, and he went to approach the playing cards to see why they shuffled themselves, perhaps they were attached to a string? He watched excitedly as the cards shuffled themselves again, and again. It was as if there were invisible fingers picking up the deck, splitting in half, neatly thumbing the cards together, and picking them back up again to repeat the cycle. Suddenly, he felt an urge to pick up the cards. He didn’t know why he had the urge, it was like someone else was controlling his arm as he stretched his skinny arm towards the deck of cards. Abruptly, his arm had been snatched in the wizened hand of Cassandra. “What is your name young man? And why were you going to touch my deck of cards? Don’t you know it’s dangerous to mess with spirits?” She demanded. “My name is Sheldon.” The boy replied. “I don’t know why I was so attracted to them, I didn’t even intend to move towards them, I think my body acted on its own. Do you have them attached to strings or something?” Cassandra raised an eyebrow, for it was hard to believe that this boy could be so naive, with what his parents had just told her moments ago. For one, he should know that something was wrong with him! “Listen, boy. “Do you know why you felt so attracted to these cards?” She asked. Sheldon shook his head. “These cards are being shuffled by a Class C spirit called a djinn. This one in particular is named Mukhed. ” She explained. “And you, young man. You have a Class A poltergeist inside of you.”

Sheldon was shocked, or at least, part of him was. Deep inside, he always thought that a second person lived inside of him. What else could explain the voice he often heard conversing with itself, but never with him. One time, when Sheldon was crossing the street while playing on his phone, he swear he heard someone say ”Watch out! There’s a car to your left!” Before his legs jerked themselves onto the sidewalk. “Thanks!” Sheldon said. But no one heard him, for he was all alone on the street. Another time, Sheldon was minding his own business at his schools playground. This was back when he was in primary school. The school bully came over and shoved Sheldon to the ground, laughing and calling him a weirdo. The voice in his mind cried ”Right hook!” and Sheldon sprung up and felt his fist connecting with the bully’s face. This was odd of Sheldon, for he was a quiet kid and he never felt the need to fight. He thought everyone had their own voice, but after asking some of his classmates about it and getting weird looks back, he decided he was special. But, now in the present, Cassandra the Wise was telling him he was possessed by a ghost. “How do I get rid of it?” Sheldon asked. Suddenly, his right arm slapped his face and a voice inside his head said ”Why would you want to get rid of me? I saved your life many times, my friend. Me and you have a special connection!” “Well you just slapped me!” Sheldon exclaimed to himself. ”Well you just threatened to get rid of me! Come on Sheldon, me and you are best buds, like you remember when I helped you dance at the Winter ball back in middle school? I totally helped you make yourself look cool.” The voice said. “You made me look like a fool!” Sheldon shouted, as he punched himself repeatedly in the head. All the while, Cassandra was watching him avidly, and his parents were watching with their jaws wide open.

Unbenownest to the poltergeist, Cassandra was able to hear every thing the spirit had spoken inside Sheldon’s head. She wanted to talk with Sheldon, but currently, he was frantically slamming his head against the wall. No matter, she thought to herself as she withdrew a pinch of fine green powder from a pouch in her pocket. She took this and blew it into Sheldon’s face, and he immediately calmed down. “That was powdered sage, that poltergeist of yours should be in a deep sleep right now. Sage does the trick against any spirit, from Class A to D.” She told him. “Atchoo!” Sheldon’s dad sneezed. “I’m deadly allergic to sage, and I’ll have to go to the hospital for my Epipen.” He said wearily. “Darling, can you drive me to the clinic? My eyes are more watery than the Pacific.” Sheldon’s mother lead her husband out the door. As she left, she told Sheldon, “You’re in good hands, do as this lady says, and you’ll be cured.” With that, Sheldon was left alone with Cassandra, who no longer made his insides shrivel up.

“Now I have no idea how that crafty poltergeist got inside of you in the first place. Come, sit by my crystal ball and we can find out. After all, if we want to get rid of it, we have to know how it got inside of you.” She ordered him. Sheldon obliged, and pulled out a dusty purple velvet chair from under the table. The chair spat out a plume of dust when he sat on it. “Hold your hand against the ball, and I will be able to look into your past.” As he held his hand against the ball, Sheldon felt the ball grow steadily warmer to the touch, until it was as hot as the roof of a car would get during the summer. Still, he did not remove his hand, as the renowned medium concentrated on the glowing crystal ball. Suddenly, the air in the small caravan got colder. The candles flickered around him, and the room got dark. A low, strong breeze encircled the room, blowing out candles and picking up dust from the covers of old books. The room got darker. The crystal ball crackled with deep blue mystical energy, and slate gray clouds suddenly covered the sky outside, making the room ever darker still. In the faint, flickering, blue light of the crystal ball, Sheldon was able to make out the resolute, determined face of Cassandra, who was waving her hands around the orb, faint blue plasma emitting from her fingertips. The ball was slowly getting hotter during this time, but when the clouds appeared, it was as if his hand was now inside an oven. It was too hot for Sheldon, and his hand shot off the ball with such force that he found himself sprawled on the ground. But when he had removed his hand, the candles had relit themselves, and the sky was clear again. As he dusted himself off, Cassandra was staring open mouthed at the no longer blue crystal ball. “You wouldn’t believe what I just saw” she said.

“I had to look back through your entire life, but it seemes that you were born with that ghost inside of you.” She said. “So I looked into your previous life, and there, July 8th, 1978, was the day the ghost possessed you. In your previous life, you were a soldier in the spirit wars, when the government launched a campaign to destroy all Class A and B spirits, deeming them too harmful to stay around.” She pointed to the ruby crested cutlass on the wall. “That is one of the last spirit swords in the world. It is a weapon that is able to cut ethereal flesh and vanquish the ties a ghost has with this world. You must take the sword and travel to the Spirit world to vanquish the poltergeist within you.” She said as she handed the weapon to Sheldon. He numbly took the weapon, which felt lighter than it appeared. Next, the celebrated medium handed him a vial which contained an amber colored liquid. “Listen up carefully.” She uttered. “This amber potion will yutn you into a ghost” She handed him a vial with a green liquid. “This will turn you back into a human. The catch is, that if you don’t take the green potion within twenty minutes of becoming a ghost, you will stay a ghost forever. This will get rid of the poltergeist, but then you’ll also be a ghost, which isn’t good. Do you understand?” She said. Sheldon nodded in disbelief, before downing the amber colored potion.

At first, the potion had tasted quite nice, like honey. Then, it felt like Sheldon's insides were filled with angry honeybees as he screamed and thrashed from pain. It felt quite literally as if a thousand rusty nails were raking his innards, and he had the odd feeling that he was sinking through the floor boards. Through teary eyes, he noticed he had emerged on the other side of the floor boards, and was standing erect. "How was this so? How am I upside down? Am I in Australia?" He was left to wonder. At least, the pain was gone. Also gone was his body. It was dark in this spirit world, and the faint outline that used to be Sheldon's limbs emitted a bright white light. The cutlass was in a shealth on his belt, and the other potion was in his pocket. He took a look around. It seemed like he was in the caravan, except it was darker. There was another faint light, however, and it came from a deck of cards that shuffled themselves. "Welcome to the spirit realm! Do you want to play a game of poker?" The booming voice of Makhed said. "Wow!" Sheldon exclaimed. "I'd love to, but I can only stay for 20 minutes. I'm off to slay a poltergeist." Speaking of the poltergeist, where could it be? Sheldon peered around the dark caravan. A drowsy looking old spirit who emitted a faint red light, sat in the corner of the caravan atop a pile of books. "That must be the poltergeist," Sheldon unwisely said out loud. As he said this, the poltergeist woke up, noticed the deadly sword he was wielding, and flew out the door of the caravan.

How was he supposed to get the poltergeist now? The spirit in question was floating 20 feet in the sky above Sheldon, blowing raspberries at him and making faces. Luckily, Sheldon quickly realised that he too, could fly, and began chasing the michevious ghost. The two spirits flew around Imperial valley, around dark trees, over the obsidian surface of a lake, over a sad looking pond which reflected the pale moonlight, and under a bridge which hung over a colorless river. Not a single mortal being was in sight, and it was just the two alone in the night, cat chasing mouse. In a desperate bid, Sheldon decided to fly up towards the radiant moon, and hide behind a gloomy looking cloud. The poltergeist, thinking Sheldon was gone, began to slow down, and descend to the ground. At that moment, Sheldon swiftly sailed towards the troublesome spirit, before piercing it behind the neck. The poltergeist's shriek echoed throughout the spirit world as he began to bleed a brilliantly blue substance, called Ectoplasm. The ghost reproachfully looked at brave Sheldon, who wore a look of triumph on his face, before fading into a faint blue dust. All that remained of the ghost was a locket it must have been wearing, made of sapphire. Sheldon scooped it up, and then downed the green potion, which tasted tangy, like kiwi.

This time, there was no pain, and the triumphant Sheldon was mortal once more, standing in the dusty caravan. Cassandra the Wise was waiting for him. She didn't need to ask him if he had killed the ghost or not, for all along she had known that he would succeed. However, she did ask one thing of him. She said, "so, let us talk about my payment." Sheldon turned out his pockets, where there was exactly 34 cents. However, clutched in his hand was a sapphire necklace, and he gave it to the famous medium who helped release him from the ghost which had made him unordinary. His parents were outside, and waved him over to his dad's car, a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire. When he got in the car, his parents asked him a question: "We are going to get ice cream to celebrate! Do you want Chocolate or Vanilla?" Having finally been freed from the poltergeist's curse, Sheldon was able to think on his own for the first time.

"Vanilla." He replied.