guest is it?" A pair of glowing eyes peer at you from the deep shadows of a giant tree, you feel uncomfortable about those eyes, but somewhat intrigued by them. "I see you have some how found my home, how unfortunate for you. I am Phirst." The lupe separates himself from the shadows. His fur is a strange red and black color, but the thing that you notice the most is the large mark on his back leg. It resembles a bird of some sort, but you're not sure what species it is exactly. "It's not nice to stare, some may get angry." He snaps his teeth together, scaring you for a moment. "I suppose you're here to listen to my life's path, or at least what I have seen of it so far. I warn you now that my story isn't one of the pleasant ones you find on one of those nice neopets page, my story has little joy in it.

The phoenix… how I have come to hate that mythological symbol of rebirth. No one feels anger towards a phoenix, none except for me. Me, the one born with the sign of the fire bird upon my left hind quarter. I was born under strange times, and that sign made nothing any more normal.

My birth was on the 1st day of the month of Awakening, the same day that the stranger had finally succumbed to his apparent fever. The Stranger, whom I have come to learn was named Grein, had found the tiny village my pack lived in as he stumbled through the forest. Grein , a seemingly elderly lupe, had caught one of the many tropical fevers that are known to be prevalent in the forest my pack had called home for generations. My father, a healer, had taken it upon himself to care for the old lupe within my parents home.

Mother was pregnant at the time, her swollen belly making it known to anyone that looked at her that she was due soon. She helped father take care of the sick man, even though father protested every time and would try his hardest to get my mother to rest. Mother would watch over the stranger when father had to leave, he was the only healer within the forest and there were always injuries and illnesses needing his skills.

On one of those days the stranger awoke. His eyes were wild and he muttered under his breath in a language my mother had never heard before. Unaware of any possible danger to herself she tried to calm the lupe. The stranger suddenly looked at my mother's stomach, the wildness gone and his word flow stopped. He placed his paw upon her belly, closed his eyes, and said something. Mother was never sure what he said, she thought she had heard him say 'mine', but as soon as he said it his paw glowed red as a hot flame.

When father returned he found my mother in bed, her paws were over her swollen abdomen and she looked slightly shaken. The stranger was on the floor, curled up and convulsing. Father quickly went to his wife, fearful of what might have happened while he had been out. He tried to get mother to speak, but she only shook her head and stared at her paws. Eventually he was able to move her paws from her belly. He was horrified by what he saw.

Upon my mother's cream colored belly was an ugly, pulsing red paw print, it looked as if someone had burned it into the soft skin of her stomach. He dared not touch it for fear of hurting my mother and tried again to get her to talk, but once again she only shook her head. He finally remembered the stranger that lay upon the floor and was about to go over to him when my mother screamed out in pain.

The whole village was in chaos during my arrival upon this world. They had heard my mother's scream and had come in a hurry to see what was happening. As the first came through the open door they were met with an unpleasant sight.

It seemed that as my mother was going through labor, the stranger was catching fire. Jesseria, one of the leaders of the pack, quickly grabbed water to throw on the stranger, but was shocked as she watched the water evaporate before it even came near the growing flames surrounding the lupe. A couple of the other pack members, skilled in magics, tried to use their magic to put the flames out. To say the least, they to failed in that endeavor.

My families house was full of fear and panic as I was delivered into this world. I pulsated a strange red color once I was finally delivered, and the stranger was no more then a pile of ashes in the spot he had caught fire.

Demon!" screamed one the pack members as he glimpsed me, fear and revulsion filling him.

The house fell deathly quiet as Jesseria stepped over to the bed, everyone's attention upon her.

Give me the child." She held her arms out for me, expecting my father to give me to her. Our village was full of lupe of all types, some had great magical powers, others healing like my father. Jesseria had a talent of knowing things about her pack members through a simple touch, of course she had to touch whomever she wanted to know this information, something she hadn't done with the stranger. Maybe if she had all the chaos would never have been and I would have been born normal, but she hadn't and it is far too wasteful to linger on the past.

My father reluctantly handed me to Jesseria after a moments pause. She cradled me within her arms as she looked upon me, her eyes un-focusing as she search for the information she wanted.

I gave a small whine as she turned me a little to see the left side of my body. There was a rather large mark upon that hind quarter, a mark that looked as though burned into my skin. It was the mark of the phoenix, the eternal bird.

She closed her eyes for a moment before handing me back to my father. Sorrow and pain almost overwhelmed her then.

Your son will live a very hard life. I know not what from, but there will be much pain on his long life journey. He is not a demon and the village has nothing to fear from him, but I see destruction in his life's line. You shall keep him and I give you my protection," she emphasized on the word protection as she heard a faint whisper of someone saying demon, "I cannot tell you anymore then what I have, for his life's line is blurry to me."

Jesseria was kind and loving lupe, one that all of the pack admired and looked up to, but she was also feared by the pack as she always seemed to know when something was wrong and who was behind it. Jesseria stood in front of the crowd of lupes standing in the house, staring each one in the eye.

No one shall harm the child, for there will be serious consequences for those that so much as thinks a negative thought towards the child. Does everyone understand me?" She was answered with a loud confirmation by the pack. "Now you all shall leave, there is nothing here that you need see." The crowd dispersed, all were gone except for Jesseria, who came over to the bed to look at me once again.

My father looked down at me, his eyes misted with unshed tears. It had been hard for him to hear what Jesseria had said, how she told of my future destination. "My son, my Phirst." He whispered my name over me and handed me over to my mother who had finally waken enough to ask for me.

She held me close and looked at me, a shadow of fear on her face, a fear for me and my life's path. "My son, my Phirst." She repeated what my father said, accepting the name he had given me.

Jesseria placed her right paw on my forehead, acknowledging my name, making me a recognized citizen of the village.

When I became older I realized that though I was a recognized citizen, I was not an accepted one by most. I had no friends, no friends because all the lupes my own age were forbidden to socialize with me on their parents orders. Jesseria tried to stop this, but no matter how much she threatened there was no change, and after a while it was impossible to get the other young lupes to befriend me on their own free will. They had been told from day one that I was not to be trusted, that I was a demon that would eventually take their lives from them.

It was odd, my parents were still highly respected citizens of the village, but I was treated like a monster born from other monsters. This hurt my mother deeply. She had the talent of being an empath, which made her and my father a great success. My father would heal the physical damage while my mother healed the mental damage. My mother became bitter over the treatment of her son by the village and soon refused to help any that lived within our village, no matter how serious the damage, she would refuse.

My mother and I spent most of our time together, taking walks and reading stories to one another. This was one of the only joyous parts of my life, I have had little else to be joyful of.

Just before I was to reach manhood my powers started to surface. My parents hoped that I would have healing powers like they themselves did, but I didn't. Instead I had a more destructive power, the power to summon fire. At first that was the only power that I showed signs of, but later I developed the powers of illusion and mind reading. I was brimming with magical powers and Jesseria saw the danger of it.

I hadn't hurt anyone yet, but I had caused a few fires and new some of the most intimate thoughts of some of the villagers. My power of illusion was the only power I had a good enough hold over while my power to summon fires and my mind reading where extremely difficult for me to control. Luckily my mother helped me with my mind reading. Because she was an empath she knew how I was constantly being pelted by everyone's thoughts, she had gone through the same thing except with raw emotions instead. She taught me how to build a wall inside my mind to help me shield myself from the constant bombardment of villager thoughts.

It was during one of my alone times that I was jumped by a group of other lupes my age from the village. The lupes where upset about one of the fires I had accidentally started around one of their hangout spots. They thought that by sneaking up on my and beating me they'd teach me a lesson about starting fires. I had been surprised and taken down to the floor, dazed and confused. I was still on the ground when the screams started. I slowly came to, the air was full of red light and smoke. At first I didn't know what was happening and then I saw them. My attackers were surrounded by fire. One of them, the leader, was on fire and he howled in pain as he tried to roll and extinguish the fire from himself. I watched in horror until Jesseria came up and started to shake me.

PUT THE FLAMES OUT!" she yelled at me over and over again until my mind took in her words.

I put all the flames out with one thought and laid there upon the ground in shock. I could smell burning fur and flesh. I was so sickened by what I had done that I immediately started throwing up.

Once I had emptied my stomach of all its content I stood and started to run and I didn't stop for some time. I felt wrong, as if I truly were a demon like most of the villagers thought. I ran as far away from the village as my feet would allow me to. I finally collapsed at one point or another near a small stream, exhaustion causing me to fall instantly into sleep.

To Be Continued…

• rainforests
• rain
• reading

• Art thieves
• Chat speakers
• Killing
• Gein
• Liers