The phoenix was glowing in blueish white. Both Hosuke and I were observing the mythical bird that was proudly flapping its wings in the sky. The phoenix majestically flies around near the cliff edge. The phoenix happens to have a long tail as if it looked like a certain fictional character from a video game that I shouldn’t mention. As much as I like to keep on rambling about what does the feathered beast looked like, I rather tell what did it do once it reveals its true identity.

The phoenix went down to where Zen landed thanks to her volunteering a suicide. In any case, the phoenix tried to find wherever was Zen being buried by the raging blizzard. The phoenix stopped and landed to where it believed to be where was the little girl being buried. The feathered beast lit a bluish white glow from its eyes and released its cry, which was also known as its noise for those who don’t understand what I meant when I say ‘cry’.

The snow around the phoenix started to slowly melt which then reveals a body. It was indeed Zen’s body. The phoenix lets out another cry but this time the whole body of the phoenix was glowing. Both me and Hosuke tried to look for a way to get a closer look. We managed to find a way and by the time we reached there, the phoenix suddenly talked to us through telekinesis.

“Is it time already, Dragons?”

I questioned back to the phoenix, “Dragon? What are you talking about?”

“I think the bird is talking about us. Remember what Mrs. R told us about the Infinitum crystals?” Hosuke reminded me of a crucial fact.

The phoenix continued, “What brings you here, Dragons?”

“First of all.” Hosuke tried to talk with the phoenix, “How can you tell that we’re dragons? I mean we aren’t physically a dragon.”

“You two have the smell of a dragon, the energy of a dragon. I can even tell who you really are Leviathan…”

“Looks like the phoenix knows about you, Hosuke. Better yet, that thing knows about what's inside of you.”

“We have not enough time. The story is about to end. We better do this before the loop begins.”

“Loop? What are you talking about?”

“Whenever a story from a book ends, the story will start over continuously in a never-ending cycle until a continuation was created” explained the bird.

Hosuke suggested, “Usually it happens to a story that ends with a cliffhanger or anything that is unsuspecting. It can also be an ending that doesn’t suffice as a conclusion. In other word, we have to reach the true conclusion of this story!”

“The Leviathan is right. We must do the right thing now before the whole story starts over again. Plus, I can only escape this loop if there is another dragon.”

“Why a dragon though?” I asked.

The phoenix explained, “Because the dragon race was the one and only race that can break any kind of spell. They are among the gods with their mightiness…I was born during The Golden Age of The Dragons.”

“So you were somehow locked inside a children’s book then?”

“That guy, the writer. He locked me inside this book. It happened few years ago in the current world that you two resides in. When the chaos started to make its move. Plus, the story that was told to you two was actually a real story that was altered by the chaos. Yes. It is based on real life events but it was fabricated with lies! The girl was not supposed to die! Her parents were not supposed to be abusive! She was just a normal girl! A shy normal girl.”

I understood and said, “I see where you’re coming, Mr. Phoenix. If that’s the case then tell us what can we do to break this loop and uncover the real story that is not fabricated with lies made by whatever you call chaos.”

“I just need you to concentrate on your Infinitum energy and I shall do the rest.”

I looked at Hosuke and we both agreed to follow the phoenix instructions. We closed our eyes and concentrated on our Infinitum energies. The blizzard was becoming even crazier once we were concentrating. Even though it was getting way more intense than what we felt before, we hold it in. Then, everything stopped. There was no blizzard at all. There was not a single snow at all. It wasn’t cold like what we felt before. It was warm. We opened our eyes and saw the whole land was filled with greenery life.

“This was the original Crediah back before I was locked inside this damned book.”

“What about all the characters?” Hosuke asked.

“Don’t worry, Leviathan…they are fine. The family lived a normal live. Come. I’ll show you…”

The Snow Phoenix showed us the way to a very familiar house. It was Zen’s house. The Snow Phoenix pointed us to the window and we saw the family was joyfully enjoying their lunch together at their dining table.

“You see that, dragons? That was what really happened…”

“I guess this is it then, right? We finished the book!” exclaimed Hosuke. But then he said, "But this...became a whole different story then."

“Indeed it is…It's now just like any other children's story book” the phoenix looked back at the house and turned back to us and said, “I think this is also the time for me to say farewell…”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“What happened back there, I actually used almost all of my energy to restore this story back to its original state. And now…I’m starting to fade away thanks to it…I knew it was inevitable. The chaos really planned it well to torture our race.”

“Can you elaborate more on that?” I asked the bird.

“I can only say what I know which is the chaos trapped us inside a book because they wanted to take on the world as their own. They don’t want us mythical beings to move around their world. They wanted to be the strongest of them all. They wanted to create a world of strength. They almost sounded like the dragons back when during The Golden Age of Dragons where the dragons ruled the world.”

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I can only do one thing in order for me to continue to live on…”

Hosuke figured it out and said, “You’re transforming yourself into an Infinitum crystal but isn’t that only what a dragon can do?”

“That's where you're wrong…I'm also a dragon. But I was cursed by the chaos. You two had used your ability to purify my curse. And after years of endless loop, I can finally let go.”

“I guess this is a farewell then?”

“Not quite…” says the bird. ”There is a chance that we will meet once again in the threads of fate thanks to what the chaos has transpired to all of us beast that can sometimes be referred to gods.”

“We’re not really gods…” Hosuke shakes his head.

“It’s alright, Leviathan. At least you know your origin. In any case…goodbye, dragons…”

“Wait.” I tried to stop The Snow Phoenix. “What about my identity? You never even mentioned anything about my dragon self…”

“Goodbye, Leviathan…” The Phoenix smiled to Hosuke. Then, The Snow Phoenix looked at me and bowed to me and gave his last words that lingers with thousands of mysteries,

“We will meet again soon…when I get my real form back…I promise…Goodbye…my dearest…”

And with that, the phoenix turned into an Infinitum crystal. It’s really weird because of what our teacher told us which that only a dragon could do such a thing unless there was another story behind it…

“What are we gonna do with the crystal?” Hosuke asked.

“I think we let the crystal decide…for now…our jobs is finished. Let’s get out of here…”

“Yeah, how are we suppose to do that again?”

“I’m not quite sure but maybe-“

We were then sucked into a portal which returned us back to Mrs. R’s office. After all was said and done, the book that we went in has been transformed into the book that Mrs. R requested us to get. We did it at least.

“Congratulations, you two. You did it. The book has been transformed. Just like I requested.”

“Hurrah! So what do we get, Mrs. R?” asked Hosuke.

Mrs. R replied, “Oh yeah. You guys can freely join the librarians if you’d like.”

In the end…it ended with something very anti-climatic. When will this stupid curse of mine stop. What kind of sick joke was destiny doing to me. I don’t get it at all, to be honest.

“This is all your fault, White. Your curse dragged me as well into this mess, you know…”

I sighed and said, “I’m so done with this…I’m leaving now. If you excuse us, Mrs. R.”

Mrs. R was holding her laugh. Hosuke followed me as well leaving the library. Both of us decided to walk back home.

“Well then…I guess you owe me something, White.” said Hosuke

“I had enough of this curse of mine. It was you who started talking about this ‘curse’ of mine you know…”

“It’s not my fault. I just happen to notice you end up with a lot of anti-climatic stuff in the end. I mean, look at what we ended up getting as a reward today.”

“Can we just get over this now?” I was so tired after all of that.

In any case, what happened today was very interesting alright. It also end up with something that was very big. Especially when The Snow Phoenix was talking about the chaos. I wonder what was the phoenix was referring to. What kind of people or thing were these chaos. They seemed to be powerful enough to trap a mythical beast like The Snow Phoenix. I mean what was that about anyway? That phoenix was being rather cryptic. Either that or the bird just doesn’t know the full truth. Plus, that thing was apparently a dragon as well. What a surprise.

Additionally, what does the phoenix even mean when it said that last line that it gave to me? It was…very specific yet cryptic. I guess I will know it in time. Just like what The Snow Phoenix said.

“So, White. What are you hoping for Chocolate Day.”

“Chocolate Day? I think you mean Lonely Day. There’s no way people like us will get something from the girls, you know.”

“Oh really? Well I doubt that…” Hosuke laughed a little. "You seem to have a lot of fans without you even realising that.

I shake my head, “They probably just being considerate because they know me. Let’s just get over with this…”

In any case, that was what happened today. Me and Hosuke went inside a book thanks to Mrs. R ability. I would never have guess that we would experience real snow and even worse, a real blizzard. It was very horrifying alright but in the end we got through it.

Meanwhile, somewhere and sometime in the past, far from Dragonstal. By the way, Dragonstal is the state that I am currently live. Anyway, somewhere outside of Dragonstal. Somewhere which was rather far away from me. There was a girl who was walking around until she suddenly tripped and fell down. She was tripped by an Infinitum crystal. She grabbed it and looked at it.

Suddenly she heard someone was calling her, “Sis! Mom is calling!”

“I’m on my way, sis!” She shouted back and continued to be amazed by the crystals.

“Come on Zenith!”

“I’m coming!” She kept the Infinitum crystal inside her pocket and went inside the house,

“I told you not to call me that, sis.”

"But that's your full name, Zen."

Our chapter ends with the girl looking at the night of starless sky. Except there was some star around the sky…probably a stardust…

TO BE CONTINUED