The average snow flake falls at 1.7 meters per second.
Around Aiden, the crystals slowly fell. He wondered if they were as lonely as he was, a singularity surrounded by millions and millions yet so completely alone.
Pain tightened his chest, this pang fiercer than the last. Let me out!
The words echoed in his head like a wave of fire ants as the fiery bird screeched, his flight interrupted by the discomfort. Gravity pulled him toward the ground, the cold air making the flames surrounding him flare wildly. The ground only inches away, he caught himself and leveled off but not before the low hanging branches of the surrounding trees tore at his skin. The wounds closed as he ascended, the ache fading away. Breaking passed the barrier of the icy forest, the last rays of the setting sun momentarily blinded him.
The scene before him competed with some of the most beautiful he'd ever seen. The sun dipped into the valley between two snow-tipped mountains. Oranges and reds blended with violets, various shades of pinks and deep blues extended from the source of his powers. They stained the lazy clouds and bounced off the white landscape.
Ever vigilant, the bird scanned the land for any immediate threats, knowing he was susceptible to attack by those who knew he was at his weakest. He saw snow dwelling creatures scurry beneath the camouflage of the trees, burrowing into prepared holes. The vibrations of teeth on bones reached him and he identified the scent of a wolf scores of miles away, its heart beating with the exhilaration of a new catch. He was the apex predator here though.
He left yet another identity behind. Blending into the human world was becoming more and more difficult with every passing year. He found it increasingly difficult to hide the wildness in him but he played the elusive billionaire well. The author of several bestselling thriller novels, he went under the pseudo Aiden Rychel.
He staged his death five days before, a convenient vehicular accident over a Californian cliff into stormy waters that left his body unrecovered. The news spread like wildfire, the experts claiming drugs and alcohol attributing factors in his death. His true existence stemmed from something far more violent.
Born of fire, Aiden was the remnants of the sun god, Ra, the deity being once known for his unusual kindness to the humanity. Most gods saw man as nothing more than an amusing diversion but Ra took particular liking to the species. He resided alongside them too long ago for the history books to remember, openly opposing his immortal kin when their safety was questioned. Most gods feared Ra's fiery wrath and ignored the earthly realm and its dealings.
Peace resided on the blue and green sphere for a time but was not destined to last forever.
Ra took his most formidable solider as his lover but Landra soon grew resentful of Ra's love for the humans she considered far beneath them. Craving his love for herself she plotted the demise of the weaker species but was caught by the male whose heart she wished to enslave. Lenient to his former lover, Ra forwent the most lethal punishment and cursed her to a thousand lifetimes of confinement within the sun's core but Landra could not be contained. Her hatred and need for revenge grew until the golden orb was poisoned by the negativity and lost its shine.
The world plunged into darkness. The earth was ravaged by the elements in response to her anger, lightening licking the ground, floods sweeping away settlements, fires destroying the woodlands. Left no other choice Ra sought to slay her but Landra made a fearsome adversary. The core of evil that was slowly infection man fed her power and the two fought many, many battles.
Knowing Landra needed to be defeated once and for all, Ra entered into an unsteady alliance with the ruler of the underworld to leash the demented force. The world was bathed with light once more and as was his part of the deal, Ra's body burst into flames and his essence was consumed by the sun. The phoenix rose from Ra's ashes, a fiery protector of humanity, his love just as true.
As was his duty, the fire bird kept kept unseen threats at bay, swiftly and lethally dealing with any enemy bold enough to confront him head on. He fought beside man and taught him how to defend himself, how to hunt and stalk his prey. But man turned on his teacher, wanting the gifts the phoenix possessed, craving the immortality that came with spilling the creature's blood and the healing power of his tears. Using the skills the bird taught him, man hunted the symbol of life after death and Aiden was forced to retreat to the darkness to protect those who betrayed him.
Humanity pushed the limits of Aiden's patience, poisoning his affection. Wars raged. Mortals, so indifferent to their short lifespan, tortured and killed with so little provocation. Children died of hunger as kings carelessly threw bread into the trash. Man took the gifts of his mother, earth, and treated them so callously, giving the grieving planet less and less respect with every generation. Unable to interfere with inter-human matters, he realized humanity had to fall to rise above his pettiness. All he could do was sit back and watch.
And watch.
So many years went by. Century after century of nothingness, of waiting for that elusive something that taunted him. Millennia after millennia, he felt his soul reach increasingly for the comfort of darkness. With no other of his species to provide company, he grew increasingly weary. He was tired of knowing tomorrow would come and dreading the event. Tired of watching the self-destruction of the species he once loved with every fiber of his being. Tired of waking up to an empty bed with only the nameless faces of strangers to fill his night.
He was not normally one to give into melancholy or reminisce on the past but knowing his time was near brought emotions better left buried to the surface. Soon he will return to his place of birth, a forgotten tomb deep within the earth where his body will be consumed by fire. With death comes life and from the ashes he will be renewed stronger, faster and wiser than before. This rebirth every thousand years ensured his immortality.
But it also ensured his rebirth to this loneliness, into a despair that ran so deep into every single molecule that his body cried from it. Every thousand years, he woke up to a crueler world that had no place for a nomadic bird believed to be myth. He was a symbol of hope, of life but he felt dead inside. As time stretched, he feared that he too would become infected by the evil that was engulfing the people on this third rock from the sun. He feared that his compassion would wither away, leaving only the bitterness that was crippling his soul.
The powerful phoenix flapped his wings of fire, snowflakes subliming into steam around his flaming body. He had to find her, his salvation. The promise of light to his darkness. His true mate.
For his perseverance, his maker ensured him the one who would complement him perfectly, who would complete him. All he had to do was find her. Easier said than done on a planet with billions of females. It was promised that he would instantly know her, that he would feel their souls join. She would become his center in that one second of soul recognition. In all the years he roamed the earth, he had never known such a feeling. He had felt lust, infatuation, even the beginnings of love but never that all-consuming need to have one particular woman.
The effort for maintaining his flight was suddenly too much. He closed his eyes against the picturesque sunset and let himself fall. The cold friction pulled at his golden feathers and burned his skin. Branches tore at him as he got closer to the ground. He landed hard, the snow bellowing to form a crater around his body. Shifting to his human form, buried within his battling subconscious, he allowed himself a temporary escape.
