Nadia Rising

Prologue: The First Phoenix

Tengri, the Great White Goose, filled his world at its beginning with goodness and innocence. Unfortunately, this left the world rather bland. To remedy this, Tengri created an alter-ego of himself, Er Kishi.

Er Kishi was not content to possess only a lesser portion of Tengri’s glory, so she nagged incessantly for more. When Tengri refused to give in, Er Kishi turned her fury on his fledgling civilization. She twisted Tengri’s glory to distract and captivate the imagination of the people, and she was bent on stealing their affection for the Creator. As Er Kishi grew in popularity and power, the strength of her glory increased as well; however, she could never subdue the fiery devotion of the people who lived on the sacred mountains of Hara Berezaiti, the legendary center of the universe.

Tengri warned Er Kishi to leave his people alone, but she would not listen. He was forced to strip her of her glory, the Khvarenah. To reward his people for their devotion, Tengri bestowed the Khvarenah upon the daughter of their king. Though this divine favor endowed the princess with special abilities, it also came with a caveat: she must share the blessing to benefit others, or she would ultimately be consumed by it.

The King locked her away while he searched far and wide for a prince worthy of his daughter who would protect her secret, but Er Kishi thwarted his plan. She incited the surrounding settlements with jealousy and fear of the princess, and they besieged the kingdom until it was ruined. When Er Kishi’s forces finally broke through and stormed the defeated castle, the king threw his daughter into a raging fire to prevent her capture.

Though her body was broken down to ashes, the princess’s fiery spirit was preserved intact, and she roamed the heavens as a firebird while the inhabitants of this world endured ages of chaos and turmoil. Kingdoms rose and fell all over the surface of the planet, but never on the sacred mountain. A few thousand years ago, some descendants of that ancient kingdom, led by a man named Zarathustra, called on the legendary firebird to descend on their society and reestablish the kingdom on the holy mountain. The few that remain today still pursue the fulfillment of that dream…

Chapter 1: The Huma Bird

Little Nellie had a finger knuckle deep in one nostril, and it seemed like she was digging for gold. Her wireless headphones insulated her from any unwanted family interaction while she watched Uview videos on her mother’s iPad.

Her mother shuddered to think where that booger was going to end up. She rolled her eyes and nudged her husband, who was equally focused on the television set. Hey, Sweetie, Nell needs to practice her spelling words. No response. Rasha glared crosswise at her husband. John! It’s way past bedtime. Your daughter needs to brush her teeth, and she hasn’t even done her words yet!

John’s shoulders slumped dramatically. Can I just finish this episode? It’s almost over; it’s only got like… He fumbled with the remote to make the timeline appear at the bottom of the screen.

It’s a stupid rerun! Rasha snapped before he could complete his sentence. You’ve seen it already! Besides, you can pause the DVR if it’s so frickin’ important. Rasha glanced back toward the couch to find that Nellie had looked up from the tablet to witness her mother’s outburst. That finger was back on the edge of the screen, but the booger was nowhere in sight. Mama stomped over to the couch and seized the iPad with one hand and snatched the headphones from the little girl’s head with the other. Blonde locks flew every which way. Go brush your teeth! Rasha hissed, and she pointed most persuasively toward the bathroom.

Easy, babe, John urged in a patronizing tone. He rose from the recliner and yawned. Let’s do the homework first, Nell-ephant. Then I can give you a treat if you spell all the words correctly.

No candy! Mama warned. It’s way too late and the little Manipulator can’t miss school tomorrow: it’s her field day, and that’s all I’ve heard about for the last week and a… A bloodcurdling scream from the headphones interrupted Rasha’s train of thought. She looked down at the iPad and frowned. What are you watching on here, anyway? Rasha forced the headset over her own raven-colored hair, but by the time she sat down to investigate, the video was over. Rasha hit the replay button, but all she got was an endless loop of that annoying clockwise-loading-circle animation.

Nellie sat at the kitchen table and kicked her feet wildly as she placed her fingers in their proper positions along the surface of the pencil. She grinned expectantly at her father, but she looked more like a dog waiting for a treat than a pupil ready for a spelling challenge.

Groovy…

Nellie’s scrawl quickly filled the whole line with only part of the word. She stopped and raised her gaze from the paper.

John’s face wrinkled like an old lady sucking on a lemon. I said GREW-vee, not grow-vee.

Nellie giggled as she squeezed another ‘o’ onto the already overcrowded line. The resulting answer was not legible, but she knew daddy tended to be more tolerant of sloppy handwriting whenever his show was paused.

Gravy… John glanced at the frozen picture on the television screen and tapped out a finger-drum solo on the edge of the table while he waited for Nell-ephant to torture the page with another line of graffiti.

Sweetie, I thought you were gonna update this tablet for me, Rasha called from the living room. This stupid thing…it won’t do anything! She grunted as she switched the unit off, waited zero seconds, and then turned it back on.

Grave…the teacher’s whiney voice ‘grave’ me a headache! John grinned.

Nellie erupted with the worshipful laughter all children offer in exchange for their father’s mischief.

Stop it, John, you’re confusing her! Rasha closed her eyes and shook her head, but she could still see the illuminated imprint of an apple on the back of her eyelids. A little jingle finally chimed in the headphones, and Rasha opened her eyes to a jumble of conspicuous icons simultaneously vying for attention. She selected the icon with the Uview logo and browsed through the list of recently viewed videos. She selected the latest one, and it began to load.

Greffelventation… John donned a poker face and avoided eye contact with his daughter.

Nellie’s legs stopped swishing and she sat up very straight as she attempted to get a look at the word list in her daddy’s hand.

A sly smile crept across his face, and he knew the jig was up.

Oh my gawd…are you serious?! Rasha screeched from the living room.

John squirmed in his chair. Geez, I was only kidding…don’t get so upset. Grow…

Nellie knew her mother wasn’t talking about the phony word, but she didn’t show it. The little Manipulator gritted her teeth and focused on forming a perfect ‘g’ to start off the next word.

John, come and see what your daughter has been watching. Rasha was standing in the doorway, and her eyes seemed to be welled up with a little extra moisture. I…I don’t even know what to say. I just saw someone commit suicide. Nellie will be scarred for life! She offered the iPad to her husband.

What are you talking about? John was skeptical. He took the tablet and watched the last twenty seconds of a video that had been recorded with someone’s cellphone. The young woman stood on the edge of a very steep cliff. This is what I live for… she said into the microphone. The camera suddenly lurched upward and outward over the abyss, accompanied by the bloodcurdling scream that had invited Rasha’s scrutiny in the first place. Apparently, John didn’t know what to say, either. He didn’t say the RIGHT thing anyway: Holy Crap, four hundred views! There’s a lot of sick people out there, Rosh. Too bad the poor girl didn’t stick around to enjoy her fifteen minutes of fame! He clicked the little red flag under the ‘More Info’ link beneath the video window. There: I reported it as inappropriate so they can remove it—or at least give it a mature rating.

She didn’t do anything wrong; she can fly! Nellie pleaded. I watch her Uviews all the time!

Mom and dad exchanged relieved glances. Oh, is that so, Nell? Daddy humored his daughter. I guess I was mistaken. Boy, am I glad she’s okay!

Rasha took the iPad and gave the Manipulator a little push down the hall. No more Uviews until I set up the parental filters. Hurry up and get those teeth brushed!

At his workstation inside one of the Uview data centers, Travis Jordan’s inbox dinged again. Four hundred and thirty-nine unread messages! Dude, you’re going to have to help me with this extra load. This totally isn’t fair!

I told you not to worry about it, Travis: It’s not like there’s a time limit. Buzz answered from the next cube. Just do the best you can. When Erin gets back from her trip she will take up the slack, and you’ll be back to surfing the net like a champ.

Two more dings were emitted by Erin’s computer first, and then they echoed in Travis’s cube as the emails were forwarded to him. Wasn’t she supposed to be back already? I thought her return flight was supposed to be last Friday. An alert prompt popped up on the screen to let Travis know that his mailbox was almost at capacity, so he was either going to have to clear some of the memory or keep clicking the ‘remind me later’ button every time another few emails came in.

Buzz offered some hypothetical reasons why Erin might have had to miss her flight, but Travis wasn’t listening anymore. He had clicked on one of the videos he needed to review to determine whether it was inappropriate.

A girl’s leg appears in the frame overlooking a very high cliff. This is what I live for… She lets out a bloodcurdling scream, then either she jumps, or she is pushed, over the edge…

It’s a fake, Buzz snorted.

Travis turned to see his workmate staring over his shoulder. How do you know it’s fake?

Buzz did that irritating thing with his hand on his chin. Well, first of all, if she wanted to film herself committing suicide, she wouldn’t have said ‘this is what I live for’ right before she jumped. Besides, if she was pushed off the edge, the phone wouldn’t have made it anyways, and nobody would be watching this footage at all.

Travis went for the bait: So what is your explanation? Bungee jump? She toss the phone and pull it back up with a string?

Buzz shook his head and wriggled his way around Travis to get at the mouse. Nah, if you look right here you can see part of her finger is in the picture the whole time, so she is definitely still holding the phone when the event happens. Plus, if you rewind it to this point, you can see this location is all wrong for any kind of bungee action. There’s no overhang, no hollow to avoid impact. She would be smashed to bits like a rotten pumpkin, and so would her phone for that matter.

Travis looked over the rim of his glasses and stared at his co-worker. You still didn’t answer my question: what’s your explanation? How do you know it’s a fake? All you have told me so far just about has me convinced that it might be a real death scene.

Buzz smiled wryly. Honestly, I don’t know how she did it, but…that’s only part of the video. Erin showed me the whole thing one time, and that scream was definitely not on the original. Somebody chopped it there and added the scream to let your mind fill in the gloom and doom. Buzz selected an earlier part of the timeline and the video queued up in the viewing window. See the other side of the canyon over there?

Travis squinted at the blurry brown mass. After he scrutinized it for a moment, he nodded.

In the original video she continues upward, traveling in an arc, like a rainbow, over to the other side. You can’t hear a chopper or anything, and the motion is pretty smooth, too. Buzz’s eyes opened wider. I really don’t know how she did it. At the end she turns around, and you can see there’s nothing there. Nobody around to help her, no gear, nuthin’!

Travis frowned. C’mon man, you’re pulling my leg!

Buzz put his hand on his chest. I swear to you, dude, I watched it with Erin. She’ll tell you the exact, same thing when she gets back! Why would I make up something like that?

Hey, guys! Jeff called out from the doorway to his office. I’m on a conference call in here. Would you mind ‘working’ a little quieter please?

Buzz made a goofy grin like a class clown that just got in trouble. It’s almost break time; we’ll take it in the other room.

Jeff pointed at his watch and shook his head. Break time is over, I said WORK.

Buzz stomped back to his cube muttering something about being cheated out of another 45 seconds.

Travis waited for Jeff to shut the door to his office and settle down behind his desk. When he was sure the coast was clear, he swiveled his chair around and whispered, I want to see the original.

Buzz shook his head and turned around. Sorry. We axed it.

Travis couldn’t believe it. Why? You said yourself that nothing happened!

Buzz shrugged. Erin said it would incite other kids to try to reproduce it, and she didn’t want to promote something that would cause someone to get hurt.

Just as Travis was finally ready to let it go and get back to work, Buzz whispered one more thing…

Keep watching, she’ll upload again, she does it every so often. Just enter her account name and put a notification flag on it so it will come straight to your box.

Travis lifted his hands from the keyboard and cursed to himself. Too late. I already deleted it. Do you remember her name?

Buzz cocked his head to one side and thought about it. "It was some kind of foreign bird.

Hu…Humania…Huma, that’s it: Huma Bird."

Jeff’s door flew open, and the boss stood there and glared at them for a few seconds before he went back inside the office. This time, he left the door open.

Huma bird (Persian: ), is a legendary bird of Sufi fable and Iranian mythology. The Huma is a compassionate bird, and its shadow, or touch, is auspicious. The Huma landing upon a person's head or shoulder indicates divine appointment of kingship. This is why the plumage of the Huma bird is used to adorn the turbans of kings.

According to Sufi tradition, a glimpse of the Huma, or contact with its shadow, brings happiness and great fortune for life. Even the wildest imagination cannot conceive the live capture of a Huma, and a person responsible for her death will share her fate within forty days.

In some variations, the Huma bird is phoenix-like; though consumed by fire every few hundred years, it always rises anew from the ashes.

Nadia plugged the phone into her laptop and started the photo upload. The sky was filling with clouds and she knew this would be a perfect opportunity to check out her new surroundings. While she waited for the pictures to transfer, she changed into her favorite outfit: some loose-fitting clothes with an off-center, tie-dyed pattern in various shades of grey.

Do not wander far, my fair Daughter, Grandfather Moon had warned when they arrived. Did you see that little urchin begging on the corner? She knew not to answer, and he didn’t wait for one to be offered. Her plight reveals a distinct lack of compassion here. She had bowed low to indicate her compliance and respect for his instruction. Only Tengri can help her now. We are all at his mercy. When he had left the room to prepare for his meeting with the local leaders, Nadia bolted for