Tesser: A Dragon Among Us (A Reemergence Novel)

by Philbrook, Chris

  "Ho-ly shit."

  The city of Boston then witnessed the return of Tesser the Third, the Dragon of Life. Everything on Earth would change forever.

  Again.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Spoon

  Watching the man Spoon knew as Tesser run so fast that he couldn't keep up in a SUV was one thing. Watching that man transform right before his eyes into a full-on creature of legend and myth was another. Tesser's tiny human body shifted shapes, expanding and growing as fast and easily as Spoon might slide on a work shirt, except Tesser was sliding into the gargantuan form of a dragon. It happened effortlessly.

  The dragon's wings extended from one side of the street to the other, leaving just a scant amount of space between his wingtips and the rows of massive homes. From the tip of his nose (just above a mouth filled with dagger teeth the size of butcher knives and machetes) to the end of his massive tail, Tesser's body was almost half the length of a football field. When he plunged his wings down and launched his body into the air, the incredible force of downward air pressure flipped over a dozen vehicles like they were made of papier-mâché. More car alarms bleated in panic as vehicles were tossed about like toys. Watching him take flight gave Spoon a strange joy he'd never experienced before. An exultation. This is better than hearing your voice on the radio, or winning a lottery when you least expected it. I think.

  Tesser's gargantuan form slid into the night sky above the buildings and trees as easy as a fish swam in water, impossibly graceful. The whole scene playing out felt surreal. But it was so very real.

  Spoon swapped his eyes between Tesser flying fast above and the black SUV that was pulling away, filled with the strange attackers and the dying man whom the dragon above was trying to rescue. The Sergeant couldn't help but look quickly to the doorsteps on each side of the street at the people standing, their jaws dropped, hands held high holding their camera phones skyward at the majesty of the beast. The onlookers hit the pavement hard and fast when the lead vehicle started to open fire back at the dragon. Rounds sparked and skipped off the ground and Spoon heard and felt as a couple of them spanked into the grille and bumper of the truck.

  I hope the engine doesn't get hit.

  After this, the image of Tesser as a naked man in an alley dispensing justice to common thugs would be long forgotten.

  I cannot believe this shit is happening. Spoon kept the pedal floored in the brand new truck. He saw a Remington 870 shotgun in a dash mount, and quickly flicked the catch that'd free the weapon if he needed it. He put both hands back on the wheel and let his adrenaline drown out the pain of the gunshot wound in his hip. The wound burnt but nothing was broken, and the pain was already manageable. He just had to keep looking up at the giant fucking dragon to distract himself. This is beyond words.

  He cornered twice, fast, onto streets with traffic that wasn't always moving in a friendly direction. Vehicles that had just pulled over to let the first wild truck spitting out gunfire were nearly hit head on by Spoon's. He was a tenth of a second away from a head-on collision for miles. The situation was exacerbated by the distraction of the enormous dragon flying a hundred feet above.

  "Get the fuck out of the way! Move!" Spoon screamed out the window, his hand waving the traffic over. My left nut for a flashing blue light right now. Somehow, as they pulled onto a wider street, Tesser heard Spoon. The incredible dragon angled its wings and swooped low so it was soaring just above the reach of the orange streetlamps. The dragon's tail lashed to and fro, dangerously close to the roofs of the cars below. To further ruin the nights of thousands of Bostonians, Tesser let slip a proper dragon's roar.

  It was earsplitting, glass shattering, and bowel loosening. Spoon had a grin from ear to ear and felt like a modern day medieval warrior. An honest and true champion of all that was righteous and good. And he wasn't far from the truth. He grabbed at his pants pocket to get his phone, and realized it was in the trunk of his unmarked cruiser. Fuck. I need to call the station to let them know where I'm going and what vehicle I'm in or I'm gonna get lit up bad. Spoon did a sudden brake stand next to a handful of pedestrians filming the dragon's flight. His brake pads squealed in protest but the SUV stopped quickly.

  "Boston Police! I need a phone fast!" Spoon screamed out at the dumbstruck citizens. Thankfully, one of them turned and simply handed his phone to Spoon without a second thought. Fuck yeah. Spoon dialed 911 as he punched the accelerator on the Yukon. This time it was the tires that squealed as he laid rubber down. A male 911 operator answered, and Spoon validated his police credentials quickly. Tesser had relaxed his roar, and Spoon could hear.

  "What can I help you with, Detective Spooner?" The operator asked.

  "I'm in pursuit of an unknown number of heavily armed suspects fleeing in a black Yukon, plates unknown. They've kidnapped a man in his mid-twenties named Abe. Last name unknown. I'm also in a black Yukon. We just turned onto Tremont, heading towards Park. We are at high speed, and there's a giant fucking dragon flying above us."

  "Is that a kind of helicopter?" The operator asked.

  "No, a golden-winged dragon. Mythical creature? They live in dungeons? About two hundred feet long, I think. Can't miss it," Spoon said quickly, swerving around a pair of college students standing in the middle of the chaotic street.

  "A dragon?" The operator asked as if he thought Spoon was drunk or high.

  "Yes. I am dead serious. By now, your lines should be lighting up with reports of it. The real deal. Big angry motherfucking dragon, but get this: he's the good guy. The people in the SUV are the bad guys."

  "I ah… Jesus shit, we just lit up like a Christmas tree in here," the operator exclaimed. Spoon imagined the operator looking around at all the other call center staff. "Good God, I think you're right."

  "Don't say I didn't tell you so. Get the word out. I'm in pursuit. Again, the guys in the lead SUV are the bad guys, and the dragon is a good guy. Don't shoot the dragon. Don't shoot the pursuing SUV, that's me. He isn't the bad guy and I don't think the BPD have a gun that's gonna do shit to him anyway."

  "Yeah, okay. I'll uh, let the responding officers know…" the 911 operator was clearly drifting, in a level of disbelief over what was being said on his call, as well as his fellow operators’ calls.

  "Tell the officers. Now, thanks. Bye!" Spoon said quickly before hanging up. Normally he'd stay on the line, but he knew the operator would be distracted. Plus, he had his hands full already.

  Spoon punched the accelerator and watched as Tesser's wings swept back, launching him forward and nearly over the top of the fleeing vehicle. Spoon wanted to see how a dragon did a high-speed traffic stop.

  As it turned out, he was uniquely suited for the job.

  Tesser's massive front arms ended in claw tipped hands big enough simply grab the roof of the SUV and lift it off the ground. The motor of the truck started to rev out of control with no weight to power, but the chattering of point blank automatic weapons firing from inside the truck quickly drowned out the noise. Spoon watched as a hundred holes opened up in the roof of the truck, punching a hundred hot bullets upwards towards Tesser's face. Tesser didn’t even react as he planted his back legs down, his rear claws ripping apart the pavement to stop his flight. Like a gargantuan cat with a toy, Tesser peeled back the roof of the truck as Spoon slammed on his brakes. The tires gave out another squeal but it was still quieter than the sound of the Yukon's roof being ripped away.

  Roof gone, the occupants of the truck were at Tesser's mercy. The dragon's enormous hand ate a blistering amount of fresh gunfire from the shooters inside, but he ignored it. With the tips of two insanely large black claws, Tesser plucked one of the attackers out as If he were no more than a chocolate from a box, and flung him. The man kept silent as he sailed end over end, his gun escaping from his grip. His flight ended powerfully against the dome of the Massachusetts State House. On impact, he burst into nothingness, his empty clothing sliding down the well-lit curve of the ornamental roof.


  Tesser sat the truck on the ground and pulled the other man out, this time far less gingerly. He windmill slammed the driver into the pavement of Park Street, plunging his talons into the surface so deeply Spoon thought he'd never get them out. Then Tesser spoke. Roared.

  The dragon had the man pinned flat on his back, and leaned over him, looming. With a wide reptilian mouth he rumbled out the question, "WHERE IS MATTY!?" Tesser's breath came out so powerfully roadside trash flew away and more car alarms went off. A window nearby broke from the strain. Spoon had the truck in park and was running towards the dragon, his hip doing its own version of a scream. He held the borrowed shotgun at his shoulder.

  "She's mine now. So is the child in her womb, dragon!" Spoon heard the pinned man say savagely. When the sergeant rounded the massive dragon's hindquarters he saw that the man under Tesser's hand was actually the person who had worn the suit earlier. Wait. That doesn't make sense. I saw Tesser punch that man's head practically clean off; then, I shot the cocksucker. I watched him die. He's dead on the street a mile or more away, how can he be here now?

  "THE CHILD IS NOT YOURS! WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS MY MATTY!?" Again the roar sent trash and debris everywhere. More windows broke. People were starting to stand from where they'd dove for cover, trying to understand what was happening. Some were elated, others crying. No one knew how much this moment was changing the world, but they were all entranced with it. Spoon was circling Tesser more, attempting to get a better look at the dragon's face.

  "You've tried me before dragon. You failed then, and you'll fail now. Nothing has changed. Your fragile woman, your unborn child, and your pathetic world, will all fall to me. Human greed and ignorance has opened the doors for my kind, and across the Veil we march. Soon, there will be too many of us for you to fight. There are too few of you left now that magic is dying away." The suited man taunted Tesser, despite the level of danger he was in. Clearly, these weren't the words of the sane.

  Tesser leaned his massive form over even more, his snout just a few inches from the face of his captive. He lowered his voice to a gravelly rumble that made Spoon's hair stand on end. "Your kind have fought to cross the Veil since time began, and my kind and our allies have pushed you back time and again. You're right: nothing has changed."

  "Magic is gone. Kaula is ours, and all her soul is slowly being drained away, sent to the other side as fuel for our young," the man whispered. His eyes rolled upwards and he took on a look of intoxication. It was as if he'd just been shot full of the most powerful heroin ever, and it had only then met up with his mind. But all he'd done was taunted the dragon.

  Spoon watched as Tesser's golden eyes grew dark red with fury. The sergeant had to take a step back out of fear. There was no stopping it. The dragon smiled suddenly. "You underestimate her will, Legion. As you underestimate mine. I shall send you back. Run. Dig deep and hard, daemon. I'm coming for you."

  Tesser's claws ripped free of the pavement faster than a strike of lightning. The dragon formed his hand into a fist the size of a boulder and rocketed it down through the body of the man sinking three feet deep into the street, erupting his bodily form into a cloud of black, wispy evil. Tesser ground his fist into the pavement and then withdrew it, savoring the eruption signaling the daemon body's destruction. After he opened his eyes, he looked around at the massive crowd that had gathered. Hundreds were capturing the image of the dragon, and filming the event. Tesser turned down to Spoon.

  "Abe is in the back. Please take him to the hospital. Quickly," Tesser's voice was low, but it still shook the chest.

  Spoon lowered his shotgun and nodded. "I will. There's a few places right near here. What now? What do we do? You're a goddamn dragon."

  "I've always been a dragon, Detective. Now? Now, the world wakes up. Let me rouse the human race from its dark slumber of comfort and safety. Let them know what walks among them. What flies above. Ignorance will no longer be acceptable. I shall return soon. See to it my friends are taken care of." With that, Tesser launched his gigantic body back into the air, leaving massive claw marks in the road. His wings shoved the air so violently, Spoon was nearly toppled. He kept his balance through the pain in his side and watched as Tesser flew up, higher and higher between the city structures towards the pinnacle of one of the city's tallest buildings. Suddenly, Tesser banked, and flew around the top of the building, circling it. He found something he liked, and landed onto the top of the building, his feet and arms locked on. He looked like a gargoyle gone mad, alive and writhing with inordinate power and energy. Tesser looked down at the crowd near the eastern edge of the Commons, and then clearly made eye contact with Spoon, even at that distance.

  He's smiling.

  Tesser leaned his long neck back and pointed his mouth to the sky. From the most powerful place deep in his dragon lungs he let slip a roar that shook the ground like an earthquake. It went on and on, tearing the sky in half and sending shivers down the backs of the bravest. There were some that couldn't hear it from where they were, but all knew something powerful had stirred. The roar broke through the shared fabric of consciousness and affected everyone within hundreds of miles. Then he unleashed his flame.

  A column of fire came forth from deep within the dragon, setting his scales aglow from heat that came from somewhere inside. The fire was as bright as the sun, and as it jetted upwards, boiling the clouds apart, the people below gasped at the warmth coming down. To be kissed by that flame would mean instant immolation. The flames reached higher and higher, creating a tower of brilliant energy and radiance that lit the city and state as if the sun had risen again that night.

  How far can that be seen?

  Tesser stopped his god-like gout of fire. He grinned into the sky like the pleased Cheshire cat from Wonderland, and vaulted off the skyscraper, slow powerful sweeps of his enormous bat-like wings taking him higher and higher, piercing through the hole in the clouds his breath had cleared. The wispy remnants of white in the sky still kept light as if they were the coals in a hearth.

  And with that, Tesser set forth more into motion than could be imagined.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Fallout

  The world changed immediately, and on many levels.

  The first response to Tesser's reemergence to the world stage was not by social media, or the television networks. Instead, Logan Airport and the Federal Aviation Administration were the first to react. Tesser's enormous body showed up as a brand new plane in the sky, and when an air traffic controller attempted to contact his body, there was of course no response. Tesser did not have a radio to respond with, nor would he have responded if he had one. Within minutes, the proper emergency protocols were followed and the east coast air defense fighter jets were scrambled to the metropolitan Boston area to gets eyes on the rogue plane. No one wanted a repeat of 9/11.

  Tesser disappeared off the radar about the same time they were crossing into Suffolk County. The jets reported nothing amiss when they flew over the city, and there were no signs of a plane crash in the direction the unidentified object had flown in. But, of course, by the time they reached the area, the internet was already spreading the word.

  It was less than ten minutes before photographs of Tesser were live on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and all of the local television stations. Ten minutes after that, Youtube started to see a massive uptick in new videos loaded from the Boston metro area, and the spike in hits to those videos would be later described as a 'bandwidth tsunami.'

  The initial reactions were, as you'd expect, divided sharply. There were the disbelievers. No matter how many videos were made available over the next week (thirty eight, if anyone was counting), they simply refused to believe the event was true. Special effects for a new movie. Government conspiracy. Sun spots. Hackers. Democrats. Republicans. You name the excuse, and someone in that camp thought it up.

  The second group was to embrace the wonder of the return of a dragon to the world. Signs of the massive golden drago
n that could breathe flame were extolled and nearly worshipped by some. Seeing his near two hundred foot length ascend into the highest reaches of the Boston skyline inspired songs and poems of incredible beauty and imagination. Several of those songs went on to win awards, but that's a much different story, for a different day.

  The third group responded quietly, preparing for the worst. They looked at the incredible destructive power of the dragon and stepped into their bunkers fearfully. They looked at the 24 vehicles Tesser destroyed by simply flying over them, the stretches of pavement punctured and shredded by his immense claws with absolute ease, and his mile-high pillar of white hot flame and thought the worst. It was a monster movie come true, and many minds in the government wondered what exactly they would do should that dragon return vengefully. Contingency plans were made ready. Another pair of F15C fighters was put on ready alert in Westfield, Massachusetts, and another two F16C fighters were made ready in Burlington, Vermont. Should the flying, fire-breathing lizard return, the military felt itself ready. Of course, no one could say what the result of a dragon versus high-tech aircraft battle would be.

  The fourth group started to react immediately, though it took days for their voice to be heard. Tesser's sudden appearance triggered a burst of intense arcane energy into the world. Despite his role as the Dragon of Life, and not the Dragon of Magic, his validation of the supernatural brought belief to the subconscious of billions and the active minds of billions more. As Tesser once said, belief defines experience, and when billions of people suddenly begin to think that magic just might be real, it becomes more so, and so do the creatures that are inherently magical.

  To the north in Europe, far from where humans normally tread, came the trolls. Hulking creatures stretching to nearly nine feet in height, with shaggy moss-like fur from head to toe and large tusks and claws. They sent their shamans to the humans to make peaceful contact. They didn't know why now was the right time to do it but they took the risk anyway. The Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish governments took the high road and met the creature's diplomats with open (albeit protected at a distance with extremely powerful firearms) arms, and the first Troll-Human meetings in several thousands of years were held. They were peaceful, unlike many of the previous interactions between the two species, including the last encounter that sent the trolls into hiding long ago. But again, that's a much different story for a different day.