Tesser: A Dragon Among Us (A Reemergence Novel) (31 page)

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 dragon 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.

Gardens all across the world where it was still warm started to flourish and bloom. The fairies had come back; they cast aside their shy nature so they could bask in the glow of the surge of magic. Very efficient creatures at the spreading of pollen and the nurturing of flowers and all things botanical. The greenery and wonder of the previously mundane terrace flower collections erupted into a riot of life. People began to snap pictures of the tiny flying fae, drunk on the fresh flow of magic in the world, and share them on the internet. The now famous photo of a female fairy smiling through a kitchen window at an eight-year-old Moroccan boy became an icon for the time.

The darkness came with the light, as one cannot exist without the other. Glasgow's night fell quickly into the hands of a large vampire nest that had been dormant for a century. Nightclubs, bars, pubs, museums, and many businesses were taken over by the creatures of the night. When the police attempted to investigate, they too were taken over to the dark by the vampires, and to this day, the Scottish city is not safe when the sun goes down. It isn't particularly safe during the day either. But as you might expect by now, that's a very different story, for a different day.

In Buenos Aires, a tribe of goblins erupted from their subterranean lair and into the city streets, emboldened and attempting to claim the city for their own. Luckily, there were only a few hundred goblins and their knowledge of modern technology was woeful. When the Argentinean military responded, the goblins were dispatched with haste. Many were killed, but just as many escaped back down into their under city hive, led by their hulking goblin king. The city officials continue to search for the lair of the creatures, but as of yet, have not found it.
 

Then, only then, the world accepted what was really and truly happening: it was the rebirth of a lost age. Magic had returned.

Poor Mr. Doyle's life was upended in the most stupendous of ways. He was blessed in the sense that his enchanted wine glass began to work once more. His body began to turn back the clock immediately after his first glass of fermented grapes, and he drank many, many glasses. Not for their restorative effects, but more to cope both with the attention the world thrust upon him as well as with nearly losing yet another apprentice. Nevertheless the end result was the gift of a decade taken off his body and the banishment of his arthritic pain.

The Boston Police visited him first, then the FBI. Soon after, the ATF made their appearance, and after them came a string a mile long of government agencies with three letter acronyms. And they all asked the same questions.

Where did the dragon come from? Is he dangerous to National Security? Why did he destroy so much property? What happened to the men he killed? Why is there a talking tree in your front yard?

And on and on they went with their questions, pressing for more and more information. They attempted to seize all of Mr. Doyle's possessions, citing a string of laws that allowed them to do so. Mr. Doyle, ever the thoughtful and witty character, informed them that too few of the lab geeks would know how to handle such rare things of arcane power and that the dragon might be very, very angry that the old man's things were taken from him. It was agreed by all that angering the dragon was a bad idea, so they allowed him to keep his artifacts. And Mr. Doyle was happy, because he loved having all of his things and having them work again. The joy of bending the U.S. government over wasn't lost on him either.

Abraham Fellows, friend of Tesser and Mr. Doyle, was shot multiple times in the abdomen by Legion. He suffered a perforated lung, a shattered clavicle, multiple broken ribs, and his intestinal tract took it even worse than that. A doctor described his innards as being 'Swiss cheese' more than once. As Tesser asked him to, Sergeant Spooner was able to rush Abe straight to Beth Israel, which was only a few streets over. In the emergency room there, the doctors were able to stop his bleeding and repair the incredible amount of damage done to his body. They surgeons later credited a spell cast by Mr. Doyle in his home for his survival. Their news conference after the fact started an entire industry of arcane medical study.
 

Sergeant Spooner was put through the ringer right alongside Mr. Doyle, though they took Spoon back to the station first. Had Spoon not taken the few days off that he did, he would've been fired for sure, but his explanation of being out for a drive that night was solid enough to pass the sniff test. It helped that Spoon was the sole Boston Police Department employee who had met Tesser in human form and could claim to have a good relationship. Tesser's words to Spoon the night of his emergence helped smooth over any of the Sergeant's failings. He was put on paid leave as per department regulations while an investigation was made into the shootings. Granted, there were no dead bodies to account for, but that didn't make the incident any less interesting to a slew of already interested parties. When they realized that Spoon had been shot in the massive firefight, they rushed him back to Beth Israel to get patched up. Spoon never said anything about being hurt.
 

Perhaps most interesting of all the incidents during Tesser's two-week-long absence from the world was the complete and utter fumbling of the investigation into Matty Rindahl's disappearance. She suffered from the poor timing of having been allegedly kidnapped on the same day as the first sighting of a dragon. Matty's parents were beside themselves, and after the world simmered down enough, they flew straight to the States to head the push into finding their daughter. Alexis of course was torn in two directions; she wanted to help find Matty, but she also wanted to be by Abe's side. In the end, when Matty's parents arrived, she went to Abe. It was just easier to be there for him, and defending him from the thousands of questions levied in his direction was something she was very passionate about. He was
her
man after all. Plus, when Abe regained consciousness, he assured Alexis that all would be well. After all, Matty had a dragon for a boyfriend.