22 Vipers, Cobras, And Fire-Breathing Dragons

Placid skies
Through crystal gazing eyes
Slaves to our desire
In a ring of smoke and fire
The dungeons call
Two faces on the wall
Candles light the way
For a moonlight serenade

Through the nights and days
We will find a way
A way to carry on what we believe

An empty door
Ashes on the floor
Hypnotic array of lights
Dragons calling throughout the night
Omen in black
Chained down to the rack
The end never in sight
Soaring through an endless plight

Through the nights and days
We will find a way (find a way)

Silence fills the shrine
Giving us the sign
Forever lost
Forever in the dragon’s den
Born with second sight
Essence burning bright
Forever lost
Forever in the dragon’s den

Silence fills the shrine
Giving us the sign
Forever lost
Forever in the dragon’s den
Born with second sight
Essence burning bright
Forever lost, forever in the dragon’s den

Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey
Kurain Village
Jan 25, 2020, 8:25 AM

“Are you ready to face the craggy faces of disapproval, Nick?” Maya asked nervously as they reached the village entrance, her palms suddenly turning clammy. “All set for being closely scrutinized like you’re under a microscope, for being the sole male specimen within a 200-mile radar by a few hundred probing female eyes of all ages for the next few hours?”

Phoenix smiled reassuringly at her, effectively easing her mounting anxieties.

“I can handle anything, just as long as I’m with you, my love.”

He gave her hand a gentle tug and pulled her towards him, leaning in a little closer, their foreheads touching. After so long apart, the mere fragrance of her was intoxicating. Dear God, he couldn’t fight the carnal urges coursing through him. Her very scent was flooding his senses now, her lips dewy and inviting and practically beckoning his.

Phoenix’s kiss stole the words Maya didn’t need to say. In that silence, all their secrets were laid bare, all their passions and the spark of love that existed between them. Within that moment, in his love, she was strong. Just one kiss, and already she’d garnered the courage to do what needed to be done.

His lips had barely left hers when a high-pitched, outraged cry filled the air suddenly, nearly splitting both their eardrums.

“So! This is who you’ve been off meandering with while you’ve been making that poor cousin of yours lie about your whereabouts! And all the while making the rest of us all frantic with worry!” The shrill voice pierced through the air, as sharp as a katana blade.

The ex-lawyer’s head shot up. Standing before them at the front of the gates of Fey Manor, with crossed arms and a pugnacious expression, was the dwarf twin of The Iron Lady! Although she stood approximately five feet tall, a good foot shorter than the perma-scowl social worker, this woman, clad in a black and grey kimono with a dragon emblem emblazed on it, was eerily similar in appearance, if not in stature. Thin, pursed lips. Overly-tweezed, harshly knitted brows set in a wrinkled prune face. Salt and pepper hair, scraped back into a topknot so tight, it gave an almost cat-like slant to her dark, beady eyes, which raked the couple with obvious disapproval.

Hell’s biscuits! Sharks I can handle, but venomous vipers are another story! The hobo blenched slightly at the poisonous look the harridan had hitherto reserved for Maya but had now directed squarely at him! This beldame is scarier than any bloodthirsty ocean predator – I’d say she’s more like that fire-breathing dragon emblazoned on her kimono! Hell, while we’re comparing her to scary reptiles, I’m also taking note that, at the very least, she’s got the whole King Cobra stare down to an art! She’d certainly win a stare-down against any man or slithering reptile, no problem! Yikes! If looks could kill…

Surprisingly, his girlfriend appeared to be completely unfazed by the combative Reptilian Lady’s presence. Rather than break away from her swain at the sight of the village Elder, she instead stepped even closer to him in an act of pure defiance, nestling under his arm so that it was slung around her shoulder.

“Good day to you, Mystic Mildred,” the Kurain head replied calmly, ignoring the outburst. “I apologize for misleading you all about my whereabouts earlier – it was I who instructed Pearly to do so. She is not to be blamed in this matter whatsoever. While I apologize if my absence had anyone worried, as you can see, the fretfulness was completely unwarranted. I am alive and well and most certainly back within adequate time to be prepared for the ceremony.”

“Oh yes, completely unwarranted,” Mildred agreed, sarcasm positively dripping from her barbed tongue. “Perhaps it is us who owe you an apology Mystic, or shall I say, Master Maya. How silly of us to needlessly concern ourselves over the whereabouts of the future leader of our village, who’s only been dragging her heels about this inauguration for the past year, when she goes missing and is nowhere to be found on said ceremonial day!”

Nope, forget viper or cobra, Phoenix decided. Dragon. Definitely a dragon. And a fire-breathing one, at that!

He half-expected that he and Maya were to be burnt to a crisp from the mouth flames that were surely about to be emitted at any moment!

The spirit medium’s sense of bravado slid down a degree at the scathing words, a fact which did not go unnoticed by Mildred, who upped her attack as the Master shrank back from the look of pure disdain directed at her, so reminiscent of the ones Morgan used to give when she was growing up as a young child.

“You sent us on a wild goose chase, I’ll have you know! All of us, frenziedly searching the perimeters of this entire village, and even up to Hazakura Temple, looking for this so-called remote mediation area where you were supposedly seeking your sacred solace, as Pearl had claimed.” Mildred’s lip curled in disgust. “Even that we could have forgiven, had it been true! To go off in search of spiritual reprieve on such a sanctimonious day is expected, even condoned behavior of the esteemed Master. But to have your location be unknown because you were out thoughtlessly gallivanting like some… cheap harlot with some strange man, who you dare to bring back to an all-female village on this most sanctified day…”

“Objection!” Phoenix roared, pointing his famous courtroom finger then, refusing to endure the vile Dragon Lady’s verbal onslaught against the woman he loved for another moment. “Number one, Maya was hardly out gallivanting, as you so crudely put it, lady! She was picking me up from the station! Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond either of our control, my train got delayed, hence her slight tardiness. And number two –”

“Silence! I don’t seem to recall asking to hear you speak, young man!” Mildred retorted. “First of all, insolent one, you need to show some reverence! This young lady is henceforth to be properly addressed as Mystic, and very soon to be Master, Maya, despite this little stunt she pulled. And second, Mister Whoever You Are, you are to be excused from our village posthaste. This ceremony is a private, closed-off affair, I’ll have you know, and is not open to outsiders of the general public!”

“But he’s not an outsider!” Maya cried. “Nor is he a stranger! He’s practically family! Mystic Mildred, don’t you remember the man who saved me from those murder charges? This is Mia’s old protégé, Phoenix Wright!”

“This is Phoenix Wright?” Mildred’s composure slipped a notch for a moment. Her wrinkly hands fluttered to her bird-like throat, around which hung an opal-colored magatama. “I never would have recognized that famous lawyer being the same man standing before me now, who looks like little more than a street bum!”

“I much prefer the term hobo chic, thankyouverymuch!” The pianist glared at the old woman.

“I should have you and your trespassing, smart mouth ejected from here immediately!”

“Mystic Mildred, please stop this!” The diviner implored, sliding out from under her boyfriend’s arm and wringing her hands as she looked beseechingly at the Dragon Lady. “I never wanted to cause any uproarious commotion. He’s not trespassing … I asked Nick to be here. He and Pearly are to represent my pillars of strength at the ceremony. I have no other family left, save for them, and I wanted, no, I needed him to be here at my side for this. There’s no need for you to act so contentiously towards him. He’s done nothing wrong. All he’s ever done is help people, as well as help me.”

The miserable old bag, while immune to assertive back-talk, didn’t seem to be completely unmoved by complete, outright begging.

“Fine, your friend may stay for the ceremony,” Mildred allowed grudgingly, taking Maya’s arm and yanking her toward Fey Manor.

She tossed a disgusted look over her shoulder at the bindlestiff, signaling him to follow them.

“However, seeing as how you are nowhere near dressed for such an auspicious occasion, Mr. Wright, I cannot let you attend the festivities in that – unsuitable attire,” she spat rancorously. “You are to wait outside the house until I send Mystic Pearl out to you. We shall need to search the house to see if we still have any of the elder’s late husband’s more appropriate clothing stashed away somewhere that you may borrow for the day.”

“That’s fine,” he shrugged, his lips twitching with barely suppressed derision that he’d been told to remain outside like a flea-ridden puppy, rather than be invited inside the house as a normal visitor would have. Luckily, it was an unpredictably tepid morning, despite the mountain winter air, and he was plenty warm in his jogging suit. Working in the arctic temperature of the Borscht Bowl had given him quite an impressive cold tolerance!

He waited patiently on the grounds of Fey Manor, leaning down to admire the shrubs and vegetation outside the main doors. If need be, he decided he could kill time and explore the magnificent surrounding area of Maya’s home, having only visited there a couple of times in the past, albeit under much more dire circumstances. He was just about to check out the garden in the back when the front door swung open and little Pearl came rushing out. Her arms were laden with folded dark material, which she dropped in her haste to come to greet him, momentarily forgetting, in her zeal, to shut the door behind her.

“Mr. Nick!” She squealed joyfully, running up to Phoenix with outstretched arms, a smile of uninhibited joy on her cherubic face. “You’re finally here! I’ve missed you so much! I knew you would come!”

Laughing at her effusiveness, he lifted the small girl in his arms and swung her around, equally as delighted to see her. He’d nearly forgotten how much he’d loved her like his own daughter.

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, Pearls,” he answered with a smile, setting her back down, then bending over to pick up the garments she’d dropped in her excitement. “I’ve missed you too. Just look at you, you’re getting so big! And you look so pretty in your dressy robes!”

The girl smiled bashfully at him and shyly pressed her hands against her pink cheeks at the compliment. The spirit medium was dressed in a more formal version of her usual lavender acolyte robes for the occasion. The material was silk instead of cotton, with a pretty white embroidery design. A purple peony was tucked into the double loops of her light brown hair.

“Let me show you where you can get changed, Mr. Nick.” Pearl’s tiny hand took his. She was just about to lead him off when unexpectedly, a chorus of loud, incensed voices was heard from inside the house through the open door.

“You are never to see him again after today, is that understood?” Mildred’s furious assertion could be heard as clear as a bell. “It’s a dishonor that you brought such a tatterdemalion guttersnipe to be part of this solemn event, Mystic Maya. You should be ashamed of yourself!”

“Save your breath!” The diviner snapped. “I don’t care a fig about your prejudiced, narrow-minded opinions and I especially don’t care what you think of him!”

“You will if you know what’s good for you!” Mildred shrieked. “As of today, you are officially the Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique, and a woman of great prestige and influence. You are not to sully your name and reputation, and ours as default, by associating with the scummy underbelly of society likes of him!”

“I’ll see him whenever I damn well, please! How dare you try to command what I do!” The incensed psychic shouted back at a near ear-splitting decibel. Phoenix hadn’t heard his girlfriend sound so incensed since the time they’d threatened to take the Steel Samurai off the air. “Nick is not only an important part of my life, but he has been a long-time friend of the Fey family and will always continue to be! I refuse to cast him aside like common trash! Especially not after everything he’s done for us!”

“This is a direct order, not something that renders debate! Mr. Wright is not a person whom we would like affiliated with the village,” Mildred’s voice was cold as her words. “It is bad enough that you continued to call him a friend after that scandalous disbarring incident a year ago, but now this? To be out publicly embracing him in plain sight, and openly flaunting him to us as your lover?”

She sputtered the last word as if it were blasphemy.

“It is an embarrassing disgrace to Kurain, as well as a disgrace to you as Master of this village!”

Pearl’s gray eyes widened in horror as she realized the grievous oversight that she’d made by forgetting to close the door behind her. She quickly ran over and pulled it shut to prevent them from being forced to listen to any more explosive dialogue, but it was too late.

They’d both already heard enough.

It’s so strange, Phoenix thought numbly. How some people ignore logic just because they believe what they like to believe and ignore the truth since it’s often funny how the people who know the least about you, always have the most to say.

The precocious child bit her thumb nervously as she looked up and caught the stunned, grief-stricken expression on his face, pausing only for a moment before springing into action and taking his hand again.

“Forget about her, Mr. Nick,” Pearl said kindly, gently tugging the dumbstruck man away from the main entrance, like a tiny little tugboat pulling an ocean liner, as she led him towards the Winding Way. “Mystic Mildred’s just a cranky, mean old witch! It’s Mystic Maya who’s in charge, and you’re her Special Someone and she wanted you here. Nothing else matters!”

Phoenix knew the child was trying hard to make him feel better, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her it was all for naught. As he walked into the guest room and began to put on the outfit Pearl had brought out for him, he was unable to squelch the huge, tight knot that had formed in his chest upon hearing the ugly words, which could never be abated.

Especially since they were true.

Keeping what you have is hard, like searching for what you’ve lost.

Mildred was vile, but she was right. Phoenix was a disgrace. He was beneath Maya. His girlfriend shouldn’t be with the likes of him, not anymore. Not when she was now a woman of such influence and power, and whose reputation would be irreparably damaged if she continued having her name linked to his.

I can never come back to Kurain after all this, he realized despairingly. I can’t put us through the aftermath of what my presence here will bring! And I was right to determine not to get intimate with her again – and that was before all this new shit went down! If we keep seeing each other, I fear I won’t be able to control myself. I’ll lure her to the city, putting her in danger, both from Kristoph and me ruining the Master thing for her. Or I’ll feel compelled to stay in Kurain and screw things up here for her.

He stood there numbly, alone with his torturous thoughts. He had remained silent and unmoving, in the manner of a stoic mannequin, by the time Pearl re-entered the room, after checking first that he was dressed, and began fussing over the correct draping and layering of the kimono.

“You look so handsome, Mr. Nick!” The acolyte declared, jumping up and down like an excited little rubber ball. “Look in the mirror!”

Phoenix stifled a sigh and looked at his reflection in the glass. The youngest Fey was being too kind. He thought he looked ridiculous, like the complete Philistine that he was, although he had to admit the clothing itself was quite nice.

The long Yukata was extremely elegant and made of authentic black Japanese silk and had a rich, soft sheen to the fabric, making it luxuriously soft to the touch. The silk kimono was fully lined and had the kanji character kotobuki, which Pearl explained meant long life and happiness, embroidered on the front and back. It was made in the traditional style and was to be worn by wrapping left over right and loosely tied off using the obi. On his feet, he wore a pair of somewhat ill-fitting wooden Geta, the traditional Japanese wooden clogs. He was fortunate the previous owner appeared to have not only been of similar height and build as him but the shoes, while a tad too big, were certainly manageable as long as he didn’t attempt to run in them.

“Thanks, Pearls,” Phoenix attempted to smile for the spirit medium’s benefit. “It is a fine-looking outfit.”

“Hmmm, something’s still not right…” Pearl eyed him critically. “Mr. Nick, come down here for a second?”

Confused, Phoenix obliged, leaning down towards her, when she suddenly reached up and yanked the beanie off his head.

“Hey! Give that back!” His hand reflexively flew to the now bared spikes on his head, which felt quite cold now due to the unaccustomed exposure to the air.

“No way, not till after the ritual!” Pearl grinned at him mischievously. “The hat looked silly with your kimono – it just didn’t go with your outfit. And just so you know, Mystic Maya hates it!”

“B –But I’m going to need to fix my hair now!” He whined petulantly, resisting the urge to pout. “And I have no gel on me!”

“Nuh-uh.” The pretzel-haired youngster shook her head stubbornly and tucked the hat into the pocket of her outer robe. “Your spikes aren’t flattened at all. Hey, how come you don’t get what Mystic Maya calls hat head? Your hair just stays spiky, like magic!”

“But Pearls –!”

“Let’s go, Mr. Nick!” She grabbed his hand and steered him out the door. “It’s almost time for the ceremony! Come on! We need to take our places and go find seats!”

Symphony X – In The Dragon’s Den