A new body, finally fully grown. His body was new, but his mind and soul were ancient. He had watched God create the heavens and the earth. He had seen the fall of Lucifer. He had seen the birth of hell at Lucifer’s condemnation. He had seen Cain kill Abel, Methuselah rise to the heavens. He’d seen the birth of new worlds, and watched stars die. He saw the sun stand still over Israel for a full day. He’d seen Jesus crucified on the cross. He was the most ancient of beings, and the loneliest. He had no kin. He was the last of his kind.

He required no food, no water. He only thirsted for knowledge. When God created him, He asked the being what his one wish was. His answer was simple.

“I wish to know everything.”

God had laughed, and said that was the most wonderful request he had ever received. God granted him this request, on the condition he would have to learn for himself. He had happily accepted and had been set free to the earth. He lived, learning everything he could. He would burn when his body was old, and be reborn from the ashes.

He was here now, in an office on his perch. An old man with a silver beard and twinkling blue eyes came down a staircase and opened up the window for the being. He hopped over to the man and nuzzled his beard affectionately, then hopped to the window and spread his wings, catching the wind. He took off.

The night was cool and wet. He looked up and saw the stars beyond the clouds. Tonight he would not fly. Tonight he would soar. He flew higher and higher. He finally broke free of the earth and flew through space. The earth was spinning below him. He saw clouds laced over the oceans and the land. Hurricanes were forming in one place. He gave a soft cry, feeling pity for those that would lose lives and homes in the fierce, wet winds. He could ask God to stop the winds, but He would refuse. God had a plan. He always had a plan. The bird knew that everything would come out right in the end. But he still felt sad for the victims that would be. He flew on, looking over the oceans and the continents, studying how erosion had changed their shape over the millennia.

He flew higher, past the moon, past the planets. He flew on to the Milky Way. The stars didn’t twinkle out here, as they did on earth, but the view was beautiful. The stars here were not pinpoints of light, but swirling balls of colored gas. He ignored these and flew on; looking for the star he had been watching for the last few centuries. It would die tonight. He needed to be there, to let the star know it would not die alone. That someone loved it, and a better life was waiting for it. He found it. He watched it for hours, waiting for its last breath. It happened. An explosion of darkness as the star collapsed in on itself, and then a brilliant light burst out from the center of that darkness, spreading out further and further until finally dissipating. The bird gave a low musical cry of grief for the star. He cried, and tears fell from eyes into the new emptiness of the sky, healing it, so it could form a new star one day. He flew, singing, singing to God to let Him know that his star was coming home to rest.

He reached the end of the universe and stopped, marveling at how the darkness faded into nothingness. But the universe was expanding; there was more universe, and less nothingness. He knew that one day, the nothingness would be filled, and the universe would collapse upon itself, taking everything in it home to God, his creator. He wondered if God would spread it out again, and create life again. He had done it before, hundreds of times. Just like the bird had burned and been reborn from his ashes hundreds of thousands of times since the creation of this universe.

He flew gracefully in a circle until he was facing home, and dove. He flew past galaxies and stars and planets until he saw that bright blue beacon below him. He flew to the dark side of the earth and let himself fall to the clouds, spreading his wings when he felt the damp air of the night sky. He flew on to the castle, and into the window of the office.

The old man was sleeping at the desk. The bird landed lightly in his lap and nuzzled under his chin, waking him.

The man opened his eyes and saw the red and gold feathers. “Ah, Fawkes, how was your flight? You’ve been gone a week now. I expect it was very eventful.”

Fawkes gave a low cry, as if to tell him, “Yes, it was eventful.”

The old man looked out the window, wistful. “I wish I could have seen it, where do you go on these flights of yours?”

Fawkes looked at the old man. This was the wisest human he had ever met in all the time he had been alive. Perhaps it was time to share.

He put his head against the old man’s and began to sing the song of the Phoenix. He created a link between their minds and showed the old man what he had seen on this flight.

The old man closed his eyes and was overwhelmed with the images and emotions that fell into his mind. Tears began to fall as he saw the beauty of the heavens and the death of a star. He cried as he heard the song the Phoenix had sung to God, to let Him know His star was coming home.