Phoenix & Dragon

Bob Eggleton 

The Phoenix glared at Puck - she was a proud creature and did not appreciate being denied.

He rubbed his forehead in an agitated manner … the stress of late had really got to him - nonetheless Puck refused to give into it.

“It can’t be done” he said as plainly as he might.

She menacingly stamped her foot and bowed down her head to face his gaze directly.

Telepathically he winced.

“Yes, life is about renewal, but no, not more of the same - that would be a living death by any definition.

"I realize you want me to keep the Pharma work going, and that you have invested a lot (and here he emphasised "a lot") of time and energy doing just this - but, I say to you respectfully: you are wrong.”

The influence from Asia had been one of copying, duplicating forgeries with repetition. Tradition was also just that: an affection for the past that stifled any prospect for change.


- Gabriel Brunsdon AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Dark Nights Accumulated

Theo’s aspirations were both complex and mundane.

He had been content within the confines and routine of his dutiful work, peppered with salutations and self-admonishments - however, he did find himself throughout the night, wishing for the soft company of a woman. In the midnight hours Theo desired desperately to replace his cold monastic life with the comfort of a warm and wanting wife.

Try as he might, Theo was restless and confused. The dark nights accumulated, and, on the eve of his fortieth birthday, this middle aged Monk took himself out to the uppermost ledge of the enclave and wrapped his stringy belt around his neck.

Murmur, on his nightly rounds had found him dangling in a hapless way.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

In a Prior Life

Pietro was not the only one to whom Murmur had ‘healed’ and had subsequently made landlocked, earthbound, shut out from passing through the gates of the Heavens as one would normally do after death.

The starry gates were closed also to Vlad - who, in a prior life had worked as a civil servant of the Church: seeking obeisance, piety and personal accord. His name known by the order was Theo, like the great physician who was yet to be born.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Go Back

Humankind has its captains and champions; adepts, masters, bodhisattvas and beyond - and the Fey, they too have their accomplished few, ahead of the rest … and Puck was such a one.

Francis recognized Brogan with the happiness of the familiar.

A white light appeared ever so strongly and almost blocked him from moving forward. He reached out towards, but Brogan stepped back into the light and could barely be seen.

“You must go back.” he said softly, yet firmly.

And with that, Francis clamoured his way once again into his earthly consciousness to find something that even he could never have guessed at, waiting for him to wake.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

An Uncanny Connective Tissue

In the spirit world all beings can, and do, shape-change. They can project, or be perceived, in images relevant to their essential self, or as how they wish to be perceived.

When Brogan had passed over two decades earlier, he had been wearing a rabbit suit at the time. And so, when he returned back into the earthly sphere he could still appear as he had left - looking like a 6' 3” rabbit. It was not intended as a comment as to Francis and his congeniality with the animals.

Life can be like that: it can knit together people, places and circumstances, with an uncanny connective tissue - finer than that of our own designing.

Brogan also, was a dear friend of the deep past. He had been helped by Puck, and was conjoined with Charlotte’s (Charley’s) mother, Marley (Marian) as a partner, lion-hearted benefactor, and close companion throughout.

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The White Rabbit

Josep Benlliure Gil

Death to the Saint is but a blessed release, for the Heavenly airs are alike to the fragrance of coffee in the morning, or jasmine in the eve: the inhalation of the new life beyond this one, brings a joyous complexity both rich and sublime.

He could see a tall white rabbit waiting there to greet him. This rabbit equalled him in height. Francis thought to himself that the end of his life was signatory to this sight.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

His Nemesis

He [the Dark Master] had had his eye upon Francis for some time now … as he had known him to be the hope of the world. Years earlier he had morphed into a rabid dog and with the taste of the boy’s flesh within him, he now had a physical connection to the man, having assimilated some of his blood into himself, it now bore their union.

Hode knew of his nephew’s evil stalker, yet refused to use his name, lest he invoke the evil one - calling his attention or giving power to his menace - and so, in the stead, he only referred to him as ‘the Dark Knight’.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances