Syphon: Guardians of the Fractured Realms Read Free

When we came in, the monitor said his heart was beating at a steady forty-five beats a minute, so that along with his build makes him some sort of high level athlete. What caught my attention though was when we asked questions to try and get a rise out of him. For the most part, the only reaction I saw was maybe two or three beats that came faster, then it leveled back down to that unusually low pace. One of the times it spiked was when we asked him his name. Betcha he’d nail a lie detector test.”
    “Probably…”
    “What do you make of that jewelry he’s wearing? He kinda looked surprised to be wearing it.”
    Frank paused a second as they exited the elevator before continuing.
    “Honestly, I’m not sure. It concerns me that they couldn’t figure out how to remove it. It also bothers me that they stopped trying after burning out that first blade trying to cut it off.”
    “I’m with you. I don’t like it when a suspect gets to keep something like that, but they did have a valid point. Their cutting blade didn’t even scratch it and they ran a risk of causing an injury if they continued trying. I wonder what it’s made out of.”
    “Don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s pretty tough. I’ve watched those cutting blades go through case-hardened metals before without a hitch, so whatever it is, it’s a lot harder than anything I’ve come across before.”
    Cora opened the car door and climbed inside.
    “Just another mystery to add to the pile I guess.”
    Frank nodded back.
    “Looks that way.”

Chapter 2
    After the detectives and doctor left, he struggled to remember who he was. After several fruitless minutes of going around in circles, he flung the bullet across the room, angry with himself for not remembering anything. With a bit of a shock, he watched as it bounced off a couple walls before landing in the garbage can in the bathroom.
    What the? How the hell did I do that…
    Shaking his head, he tried taking stock of himself. He figured he was probably around six foot or so and apparently worked out pretty regularly based on how his six-pack looked. There wasn’t any mirror that he could look at, so he ran his hand over the smooth skin on his face.
    Guess I shaved recently.
    Reaching up, he ran his hand through his hair, which felt to be about shoulder-length and wavy. Bringing a lock of it forward to look at, he noticed his hair was black, like onyx, and shimmered under the harsh florescent lighting. Letting it go, he started examining the piece of jewelry on his left hand and arm.
    Turning his hand left and right, letting the light play over it, he blew out a silent whistle, marveling at it’s craftsmanship. The overall design was of a finely-wrought dragon, varying in color from cobalt to icy blue. The size of the piece itself was surprising since he didn’t even notice he was wearing it until he noticed it when reaching for the water.
    The head of the dragon covered most of the back of his hand while a sword appeared to be sticking out its mouth. Backing up the impression was what looked like a crossguard that spread across the back of his knuckles, giving the impression of a knuckle-duster. What would go for the hilt of the sword was a set of rings that traveled down his middle finger, ending just short of his fingertip, a blue gemstone covering the nail.
    In the opposite directly, the neck seemed shorter than what he expected a dragon’s neck to be, but he couldn’t see all of it since the wings covered a majority of the neck and body. The wings also covered the entire length of his forearm and wrapped slightly around it. The tail of it coiled gracefully around his upper arm several times, ending just short of his shoulder. Turning his arm over, he saw that the legs of the dragon gripped his arm, the clawed toes interlocking with each other to keep it from coming off. It was so lifelike that he could almost imagine it having walked down his arm before perching on his forearm to take a