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Phoenix Cycles
Ch.2
Gemeny's Hidden Power, Return of the Daemon
LAST TIME:
Gemeny's POV
The villagers were organizing a search party while her arm was being
looked at. It had gotten quiet since the explosion sounded off from
the forest. People were running around without talking, all trying to
prepare to look for TigerClaw when someone gave a yell. Villagers stopped
what they were doing and stared. Gemeny got up and when she saw what
they were looking at, she felt tears of start swelling up. TigerClaw
was walking out of the woods, and he was dragging something behind him.
He was in his human form. Her face went from happiness to horror when
she saw all the wounds on him. His shirt was nearly gone, and there
were slashes all over him. He was staggering towards them and looked
as if he were about to collapse. As he entered the village area, he
looked around, "Anyone want a werewolf head?" And with that
he collapsed, out cold. She quickly ran over to him, trying to ignore
the sharp pain in her arm, and saw that he was still breathing. The
villagers looked from her, to him, to the disembodied head of the daemon
werewolf, unsure as to what was going on.
Continued
Gemeny's POV
Kneeling by TigerClaw, some of the villagers came over and started picking
him up. "What are you doing with him?" she cried out.
One of them looked down to her, "We need to get him inside where
it's warmer, and someone, get that healer that came with the monster
hunters!" As Gemeny followed, someone ran into the tavern ahead
of the group carrying TigerClaw, who went into the tavern and into a
room and set him on a bed.
Gemeny just stood there, unsure what to do, when someone shoved her
aside, "Out of my way, out of my way!" A woman ran into the
room and looked down at TigerClaw, frowning. "I'll need everyone
to get out so I can concentrate."
One of the elder men looked at her, "If this young man dies, you
won't get any payment," with that he left. The other people looked
at each other and started leaving, one of them touched her shoulder,
motioning for her to come along. Giving one last look at the woman as
she knelt by her friend, she left the room, trying not to look at the
blood that covered the floor.
Elizabeth's POV
Elizabeth stared hatefully at the form that lay there. This young brat
had just killed the monster she and her companions were to kill, and
destroyed their meal ticket. Sighing she brought her hands up to start
healing him, when she noticed something that stopped her cold. The cuts
and slashes were healing by themselves. Staring, she let her hands drop
as the last cut disappeared and the man's eyes opened up. Blinking,
he looked at her, "Who're you?"
Answering before she thought, "Elizabeth, I was called to heal
you, but-"
He cut her off, "Then thanks, you did a great job," and with
that, he started struggling to get up.
"You must lie down and rest, you're obviously exhausted, I'll go
tell everyone you're fine," standing, her eyes fell upon the feathers
in his hair, and her eyes widened slightly.
TigerClaw's POV
I opened my eyes to see a strange lady with black hair and very dark
brown eyes, "Who're you?"
Seemingly taken aback, she answered, "Elizabeth, I was called to
heal you, but-"
Phoenix, apparently awake, sent me a sudden impulse. "Then thanks,
you did a great job," I tried to get up, * What's up Phoenix? Something
wrong? *
{ I don't trust her }
"You must lie down and rest, you're obviously exhausted, I'll go
tell everyone you're fine," Elizabeth stood up, then her eyes widened
slightly as she looked at me. "Might I ask if I may have one of
the feathers in your hair? They're very beautiful"
Phoenix sent me a sudden wave of mistrust, "No, sorry. You see,
they're rather attached to me, Gemeny can vouch for that."
"Gemeny, ah, the girl. Well then, I'll be off." With that,
she left, closing the door as she went through it.
Lying back down, I stared at the ceiling, utterly exhausted. { There's
something not right about her. I'm not sure what, but there is definitely
something not right about her }
Closing my eyes, I sighed, * Yeah? Well, there's something not right
about you too, bird brain * Whether or not he replied, I can't remember
as I drifted off to sleep.
Elizabeth's POV
Closing the door behind her, she looked at the small crowd staring at
her. Giving a smile, she looked at the little girl, "He'll be just
fine, he just needs a good night sleep." She was about to say more
when she suddenly felt something coming from the child, but it disappeared
before she could try and figure out what it was. Whatever it was though,
could wait, she had to get back to Jeref and Deovi upstairs. If she
was right about the young man, they might have stumbled onto something
very big. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed. And
don't wake the boy, he needs rest." With that, she walked towards
a staircase, and went up it, trying not to go up to fast, lest the villagers
suspect something. Walking into Jeref's and Deovi's room, she snapped
at them, "Wake up, you fools!"
Jeref, tall with short golden hair, long nose, and hazel eyes, sat up,
grumbling, "What's wrong, Elizabeth?"
"Yeah, why are you getting us up now?" muttered Deovi, his
black hair sticking up all over the place, while his yellow tinged eyes
stared sleepily at her.
"Someone has killed the daemon I summoned, but this might work
to our advantage," she said, as the two stared at her, shocked.
"The person that killed my daemon, if I'm right, is really a phoenix."
"What do you mean, a phoenix?" asked Jeref, "And how
would that work to our advantage?"
"Insulant fools!" Elizabeth muttered, pacing back and forth,
her eyes twinkling as a plan formed in her mind. "I know I'm right,
he's a phoenix, nothing else could possible heal as fast as that."
Looking up, "The feathers of a phoenix, if used right, can grant
a person immortality, and perfect health. If we can hurt him enough
so that we can get some of his feathers, we can live forever, and never
grow old or ill." Deovi grinned, but Jeref frowned.
"But you said he killed that daemon werewolf you summoned, so how
will we be able to hurt him?"
Smiling, Elizabeth walked over to the window and pointed down at something.
Jeref and Deovi walked over to see what it was, and smiled.
"He brought the head of the daemon with him, I'll simply use my
magic to revive it and it'll walk again. And with my magic, it'll also
be able to walk in the sunlight."
Laughing, Deovi looked at her, "So what are we waiting for? Lets
get started!"
Shaking her head, "I must wait until the sun is high in the sky
for it to work, so we must wait," walking to the door, she turned
back to the duo, "Better get your rest, tomorrow is going to be
a busy day."
The Next Day
TigerClaw's POV
I looked around, bored. I had woken up fully rested, and started walking
around. The people in the village were certainly grateful that I killed
that daemon werewolf thingy, and I can't deny it was nice to be praised
for something, but it was getting a little old. Gemeny had joined me
and we started looking for proper supplies to continue traveling, but
the villagers didn't seem to have anything we didn't already have.
I hadn't seen that lady, Elizabeth, since last night, but Phoenix didn't
seem too keen on seeing her, { You can't trust her, there's something
not right about her! }
* And there's a lot of things not right about YOU!! *
{ I don't trust her, she's up to something }
Shrugging it off, I figured it was time for us to go. But the villagers
wanted us to stay for the night.
"Look, we appreciate the offer, but we need to go, we have to get
to...ummm.."
I looked down at Gemeny, who sighed, "Waynaru."
"Right, Wamuruy...errr.....what she said. It's already noon, and
we need to-" I started, before someone spoke up behind me.
"You'll be staying right here, we insist!" Turning around
quickly, I looked at the speaker. It was Elizabeth. As I stared at her,
two men walked up behind her, one of them was carrying something. Looking
closely I could see it was the daemon werewolf's head. "We have
need of your services. You see, I know exactly what you are, phoenix."
I stood there blinking as everyone turned to look at me, except Gemeny,
who was staring intently at Elizabeth. Then I realized what she meant,
and I burst out laughing so hard I nearly fell over.
Elizabeth stared at me, shocked, "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!"
"YOU!!! You actually think I'M a phoenix?!" Still laughing,
I looked at her, "Lady, you're half right, I'm no phoenix, I'm
just fused with one!"
"LIAR! You are a phoenix! And I will have your feathers!"
With that she, turned to the two men, "Deovi! Jeref! Place the
head in front of me!" I stared as the men did what she told them,
and she began chanting. As she chanted, the head went completely black,
and started melting until it was nothing but a puddle.
I stared, along with everyone else, stunned, at least 'til Phoenix butted
in, { You must start transforming, she's bringing back the daemon! }
* What?! You got to be kidding me! Oh shit, this is bad * Immediately
I began concentrating, hoping to transform before that werewolf came
back.
Even though I was concentrating, I could still see what was happening.
The puddle started growing larger and larger until it stretched nearly
12' in front of Elizabeth. Then it started rising in the center, until
it was a column. The column started taking shape in the form of the
daemon werewolf. As I finished transforming, the werewolf was finished
being revived. But something was wrong, the werewolf, ( every bit as
terrifying as before ) was turning around to look at Elizabeth, who
was chanting furiously, as if her life depended on it.
Elizabeth's POV
Elizabeth chanted as fast as she could, she needed to complete the binding
spell that would bring the daemon under her control quickly. But as
she neared the final verse, she felt something. Looking at the young
man, she saw him transform, but what she felt wasn't coming from him,
it was coming from the girl, and she realized what it was.
"Elizabeth! The spell!" Deovi yelled from behind her. Her
eyes widened in horror as the daemon grabbed her, lifted her in the
air, and calmly bit her head off.
TigerClaw's POV
I stared, horrified as the daemon picked Elizabeth up a ripped her head
off with its teeth. Chewing, chunks fells out of its mouth as blood
poured out of its mouth and out of the headless form it held in its
hand. One of the two men, one with golden hair, ran up to it, drawing
his sword, but before he could get it out, the daemon grabbed him and
lifted him into the air even as it threw the lifeless body of Elizabeth
away. Opening it mouth, it ripped the man's arm off and chewed as the
man screamed in hit grasp. Swallowing, it opened its mouth wide and
shoved the man all the way up to his chest into its mouth, and bit.
Even from where I was, I could hear the bone crack and flesh tear and
the daemon ripped him in two. Dropping the lower half, the werewolf
crunched noisily at the torso in its mouth, blood dripped freely from
its mouth. Soon it swallowed this too, and turned to the second man,
who stared, rooted to the spot. Grabbing him, the daemon calmly bit
him in two as well.
* If you ever, EVER, want to do something like that, Phoenix, I'll kill
you *
{ Don't worry! }
Gulping, I tried to keep myself from throwing up as the daemon turned
and looked at me, some part of human anatomy hanging from its mouth,
which it calmly slurped up, and charged. I didn't even have time to
dodge as I was grabbed and thrown into a tree. Pain lanced through one
of my wings as I heard bones shatter. Getting up, I turned back to the
daemon, when I saw Gemeny grab something off the ground and throw it
at the daemon. I stared horrified as it turned into a giant ball a fire,
easily twice my size. The fireball hit the werewolf, and kept going....straight...at...me??
< Oh Shit! > And then I was hit my the fireball.
Gemeny's POV
Gemeny looked around desperately for something to throw, anything to
distract the daemon long enough for TigerClaw to get his bearings. Picking
up a rock, she threw it as hard as she could, and stared as it turned
into a mighty fireball. Not sure what was happening, she stared as it
got bigger and hit the daemon...and continued on and hit TigerClaw,
incinerating him. Gemeny stared and the daemon turned to her, flesh
badly burned and glared hatefully at her.
TigerClaw's POV
I opened my eyes to find myself on a roof looking down towards the daemon.
Quickly, I jumped down and ran in front of it. < Gemeny, don't do
that again, that HURT! > Not waiting for an answer, I charged, but
the werewolf simply grabbed me. It seemed that when Elizabeth brought
the thing back, she improved it a little bit, all right, she improved
it A LOT! Bringing me up close, I swear the thing grinned before opening
its mouth and shoving me in. < Not again! > As my head was pushed
down it's throat, I could feel it crushing my wings with its free hand.
Soon my stomach entered its throat as it tilted its head up. Then something
hit me in the back. It felt like someone had taken a small pole, slammed
it into my back, and out my chest. Screaming in pain, I felt myself
dying again.
Opening my eyes, I saw.....myself hanging out of the daemon's mouth
and an arrow lodged through its throat. I stared at the daemon as it
clutched its throat, unable to breath, until finally, it collapsed,
dead. As it collapsed, I could see a lady on a horse holding a bow.
* Phoenix, what's going on? *
{ How would I know?! }
The woman dismounted and walked past the corpse of the daemon, and stopped.
It was then that I notice what appeared to be a small army behind her.
"I saw what happened here, and I believe I can help you."
Standing up, I looked down at her, < Help us? What do you mean by
that? I mean, I'm thankful for the help with the dog, even though that
hurt like HELL! But what do you mean? >
She looked up at me, then down at Gemeny, "I am Commander Cathrine,
of the mercenaries, Phoenix Blades. My mages have told me that you friend
has tremendous magical potential, and talent, and if left untrained,
it will kill her."
I turned around and stared at Gemeny, who was staring the Cathrine,
< And if you train her, what do you get back in return? >
She smiled as she looked at me, "I saw your fight with the daemon,
and one of my men told me that you had in fact killed it before, single
handedly. That is no small task. So I want you to join us. You will
work for me, and your friend will be trained on how to control her powers,
deal?"
I don't know why, but I liked her, but still... I turned to Gemeny,
who nodded weakly. < Deal. >
"Good," A man walked up behind her, holding something. As
returned to my normal form, he gave it to her. Walking up to me, she
held a leather gauntlet. "All Phoenix Blades' are required to wear
a gauntlet, the type of gauntlet signifies rank."
Taking it, I slipped it over my left hand. It covered my arm up to my
elbow, and covered part of my hand, but not the fingers.
With that, she walked past me towards the frightened villagers, "I
request permission from whoever is in charge to let us camp here for
the night." Staring at her, I wondered what I had just gotten myself
into.
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