Descent Into Darkness

Descent Into Darkness Chapter 36

Alrighty, people. We're gonna do something a bit strange. You guys are really good at meeting my challenges, and I really want some people to read my other book too, called The Edge Of Justice. It's currently on chapter 23, and only has thirty six votes. The challenge is this. Once chapter 23 of The Edge Of Justice has a hundred votes, I'll upload a new chapter of Descent Into Darkness. If it doesn't reach the vote count, I'll update this story in a week from today. I hope you enjoy!

His body caught fire at his command, and Lian gasped, backing away from him quickly. His fire was no longer red, or even blue, but a dark black, twisting around his hand menacingly.

Lian fell to her knees again, chanting in a strange language. Phoenix knelt beside her, placing a finger under her chin, lifting her eyes to his. “For the last time, Lian, please stop worshipping me. God or no, I'm still a man, a man who, until a few short hours ago, you enjoyed taunting. Please, continue to do so.”

Her eyes widened. “My lord, I could never...”

He stood, bringing her to her feet as well, and then crossed his arms. His face broke out into a sly smile, and he said, “then as as your god I order you to call me Phoenix, and nothing more.”

Lian smiled, brushing the dirt off of her knees. “I think you will be asking me why your flame is black like mine now.”

“The question had crossed my mind.”

Lian sighed. “I figure I must tell you now. Sit, and I shall make us supper.”

Phoenix sat, and Lian went back into the cave, reappearing a few moments later with a small burlap bag and dead rabbit. Near the treeline she dropped the bag on the ground, and sat on a large boulder, producing her skinning knife from inside her sleeve. Her deft fingers maneuver the knife along the legs, down onto the belly, and she started to speak. “You are an Atox, as am I, as was Shindron of old. There are many others, but most do not know it, especially here in Brisiris. My people researched this phenomenon, and we learned a great deal. In the old days, one had to kill another to receive their power, and sometimes even then, the power would not be transferred. We found that the Atox had to be in direct contact with the person they had killed, skin to skin, to receive the power.”

She pulled on the skin sharply, and it came off of the rabbit with a sickly tearing sound. Whittling away with her knife, pieces of meat falling down into a plate she had lain across her lap. “Many years later, a scientist in my country found the means to transfer power from one person to another without the need for bloodshed. An aging elemental lies on their deathbed, a proven Atox lays their hand on their chest as they breathe their last breath, and the power is transferred.”

Phoenix raised a brow, wondering why he himself had never thought of this. Lian stood and walked into the trees, coming back a few minutes later with some firewood. She arranged the wood and gestured to him, and he sent a tongue of blackened flame at the wood, and it lit with a red glow. He looked to her, but she paid no mind, intent on the burlap bag. She produced a small black pot and a water-skin, then got to work building a tripod to hang the pot from. Phoenix knew she would not speak until she was good and ready, so he helped by pulling the bark from three long sticks, and braiding them into a rope. Lian angled the sticks into a tripod, and he tied the makeshift rope around the top of the sticks, securing them in place. Lian attached the pot to the tripod, and then she surprised Phoenix once more. With a wave of her hand, the stopper on the water-skin popped off, and the clear water flowed from the container to coalesce in a ball that floated above her palm. Phoenix's mouth dropped open, and he tried to speak but found his voice had fled. With another sly smile, Lian let the water flow into the pot, and dropped the meat in, throwing in some spices from the bag.

“And when were you going to tell me that you possess more than two gifts?” he sputtered.

“Right about now,” she retorted, stirring the food with a twirl of her hand. She began cutting carrots and potatoes, and resumed her story. “My people found something else, in their study of the Atox. When a third power is gained, the power of all three is increased exponentially, and each gains a second aspect.”

“What do you mean?”

“With a third power, flame turns black, burns hotter, longer, and with more power. With air, one gains the power to summon a wind to carry them as birds, able to fly great distances as the birds, with more speed. With earth, once gains the power to command the branches of trees and vines. With water, one captures the ability to breathe underwater as the fish.”

Phoenix laughed. “I am sorry Lian, but I simply do not believe you.”

With a raised eyebrow, Lian raised her hand and then thrust it toward him, and the trees themselves attacked him, wrapping him in thin vines and rendering him immobile. He could not breathe the vines were compressing him so tightly, and after a long moment of his face turning blue, Lian let him go, and he stumbled backward, away from the woman. “That is impossible! Why have I never heard of this before!”

“Because your people do not study things as my own do, and my country keeps their secrets with a fiery passion, never allowing any outsiders to learn them.”

“But to command the trees?”

“Why do you think the gift is called “earth”, and not stone? Because those of us who are powerful enough can control any natural element, not just stone.”

“And to breathe underwater?”

Lian stood without a word and walked to the bank of the lake, turning to look at him once before she stepped into the water, walking out far enough for the lake to cover her head. Phoenix waited for a little while before calling her name, but he received no answer. Another moment passed before he began to worry, walking to the lake and calling her name again. Still no answer and he rushed into the water, splashing through the shallows in search of the woman. He dived again and again, looking for the eastern woman in vain. Finally, he dived one last time and spied something shiny on the bottom of the lake. He peered through the muddy water as best he could, to see Lian lying on the bottom of sediment, ankles crossed over one another, one hand behind her head while the other held her skinning knife, catching the light. He looked at her chest, watching the rise and fall of her breasts. He beckoned to her, and she rose from the lake bottom, swimming her way to the surface. They broke the surface together, Phoenix sputtering and choking on the dirty water. “But how?”

“I can not tell you how because I myself do not know, I only know that it is.”

Realization dawned on Phoenix, and he almost fell back under the surface with the revelation. He recovered and swam toward the bank with Lian hot on his heels, and they crawled onto the shore at the same time, Phoenix breathing heavy and coughing up water, Lian no worse for wear. “Wait, when did I receive a third power then?”

“When you stabbed the Sensei. Her power was air, which is how she levitated the cane. When you stabbed her, your skin met hers at the moment her heart stopped beating around the blade, and her gift was transferred to you.”

“Explain one last thing to me then,” he said, heating his body. Steam rose from his clothes as the fire dried him, and Lian did the same. “Why when I received earth did I lose the power to control water?”

“Every person is different. Some can hold two gifts, while others can hold three. Most can only hold one, while most people in the world control none. I am going to guess that the when the phoenix, or you, however you wish to address it, bathed you in fire that was his gift. He, you, opened your body to receive another gift.”