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Chapter 6: Survival

"Yes," you breathed out as the fire grew. You stood back up in your defensive stance, looking at the now newly lit cave. You turned around, searching in all the nooks and crannies. Maybe it was a bat? you thought.

You relaxed as you didn't see anything behind you. Sighing you turned back around, but not before a large bird appeared in front of you. You flinched back, the grip on your dagger tightening as you waddled closer. The fire reflected its wings perfectly. Almost as if it was also on fire. Its beak was as black as its eyes. They looked at the fire curiously, before looking up at you.

Your breath hitched, seeing the bird move closer to you. "Don't you dare," you told it? I am talking to a fucking bird, you thought. You wanted to laugh, as it stopped almost as if it could understand what you said. "Um, take two steps back," you said.

It looked at you, taking two steps back. Your dagger lowered a bit as you stared at the bird in disbelief. "Do you... understand me?" you asked. It blinked slowly, turning its head to look in the darkness. You were about to ask again before a Myrmeke came into the light. It spits acid on your hand that held the dagger as it came closer. You let the dagger fall, a yelp escaping your throat as you clutched your hand to your chest.

Your eyes widened as its mandibles opened, revealing its ugly mouth. Your eyes searched for your dagger on the ground, but it was too late. The Myrmeke jumped. Closing your eyes, you expected a painful death, but you felt nothing. Slowly opening one eye, you saw the Myrmeke floating in the air.

"What?" you asked, surprised. You questioned the flying ant, but all your questions faded as you saw two bright orange wings sprouting from its back. The bird you were talking to had its claws dug into the back of the giant ant, lifting it high up. It screeched, flying to the closet wall, smashing the ant against it.

Myrmekes were known to have a tough outer shell since they have an exoskeleton, but the surprise you felt when you saw the head of the ant crack open, was extraordinary. With another loud screech, that made your close your ears with your hands, you saw the birds' wings light up on fire.

The fire spread to the ant, burning it to a crisp. The bird let it go, letting the body fall to the ground with a loud thump. You looked back up at the bird. Not just any bird, a phoenix.

"Holy shit..." you said in disbelief. The phoenix flew silently, the fire dying out as it landed close to you. It waddled towards you, looking at you. Its head looked lower until it reached your hand. There's no way, you wondered.

You reached your injured hand towards him, he dipped his head close to your hand. You saw a streak of tears leave its eyes before landing on your hand. The sting it left made you pull your hand away, you saw the flesh wound slowly gain color back. Your eyes widened as you looked at your wound fully healed.

"I am never doubting Harry Potter ever again," you said happily, smiling at your healed hand. You felt something brush against your hip, looking down you saw the Phoenix rubbing its head against you. "Thank you. I take it you do understand me?"

The phoenix looked at you, moving its head. It seemed he tried his best to nod but it came out more of a twitch. You smiled down as you slowly extended your hand towards it. When you reached its head, you slowly patted it before realizing it didn't mind.

"Aren't you just cute? Deadly, but cute," you told it. You took your hand back, feeling relaxed again. "Thank you again. You can stay if you want to. It would be cool to have a phoenix as a friend. Or battle buddy."

Walking back to your rock, you sat back down getting ready to sleep some more before venturing further into the forest. The phoenix stared at you and back at the fire. It waddled closer to you, sitting next to you.