Snippets

Forever

The phoenix watched the world go by from her perch. 

The world had gone cold a few weeks or maybe a month ago, but her inner flame kept her warm. It was nearly time to build her nest, but did she really wish to?

It had been so long since she'd risen last, but had she truly lived? She did not know. It was not like she could go mingle with mortals or other curiosities. 

Were there even other phoenixes still left in the world? Did dragons still dwell where man had not gone? Had the serpents given up their hunts for ships? 

Each year it seemed like the world grew darker, and life grew dimmer. Yet she was still here, the first phoenix, and now, possibly the last?

She had been born like any bird, and had lived for awhile like one,  and then she'd meet the unicorn. Beautiful, graceful, and gifter of magic. She had felt like she'd been stirred for a while after, but she'd continued on. She had children that were reborn in flame, magic coursing through their own veins, but then she discovered that they could die.

She would be fine when her children would grow sick and die. They could break when she merely healed. Her feathers burned attackers and her cry was so haunting it froze others in their tracks. Yet her children died, and her children's children struggled. She gazed at the sky silently, wondering if they were even still out there.

The sun begun to rise over the horizon, and she felt her heart warm at the sight, but her soul still felt cold. How long would she continue? Would she continue even when the world tore itself apart? 

She shook her head gently before raising her wings to begin her flight, instincts carrying her on when she did not wish to.

How long would she live? She picked pieces of cinnamon, gathering bits of dried grass, and begun to build her pyre. 

She gazed thoughtful at the sky and sighed. She was tired.  

Immorality had been a gift, now it seemed to merely be a curse.

 Cycling century after century, watching and waiting, for now, and possibly forever. She shook her head lightly before deciding that she would merely try to live on. 

She'd figure things out eventually.