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“No,” he said, turning and running for the front of the cave. He made it to the mouth of the cave before his legs gave out, and he fell hard, skinning his shins on the rough stone. Lian was there, looking at him with wide eyes. “No,” he said again, fresh tears flowing from his eyes.
“Phoenix...”
“No,” was all he could say, and Lian lifted him from the ground, taking him back to the stone slab and helping him to sit.
“My lord,” she said, kneeling before him. “You must forgive me for all I have said and done.”
Anger and sorrow both flared in his chest, making him want to throw up again. “Lian, we do not know that it is true, or that it is even me the passage speaks of.”
“But we do, my lord. It speaks of your power, your journey, all of the things that you can do that defy explanation! You can even summon the phoenix, or...”
A tear left his eye, and he looked at the blurry visage of the woman kneeling before him. “Bring me the book. Let me read it again.”
Lian rose from her knees and made her way into the back of the cave, reappearing a moment later with the leather-bound tome. She placed it in his outstretched hand, kneeling again, and he sighed. “Lian, please. Do not kneel before me as though I were a king.”
She protested, saying, “A king would need to bow before you, for you are so much more.”
Phoenix rolled his eyes and opened to the passage he had read earlier, flipping a page back to the beginning of the chapter. He began to read, slowly understanding what he was, and what he was meant to do.
“I, Shindron, caster of air and fire, have been blessed of the gods with a dream, a dream in which I see the possible ending of all things, and a prophecy that must be fulfilled. A young man will rise from the ashes of loneliness, tall and strong, with hair as black as coal and eyes as blue as the summer sky. In his country his eyes will be an oddity, the only one of his people without eyes of brown. Another will join him, a beauty as I have never seen, with eyes that mirror his.
Soon, calamity will befall them, and her beauty is marred with flame. She too will grow strong as the reeds by the lakeside, his only companion. His powers are immense, the only man able to cloak himself in flame as if it were an old friend instead of the burning death it is for others. Control of his fire is absolute, with him being able to manipulate its path long after others have failed. Armor melts in the face of his onslaught, and swords bow in the wake of his fury.
Two more will be added, a hulk and a lover, and the four will set out against the scourge of the land, though he himself knows not why. It is within his veins, the reason he seeks to help others who have wronged him, and even those he does not know, from the clutches of an unknown instigator. A source of power will fall from the heavens, corrupting any person who attempts to use it, even him.
The story starts before time, when the gods knew of the instigator before I, or any of my ancestors walked this earth. The gods banded together, to swear a pact of non-interference. The world would change as it saw fit, without guidance from the powerful beings of ancient times. All but one swore, the creature born of passion and anger, the phoenix. It knew we lowly humans would eventually destroy ourselves, and that all would fall before this enemy, so it fled the realm of the gods, vowing to help the humans in any way it could. It chose a human woman, to bear it into the world as a man with no memory of his divine origin.
Tragedy followed him all his days, molding him into the hero he would need to be. He will set out from his home, to defend those who mocked and scorned him, until a single last tragedy befalls his company. I can say no more, as the gods have forbidden me from speaking the rest of the truth. I leave you, my priests, this prophecy, to be passed down the generations until my lord, the phoenix is ready to hear these words in a darkened cave, with a servant of his own by his side. Ensure these words are common knowledge, so the phoenix will never doubt his calling, his true purpose.
Phoenix read the next bit aloud, needing to hear it before he could bring himself to believe it. “One is within, one will be given, two will be taken , but four are required to save the extinguished flame. Four set out, soon to become one lost to stones cold embrace. Destruction smolders in his wake, until salvation comes from olden air, a molten blade, and deep despair. Mighty phoenix incarnate, longing for home, to return to surprise; on the path to home, the phoenix brought low.
“Companions arrive, deals are struck, the phoenix will need much luck. TO the land of the enemy, through forests, over mountain, field, and gravel. A mighty battle spills much blood, the end of the phoenix has begun. Into the enemy’s lair the companions fly, five survive, one will die.
“The fate of all rests in the phoenix's hands, if he gives into the enemy's demands. For all to be safe, the Phoenix dies, never more to rise”
“You see, my lord?” Lian said, bowing her head. “You are a god, which explains why you are able to summon the phoenix and command it with your mind. It is an extension of yourself.”
“The last line, Lian. The last line says I will die.”
“If that is your purpose, then so be it.”
He gasped. “You would ask me to give my life?”
She raised her head, staring deep into his eyes. “You already offered it. You came from the realm of the gods to protect us, and now you think to change your mind?”
“I remember none of it!” he roared, standing to his feet and igniting his body. “How can I be expecting to act as a benevolent god when I do not even believe in them or their existence! You think to ask me to end my own life for the same people who ridiculed and tormented me!”
“But Shindron-”
“Damn him and damn you!”
Lian rose from her knees, standing defiant. “I can make you do nothing, my lord, but you will fight Demetrius all the same. Not because of my order, or because you want to, but because you know it is what is right. Rage and burn as you must, but I will follow you to Demetrius' stronghold with shoulders squared, knowing I march behind the only god I have ever worshiped.”
His flames died down, and he sunk to the floor, bringing his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth. “I am not a god. I am not a god. I am not a god.”