Chapter 5 A Disorienting Revelation #2
I could feel the weight of their expectations of my power pressing down upon me, a mantle of responsibility and destruction that I could never truly escape.
I was the Elemental Phoenix, a mythical force of change and rebirth.
Yet I was also just a woman, lost in time, seeking connection in a world that both feared and revered me.
"It's the Era of Darkness," Taranis corrected me.
Ryu shot Taranis a heated glare. "Not that it matters. Your precious academic precision won't change what we're facing."
"Unlike some, I prefer accuracy over brute force," Taranis replied with a thin smile. "The demon is in the details."
It was then that I noticed something else; a tingling sensation coursing through my body, like liquid fire in my veins.
My magic. It was reawakening, and it felt.
.. different. Stronger, wilder, barely contained beneath my skin.
I held up my hand, watching in fascination as sparks danced between my fingers.
"Well, that's new," I murmured, flexing my fingers and feeling the raw power surge in response. Could it be because of the length of my incubation this time?
The magic felt wrong—too much in some places, absent in others. Like wearing someone else's skin.
"Your magic," Taranis observed, his eyes fixed on the display. "It's magnificent to behold."
"Lucky me," I said dryly, not entirely sure if I meant it.
"Nothing says 'welcome back to consciousness' quite like the possibility of accidentally setting things on fire.
" Feeling a little wobbly, I sat down on the edge of the stone chamber, which had for far too long been my home.
The magic felt intoxicating, but also dangerous, like I might lose control at any moment.
Nothing about their formation was natural. They moved like enemies forced into alliance—which, I realized, might be exactly what they were.
"So," I said, deciding to address the thundercloud in the room, "what exactly does this prophecy entail?
And what's with all the tension between you five?
Because honestly, the whole alpha-male-standoff vibe is getting a bit thick in here.
" I swept my hand between them, cutting through the invisible lines of power that seemed to connect and divide them all at once.
The guardians exchanged uneasy glances, and Taranis cleared his throat.
"The prophecy speaks of a time of great upheaval," he began, "when the Elemental Phoenix will rise, lift the dreaded curse, and unite the divided realms. The Darkness was before all our times, but we've all felt the effect of the curse withering our health, waning our powers, and wasting our crops. "
I noted he didn't explain the tension at all.
"But uniting the realms may be easier said than done," Aeolus interjected, shooting a pointed look at Ryu. "While most of us have searched for answers, some prefer to throw blame around."
Ryu bristled, his eyes narrowing. "Watch your tongue, fae," he growled, a thin wisp of smoke escaping his nostrils as his temperature visibly rose, the air around him shimmering with heat.
I held up my hands. "Okay, okay, let's all take a deep breath," I said, my voice firm. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole 'I dozed away centuries' thing, so maybe you could dial back the manly musk melody for a minute? Or at least take it outside so I can hear myself think."
How were they expecting to work together to break this curse?
A little voice inside my head whispered, Maybe they aren’t.
"Before my last immolation, the realms were united by peaceful accords.
" I frowned, frustration building as the once-clear memory began slipping away like water through my fingers.
"At least, they were in my first life, during Ra'hor's time.
Though that was..." I struggled to piece together the timeline, irritation flashing through me.
"Damn this rebirth fog. Everything after that first life is becoming a blur, but I'm certain the realms weren't always this divided. "
Something nagged at me, a sense that I was missing pieces of a larger puzzle. As I counted the men before me—mage, fae, dragon, bear, wolf—I felt an inexplicable void, as if there should be more.
"Wait," I said slowly, that hollow feeling growing stronger. "What about the vampires? They were... they were one of the great powers, weren't they?"
The silence that followed was deafening. The guardians exchanged uncomfortable glances, and I felt my heart sink before anyone even spoke.
Taranis cleared his throat, his scholarly tone gentler than usual. "The vampire covens fell during the Great Sundering, Adara. They've been... gone for ages. Most consider them legends now."
"Gone?" The word came out as barely a whisper. "All of them?"
"There are occasional reports," Aeolus said carefully, his fae nature making him more sensitive to the undercurrents of loss. "Sightings in remote places, whispers of survivors hiding in shadow realms. But nothing substantiated. If any remain, they live in the deepest secrecy."
A crushing weight settled in my chest, as if someone had torn away a piece of my soul I didn't even know existed. Tears I didn't understand pricked at my eyes, and I found myself struggling to breathe. The grief was so sudden, so overwhelming, that it staggered me.
"I... why does that..." I pressed a hand to my chest, where my heart felt like it was breaking for reasons I couldn't name. "Why does that hurt so much?"
Desmond stepped closer, his bear-shifter instincts responding to my distress. "Perhaps you knew some of them, in a previous life," he said gently.
But it felt like more than that. It felt like losing something precious, something irreplaceable. A connection severed, a bond broken that I couldn't even remember forming.
"The blight," Taranis explained quietly, "it first manifested in territories near the old vampire territories. Many believe their proximity to the corruption's emergence was... not coincidental."
The men exchanged uneasy glances, a silent communication passing between them. It was clear there was a long and complicated history I had missed, a tapestry of secrets and betrayals that had been woven in my absence.
"The Great Sundering," Lucas said, his voice barely above a whisper. "It was a turning point for our realms, a moment that forever changed the course of our history. The consequences of that fateful event still haunt us to this day."
"Each realm blames the others for what happened," Aeolus added, his usual playfulness replaced by a grim solemnity. "Hell, there are still those who blame the vampires for the Sundering, and they've been gone forever. Ever since, old grudges and prejudices have festered into bitter hatred."
Another sharp pang of loss cut through me at his casual dismissal, and I had to bite back an inexplicable urge to defend them.
Ryu scoffed, crossing his arms. "The Dragon Clans bear no blame for the Sundering. It was the machinations of the other realms that led to our downfall."
Taranis's eyes flashed with anger. "You dare accuse the Mage's Council of such treachery? It was the Dragon Clans' unbridled ambition that sowed the seeds of our destruction."
"If your pathetic human memories served you better, mage, you'd recall it was the Fae who—" Aeolus began, only to be cut off by Lucas's warning growl.
"And here we go again," Lucas muttered, rolling his eyes. "Same argument, different century."
As they descended into bickering, voices rising with each accusation, I felt a weariness settle over my spirit.
The rifts between them ran deep, and I could sense the ancient grievances that calcified the divide.
I could see now that they each hungered to claim me as a symbol of their realm's superiority, perhaps to wield the prophesied power of the Elemental Phoenix as a cudgel against their rivals.
I groaned softly, feeling the weight of the prophecy settle on me again. "Some welcome," I muttered, shaking my head, not bothering to lower my voice. "Wake me up after centuries just to throw me into your pissing contest. Charming."
The men had the decency to look sheepish, but I wasn't about to let them off the hook that easily.
"Listen up, because I'm only going to say this once," I continued, my tone sharpening as I stood, flames briefly licking at my fingertips.
"If you want my help, you're going to have to do a lot better than this.
I'm not here to play mediator for your little pissing contests, and I'm definitely not a weapon for any of you to claim. "
Desmond shifted slightly, his deep, soothing voice cutting through the tension like a warm breeze through a storm. "Perhaps we should focus on the task at hand," he suggested. "The prophecy has brought us together for a reason. We must put aside our differences and work towards a common goal."
I shot him a grateful look, but I couldn't ignore the nagging doubts that tugged at the corners of my mind.
"Easier said than done, big guy. I'm not sure I trust any of you farther than I can throw you.
Which, given my current state, isn't very far at all.
Though I'd be willing to try with a couple of you," I added with a pointed glance at Ryu and Taranis.
The guardians exchanged uneasy glances, and I could practically taste their skepticism.
I studied them with growing amusement. They might have awakened me, but they clearly had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into.
True, I was magically bound to the person, or in this odd case, group, who had summoned me.
The connection would remain until their task was complete.
The mystical obligation might compel me to help them.
.. eventually, but it couldn't dictate how or when.
These overgrown beasts would learn soon enough that I wasn't some tool to be wielded, but a force to be reckoned with.
Did they know that? They didn't act like they did, and I wasn't going to tell them. At least not yet.
"Look, I get it," I said, my voice softening slightly.
"You've all got your entrenched rivalries.
But if we're going to have any chance of breaking this curse and saving the realms, we'll need to act like a team.
And that means putting aside your petty grudges and learning to work together.
" I paused, letting my words sink in. "I'm not saying it's going to be easy.
Hell, I'm not even sure it's possible. But we have to try.
Because if we don't, then I might as well go up in flames and crawl into my next egg and let you all figure this mess out on your own. "
I needed them to agree, because if they didn't, we'd never free the realms of this curse.
"Is that how it works?" Taranis asked. His grip on his staff tightened, the blue glow intensifying as his scholarly curiosity got the better of him. Of course the mage wanted all the specific details. "You crawl inside?"
I opened my mouth to snap at him, but then from the earnest look on his face I realized it was a genuine, literal question. "No idea, actually," I replied with a shrug. "I'm too busy burning into ashes at that moment to notice. Not exactly conducive to taking observational notes."
The guardians exchanged glances, a mix of emotions playing across their faces.
Ryu's eyes flickered with a grudging respect, while Lucas's lips quirked into a half-smile.
Aeolus looked both amused and intrigued, a spark of something warm and familiar dancing in his eyes when he caught my gaze.
Taranis's brow furrowed in thought, and Desmond nodded solemnly, as if he'd expected nothing less from the Elemental Phoenix.
Did anything ever rattle the big bear shifter? I kind of wanted to poke the, uh, proverbial bear, and find out. "What about you, Desmond? You seem awfully calm about all this. Does anything surprise you, or is stoic your default setting?"
The temple walls groaned, stones grinding against each other. Apparently, the temple didn't think I was funny. Dust sifted down from the ceiling as the floor rumbled beneath our feet, a deep vibration that seemed to reverberate through the ancient stones.
"We must evacuate," Taranis announced, his analytical gaze assessing the deteriorating structure as he raised his staff, its blue light illuminating the falling dust and hairline cracks spreading across the ceiling.
"The temple's foundational enchantments are failing, and the resulting structural instability poses an imminent threat. "
I rose to my feet and squared my shoulders.
"Alright, boys, let's get this show on the road.
We've got a world to save and a curse to break.
And I'll be damned if I'm going to let a little thing like the era of impending doom stop me.
Or a fashion crisis, for that matter," I added, tugging at the oversized cloak.
"If we're to understand the true nature of our predicament," Taranis interjected, his voice carrying the weight of academic authority, "precision in terminology is essential. The Era of Darkness designation stems from specific historical events that—"
"Save the lecture," Lucas cut him off. "Unless you want it delivered under several tons of collapsing rubble."
Taranis bristled. "Knowledge is our greatest weapon in this fight."
"And rocks falling on our heads would be our greatest weakness," Aeolus quipped, already moving toward the exit.
I was the Elemental Phoenix—rebirth and destruction were my kind of thing. If anyone could get these squabbling morons to unite, break the curse, and save the realms, it was me. Or at least, that's what the prophecy said... probably. Not like I'd read it. Come to think of it, I should get a copy.
Now, if I could just find some clothes. And maybe some breakfast. Priorities.