Chapter 42: Distant Memories

For only a short moment, I smelled burnt flesh. I saw my pale skin darken and melt. For only a short moment, I was the flame. I remembered soaring in the sky, leaving a trail of fire in my wake, searching someone. I felt the mark of a curse weigh on me, forcing me to hunt someone far, far away.

I felt the pain of blades and arrows cutting through my flesh, trying to supress my fire. I raged, yet they were strong, I needed to back off. I would burn them all from the sky. I'd be a second sun to them.

I remembered escaping, carrying one of the small beings with me. He seemed just as scared as me. But the curse compelled me to attack. With a wrongful rage, I attacked. I pierced his flesh as he cut through my wing.

I remembered the purple flames dimming my light, dousing my own flames. I felt my body weaken as I remembered her. I had saved her, many years ago. Why was she here? Why was she hurting me?

I remembered that dark scythe pierce my heart. As my flames turned to ash, I saw the woman's pained expression. Did she… remember me?

Darkness, accompanied by the cold embrace of death surrounded me. The pain was gone. The crushing weight of the curse was gone. I was gone.

Memories whirled in my mind as I felt my skin tear. I was a phoenix – no, I was a human. I lost sight of myself for a moment. Who was I?

The sweet scent of hyacinth reached my nostrils. I opened my eyes to see a bright, blue sky. Suddenly, Vixia's pale face covered my view. "You're alive!" She said with a smile. "I knew it!" It was difficult to look away from her radiant smile.

She backed off and gestured me to get up. I hesitated. My body felt…weird. Like something wasn't quite right about it. I held my head and tried to reorganise my thoughts. I could clearly remember flying through the clouds and being killed by…me.

"Kai Friseal." Delthur's dry voice sounded. He was sitting by the campfire. "Focus."

I shook my head. "I remember things that didn't happen to me." I whispered. The chain clattered as I ran my fingers through my hair. "My mind is a mess." I said and pushed myself up to a sitting position.

As soon as I did, I felt something heavy weighing down on me. Confused I tried to look at my back to where the source of that weight was. I flinched, shot up on my feet and promptly lost my balance.

Two massive, black wings – much like those of Delthur and Vixia – were hanging on my back. The tip of the feathers looked like the embers of the phoenix. Speechless I stared at them.

Vixia's laughter broke the silence only moments later. Even Delthur was chuckling, though that soon turned into a coughing fit.

"What the hell is this?" I screamed as panic gripped my throat. Why did I have wings? How did I have wings? "What did you do to me?"

"I did nothing." Vixia said with a grin. "It was your choice. I only made sure you'd survive this dawn." She gestured to the sky. It was still fairly early in the morning.

"I didn't-" I stopped halfway through my thoughts. Had I chosen this? I forced myself to remember – What did that panel say? Something about a 'Development Path' and 'Ember'? Was this the result of the choice I had made?

"You will have to learn how to use them." Vixia said with a chuckle. "And how to hide them." As I watched, her wings turned into dark blue mist and disappeared. After a good ten seconds or so, they reappeared.

I hesitated, learning to use a whole new set of muscles was going to be a challenge. I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to do it.

As I stood there, pondering, Vixia approached and plucked one of my feathers. I flinched and jumped back from the pain.

"See?" She said with a beguiling smile as she stroked the plucked feather. "It's not something you have to think about. Those wings are yours; your body knows how to move them." She tilted her head, prompting me to look at them. They were extended as if I was trying to keep them far away from her. I hadn't even noticed that I moved those muscles.

Delthur sighed. "We should try throwing him off of somewhere." He put the crimson cloth away. "That's what worked for you, might work for him." I flinched and backed off while Vixia shot him a deadly glare. He chuckled.

I hesitated. I felt conflicted. I couldn't say I didn't like the idea of flying freely in the sky. Who would dislike it? I didn't hate having wings and I'd be a fool to not see the sheer tactical advantage they'd give me. I was actually kind of looking forward to learning how to fly.

But Vixia and Delthur – two demons – were the ones who'd helped me with this. They'd saved my life and were offering to teach me how to fly. There had to be some reason for their actions. Weren't they the big bad enemy? I couldn't blindly trust them.

The cool morning breeze shuffled my feathers. I flinched; it was going to take quite some time to adjust to the new sensory inputs. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. The only course of action that made sense would be to try and take advantage of the situation as much as I could and look for an opportunity to escape.

Gathering my courage, I asked her. "So, what do you want me to do?" I could only hope I'd get out of this alive. She showed me a mischievous smile that almost immediately made me regret asking.

"Now," She extended her wings dramatically. Her eyes let out a purple shine that was difficult to look away from. "Let's see how fast of a learner you are."