Philia was running, not as fast as she could, but fast enough to stay ahead of the cursing vendor behind her. 

“Celti curse you!” he shouted. 

“You shouldn't waste your breath on talking! You’re already panting while running at a snail’s pace!” Philia teased over her shoulder. She probably shouldn’t have done that, considering it only made the vendor more angry. Well, at least it felt good to say it. 

As she ran by, another vendor called out to her. “Receive a blessing from Celti and the Phoenix Queen for only 10  bronze Cekils! Be blessed and live without fear!”. Philia rolled her eyes and sped up, her black curls flying behind her. Many people had resorted to selling blessings, with people dressed up as Celti and the ‘Phoenix Queen’. It was obvious that it wasn’t real, that they were only doing it for the money, but some people still paid for it. It was amazing how desperate people could be for hope, and how much they could delude themselves to get it. The Phoenix Queen, in Philia’s opinion, was a load of cow dung. There was no savior that was going to come and restore Celesia back to how it was before. The only people who could save Celesia were the people themselves. But not many, including Philia, were willing to risk the King’s wrath in order to join the Flame Society. 

Realizing the vendor was still chasing her, Philia grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground with her free hand and threw it behind her, right into the vendor’s eyes. 

“You will pay for this!” he screeched as he stopped to rub the dust out of his eyes. 

She quickly climbed up a small stone wall, her one hand collecting small scratches and cuts on the way. It was easy for her to find the small ledges and holes between the stones. She had done this so many times, she could do it with her eyes closed. 

She crouched on top of the wall, making sure the fruit was unharmed. It had some dirt on it, but that could be rubbed off. Then she checked her belt, where the dagger still hung, unused. She paused to look down at the man. “Actually I won’t be paying. That’s why I’m stealing it”. 

The man finished cleaning his eyes and growled at her, starting to move forward again.

“Are you sure you want to waste even more time chasing me? I’m pretty sure others will have taken half your fruit and left by now” she advised mockingly. But it’s true. People are so hungry, they don’t care anymore if they have to steal. They only care if they get caught. 

He hesitated, eyes flickering back to his stall that was just about visible. Sure enough, there was only a handful of fruit left. “Don’t let me catch you again” he warned as he turned away and ran back to his stall. 

Philia snorted, running lightly across the top of the wall and climbing down the other side. As if you could catch me. She clutched the fruit to her chest, making sure nothing would happen to it. It smelled fresh and sweet, something she hadn’t smelled in such a long time. Death was the only familiar smell, enveloping the streets and sneaking into houses. 

She walked down the empty path, looking around for any other thieves hiding in the shadows. There were two types of thieves in Celesia. The honorable ones stole their own things, taking the risk of punishment. Then there were the amateur ones, who stole from other thieves because they were too afraid of the Kings’ sorcerer. And it was never an accident, stealing from another thief. Anyone who had stolen before could clearly tell by the way they glanced into all the hiding spots, how they forced themselves to walk at the same pace as everyone else. It’s a wonder that the soldiers haven’t caught on. Philia was an honorable thief, and a very good one too. Nowadays she could steal the sword of a soldier with a bit of luck. 

She heard a moan on her left. She whipped around, clutching the fruit tighter, but then relaxed slowly. It was an old woman with dull blonde hair, sitting down against a tattered house that looked like it would collapse any second. Up till her knee, her skin was pure black. Dark tendrils stretched up to her thigh, disappearing under her torn skirt that had a faded blue color. 

Philia knew it didn’t spread by proximity, or else there wouldn’t be anyone left in Celesia, but she still took a step back. Throat tightening, she turned around and walked away, stomach sinking with every step. There was nothing I could have done for her, she told herself. And despite that being completely true, she still felt guilty. 

She quickened her pace, passing empty houses and crumbling walls. She passed a statute of Celti that had once looked beautiful and had sparkled in the sun’s gentle light. Now it was covered in dirt, bird poop and had harsh shadows that made Celti look more like a demon than a goddess. The faint smell of magic still lingered from the sorcerer punishing people right in front of the statue. If only Mother and Father could see it now, she shook her head. Her parents had always believed in Celti and how she protected Celesia from harm. Where is she now, when people are dying?

As she passed, Philia noticed a thin child coming from the other direction. A boy, judging by the short hair. Though it could have been a girl, who simply cut her hair off. He, or she, eyed Philia warily, brown eyes locking onto her. As if she might steal from him, though he had nothing to give other than the dirty clothes on his back. He was so thin you could probably see his ribs. Philia walked past him, watching out for any hands trying to grab the fruit from her. He simply walked by, making no sudden movements. And as Philia passed… “Wait”. 

The boy immediately tensed, ready to run at the first sign of danger. Cursing herself internally, Philia held out one of the two fruits. “Take it before I change my mind”.

The boy went wide eyed at the fruit, most likely not having eaten for a few days. He glanced up at her face, before grabbing fruit and running off. Philia watched him go, sighing. Then she turned around and continued walking. 

She turned a corner, heart calming as she slipped into a dark corner behind a house that was somehow still in good condition. It wasn’t anything fancy, made of the same red stone every building was made out of, with a few broken windows. But at least it wasn’t crumbling to pieces. She pulled back an inconspicuous  dirt-covered cloth, and lifted the wooden panel beneath it. Then, peering down, she saw her brother, Kalian. 

Grinning, she jumped down and pulled the panel back into place. Most of the light was gone, but a few holes in the wood gave enough light to see. It was a small, rectangular space that once used to be a storage place for wine. Merchants would keep their exotic, world traveled drinks here to keep it cool and away from bugs. When Philia and her family had been evicted from their house, this small empty space was the only one they could find. It used to be extremely cramped with four people, and it still was with two. But she could live with it. 

She turned around and knelt by Kalian. His eyes were closed, but they cracked open at her footsteps. His eyes wrinkled at the corners, forming the familiar smile that said you-got-into-trouble-didn’t-you. Then, he suddenly sat up and pushed her away, just as he started coughing.  It was a loud, hacking cough that reminded Philia of just how sick he was. 

The Nighttime Fever, better known as Black Death, had affected everyone, whether you actually had it or not. No one knew how it started or how it spread. It would just show up on your skin one day. It was called Nighttime Fever because it first caused your skin to go black, and then white pimples appeared, looking like a night sky full of stars. Until of course, they popped and bled all over you. And then, you vanished. No one knew where the infected went, whether they were alive or dead. They disappeared without a trace. 

Kalian finished coughing and laid back down on the cold ground. He smiled up at her weakly. “So, what did you steal today?”. 

Philia smiled back and handed him the one manjeril fruit remaining. It was perfectly ripe, a rose red to a deep purple, smelling sweet and delicious. It was shaped like a wide crescent. It used to be a common fruit, back before everything had gone wrong in Celesia. But nowadays, it was so rare, making it so precious.

“I took two of them, but I passed a boy on my way here, who ended up stealing one from me”, she explained, rolling her eyes in frustration. She would have gotten away with it, if it was anyone but her brother. Too much. Rolling my eyes was too much. She made a mental note of it as she looked at the ground. He studied her face, and gave her a slight smile. He knew, as he usually did when she lied. 

Silently, he held out a hand for the dagger she carried. She handed it to him, not bothering to refuse. He had always said no when she told him to eat the whole thing, to not share with her. Had simply said “We share everything we can”. And that was that. 

He cut the fruit in half, the dagger now dripping in light pink juice. After wiping it on his light brown shirt, he handed it back to Philia. She tucked it back into her belt, which was nothing more than a long strip of leather tied around her waist. 

Then she took the half he offered and sat down beside him. “You remember when Father used to buy these for us?”.

He smiled wistfully. “He would buy a bag full, giving one to each of us as soon as he came back home. Then he would give the rest to Mother, who would make pie out of it”.

Philia nodded beside him. “That feels like so long ago”. 

Their parents had died a few years ago from the Black Death. Fortunately it was quick, so they didn’t suffer for too long. Unfortunately, that decreased the amount of time Philia and Kalian had to spend with them. Then Kalian got it, and Philia started stealing in order for both of them to survive. 

She looked sideways at him. His bronze skin had taken on a greyish tinge. His black hair was filled with dirt, probably housing some bugs as well. His soft green eyes, a stark contrast to her dark brown ones, that had once been filled with laughter were now filled with the bleak look of a boy who had lost all hope. Still he forced himself to smile and laugh. 

She suspected she didn’t look much better.

But his limbs were an even more disturbing sight. His feet and hands were black, white pimples forming. Black tendrils snaked up his body, disappearing under his clothes. She knew his back had some spots of black as well. He had been sick for about 7 weeks. It seemed the disease was taking its sweet time killing him. 

She turned back to the manjeril fruit and sank her teeth into it. Just like how I remember it. 

“So, were you caught?” Kalian asked around a mouthful of fruit. 

“Well, I was chased, but not caught. The old man was too slow to catch me” Philia boasted proudly.

Kalian laughed. “I don’t think anyone could catch you. You do run fast”. His face shifted into a serious look. “But you need to be more careful or you’re going to be caught eventually. And you don’t want that to happen again” he reminded her. 

Philia rolled her eyes to cover up the memory that sprang to her mind, along with the chill that ran down her neck. Though she doubted she could ever forget it with the scars on her back. 

Once, back when she was still an amateur thief, she had been caught trying to steal some Lohir nuts, since they hadn’t eaten in days. She had tried to lift a handful as she walked by, but she tripped over her own nervous feet and spilled them everywhere. Unfortunately, a soldier had been walking by that very moment. So, he dragged Philia to the statue and threw her before the sorcerer who was standing there, waiting to punish anyone that the soldiers brought to him. 

He was dressed in shades of grey and black, completely covered in cloth except for his unnatural gold eyes and scarred hands. He smelled of magic, but not the pleasant, crowd pleasing magic. It smelled like ash and pain, like liquid silver being poured into your nostrils. Sour and bitter. Just standing near him long enough could have killed her. 

He looked down at her with those soulless eyes. Then, using his magic, he whipped her back with a searing hot iron whip. Two lashes before she passed out. When she woke up, she believed that it had all been an illusion. Until the pain came flooding back into her body, four deep marks branding her back. She was still lying in front of the statue, people passing by, Celti smiling down at her serenely. That was the day she truly gave up on the goddess. 

He was seen as the physical representation of evil in Celesia, and this had only reinforced this idea in her head. Sorcerers were already hated in Celesia, and everyone blamed him for the ruin of their country. Once, in the early days of his stay, people had thrown stones at him in rebellion. They got the same punishment she had.

Philia shook herself back into the present and yawned. Judging from the diminishing light, the stars would soon come out. She glanced at Kalian, but he was already asleep. He was so still. So silent. He could have been dead, except for the slight, uneven rise and fall of his chest. 

Finishing the fruit, Phillia lay down as well, turning away from him and closing her eyes. She didn’t take off her dagger, her only protection she had other than running. And Kalian.

She fell asleep as soon as she closed her heavy eyelids. 

Philia woke up to the sound of feet and hushed whispers. At first she thought it was the mice running by her ear, so she swatted them away. But when her hand didn’t make contact, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked around… Where is Celti’s name is Kalian?

She glanced around the tight space, but there was no one. Then she looked up, just in time to see the wooden panel fall into place. Kalian?

Heart racing, she shoved the board out of the way and hoisted herself up, ignoring the sharp pains her muscles gave her as thanks for being woken up. She twisted her head around, but she couldn’t see anyone. She didn’t dare try calling out for him, in case thieves or soldiers were lurking nearby. Or the overdressed sorcerer. 

Philia dropped back into the small space and tried to calm down. He’s left before, maybe that’s all this is… She had caught Kalian leaving multiple times, right as she returned or just as the sun rose. He never told her where he went, saying she was too young. As if 16, while he’s 18, is young. But she had a bad feeling about this time. Those feet hadn’t sounded like the careful, watchful ones of her brother. They sounded confident, as if they were used to slipping into wine storage areas without making a sound. Like the feet of someone who had never been caught.

Her blood ran cold as another possibility entered her mind. One that had haunted her for weeks now. It couldn’t be. The disease hadn’t spread enough yet. He shouldn’t have disappeared yet… She glanced around the space one more time, for any clue of where he went. As usual, nothing. Philia sighed and convinced herself that Kalian would come back, just as he always did. Then, she went still at the noise of rustling paper. She jumped up and shoved the wooden board to the side, letting in the soft moonlight. There was a mouse, eating a slightly crumpled piece of paper. 

She shooed the mouse away, grabbing the paper from its teeth. It squeaked angrily at her, but ran away when Philias’ foot got a little too close to its tail. 

She held the paper, fingers almost ripping it, and read - We have your brother. I assume you want to get him back, so go to the Temple of Celti, now. We can talk more there.

Philia reread the note, searching for a sign that this was a joke, that she could calm down. But it wasn’t there. There wasn’t a name either. Wait. She turned the paper over. 

There, in the same black ink as the rest of the note, was a circle with three lines running through it. The Flame Society. The symbol for fire in the ancient language. The language of the gods, said to be created by Celti herself. But despite being the creation of the famed goddess, there were only very few left who knew how to write it, let alone read it. 

Fingers shaking, she tucked the paper into her belt, making sure the dagger was also there. She paused, looking down at it. The blade shone in the moonlight, its hilt wrapped in slightly worn out leather. She had only practiced with it. She wasn’t amazing, but she could hold her own in a fight against a normal man. Kalian had given it to her, back when he could still walk and steal things. One day, a well dressed man had entered Celesia for some reason. Maybe to talk with the King. Many thieves were eyeing him, but only Kalian managed to pull it off. He stole the dagger and gave it to Philia, saying it was only for protection. 

Philia finished tucking away the note and pushed the wooden board aside fully, dust raining down on her head. She pushed herself up and out, swung her legs out of the hole and onto the ground, and stood up. Then she pushed the board back in place, covered it properly with the cloth, and headed off to the Temple of Celti. 

The streets were quiet and empty, save for a few passed-out drunks that had found alcohol somewhere. Most likely cheap, watered down alcohol that was sold for ten times the price it was worth. Not too much different than how it was earlier in the day, other than the screaming vendor. Philia smiled at the memory. She turned onto the street where the statue was. From there she would have to take a left and follow the path into the forest. Except… Sky above, Philia cursed internally. 

The sorcerer sat on the bench in front of the statue, as if waiting for her. Thin black fabric wrapped around him covering everything but his hands and face, making him more shadow than man. His bright eyes shot up to meet hers, clearly visible even in the darkness. His magic reached out, wrapping around Philia. 

She hesitated, but walked forward anyway. She wouldn’t cower before him. Not when she hadn’t done anything wrong. Yet. 

His magic seemed to push her forward as she walked, brushing her shoulders and nudging her feet. The same sour, bitter smell filled her brain, clouding her brain. Philias’ head started to hurt, pounding lightly in time with her footsteps. 

She came to a stop in front of him. Remembering to curtsy at the last second, she nearly fell over. What is going on? I’m not drunk, so why do I feel like it?

As she raised her head, the sorcerer seemed to be smiling, but it was hard to tell with the bottom half of his face being covered in a thin black cloth. “What are you doing out so late?”. His voice had an accent to it, stressing the end of each word, making them as sharp as knives. It seemed to cut through the pain in her head, allowing her to process it. But when she tried to reply, it took her a few moments. 

“I… I was simply going for a walk” she lied. Philia was able to lie even with the increasing headache, and she was quite proud of it. Is the pain an illusion? Can he even do that?

“Is that all” the sorcerer replied. Eyes boring into her, he stood up, towering over her as his robes swayed in the slight breeze. “Perhaps I will join you on this… walk of yours”. His voice had a mocking, yet eager tone to it. 

At this, Philias’ mind sharpened. She remembered what she was here to do, where she was going, and just who this man was. She pushed back against his magic that had started taking over. “No, that’s probably not a good idea. What if the Flame Society sees you leaving and attacks the King? Aren’t you supposed to protect him?”. I shouldn’t have said that, Philia thought for the second time that day. 

The sorcerers’ eyes darkened with anger, but it let Philia know she was right. He sat back down, never moving his gaze from her. “I suppose you are right,” he bit out. “On your way, then”. 

Philia curtsied again with as much sarcasm as she could, then turned left and walked away. She could feel the sorcerer’s eyes burning holes into her back all the way to the forest, where she ducked into the shadows. She peered back, and even though she couldn’t see him, she felt him. His magic searching for her. 

She turned away, remembering that she didn’t have time to dawdle, and started running along the dirt road. There were lush trees on either side of her, branches brushing her arms as she passed. Crickets chirped and fireflies lit up the darkness, though the moonlight was illuminating the path just fine. This was the most alive part of the kingdom. The only place not stained with mass death and poverty. Instead, it was rich and natural, full of growing life. 

As she ran, she started to think about the Flame Society. There were rumors, just like everything else about the Flame Society. The leader had lost someone important because of the Kings’ actions. Well, haven’t we all. From then on, he swore to get revenge. And that’s how he recruited people. Those who had a strong passion for hating the King, who had lost something or someone.

Philia hadn’t particularly hated the rebels, but now she did. Despite being against the King and helping the poor. Anyone who hurt her brother would be at the top of her most-hated list. I should really make one sometime. 

Philia jumped over a tree root that had snaked onto the path. 

The Temple of Celesia was built for the once revered goddess, though it was undoubtedly covered in dirt now. People used to go with buckets of water and clean it everyday till it gleamed. Then they would place offerings of flowers or sweets or jewelry, asking for a blessing in return. Philia used to go with her parents as well, delighted by all the beautiful offerings. She used to wonder what happened to all of the offerings, because they were gone every time she went. They probably got taken by the animals, Philia snorted. She pushed aside a particularly large branch that had stretched across the path, hands getting scratched a bit. She barely noticed though. 

The trees started to thin out, indicating that she was near the edge of the forest. She started to slow down, walking as she exited the forest and stepped into the moonlight. 

There, she saw the familiar Temple, made completely of marble. There were four tall pillars, with steps leading up to a large statue of Celti. Much larger than the one she had left the sorcerer at. There were curved walls surrounding the four pillars, where children used to sit and watch their parents. The walls were carved out with supposed stories of Celti, telling her life through the art sprawled across the walls. 

There, pacing in front of the statue, was a boy. He looked to be the same age as Kalian, maybe a bit older. He was wearing a wrinkled white shirt and dark brown pants that fell to his feet. Thin shoes that didn’t look very sturdy on his feet. He turned to face her as she walked closer, studying her in the same way she studied him. His greyish blond hair looked white in the moonlight, his face covered in shadows. 

The way he held himself, tall and proud and confident. The way he looked down at her, as if making sure she was worth his time. There was no one else it could be. 

“Hello,” he said. His voice was low, smooth and utterly calm. As if kidnapping boys and meeting their sisters was natural. “I’m Badhir Fiaro, leader of the Flame Society”.

“Where is Kalian”. Her voice left no room for arguments, yet he didn’t answer her. 

“You are Philia, I assume?”. 

She didn’t bother answering since it was obvious he knew he was right. But how does he know my name?

“Tell me. What do you think of it?” he asked, turning to the statue. Philia didn’t even glance at it before saying “Nothing. I don’t think about her”.

Badhir said nothing, staring at the statue for a few minutes before turning back. 

“ We have your brother. I assume you want to see him, so follow me”. He turned and started walking away, not bothering to check that she actually followed him. 

But of course, she did. 

He led her out of the Temple, and back towards the main town. 

Philia started to wonder where they were going. Probably not to their main base, assuming this boy, Badhir, has a brain. No one would lead a stranger into their home. Not willingly. But why would they keep Kalian in the town? 

She glanced at him. He was walking easily, ducking and twisting around branches. Philia tried to walk as gracefully as him, but ended up almost falling on her face. At her stumble, he turned around and raised his eyebrows. She scowled back and resumed stomping behind him. 

“Where are we going?” she finally asked. Might as well see if he’ll answer. 

He sighed, as if talking to a child that had eaten too many sweets. “You’ll find out soon enough. Can’t you wait and see?”. 

She huffed in response, mumbling insults at his back. 

“We’re going to the Flame Society’s base”. 

Philia blinked at his back. So… he is an idiot?

Then, he suddenly stopped walking, causing her to slam into his back. Philia cursed and glared up at him, but she faltered slightly under the stone face he gave in return. 

“I’m trusting that you hate the King more than you hate me and the Flame Society. If you do sell us out…” he let it hang, but Philia prompted him to continue. 

“If you sell us out, we will hear about it and move to a different location, and then kill you and your brother”. He gave a sharp smile that left no doubt in Philia’s mind. They really would kill us. 

Philia snorted. “And if you don’t give him back, I’ll kill all of you”. 

Badhir resumed walking, his voice taking a lighter tone now. “Really? You’ll take on more than 100 people all by yourself? How brave”. He gave a disbelieving laugh. 

Philia kept her mouth shut, but she knew that if it came to it, she would take them all on for Kalian. Just like he would do for me. 

“So tell me about the Flame Society” she said. If he’s willing to talk, might as well learn if the rumors are true. 

“What do you want to know?”. He didn’t turn around. 

“Rumors say that you formed the group because you lost someone”. When he didn’t respond, she pressed him further. “Is it true?”. 

He continued walking, not acknowledging her question. 

“Fine then” she grumbled. “How many people are part of it?”. 

“Too many for you to fight”. Philia knew he was smirking without needing to see his face. Jerk.

“Your final goal is to take down the King, right? How do you plan on fighting the sorcerer?” she asked. At this point, Philia knew she was bugging him. Well, if he wants me to stop he can say so. 

“Maybe we plan on using brute force. Or maybe we have our own sorcerers. Or maybe we’ll let him go free”. He waved a hand in the air, meaning who knows. 

“Could you answer the question for once? Or just tell me to shut up”. 

“Shut up, please”. 

Philia did shut up, though it didn’t stop her from cursing him in her head. 

They finally reached the edge of the forest, arriving at an old house that looked strangely familiar. Where have I seen this house…? Then, as they walked to the door, she realized why it was familiar. There, leaning against the side of the house, was an old woman clutching her black leg. 

Badhir started to enter the house, and she asked “Who is that lady?”. 

He stopped and looked where she was pointing. “Oh, she’s one of us”. 

Philia looked at him. “She’s part of the Flame Society?” she asked flatly. “She has the Black Death, and you're just letting her sit outside and rot?”. 

Badhir smiled at her like she was an idiot. “She’s faking it. The blackness is just ashes. It keeps people away from this house, which decreases the chance of us being found”. He turned back to the door and stepped inside. 

…Smart. But she didn’t say it out loud, making sure to wipe her face of any awe. She followed Badhir inside the small house, and stopped. 

“What in Celti’s name?”. From the outside it had looked like a normal, small, crumbling house. But from the inside, it looked as big as the palace itself. There were multiple doors lining the walls, and the room she was in was big in itself. She looked over at Badhir, who was leaning against a table, watching her. “How is it so big inside?”. 

“I told you we might have a few sorcerers. They come in handy”. He motioned for her to follow him through a wooden door in the back of the room. It had a rusty, banged up doorknob, as if someone hadn’t bothered to make it look nice. 

But all those unimportant thoughts flew away from her head as Philia looked at her brother, Kalian.

He was lying down on a bed, a little too short for his 6 foot frame. The blackness was now over his knees and elbows. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be sleeping. He doesn’t look hurt but…

Philia turned back to Badhir, who was looking at Kalian with a strange look on his face. Almost like sympathy. But it was gone too fast for Philia to be sure. “Give him back to me”. 

He rolled his eyes. “Do you really think we would go through all the trouble of taking him if we're just going to give him back immediately?”. He walked out of the room, disappearing from her view. 

Philia looked back at Kalian and took his hand in hers. She could feel the warmth slipping away, the blood flowing slower. So she stood up and walked outside, where she was met with three faces: Badhir’s, a girl with dull brown eyes and hair, and a boy with brown hair and stone grey eyes. Only the girl had a bit of warmth in her eyes, as if she actually has a heart. 

Philia walked in front of them, meeting each of their expressions with a murderous one of her own. 

The boy spoke first. “She’s the one? She looks like a thief”. 

Philia gave him her most dangerous smile, one promising pain and death. “I am a thief. A very good one”. 

He snorted. “What are you planning to do? Steal your brother out of here? You’ll never get him a step outside of that room”. 

“Both of you relax. And Maliran stop baiting her. We’re here to make a deal, not kill each other” Badhir intervened before Philia could threaten him again. The girl with brown eyes shook her head with exasperation.

She turned to Badhir, ignoring the threats Maliran was now sending with his eyes. “So, what’s the deal? I get my brother and you keep your life?” she asked sweetly. 

“No. You bring us four items, and you get your brother”. 

Philia blinked at all three of them. “Care to tell me what these items are?”. 

“Everlasting fire from an underground temple in the Viper’s Desert. A Phoenix egg from inside Fionis Mountain. A silver fruit from the Draconia Tree in Dalir forest. And, lastly, a specific prophecy from the Temple of Prophecies”. 

Philia laughed. “Right. Do you want me to bring you Celti while I’m at it?”. 

No one responded, and Philia stopped laughing right away. “You’re serious? How do I do all of that! I’ve never heard of those places before! And by the time I get back, Kalian will already be dead! Or was that your plan?” she snapped at them. 

The girl flinched and looked away, while Maliran tipped his head to the ceiling and sighed. Badhir just looked at her, unwavering. “We will keep him alive until you return, don’t worry. And we...”

“Right, I shouldn’t worry that I’m leaving my brother in the hands of violent rebels who kidnapped him,” Philia muttered. 

“... will send one of our people with you”. He glanced at the girl who had been standing quietly. “This is Ari. She will accompany you and help guide you to the four items”. 

The girl, Ari, stepped forward. Sunlight glinted off her hand, and Philia saw a thin silver ring on her pointer finger. So, not married, but something else. Worth stealing if anything.

Philia blinked at her, then turned back to Badhir. “If you know where the four items are, then why do you need me to go and get them?”. 

“Because they could be dangerous to obtain, and I’d rather you die than her”. He smiled at her, one with no warmth at all. 

“I thought you were fighting against the King for the people, but you’re fine just sacrificing random people off the streets in order to get four things?” Philia pointed out. 

“I have my reasons for doing this,” Badhir replied.

“How do you plan on keeping him alive? Do you have a cure?” she asked skeptically. 

“No, but we do have sorcerers who can use magic to slow the disease down,” he reminded her. 

“Show me. Show me that you can slow it down, and I’ll do it”. 

Badhir smiled, Maliran looked at her like she was the King’s spy, and Ari studied her curiously. 

“Fair enough” Badhir said. He went into one of the surrounding rooms and returned with an old lady. She looked about 60, wrinkles forming on her face. Her hair was turning grey, and her eyes were silver. Like actual, liquid silver, Philia thought. It was widely known that anyone who had unusual colored eyes was more than likely a sorcerer, but it was still a shock to see them. She automatically took a step back, tensing slightly. Despite not being alive for the war between sorcerers and Celesia, she had heard what most of them were like. Savage and ruthless and violent.

The lady and Badhir ignored her as he led the lady into the room where Kalian was sleeping, Philia following behind closely. 

At Badhir’s nod, she placed her hands on Kalian’s legs lightly. “Stay away from him!” Philia snapped, instinct making her step forward to protect Kalian, but she was stopped by Badhir who shook his head lightly. The lady’s hands glowed a faint red. The blackness started to edge away, as if frightened by the red glow. 

Philia watched in disbelief as the tendril creeping over his knee receded and turned back into normal skin right before her eyes. It’s unheard of. And yet, here it is. I’m watching it with my own eyes. 

The woman removed her hands, breathing heavily. The blackness didn’t creep back immediately, but rather stayed half. “You’re welcome,” she said coldly, glaring at Philia. With that she walked away, limping slightly. 

“Can you heal him completely? Can you cure the disease?” she blurted out. 

“We can. But only if you get the four items” Maliran answered. 

“You mean you won’t, unless I do what you say” Philia corrected. But still if they can heal him…

“Does it make a difference?” Maliran shrugged. 

Badhir gave Maliran a look and turned to Philia. “So. Do we have a deal?”. 

Philia looked at her brother lying on the bed. The choice wasn’t hard to make. “Yeah, we have a deal”. 

Philia took the small glass bottle and rolled-up map from Badhir, tucking them away in a satchel hanging from her shoulder. 

“Follow the path traced out for you on the map, and you’ll find the four items more quickly. The bottle is for the everlasting fire, and the other items you can just keep in your bag as you travel”. He paused to look at her. “And it goes without saying that if you tell anyone about this, you don’t get your brother back”. 

Philia rolled her eyes at him. “I know”. 

Badhir handed a pouch of Cikels to Ari, who was standing beside Philia. “Buy some food and water for the desert. After you exit the desert, buy anything else you need from surrounding villages”. 

Ari looked at him with eyebrows raised in a question, an unspoken conversation passing between them. Badhir shook his head after a moment. Then she nodded and took the pouch, the Cikels inside jostling around with a clink. 

Then he addressed both of them. “I’ll have two camels waiting for you at the gate. Take them to cross the desert and then trade them for horses in the next village. You’ll travel faster that way”. 

Then he turned to Philia. “I hope you don't die, for your brother’s sake”. 

Philia gave him a glare in return and stalked out of the house, Ari following close behind.

It was daytime, the sun high enough in the sky to tell Philia that it was way past sunrise. What have I gotten myself into?, she asked herself. 

Shaking her head, Philia forced herself to slow down to Ari’s pace. Glancing sideways at the girl, she wondered why Badhir chose her to go on the journey. She didn’t look like anything special. If anything, with her dull hair and eyes, she looked less special than the average person. Though she did carry a sword on her back, and it seemed like she knew how to use it. “Where are you from?” Philia asked curiously. 

Ari glanced at her, but continued walking without answering. 

“Fine then, ignore me” Philia muttered. Not like I want to be friends with you. 

Ari led them to the market, where a handful of vendors scattered the streets. Philia stayed back, not wanting to seem like a hound following its master. 

“I’ll just stay back here while you finish” she called to Ari who was walking ahead. 

She paused to look back at her. Philia was standing next to a stone wall with a chunk missing from the top. She was in a place where Ari could see her from anywhere on the street. After a second, Ari nodded and continued walking towards the vendors. 

Philia looked around, taking note of what the vendor’s around her were selling. Simple shirts, overripe fruit and slightly moldy bread. She glanced over to see what Ari was buying but something else caught her eye. 

A vendor with a familiar beard… Sky above, Philia groaned. The same vendor who had chased after her for stealing his fruit was selling more fruit, just across the street from her. Quickly glancing at Ari, who was talking to a vendor selling bread, Philia slipped behind the stone wall and into the shady path. She walked away, praying he hadn’t seen her. 

Philia knew Ari would probably come searching for her and be extremely suspicious of her sneaking off, but she couldn’t risk being seen. Not when he’s probably going to chase me and waste time. 

She wandered down the street, searching for a turn she could take to go back to the market. But it turns out that she had wandered down a path that was cut off with an iron gate. Just my cursed luck. 

Some small, unused paths had gates in them to cut off any thieves who were trying to escape from soldiers. At first, no one knew that gates had been put up in the night by the sorcerer, so a ton of thieves were caught over the next few days. But soon enough, everyone started to remember where the new gates were, and changed their escape routes accordingly. Some tried to climb over the gate, but as soon as they touched it, the sorcerer was there to punish them. Philia, who had always liked to slip into a crowded street or run on top of houses and walls, had never had any problems with them. Not until now. 

Philia backed away from the iron, not willing to trust something created by the sorcerer. And it was as if he could hear her thoughts, because as she turned around, she realized he was standing behind her. 

She lept backwards instinctively, reaching for the dagger sheathed at her hip. But the sorcerer, Celti curse him, waved a lazy hand, eyes glowing gold faintly. Immediately, the dagger jumped out and onto the ground, where it skidded behind the sorcerer. 

Now that she had lost one of only two means of protection, Philia forgot about curtsying and glanced around her. Crumbling houses were on her left and right, meaning she could climb up them if she had to. 

She started toward the house on the left, but the sorcerer held out a hand. The house turned into a smooth wall of steel. 

“Calm down. I’m not here to hurt you. But I will if you run or scream” the sorcerer warned. 

Philia believed him, and stopped reaching for the steel that had now turned back into a crumbling wall. But she didn’t relax, muscles still tensed and ready to run. 

“I’ll make this quick, because I suspect your companion will be searching for you soon”. 

Philia’s heart dropped. How does he know about her? He could have seen her but….

“I saw you enter that house with the leader of the Flame Society. I know what you have to do in order to save your dying brother”. 

Philia’s blood turned to ice. 

“But I won’t tell the King, if you do as I say”. He smiled cruelly, knowing she had no choice if she wanted to live. 

“And what is it that I need to do?”. She tried to sound brave, but her voice shook. 

“You will wear this bracelet, and continue to go on your journey. You will not tell your companion, or anyone, that I gave this to you, or that you saw me today”. He pulled a silver bracelet out of the folds of his black robes. It was pretty, and Philia might have liked it if the sorcerer wasn’t the one offering it to her. 

She didn’t take it, but instead looked at him. “I assume it’s not a regular bracelet. Is it going to turn my hand into metal? Torture me endlessly?”. 

He shook his head. “As inviting as that is, it will allow me to visit your dreams; There I will ask questions, and you will answer truthfully. It's a simple trade of knowledge for you and your brother's life”. 

“You swear that’s all it does?” she pressed.

“Yes. All magic has its limits, and distance is a major factor in that”. 

Philia still had her doubts, but it didn’t really matter. If he tells the King, either all the rebels and my brother die, or the rebels move and kill my brother anyways, like they promised to. Philia grudgingly took the bracelet. 

It was made of two thin cords of silver, twisted around each other that made it seem like two snakes entwined. Threads of gold ran through them, shining in the sunlight. And yet, she could feel the wrongness of it. Like a cat purring softly before it scratched your eyes out. Beautiful, but dangerous. 

She hesitated. “How do I know you’ll keep your word? And don’t say I have no choice, because I do” she cut him off as he took a breath to respond.

“I swear, on my magic, that as long as you do not tell anyone of our deal and answer my questions truthfully, I will not harm Kalian”. The bracelet flared with light.

“Or the rebels,” Philia added. 

“Or the rebels” he added bitterly. 

The bracelet lit up once more in Philia’s hand, and she knew that the deal was made. 

Glancing back at the sorcerer once, she slid it onto her wrist. Then she cried out at the sudden searing pain. The bracelet glowed a bright orange as it heated up, melding with her skin. 

Philia fell to her knees, gasping. She looked at the bracelet and realized what had just happened. She shook her wrist, but it didn’t move. It was molded with her skin. She looked back at the sorcerer, furious. “You never said it would be permanent!”. 

“You never asked,” he responded. “If you refuse to answer or lie to me, it will cause you severe pain and will eventually kill you. Same goes if you tell anyone about our deal”. His emotionless tone was infuriating.

Philia called him a foul name, one that would have made flowers wilt. 

“Go back to your friend. And remember, you can’t tell anyone about this, or else―”. 

“Or else I’m dead, I know”. She stood back up . “Kind of hard to forget with this attached to my hand”. 

His eyes darkened with the promise of pain and the bracelet tightened slightly. “Don’t forget who I am, or what I can do”. And with that, he walked past her and towards the iron gate. As he was about to collide with it, the bars stretched back, creating a hole for him to walk through. Then they reformed, blocking the pathway once again as the sorcerer walked away. 

Philia walked back to the market after checking that the vendor was gone. He must have gone to try his luck somewhere else. Philia walked down the street searching for Ari, but there was no sign of her. 

Slightly panicking at this point, Philia turned around, planning to go back and recheck every stand. 

“Where have you been? You were supposed to stay where I left you". 

Philia froze, stopping short of walking into her. She didn’t look angry, which was surprising to Philia. But looks can be deceiving.

“I thought I saw something” she lied. 

Ari looked her dead in the eye, clearly not buying it. 

So Philia said the one thing that she could think of. “I thought I saw Kalian”. It’s a dirty trick, using Kalian as an excuse, I know, she told herself. But it was the only thing she could think of, and it worked. 

Ari’s eyes softened slightly with sympathy and she looked downwards guiltily. But as she was lowering her head, she caught sight of Philia’s new bracelet. Eyes narrowing, all sympathy gone, she asked sharply “Where did you get that?”. 

Philia blinked in surprise at her tone, heart speeding up. Does she know somehow? “I bought it for myself”. 

“Using what money?”. She held up her bag of Cikels to emphasize her point. 

“I’m a thief. I’m not completely poor” Philia retorted. 

Ari studied her carefully for a second. And Philia thought she saw a ripple of something go across her face, but it was gone before she could be sure. Ari turned and walked off in the direction of the gate to the town. Philia followed. 

“What did you buy?” she asked. 

“Food and water”. 

Helpful, Philia snorted internally. 

As they turned the corner, she glanced up at the gates that were now visible, the sun at its peak in the sky above them. They were wooden doors, with patterns of metal dancing across. They were open the entire day, closing only at night. And even then, sometimes the gates would open for a late-night traveler. The King didn’t want to lose out on potential money. 

As they approached, one of the several guards standing there approached them, holding a leather pouch out. Ari silently dropped two silver Cikels into it, then walked on by. 

“Hey!” the soldier called out to her. “It’s five silver Cikels!”. 

Ari paused and turned back, glaring at the man. “And when was this change made?”. 

“Last night”. He held the bag out again. 

At this point, other guards were starting to notice. And several of them looked like they were going to come over and help. 

“Okay” Philia intervened. After glancing at Ari’s face, it was clear to her that Ari had no intention of paying a Cikel more, let alone three. Philia took the pouch from Ari, dug out three more silver Cikels and dropped them into the man’s bag. 

Then, quickly turning away, she closed the bag and grabbed Ari’s hand. She almost had to drag the girl away. Once they were outside of the main town, Philia dropped Ari’s hand and turned to face her.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t cause a scene?” she pointed out. 

Ari gave her a dark look. “I’m part of the rebels,” she whispered. “If I don’t stand up in those situations, I might as well leave the Flame Society”. 

She has a point, a part of Philia said. But the other, smarter part of her said, that’s great but now’s not the time to be a hero. She didn’t say any of these things out loud though. She simply turned away and started searching for the camels that Badhir had said would be waiting for them. 

“They’re over there” Ari pointed out.

Philia turned to look and saw two large camels sleeping. They were both about the same size, both bearing one hump each. They looked like Noshir camels, the second most common camel in Celesia. The most common was the Mundushka camel. They looked very similar, but the main difference was that Mundushka camels were shorter and stronger, but heavier. Noshir camels were lighter and had longer legs, so they were often used for speed, whereas the Mundushka camels were used for strength. I guess Badhir wants his four items delivered quickly. 

Making sure to stay behind Ari, she walked towards them carefully. She didn’t deal well with animals. The majority of her interactions with animals had been chasing off the mice in her small-hole-of-a-home. 

Ari confidently walked up to the nearest one, crouching down beside it. She gently patted its head, whispering words in its ear. Slowly, the camel started to open its eyes and blink up at her lazily. “Can you please stand up?” she asked gently. Apparently the camel heard her, because it started to stand up. 

So Philia attempted to do the same thing with the other camel, though this one seemed to be more stubborn. As Philia patted its head and whispered for it to wake up, the camel opened its eyes. Then, after looking at her, it closed them again. Celti curse you too, Philia muttered internally. She looked over at Ari, who was already sitting on top of her camel, waiting for Philia. Turning back to her camel, she continued to pat its head, though it was a little less gentle this time. And finally, thank the Sky above, it started to stand up.

Philia watched in amazement as it rose higher and higher, until its legs reached her shoulders. And then she realized that she had a slight problem. How in Celti’s name am I supposed to climb up there? She glanced back at Ari, who was watching her with raised eyebrows. No help coming from her. 

Taking a deep breath, Philia placed her hand in front of the camel’s hump and pushed herself up. She ended up landing unceremoniously on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. As she struggled to breathe again, she swung a leg over the camel’s back and onto the other side. She lay there like that for a minute, letting her lungs remember how to function. 

Hearing a quiet laughing sound, she looked at Ari. But her face was as emotionless as ever, though Philia thought she saw a hint of a smile. Scowling, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. I’m so high up, she realized as she looked around. The ground looked far away, like she was flying. 

Ari motioned for her to follow, and started leading her camel to the right. Philia watched her, noticing how her hands held the reins, and tried to mimic her. She held the reins loosely and gently tugged on them. The camel didn’t move. Philia tugged again, a little harder this time, and still the camel continued to stay put. Finally, worried that Ari was leaving her behind, Philia pulled the reins sharply to the right. The camel bellowed loudly, attracting attention from every direction. But Philia didn’t have time to hide her red face. She was too busy trying to stay on the camel’s back, since it had taken off after Ari. 

This is why I hate animals, Philia groaned. 

I’m going to die, Philia thought, not for the first time that day. 

Yesterday, when they first entered, the desert had been breathtaking. An amazing sight. Golden, shiny sand everywhere. Occasional cacti, standing tall and proud. But after enduring the cold night and the morning heat for several hours, Philia was starting to lose any feelings of appreciation. Her negativity was also fueled by the fact that they hadn’t slept last night. According to Ari, they needed to be quick in the desert before they ran out of water. 

“Where is this hidden temple? And how are we supposed to find it if it’s in the ground?” she complained out loud, rubbing her half shut eyes. She didn’t expect a response from the statue riding a camel next to her. Ari hadn’t spoken since they entered the desert unless it was necessary. Philia had already tried talking to her, but soon realized she wouldn’t get a response. And it didn’t help her frustration as she noticed that Ari wasn’t sweating somehow. 

Suddenly, Philia’s camel bellowed and started running. At the same time, a flash of steel came swinging down on her right. Philia threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around the camel’s neck, hanging on for dear life. After she had calmed the camel down, she whirled around to face Ari. “What was that for? Trying to kill me when I haven’t done anything?”. Her voice carried across the empty desert. 

Ari, still holding the sword in her hand, silently pointed at the golden sand with it. There was a rust colored snake lying there, its head severed from its body, mouth still open. Oh, Philia thought. “Is it… venomous?”. 

Ari rolled her eyes, shoved her sword back into its scabbard and steered her camel to start walking again. …Right. So I’ll assume that it was, Philia sighed. Well, at least the Viper’s Desert lives up to its name. She pushed her camel to continue walking after Ari. “How do you know which direction to go?” Philia called out. Ari lifted a hand to point at the sun beating down on them. “So, how much longer till we reach this hidden temple?”. 

Ari held up a finger.

 “One more hour or one more day?” Philia asked in a frustrated voice. “You know, it wouldn’t kill you to just talk!”. 

Ari didn’t acknowledge her.

“Celti curse you to the sky above and back”. 

Ari suddenly stopped her camel, and Philia urged her camel to walk faster. If I walk in front of her, I won’t be able to see her, Philia concluded. And, in Philia’s opinion, not seeing Ari’s face or her camels behind was a good deal. 

Philia passed her without looking at her, hoping that Ari wouldn’t take out her sword and slit her throat from behind. 

“You believe in Celti?”. A voice belonging to someone other than her hadn’t been heard in so long, that Philia thought the heat was getting to her head. But as she turned around and looked at Ari, she was looking at her as if waiting for an answer. 

“Sort of. Not really. I used to, but I gave up on her a while ago”. Philia turned around, facing forward again. Cursing her is all it took to get her to talk? I should’ve just said all those things out loud. Philia thought bitterly. 

“How come?”. Her voice was filled with curiosity, not a hint of mockery. 

“You’re a rebel because of how bad things are in Celesia. You, of all people, should understand why”. 

“So you gave up on her because she hasn't saved us”. Not a question, but she answered anyway. 

“That would be correct”. 

They fell into silence again, until Ari said “ One more day, till we get there”. 

Well, at least she answered my question. Philia didn’t respond, but pulled her camel back in line with Ari’s. And Philia could have sworn that her sweating slowed down.

The sun had finally set and the moon took its place. Along with it, came breezes that would have been greatly appreciated during the day, but not the night. Philia decided she couldn’t decide which was worse, the heat of the day, or the freezing cold of the night. Both drained her energy, making her grateful when Ari said “We’ll stop for now and sleep”. 

Ari slid off her camel and unhooked the pack from the camel, while Philia clumsily landed on all fours. Ari pulled out four blankets, two thin and long, two thick and shorter. She tossed one of each to Philia, who caught them with a mildly confused face. “Are we sleeping on these?”. 

“Is there a problem?”. Ari turned away and started to lay her blanket right on the sand. 

“Things live in the desert, like the snake earlier. We won’t be able to get these four items if we’re poisoned”. 

Ari merely lied down, draping the thicker blanket on top of her. “We won’t be poisoned by anything”. 

“And I assume you’re not going to tell me why you’re so confident of that?”. 

Ari closed her eyes before Philia finished her question. 

Sighing through her nose Philia layed her thinner blanket a foot away from Ari’s, and draped the thicker one over her. She pulled the blanket tighter around her, desperate for any warmth it gave. She turned onto her side, away from Ari who was already asleep, and looked at the camels who had sat down. They had their heads pulled in as much as they could, tail bent underneath them, as they tried to shield themselves from the cold.

Philia pitied them. It was cold enough even with the blanket, and despite them being larger and having tougher skin, they still looked like they were freezing. But she wasn’t going to give up her blanket, because she was certain she would get frostbite without it. 

Philia turned to face the stars instead. They twinkled at her, as if to say hello. Philia had often looked at the night sky with her parents, pointing out the different constellations that were supposed to represent Celesia and its past. Philia had always preferred to create her own constellations, connecting them in ways her parents hadn’t thought of. But they often didn’t see them, even when she used the historical ones to point hers out. 

Philia could see the constellation of a bird she had created. Back when she was younger she had looked for a way to make the bird fly, to connect the stars in some way. But it never worked. Then there was the rat, one of the most perfect constellations she had created. The shape of its head to the long tail. Over time, Philia had grown to hate it. When Kalian had asked her about it once, she said, “Why put something that reminds you of filth and dirt in the beautiful shining stars?”. 

A particularly strong breeze blew, the cold biting at her skin. She shivered and turned on her side again. Might as well get some sleep, she thought. 

And after a few minutes of twisting and turning, she did fall asleep. Only to be faced with the hard, golden eyes of the sorcerer. 

Badhir glanced up from where he was writing down plans. Maliran was standing there.

“When’s our next move?” he asked.

“Soon” was all he said. 

Maliran walked closer, grabbing a chair from the side and sitting down. “It’s been about a month since our last plan. The people are hungry again. We need to give them food” he pressed. 

Badhir put down his quill and sighed. “I know. We’ll raid one of the lord’s houses for food and give it out. Just give me a few more days”. 

Maliran fell silent.

“How is he?” Badhir asked after a moment of silence. 

“Better, thanks to the sorceress's help. But still not great” he admitted. 

Badhir nodded. “Ari and Philia better make it back. At least with the fruit, if nothing else”. 

Maliran looked up at him. “You’re going to heal him even if she fails in getting all four items?”. 

“Of course I am”. Badhir glared at him. “He’s one of us. We heal him however we can, no matter what deals we make”. 

Maliran nodded. “What will you do about Philia, even if she does complete the task?”. 

Badhir swallowed. “She either joins us, or she leaves and returns to her life in the dirt. It’ll be her choice”. 

Philia took her time looking around, fully aware of the impatient man before her. She knew it was a dream, but it still unsettled her. They were surrounded by blackness. No floor, no walls, nothing except for the sorcerer. 

“Would you prefer something different? It’s your dream. You can change the surroundings, if it makes you feel better”. His voice was dripping with mockery, but Philia tried anyway. 

She wasn’t sure how at first, but seeing as the dream was inside her mind, she closed her eyes and thought of a large tree stretching above, with fields of flowers beneath. She wasn’t sure where the image had come from, or why it was the first place she thought of. But when she opened her eyes, she was standing in that very field, with the tree providing shade from above. 

The only thing that didn’t change was the sorcerer. “Tell me about this mission of yours”. 

“I’m supposed to get a few items and bring them back”. 

“What items”. 

She sighed. “Four items. Some fire, an egg, a piece of fruit and a roll of paper. Sounds like I’m bringing back ingredients for breakfast”. 

His eyes flashed with anger. “Answer my questions properly or you’ll be dreaming for a much longer time than you want to”.

“Everlasting fire, a phoenix egg, some special fruit-” she paused at his look. “I don’t know why it’s special, I was just told to get it”. Once he stopped glaring at her, she continued. “Like I said, a special fruit and a specific prophecy from the Temple of Prophecies”. 

The sorcerer didn’t say anything for a minute, just contemplating her answer. 

Philia looked around, and then closed her eyes. I wonder if I can really change the scenery to anything I want. She imagined a picture created by her mother’s stories of the ocean. Deep blue water and grainy sand under her feet, with seashells scattered about. When she opened her eyes, it was exactly as she had imagined it, save for the sorcerer. 

“Which prophecy?” he finally asked. 

Philia thought about it for a moment. “I actually don’t know”. 

The sorcerer’s eyes darkened. “You will tell me the truth”. 

“I am”. She held up the bracelet, showing that it wasn’t burning her wrist off. “Kind of hard to lie with this”. 

Eyes narrowing, the sorcerer opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by another voice. 

“Philia. Wake up”. 

Ari. Both of their gazes shot upwards, where the voice had come from. But there was no one there. 

“Wake up!”. 

Philia looked back at the sorcerer. 

“Go. Don’t tell her anything about this little meeting”. Then he vanished before she could retort. 

Glancing up at the sky, at Ari’s voice once more, Philia closed her eyes and pinched herself. Hard. 

Her eyes flashed open and squinted at the sun. Bright, blinding light filled her eyes as she sat up. And slammed right into Ari. 

“Sorry,” Philia said, rubbing her head from where it had collided with Ari. 

Ari just shook her head and walked towards the camels. “Nightmare?”. 

Philia was about to say, a sorcerer who is a living nightmare, but the bracelet heated up quickly. Enough to make Philia clamp her mouth shut to stop the OUCH from reaching Ari’s ears. 

But apparently Ari took notice of her silence as well. Her eyes narrowed as they landed upon the bracelet. She met Philia’s eyes once more, then turned back to the camels. 

Philia just swallowed and stood up to walk over to her own camel. 

“That’s it?” Philia asked. Ari silently nodded. 

The sun was almost at its peak, beating down on them harshly. But she wasn’t sweating as much, Philia noted. More than Ari, but less than normal. Strange. As they were riding, Ari had suddenly urged her camel to go faster, with Philia quickly trying to do the same. It still took another minute for Philia to reach Ari, since her camel still refused to do what she asked. 

Ari had stopped at a square of stone, covered in places with sand.

“You mean to tell me that this small square of stone is a temple?”. 

Ari didn’t bother responding. 

“Right. It’s underground. So how, exactly, do we… get inside of it?”. 

Ari studied the stone closely. “There has to be some way of revealing a path” she reasoned. 

Philia stepped around her, kneeling on top of the stone. It was still cool, despite the increasing temperature. She ran her fingers along the stone, feeling for any odd textures or markings, but found nothing. 

And just as she was about to stand up and suggest that this was the wrong patch of stone, her eyes fell on a small hole, right in the center of the square.
She crawled over to it, studying it closely. It was tiny, so tiny that Philia had only seen it out of pure luck. 

Ari walked over to peer at it as well, finding nothing better in her own searching. “Are we supposed to put sand in it?” she suggested, twisting her ring around her finger. 

Philia snorted. “Shouldn’t it be hard to get into? Why would it need sand if there’s so much of it around us?”. 

“Sometimes the answer is the simplest”. 

“Only sometimes”. Philia tossed an annoying smile at her before turning her attention back to the hole. Pouring a stream of sand into it might be the only thing that would fit, Philia started to think, but then paused. Pour. 

She ran back to the camels who had stopped a few feet away, grabbing her waterskin. She ran back and knelt by the hole, Ari’s brow knitted together in confusion. But she didn’t stop her. 

Not as she poured a tiny bit of water directly into the hole. 

One second. 

Two seconds. 

Nothing. 

“Well, good try. Waste of water though” Ari said. She rose, stepping away to search the rest of the stone once more. 

Just as the stone started to shake. 

“Jump off!” Ari instructed Philia. As if I need to be told that, Philia thought in the back of her mind as she jumped off the stones and turned to watch. 

To watch the stones sink down, creating a stairwell leading underneath the sand. 

“Waste of water, huh?” Philia managed to say, before stepping down the stairs and into the temple. 

Ari just rolled her eyes and followed her. 

It was so dark, Philia couldn’t see her feet. Couldn’t see Ari. She had to keep reaching behind her to make sure Ari hadn’t abandoned her and run off, while keeping one hand on the wall. A few times, Philia felt something crawl over her hand. She tried not to think about the possibilities. 

“Will you stop reaching behind you?”. 

Philia pulled her hand back. “Just making sure you haven’t run off somewhere,” she muttered. But she didn’t have to worry anymore, because Ari put a hand on her shoulder with a sigh. 

Philia was about to tease Ari about being scared of the dark, when the darkness started to peel away. Up ahead, light. Warm glowing light. Fire. 

“It’s fire,” Philia stated aloud. 

Ari’s only confirmation was the removal of her hand. 

As they drew nearer to the fire, the temperature increased. Sweat started to run down Philia’s neck. And after a few more steps, she saw why. 

A room with crumbling stone walls covered in thick vines. Sand scattered about, catching the light coming from the other side of the room.

A beautiful, bluish white flame sat on the other side of the room. It danced with a slight breeze, licking the air with deep purple flames. It was held within a stone bowl atop a pedestal. There was no doubt about it. The Everlasting Flame. 

And of course, in the middle of the room was a large gap, so deep you couldn’t see the bottom. Just utter darkness. And cutting across the large gap was a thin strip of stone, turning at points and crumbling apart at others. Thin enough to put one foot in front of the other. 

Ari let out a breath as Philia took a step back. “I don’t suppose you can somehow get it from over here?”. 

“No”. 

“Well. Do you want to go, or shall I?” she managed to ask.

Ari gave her a dark look and turned back to the gaping hole. “We both go, one behind the other. Just in case you fall and die, I’ll collect it myself”. 

Philia snorted with no humor. “I’ll be sure to let you fall when you plummet to your death”. Grimacing, Philia carefully placed one foot onto the stone. When it didn’t crack, she shuffled forward a little. Then a little more.

“Look at this” Ari's voice called from behind her. 

Taking a deep breath of annoyance, Philia slowly turned without falling, and saw that Ari was pointing to the corner of the room. A skeleton lay there, head leaning at an awkward angle, and the lower portion of one arm lying on the floor. With two arrows through the ribs. 

“There are arrows. Most likely coming from that wall”. Ari pointed to the right wall. Now that she pointed it out, Philia could just about see tiny holes in the cracks.

“You show me that after I’ve already started crossing,” Philia muttered, turning back.

Forcing herself to breathe evenly, Philia took a few more steps. Then a couple more. She could hear Ari behind her, slowly placing one foot in front of the other. 

Then the arrows started. 

One flew by Philia’s face, making her step back just in time to dodge a second one. The third one almost hit Ari, making her gasp. 

Philia sighed in relief as no more came. “So… do you think there are more?”. 

“More than likely. Maybe they come in groups of three” Ari suggested. 

Lovely. Philia just swallowed and continued on. 

They were about two-thirds of the way across, with no issues other than another group of three arrows, this time with poison. 

Philia had almost been hit by the third arrow, aiming right for her leg. Ari blocked it at the last second with her sword. 

“Thanks,” Philia said. Ari just nodded and waited until Philia caught her balance before moving forward again. 

Almost there, Philia thought. Just 20 more steps, and then-. Her encouraging thoughts were cut off by the dreaded whistle of arrows cutting through the air. 

Philia dodged three of them, and yet they still kept coming. What?! Philia continued to dodge 5 more, until Ari yelled from behind her, “Run for it!”. 

Philia didn’t hesitate. 

She ran narrowly jumping over an arrow heading for her foot, lunging out of the way of another one. Until her foot slipped and met thin air. 

“Ari!” she yelled as she fell sideways, arms stretching hopelessly towards the thin strip of stone. 

That’s it, I’m dead. Kalian won’t-

Her negative thoughts were cut off by Ari’s hand grabbing hers in a tight, unrelenting grip. 

Philia hung there for a second before reaching out for the stone. Wrapping her arm around it, she hoisted herself back up, kneeling there on the thin stones. The arrows, mercifully, had stopped. 

Ari looked down at her. “You’re okay?”. 

Philia nodded. 

“Then keep moving. We don’t want to be here when the next round of arrows come”. 

Philia held back a retort, knowing she was right. She turned and walked off the strip of stone, stopping before the fire. Catching her breath, she turned to face Ari. 

And saw the arrow sticking out of her arm. 

“You got hit? When?” she asked, gently grabbing Ari’s arm and looking at it. 

It was relatively deep, and blood was oozing out. Too much. 

Philia stopped for a moment. “Were those arrows poisoned?” she asked. 

Ari shook her head, eyes filled with pain. “Leave it. Or else it’ll just bleed out more”. She gestured with her head at the flame. “Collect some of it in the bottle, and let’s get out of here”. 

Philia hesitantly dropped her arm and turned around. She pulled out the glass bottle from her bag that somehow hadn’t broken in the chaos. Uncorking it, she stepped up to the flames and, feeling foolish, lowered the top of it near the flames. She held it there for a moment, unsure of how to do this.  Then, she watched as the flames danced up and into the bottle. White, blue and purple, all swirling and mixing as they settled into the bottom, where the movement died down. As if it was tired and had decided to sleep. 

Sealing it with the cork, Philia turned back around to find Ari tying a white strip of cloth.

“Where did you get that?” she asked as she walked towards her. 

“Bought it. Back in the main town”. She looked up from where she had finished tying it. Eyes on the fire inside the bottle, she took a deep breath, and yanked the arrow out. 

Gritting her teeth, she held another cloth up to the wound and held it there. Philia just waited by the stone path until she was done. 

After placing the remaining cloth in the pack, Ari turned and nodded to Philia. They crossed the thin stones once more without any surprises, and climbed up the stairs into the waiting night.

“Finally. An actual bed and warm food.” Philia sighed. 

They had been traveling for several hours now under the intense heat of the sun, having gotten up before the sunrise.

Ari snorted beside her. “ Don’t get your hopes up too high. The food is most likely going to be pretty bad. And we’re not spending a ton of money just to be comfortable”. 

Philia sighed. “I know. But still. It’s better than sleeping on sand. Especially with only your word to convince me that no creatures are going to harm us”. She glanced at Ari. “So why were you so confident?”. 

“It helped you sleep, didn’t it?”. 

Philia stared at Ari, mouth wide open. “You lied? To make me sleep better?”. 

“That’s what I said”. 

“You’re unbelievable”. 

Ari just smiled. 

Philia leaned over, careful not to fall off the camel’s back, and grabbed the pack swinging there. Rummaging through it, she pulled out the small glass bottle full of dancing flames, white and blue and purple. Peering at the bottom, Philia checked carefully for any signs of melting or cracking. But there was nothing. 

“How many times are you going to check that?”.

Philia tucked the bottle back into the bag, taking out the waterskin instead. “As many times as I need to, to make sure the fire is still there”. She took a long drink, draining it. She shot Ari a dark look. “I need it, to get my brother back. You know, the one your group kidnapped?”. 

Ari lowered her gaze and turned to face forward again. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “If it were up to me-”.

“But it’s not, is it? It’s up to your leader”. Philia didn’t bother softening her tone. 

“Your brother isn’t going to die. That was part of the deal”. 

“I wonder how worried you would be if one of your family members were kidnapped by a group of violent rebels. If you had to leave them at the mercy of those rebels, while you went on some quest”. A low blow, yet Philia didn’t particularly care at that moment. But, she realized as Ari fell utterly silent, maybe it was the wrong thing to say. 

Ari’s eyes turned flat and cold. 

And Philia knew without her saying anything.

Ari opened her mouth, but then shut it just as abruptly and sped up her camel, causing a cloud of dust to rise behind her.  

Well then. Philia sped her camel up slightly, still staying behind Ari. Just in case she decides to use her sword. Philia’s gaze dropped to her arm, and the bandage wrapped there tightly. Though maybe she can’t use it properly yet. 

After they exited the Temple, Ari had bandaged her wound freshly before they slept. She woke up to a blood soaked cloth instead of a white bandage. But the bleeding had slowly stopped over the course of the day as the blood clotted. Thankfully, the wound hadn’t gotten infected, but it still looked nasty. And from the wincing on her face, it hurt pretty badly as well. 

Philia looked ahead. If she squinted, she could make out the hazy shape of a village. Nevior Village. The one stop before traveling to Fionis Mountain. Where they would get a bed, food and supplies. 

Philia forgot about Ari being mad at the thought of food. Their last pieces of bread and fruit had run out yesterday. Only water had filled their stomachs, and even that was over now. 

Philia sighed. It would still be a few more hours till they reached the village. 

Ari twisted her ring around, as she often did when thinking. I know Philia didn’t mean it like that. Her parents are dead as well, and her brother isn’t doing too great either. She thought back to what Badhir said. 

“Her parents are dead, she only has her brother left. The only thing she can really call her own is the dagger Kalian gave her. It fits perfectly. ‘She with no one but a brother, with nothing of her own but steel’. There is really no one else”. 

It’s not that she didn’t trust him. She’d known him for as long as she could remember, practically been siblings. She trusted his decisions. But.. if he was wrong… Kalian and Philia might lose each other. 

They arrived at Nevior village as evening arrived. It was a small village, mainly used as a stop while traveling. A handful of people were outside, carrying buckets of water or watching over the kids running around. 

Ari walked over and took the reins from Philia. “I’ll trade these for horses and get supplies. You go find a place for us to stay, along with food for the night”. She dropped the pouch into Philia’s hand. 

“You’re not worried I’ll just take the money and run off?” she asked, raising her eyebrow. 

“I don’t think you’ll do anything that could cause harm to your brother”. Ari let her threat hang in the air and walked away, pulling the camels along with her. 

Philia rolled her eyes and turned away to scan the buildings. There were two buildings labeled as “Inn”. One looked like it was 50 years old, and the other looked about 45 years old. Not much of a difference. Philia headed into the nearest one. 

It was dimly lit inside, with only two windows. Chairs and tables were loosely scattered throughout the space, two of them overturned. In the center was the owner, busy writing on a piece of paper. A wound on her arm caught Philia’s eye. It was a crisscross of scars, most likely as punishment for not paying the tax. It wasn’t an uncommon sight with business owners.

“I’d appreciate it if you could stop staring at my old wounds” the woman said, annoyance clear in her tone. She still didn’t look up.

Philia walked up and cleared her throat. “What’s the price of a room for two people, for one night, along with dinner? I’d like to check it against the one next door”. 

“That’s 5 silver Cikels. Or 20 bronze ones''. She still didn’t bother looking up. 

“Alright. I’ll go check the price next door”. Philia started to turn around, but the lady looked up with narrowed eyes. “Fine. 4 silver Cikels. That’s it”. She turned back to her paper, where she was writing what looked like a note. 

Philia reached in and dug out 2 silver and 8 bronze Cikels, clattering them onto the counter. Better for her to think I don’t have mounds of money. 

She scooped them up with one hand and pointed to a stairwell hidden in the corner. “Up there. The two on the left, all the way down the hall, both have two beds each. Pick one. You can come down and get food in a couple of hours”. 

Philia turned away and took a step towards the stairwell. 

“Hold on”. 

Philia turned back, eyebrows raised. 

“Since I was so nice about the price, why don’t you do me a little favor?” she asked sweetly. 

Philia rolled her eyes but walked back to her. “What is it?”. 

She folded up her note and held it out. “I need you to deliver this to the supply shop down the road. It has a sign, so you’ll see it”. 

Philia took the note from her and turned to walk out the door. 

Ari took the reins and pulled the horses along. She had finished trading the camels, along with 5 bronze Cikels, for two horses. One was brown, with a white star on its forehead and a cream colored mane. The other was light grey with a black mane and tail. This one was a bit more aggressive, lunging in random directions and forcing Ari to drag it along. 

He said they were good horses, Ari muttered in her head. Hopefully Philia gets along better with horses than camels, because I am not dealing with this one any more than I have to. 

She headed towards an old, abandoned looking house that seemed like it would fall apart at any second. It reeked of death as well. Smart, to keep people away. She tied the reins to a stake nearby, and knocked on the door. 3 short knocks, 1 long knock, and then 2 short ones. There was a pause, and for a moment Ari wondered if it truly was abandoned. 

But then the door opened a sliver and revealed a pale blue eye. “Yes? What do you want?” she asked harshly. 

“Calm down. I’m from the base in Celesia” she whispered meaningfully. 

Her eye widened in recognition and she quickly opened the door, pulled Ari inside, and shut it again. “That doesn’t answer my question though. What do you want?”. 

Philia walked down the dirt road, looking left and right for the sign. After 2 minutes of searching, she saw it. It swung in the wind, creaking like old bones. 

But, she saw something far more interesting at the building next to the supply store. There were two horses tied to a stake in front of the old house, one a chocolate brown and the other a beautiful light grey. The latter was stomping and snorting, as if it hated being tied to the ground. 

And there was Ari, talking to a door. To someone behind the door, she realized. It was only open a tiny bit, as if whoever was behind it didn’t want to be seen. Well that’s suspicious. Then, Ari was yanked inside and the door closed. 

Philia glanced around. There wasn’t anybody around so… 

She casually walked towards the house, keeping an eye out for anyone else. Then, she quickly slipped around the back, gagging on the smell. And just her luck, there was a window, open the tiniest bit for the breeze. 

Ari’s voice floated out. “... he believes it’s her”. 

Another voice, more harsh and filled with disbelief. “Her? The one who-”. She suddenly went quiet. 

Then, Ari said “That’s all. Make sure to spread the message to the others. I’ll be headed out now”. 

Oh no. Philia quickly ran across to the supply shop, flung open the back door and darted inside. Forcing herself to slow her breathing, she turned around. And blinked up at the shopkeeper. 

“The backdoor” he said in a gruff voice “is not for customer use”. He pointed to the front door. “That is where you enter”. 

Philia just forced a nervous smile and nodded, handing him the note. 

“What’s this?”. 

“From the owner of one of the Temporary Housing buildings. She asked me to give it to you” she explained. She glanced at the door, but couldn’t see if Ari was waiting there since it was wooden. 

“Give me a moment to get everything together” he said, walking away. 

Philia took the time to look around. There were piles of rope and sturdy boots for traveling. There were reins and saddles for horses, along with cans of food. 

“What did you hear?”.

Philia spun around. Ari, looking calm despite her words, was looking at her. 

“When did you-”

“Just now” she answered. She continued to look at Philia. 

“I didn’t hear anything”. 

Ari continued to look at her, still waiting for a proper answer. 

“Just that ‘someone’ believes that ‘it’ is ‘her’” she said, using her hands to make quotation marks. “The information is kind of useless if I don’t know who ‘someone’ and ‘her’ and ‘it’ are”. 

Ari studied her, then nodded, as if satisfied with her answer. 

“Here you are,” the man said from behind Ari. He held out a leather bag, full of supplies. “Make sure to remind Zora to bring back the bag or pay for it”. 

Philia nodded, taking the bag from him. Why would an Innkeeper need these kinds of supplies? she wondered as she peered into the bag. There were parts for a tent, along with thick blankets and cans of food. Strange. 

Ari followed Philia out of the shop, through the front door thanks to the man’s reminder, and towards the inn. Ari stopped to untie the two horses and tug them along, not bothering to be gentle with the grey one. It stomped its feet and snorted loudly.

“You don’t have to tug so harshly,” Philia suggested. 

Ari turned and shot her a look. “You want to try?”. 

Before Philia could shake her head, Ari tossed the reins into her hand and continued walking. 

Philia looked at the grey horse, who had stopped to look at her as well. Then, it bolted for the entrance to the village. 

“Ari!” Philia yelled as she practically got dragged through the dirt, still holding onto the reins tight. 

“You said to be gentle. So go ahead!” Ari called back. Philia could have sworn there was laughter in her voice. 

Gritting her teeth, Philia got her feet back underneath her and jumped. Right onto the horse's back.

It bucked wildly, trying everything to throw her off. But Philia wrapped her hands around its neck, holding on tightly. Then, the horse reared onto its back legs, and Philia began to lose her grip. 

Hands slippery with sweat, Philia started to fall back. She scrambled to find any grip. 

At the last second, she grabbed the horse's black mane tightly. 

The horse let out a bellow and planted its feet on the ground again. Then it stopped. 

Philia peeled open her eyes, not even realizing she had closed them. Slowly and carefully peeling her hands away from the horse and grabbing the reins, she slid off and cautiously walked in front of it. 

The horse snickered softly and looked away from her. 

“Congratulations” Ari called from a safe distance away. “You managed to tame a wild horse. It’s a she, by the way”. 

Philia blinked in shock. I actually managed to calm an animal? she wondered in awe. 

Philia reached out a hand and gently laid it on her muzzle. 

The horse gently nudged her hand in acceptance.

“I think you and I will get along very well,” Philia said, smiling. 

She snorted in agreement. 

Philia carried the tray with food up to the room after repeating the shopkeeper's words to Zora. She had just snorted and waved Philia off, as if she’d been told that several times already. 

When Philia had asked why the lady needed these supplies, her answer was “I’m traveling to Silera Town tomorrow. I’ve heard that circumstances are much better there, and hopefully I’ll have more business than in this rotten town”. Silera Town? she had thought. That’s where the Temple of Prophecies is.

She pushed the door open with one hand, carefully balancing the tray on the other. Ari was there, sitting on the bed with the map in front of her. She was running her finger along different routes, no doubt finding the quickest route to reach their destinations. 

Philia shut the door and set the tray on the table, grabbing one of the bowls along with half of the bread and sitting on one bed. It had a thin pillow and a thin cloth for a blanket, on what could hardly be called a mattress. It feels like it’s filled with straw, Philia thought uncomfortably.

The soup was more water than anything, with odd smelling vegetables that were hardly boiled. But Philia forced it down, along with the stale bread. 

Ari finally got up and sat at the table, grabbing the food and taking a bite. Then she stopped. “This isn’t even soup. It’s flavored water” she said out loud. 

Philia choked on a laugh. “What happened to ‘don’t get your hopes too high’ ?”. 

Ari shot her a dark look. “I expected bad food, but I still expected food. Not just water”. She wrinkled her nose at the bowl, but ate another spoon anyway. 

Philia set her spoon down and looked up at Ari. “Listen, I’m sorry about earlier. You know, mentioning your family. I didn’t really mean it”. 

Ari was silent for a moment, chewing on bread. “I know,” she agreed. “I realize that you probably don’t like me very much, considering I’m part of the group who took Kalian”. She fell silent after that, not offering any reason or justification. 

“Can I ask you a question?”. 

Ari nodded after a moment.

“Well, I was wondering about the ring you wear”. She gestured to Ari’s hand, where she was twisting the ring around her finger. 

“I doubt you’re married, so…”. Philia let the question drift off. 

Ari thought for a moment. “It’s the only thing I’ve had for so long that I don’t even remember getting it. Badhir said he didn’t give it to me, so it must have come from my parents”. She took it off and tossed it to Philia. “On the inside, there’s something written, but I can’t read it. I think it’s in the ancient language, but that doesn’t make sense. Almost no one in Celesia has been able to write in the ancient language for several years” she explained. 

Philia lifted the ring up to the light, peering at the symbols engraved inside. ‘ꗾ ꘃ, ꘌ ꖿ, ꘎ ꖵ ꔷ ꖘ’. She tossed it back to Ari. “I’ve never seen anything like it”.

“Neither have I. Almost like it’s not from here” she thought out loud. But then she laughed softly. “But where else could it be from?”. 

Ari looked over at Philia. “Can I ask you a question in return?”. 

Philia raised her eyebrows. “Yes?”. 

“Who gave you that bracelet? I don’t believe that you bought it” she said. 

Philia blinked, buying herself a moment to think. The bracelet started to heat up, as if in warning. “You’re right. Kalian stole it for me from a wealthy merchant. I usually always wear it, but I took it off when he was… taken”. Philia tried to keep most of the accusation out of her words. 

Ari pursed her lips and turned back to the map.

An awkward silence fell between them, until Philia cleared her throat and said “I’m tired so I’ll go to bed now”. She turned away from Ari and closed her eyes.

Sleep came soon after, along with a certain sorcerer. 

This time, they were on a dirt road with horses. A horse that looked very much like the mare she had tamed earlier was standing beside her.

“Back already?” Philia said in greeting. He didn’t appear every night. I suppose even sorcerers like him have things to do.

The sorcerer didn’t deign to respond. 

“What’s your name?” she asked halfheartedly. She didn’t expect an answer. 

He tilted his head. “Jakar”. 

Philia blinked at him, wondering why he bothered to respond. 

“Tell me what you know about the rebel’s plans. What they plan to do against the King”. 

Ever the loyal subject. Philia sighed and thought back. “They didn’t tell me anything they didn’t need to, which includes their plans”. 

“What about your companion? She should know, right?” he pushed. 

“Well, I suppose she would, but we aren’t exactly best friends. We hate each other”. The bracelet flared slightly, and the sorcerer smiled. 

“You don’t hate each other”.

She tightened her hands into fists. “Maybe we don’t hate each other, but she doesn’t trust me enough to tell me the rebel’s plans,” she said.

The sorcerer narrowed his eyes in annoyance. “I don’t care if you hate each other or if you love each other. Find out their plans. Unless you want Kalian to be dead by the time you come back”. 

“No” Philia cut in. “The deal was to answer your questions honestly, not to go out of my way to find the answer. You can’t make me dig for knowledge to answer your questions”.

The sorcerer hummed in agreement. “No, I can’t make you do that. But I can also hurt Kalian in other ways, where it doesn’t classify as me hurting him”. He smiled at her growing anger. “If you can find loopholes in our deal, so can I. Find the answer to my question”. 

With that, he left her alone to her own thoughts.

Philia stroked StormClouds neck, admiring the surrounding greenery.

Philia had decided to call her StormCloud, due to her grey coloring and wild nature, hooves pounding on the ground like thunder when she ran. Ari had rolled her eyes, warning her that they would have to leave the horses when they reached the mountain. Philia didn’t care though.

Ari had informed her they were going to Fionis Mountain next, which meant passing through a forest.

“So, we’re getting a Phoenix egg” she said out loud. “What does it look like?”. 

“You’ll know it when you see it,” Ari replied. 

Philia rolled her eyes. After their talk last night, she thought that maybe Ari was opening up a little bit. Turns out she was wrong. Not like I’m being completely open either.

“Why does Badhir want these things anyway?” she asked, automatically resting a hand on the bag hanging around her.

When Ari didn’t respond, she pressed for an answer. “If I’m risking mine and my brother’s life for these things, I think I deserve to know what he’s going to do with them”. 

Ari sighed tiredly. “He’s going to use them to save Celesia,” she said vaguely. 

Philia snorted. “How can-”

Ari jerked her horse to a stop and held out a hand, signaling Philia to do the same. Philia tugged on the reins, and StormCloud immediately quietened, as if sensing what Ari had heard. 

Philia glanced around, searching for anything between the trees and bushes. After finding nothing, she turned back, opening her mouth to say as much, when Ari pointed ahead with a shaking finger.

Eyes darting forward, Philia saw the path curve off to the left. And on that path was a large creature. 

Goddess above. How did I not smell it?, Philia wondered as she gagged. Ari did the same next to her. It smelled like rot, acidic and putrid. The creature itself was fully black, save for two shiny white eyes. It looked like a large dog, covered with muscle. And like a dog, it was sniffing the ground, as if searching for a smell. It didn’t seem to notice them, or it just didn’t care. 

Philia glanced at Ari, eyes wide. Ari gestured for them to go backwards, slowly and quietly. Philia nodded and pulled on the reins gently to make StormCloud walk backwards. 

Ari’s horse didn’t quite understand the ‘quiet’ part.

The brown horse reared onto its hind legs, letting out a loud neigh. 

The creature snapped its head up to them, and let out a low growl.

Philia gave up any attempt at being quiet and yelled “Turn around and run!”. 

StormCloud got the message, because she let out a loud neigh and turned, starting into a full gallop. Ari’s horse did the same, though significantly slower. Slow enough for the creature’s jaws to miss by a hair. 

To stop itself from crashing headfirst into the ground, it slid on its front legs and veered off course. It slammed into a nearby tree. 

Ari and Philia took that time to urge their horses faster and faster. Ari was still slower than Philia, and the creature was smart enough to realize it. 

It snarled and chased after her, black spit dripping from its mouth and teeth as it lunged at the horse. It missed, as Ari urged her horse to go faster at the last moment. 

Philia glanced ahead, then at the creature. We can’t go back to the village and lead this creature there, she realized. We need to stop it somehow. 

She glanced over at Ari as a very stupid plan formed in her mind. “I have an idea, but if it doesn’t go as planned we both die” she yelled. 

Ari just nodded, willing to try anything before they got to Nevior village. Who knows what that creature will do if it sees a village of people. 

“Make your horse run as fast as it can. On three, we pull our horses to a dead stop, and turn the other way. Got it?”. 

“That is crazy,” she said. But she nodded all the same.

Both the horses sped up, a brown and grey blur against the green foliage. The creature roared, legs moving faster and faster as it tried to catch up. But it was still a few feet behind.

“One, two” Philia started counting. 

The creature lunged, each claw reaching for either horse. 

“Three!”. Philia pulled the reins hard, jerking StormCloud to a stop as Ari did the same. Both horses neighed loudly, turning around and starting into another gallop. 

The creature, just as Philia predicted, was going too fast to turn around. It roared in anger as it went flying by, claws raking through the ground in an attempt to stop. A cloud of dust rose as the creature skidded to a halt and whipped around to chase after them again. 

“So” Philia panted, “how do we get this thing off our tail?”. 

Ari threw her a look. “I thought you had a plan!”. 

“To turn away from the village. Not to get rid of it” she admitted.

StormCloud started to lose speed, and Philia cursed. “Our horses aren’t going to be able to run soon enough!” she yelled to Ari. 

And as she turned to answer, Ari’s horse tripped over a tree root, and crashed to the ground.

The creature slowed down, knowing its prey wasn’t going anywhere. It stalked closer and closer, growling in anticipation.

Ari stood up on shaking legs, backing away. She took a deep breath and raised her hand towards the beast. Philia stopped StormCloud and shook her head in confusion, opening her mouth to tell her to run. 

Ari’s eyes seemed to glow lightly.

But then, the creature stopped. Shook its head, growled, and gave them one last look.

Then it turned around and ran away.

Badhir slipped into the room silently, scanning every corner for a guard. There were none. Maliran did his job well, Badhir smiled to himself. He could still hear the guards outside, yelling for water and coughing in the smoke. 

Opening a box, he peered inside. Food, preserved with salt. He dropped the lid back down and picked up the box, carrying it to the door where another rebel waited. One of the many who had volunteered to help with this mission, though only three were chosen. Two to help Badhir, and one to help Maliran. 

“Take this and go” he said, gesturing to the open door. The girl nodded and took off, holding the box tightly in her thin arms. The other helper had already left, arms full with two small, but heavy boxes. They had been filled with fruits of all kinds. 

Praying that she didn’t encounter any guards, Badhir ran back and grabbed another box, not bothering to check inside. He knew it was all food that the lord had been hoarding, not bothering to share it with anyone. 

He ran to the open door, following the escape route he had planned out. It went behind the house and into the forest, where they would then go directly to the base. 

He let out a whistle, two high notes, to tell Maliran they were finished. One note came back in response, and Badhir ducked into the forest. 

He wove through the branches and bushes, quickly arriving at the base, where the two helpers waited for him. 

“Good, you both made it” he confirmed, nodding at each of them. They smiled back.

“Okay, take the other four rebels and divide up the food. Remember which sections of the town you’re handling, and be quick”. 

They nodded, already having heard this once before. Then they each went in opposite directions, heading to the spot where two rebels waited for them each. 

Footsteps sounded behind him, and he didn’t bother turning. 

“They didn’t even see me,” Maliran boasted. 

“Good” was all he said in response. His mind was already wandering to the rebels who were now distributing the food, calculating how long it would take for them to get back. 

“Let’s go check on Kalian”. 

“Why do you think it ran?” Philia asked as she helped Ari push the horse up. Thankfully, nothing was broken. It can still walk, though it can’t run properly, Ari had said after checking its legs.

“I don’t know”. 

“Maybe it realized how bad it smelled and ran away in shame,” Philia suggested sarcastically. 

Ari rolled her eyes, but smiled slightly. “Let’s keep going”. She hopped back into the saddle, waiting silently for Philia to do the same. 

Philia made sure to check everywhere on StormCloud for an injury that she missed, only stopping when the horse snorted in annoyance. “Okay okay, just making sure” she grumbled. 

Ari laughed softly. “For someone who didn’t get along with the camel very well, you’ve become best friends with that horse quickly” she commented. 

Philia hoisted herself up into the saddle, holding the reins. “It surprised me too,” she said, stroking StormClouds neck. “But it feels like we actually understand each other. Like we’re actually friends”.

Ari just looked at her for a minute. She’s not also a…

“Hello?”. 

Ari blinked and refocused on Philia, who was now waving a hand in front of her face. 

“You disappeared into your mind somewhere”. 

Ari just faced forward and nudged her horse into a walk, careful not to put excess pressure on the legs. “Let’s go”.

“How-”

“If you ask how much longer it is going to take one more time, I will show you just how well I can use my sword”. Ari didn’t even glance at Philia, who bit her cheek to stop from asking the question again just to bother Ari.

“Fine. When are we going to get there?”. Philia couldn’t help it.

Ari took a deep breath and ignored her.

“Wait, is that it?” Phili pointed to her left. 

Ari didn’t look, assuming it was another attempt to bother her. Philia had done this three times already. Ari had learned after the first one.

“Ari, I’m serious this time. There’s a cave with strange markings around it”. 

Ari turned at that. There was no way Philia could have known about the markings in the ancient language.

Philia smirked at her. “I guess you read the map wrong”.

Ari ignored her, turning her horse towards the cave.

They stopped at the entrance, trying to make sense of the markings.

“I give up,” Philia said, shaking her head at the marks.  

Ari snorted, “There’s no ‘giving up’ if you barely tried in the first place”. 

Philia put a hand to her heart, an astonished look on her face. “I am wounded you would say such a thing. I tried very hard and am parched by my efforts”. She took a dramatic sip of water from her waterskin.

“Looking for five seconds isn’t trying” she grumbled, but she stopped staring at the marks as well. “Well, we might as well go inside”.

They hopped off their horses and Philia hesitated. “Do we really have to leave them here?”.

Ari gave her a look. “This is why I told you to not get too attached”.

Philia stuck her tongue out and turned back to StormCloud who was looking at her with big black eyes. “Well, I guess you can go now. Be free. Make sure you stay away from any more of those creatures” she warned the horse. She snorted softly, blowing warm air into her face. 

Philia blinked back the sudden water in her eyes, determined not to cry in front of Ari. Not that I care what she thinks of me, but I’d rather not cry. She swallowed and patted the horse between the ears. “Go on then”. She turned around quickly and stalked toward the entrance. Ari just watched silently, and then turned to pat her horse and set it free.

Then they headed inside, the golden light from the sunset decreasing with every step until Ari finally pulled out a torch and lit it with two stones she had collected earlier in the forest. They paused occasionally at the walls. There were arrows, along with more ancient language writing that neither of them could understand. 

“I hope they aren’t warnings” Philia mumbled as they stopped at another arrow. 

“We probably would have seen something by this point if they were. I doubt we’re lucky enough to choose the right path every time,” Ari pointed out. 

“Maybe the arrows point towards the Phoenix egg and the directions are in the ancient language so that no one can read them and they get stuck in here forever until they starve to death” Philia suggested.

Ari glanced at her sidelong. “Such optimism. It’s very encouraging”. 

Philia took a step back in shock. “Was that… sarcasm? From you? I must be rubbing off on you” she exclaimed. 

Ari shook her head with a smile before turning back to the arrows. After a moment, she pointed to the right one. “Let’s go that way”. 

“Are you just guessing?” Philia asked as they headed down the narrow path.

“Does it make a difference if I am?” she countered. 

Philia didn’t say anything, but Ari could practically feel her rolling her eyes. 

“If you have-” Ari’s retort faded into silence as she stepped into a large room. Enormous, compared to the small tunnel they were just in. Thick vines running across the walls, which were more like cliffs. Rocks jutting out and crumbling occasionally. 

“So, I’m assuming that since there aren’t any eggs in sight, something else big comes through here?” Philia asked as she glanced around, her eyes stopping at the wall opposite them.

“I think you’re right” Ari agreed as she noticed the large hole in the wall. 

Where the sound of claws and a very large creature were coming from.

And next to the giant hole was another small opening. And Ari knew. “There” she said. “The Phoenix egg is through that tunnel”. 

Philia squinted at it, trying to spot a sign of a fire-breathing bird. “How do you-”.

“I just do”. Ari couldn’t explain, but she just knew. 

“Okay, well let’s go. Before the giant creature comes” Philia said and ran towards it. 

But she didn’t get very far.

A large lizard came crawling out on six legs, head scraping the roof of the large hole and causing dirt to rain down. Shades of green and red scales rippled across its skin, shining eerily in the torchlight. Its tail whipped back and forth, slamming into the walls and making the mountain itself tremble. It swiveled its head around, black eyes landing on Philia. Rows of sharp teeth gleamed in the feeble torchlight, a purple tongue uncurling to reveal a forked end. And then it lunged for her.

“Run!” Ari yelled, but Philia was already turning around, darting away from the tongue that had reached for her. 

The lizard snarled and chased after her, jaws snapping closed in frustration as Philia darted away once more.

Ari scanned the space, searching for a weapon or some symbols to help defeat this thing. There has to be something! She thought desperately. Philia yelled at her to stop daydreaming and help.

“Climb!” she yelled back. “Climb the walls, now!”. She turned and started climbing, not daring to look back at the lizard.

Philia climbed higher and higher, hands raw and bleeding from the sharp rocks. This makes the walls in Celesia feel soft, she thought. She glanced down at the lizard, but it wasn’t there.

Heart sinking, she looked over and realized it was right below Ari, snapping at her feet. 

She’s not climbing fast enough, Philia realized with a jolt. Without a second thought, she swung across the stones to the right, ignoring the flashes of pain as her skin ripped. 

The lizard jumped up, barely missing Ari’s feet and crashed into the wall instead.

Philia reached her, extending a hand down to her. “You need to climb faster,” she told her. 

“I know that,” she growled back. Her hand reached up for the next stone, but the stone beneath her foot gave way.

“Ari!” Philia yelled and almost let go of the wall. But Ari managed to hang on by one hand. A hand that was slowly slipping, as the lizard below jumped and missed again.

Ari reached out a hand up to her, eyes pleading for help. But Philia was already reaching down, grabbing her hand and pulling her up with strength she didn’t know she had.

The lizard slammed into the wall again, a cascade of small rocks raining down.

“So now what?” Philia asked out of breath. Ari steadied herself, finding another rock to hold onto. “I assume you made us climb up here because you have a plan?”. 

Ari looked at her blankly.

“Ari! Now we’re trapped up here with a lizard that is either going to jump high enough to eat us or bring this wall crashing down!” Philia yelled at her. 

Ari looked at the small tunnel on the other side of the cave. Then she looked up for a second and said, “Of course I have a plan”. She smiled at Philia. “You need to jump across the lizard and go into the tunnel”. 

Philia waited for her to laugh. She didn’t. “Right. I’ll just jump onto the lizard’s back and slide off the tail”. 

“Good. Be quick about it” was all Ari said, and she started to climb higher.

Philia, at a loss for words, just glanced down at the lizard waiting with its mouth open. Ready to eat her.

If I die because of this nonexistent plan, I’m going to haunt Ari for the rest of her life, Philia decided. And then she jumped.

The lizard opened its mouth wider in anticipation, tongue flicking out. And then it growled as Philia landed with a grunt just above the top row of teeth and painfully on its snout. It tried to tilt its head back to grab her, but that just sent her tumbling faster, clumsily sliding down and along its back.

Ridges dug into her back as she slid, some slicing into her arms. She tried to grab one of the spines to slow her down, but she was going too fast. The tail started to shift, sensing what she was trying to do, but Philia was going so fast that she shot off the tail and straight into the tunnel.

She landed on all fours, skidding to a stop and scraping her skin off. She had to shake her head and blink through the stars in her vision.

She lay there for a few seconds, realizing how lucky she had just been to pull that off. Then she heard the scream, and she was running back to the lizard, tripping over her own feet.

Ari was dashing towards her, somehow able to stand after also sliding down the creature’s back. She yelled and motioned for Philia to get back in the tunnel.

But Philia was staring at the ceiling, where the screaming was coming from. Ari was there, tangled in the thick vines, dangling helplessly. Right above the lizard, who was bending its legs in anticipation. 

But, that can’t be, Philia thought frantically as she glanced between the two Ari’s. “How-'' Philia started. Ari started dragging her back, away from the lizard and further into the tunnel. 

And then the lizard jumped, jaws snapping around Ari as it caught her. It jumped so high that it crashed into the roof of the cave. The rock cracked loudly.

And then it came crashing down, crushing the lizard and Ari to death.

Philia jerked her arm out of Ari’s tight grip, whirling on her. “Do you have a twin that was somehow traveling along with us this entire time? Or am I just hallucinating?” she demanded. Her voice was still raw from screaming as Ari had dragged her away, screaming for the Ari that was now dead. Who had been crushed by tons of rock before her eyes. 

She couldn’t see Ari’s face, since the torch had been lost in the fight at some point.

“No, I have no twin” came a small voice. It almost didn’t sound like her.

“So then what in Celti’s name was that? How are you still standing here instead of being buried beneath stones?” she asked. 

No response for a few seconds. And then the darkness was lit up by a soft blue light. Coming from Ari’s hand, Philia realized as she looked towards the light. 

A snowflake, small and yet so detailed, floated in her palm. Next to it, a drop of water, so clear that you could hardly tell it was there.

Philia blinked. Looked into Ari’s eyes, which were now an unnatural gold color that reflected the pale blue glow.  “You’re a sorceress”.

Ari nodded. The water shimmered and disappeared, replaced by an ember of fire that glowed a bright red. “Ice and illusions”. The fire faded away. “I couldn’t think of another way to… I had to use my magic to trap the lizard. Crush it to death. I doubt it’s alive after…” she trailed off.

Philia nodded slowly. “And you didn’t think to tell me,'' she finally said.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t supposed-”. 

“I thought you died. I thought that you were crushed by rocks. I was screaming for you” she said, voice trembling.

The snowflake flickered, but stayed.

“I’m sorry,” Ari said quietly. No excuses this time. Just two words, asking for forgiveness.

The snowflake melted into a droplet in her hand, leaving them in complete darkness once again.

Apparently it was enough for Philia, because she said “I’m glad you’re not dead”. Then she tilted her head. “So, your eyes have never been brown?” she asked curiously.

Ari smiled slightly and shook her head, but then remembered Philia couldn’t see her. “No. I use an illusion to make them look brown, so that I can walk around freely. Most people throw rocks and other things if they see that I’m a sorceress”. Ari hesitated, but asked “You aren’t… afraid? Most people hate sorcerers after the war…”.

Philia shrugged, the movement barely visible. “I have opinions about them, but I’ve known you for a while now, and you have saved my life a few times. I’m not going to start thinking you’re evil considering you’ve been a sorceress this entire time”. With that, she turned and walked deeper into the tunnel.

She didn’t say anything when Ari caught up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“So how did you know about the eggs earlier?” she finally asked.

Ari took a moment to think. “I really don’t know. It’s like, I could feel warmth, and I knew it was from the Phoenix eggs". 

“So we’re just supposed to grab an egg and leave? It’s that easy?” she asked skeptically. 

Ari snorted softly. “We just faced a lizard, which I wouldn’t call easy, but yes that is the plan”. She fell silent for a moment. “Unless there’s a mother”.

Philia shook her head. “Another detail you forgot to tell me?”.

Ari flinched slightly at the barbed words. “No, actually. I just thought about it now. There has to have been a mother that laid the eggs. She could have been reborn recently, or she may have been killed. We don’t really know”. 

Philia blinked in confusion. “Reborn? And if you can be reborn, you can’t be killed right?”.

Ari glanced at her face. “You really  don’t know anything about Phoenixes?” she asked in disbelief.

Philia grumbled “I know their name and that they have wings. That’s something”. Then she thought about it.  “How do you know about them? Badhir told you?”. 

Ari laughed lightly. “Badhir isn’t one for storytelling. I just remember a soft voice telling stories about them all the time. Maybe my mother” she thought out loud. “Anyways, back to the Phoenixes. They’re like… birds of fire. All red, orange and gold. They have dark black eyes that they say can see into your soul. Some stories say they blow fire from their beaks, others say embers fall from their feathers. After a Pheonix gets very old, it combusts. It basically turns into a pile of ash, and it is reborn as a baby. That’s when it’s most vulnerable. If it survives being a baby, it will grow to be an adult again”.

“So it can be reborn and lay eggs?” Philia interrupted. “Why aren’t they more common?”.

“There was a time when they were more common, and it wasn’t at all rare to see one flying in the sky. But humans started hunting them and taking their feathers for clothes, enslaving them and using them to burn down enemies. Eventually there were only a few left, so they retreated into the mountains and caves” she explained sadly.

“And they just left the humans alone?” Philia asked.

“There are a few stories of them carrying away humans, but mostly they stay up in the mountains. Unless you’ve hurt them of course” she added. “They never forget anyone, or what they did. And if you hurt their babies…”. There was silence for a moment. “Well no one’s lived to tell how exactly they kill you. But I assume with fire”.

Philia stopped as they turned a corner, and saw a small opening at the end. “And what do we do if there’s a large firebird waiting for us in there? I doubt it’ll be happy if we take away one of its eggs”.

Ari took a deep breath. “We have to. For Kalian”. She smiled lightly. “Besides, I have my magic,” she said, lifting a hand in front of them. A wall of icicles appeared, all pointing towards the small opening.

“For Kalian,” Philia agreed softly, readjusting her bag around her shoulder.

“One second,” Ari stopped her by grabbing her hands. Turning them so Philia’s palms were facing up, Ari gently sprayed a cold mist. Philia hissed as it stung the open scrapes on her hand, but eventually they went numb. “It should help a little,” Ari said. Philia nodded in thanks. Then they walked towards the Phoenix eggs.

As soon as they stepped through the opening, they both had to cover their eyes for a few moments. There was a blinding amount of light compared to the darkness of the cave.

From the fire, Philia realized as she slowly peeled her hands away. There was a large ring of blueish fire in the center, flames dancing and twisting. There’s no smoke, Philia realized in shock.

“It’s Phoenix fire. It doesn’t produce smoke” Ari explained as she took in the cave as well. She had cast an illusion over her eyes, making them a dull brown once more. Her wall of icicle spears had disappeared as well.

There was a small waterfall on one side of the cave, coming from somewhere within the mountain. I guess birds of fire need water as well, Philia thought with raised eyebrows. The roof of the cave was high up, much higher than the cave with the lizard. Perfect for flying.

Right in the center of it all, were three eggs. But only one of them was a bright golden yellow and deep red. The other two were pure black, dotted with white. 

“Are they supposed to look like that?” Philia pointed out.

Ari shook her head slowly. “It almost looks like…”

“The Black Death” Philia answered. “I had no idea it could affect animals”. It was exactly like Kalian’s legs had been the last time she saw him. Kalian. Philia cursed herself. I haven’t even been thinking about him these past few days.

As if reading her thoughts, Ari said “You’re doing all this for him. You are helping him, even if you aren’t thinking about him consciously”.

Philia nodded distantly. Has the disease gotten worse? Have they kept him alive like they promised to?

“Well I suppose we should go and get the remaining egg,” Philia said after a few moments of silence.

They crossed over to the ring of fire, where Ari used her ice magic to create a gap in the flames.

“I have to admit, your magic is pretty useful,” Philia admitted as she stepped over the ice.

Ari hummed her agreement. “Though it doesn’t help when people throw rocks at you because of what you are” she said annoyingly. But Philia sensed the sadness underneath.

They stopped in front of the eggs. “Well” she said, gesturing to Philia and the egg. “Go ahead”.

“Making sure the Phoenix will attack me and not you” Philia grumbled, but she picked it up anyways.

If only she knew the real reason, Ari laughed to herself. She probably wouldn’t accept it. I wouldn't, she admitted to herself.

Philia slung the pack off her shoulder and nestled it carefully inside. “So that’s it? We just leave now? And how exactly are we going to do that? You sort of crushed the entire lizard cave” Philia asked. 

“We passed by some other tunnels, I’m sure there’s an exit at the end of one of them”.

Philia slowly turned to her, disbelief etched into her face. “You don’t know if there’s a way out?!”. 

“I told you there must be-”.

“But you don’t know for sure!”.

“Do you ha-”

Loud wings interrupted their argument and embers started to fall like rain around them. A large bird, feathers ranging from light gold to a deep blood red, particularly at the tail. A black eye stared at them, its sharp and curved beak glinting. Talons, sharp as knives, scraped across the floor. 

Philia took a step back, slowly swinging the pack onto her back.

The Phoenix turned to her. Tilted its head in a very human-like move. Blinked once. Then it opened its beak and spewed blue fire.

Philia screamed and fell back as the fire filled her vision. She squeezed her eyes shut as she braced for the searing pain. The pain that never came.

“Run!” came Ari’s voice from in front of her. 

She opened her eyes to find Ari holding her hands out in front of her, a melting wall of ice now shielding both of them from the flames.

“What about you?” she asked over the hiss of ice melting.

“I have magic, you don’t. So go and I’ll be right behind you!” Ari snapped at her. 

Philia hesitated for another moment, but turned and ran back to the small opening from which they had entered.

The blue fire stopped long enough for Ari to slowly bring down the wall of ice. The Phoenix was staring at her curiously, scanning her from head to toe. Clacked it’s beak once to let out a sharp chirp. The sound was startlingly playful for something that had just sprayed blue fire at them. It tilted its head to the other side.

The Phoenix didn’t start turning her to ash, so she backed up a step. Another one.

The bird watched her every step. But as she reached where Philia stood, the bird snapped its eyes to her and let out a sharp trill. It opened its massive wings and flew straight at them, embers raining across the ground.

Philia grabbed Ari’s hand and pulled them both back through the opening just as the bird slammed into the wall. They scrambled back as the sharp talons came poking through, searching for them. 

The Phoenix let out a call so sad, Philia almost felt guilty. Almost, but not quite.

Sorry, but I need this egg. My brother will die if I don’t take it, Philia thought in apology.

Together, they raced away from the claws that were still scraping against the stone and down the dark pathway. Eventually they slowed to a halt and caught their breath. “Never thought I’d see a Phoenix” Philia managed to get out.

Ari snorted lightly. “I didn’t expect to either, or to have to steal an egg from it” she admitted. She waved a hand and created a dozen small snowflakes that floated in the air, casting soft blue light in the wide tunnel. She reached over to dig the egg out of the bag dangling from Philia’s shoulder. They both studied it closely.

“It’s very pretty,” Philia finally said. And then she lifted the egg up, studying the bottom of it. She cursed softly. “Look” she pointed at it.

Ari tilted her head to look, and cursed as well. There was a tiny bit of black staining the bright red and gold. “Does this mean it’s going to… vanish soon?”.

Philia groaned. “Great. We risked being killed by a giant lizard and a fire-bird, only to discover that one of the four items could vanish. Where does that leave my brother? Gone, eventually”. She gently placed the egg back in the bag, and let out a sharp breath. “We’ll just have to get back to Celesia before it turns completely black”. 

She nodded to herself once and walked forward, with Ari on her heels.

Philia let out a loud whoop, startling Ari from her thinking.

She had been thinking about the bracelet that was seemingly stuck to Philia’s wrist. She had never seen it fall off or move. And she could sense the strong magic within it. But who? It might be Kalian, though that wouldn’t make any sense. And why would he make a bracelet that sticks to her skin? And it seems like it’s causing her pain, causing her to have nightmares that make her mumble in her sleep and-

“Ari?” Philia waved in front of her face. “Do you wanna stay stuck in here all day or do you want to go and find the magical fruit next?” she asked playfully. She jerked her head behind her and Ari saw what had made her so excited. There was sunlight streaming through the large hole in the stone, where a dense forest was visible outside.

Ari forced a smile to her face, forced her eyes not to look at the silver bracelet now reflecting in the light. “Yep, let’s go”. She quickly recast the illusion over her eyes, turning them into a dull brown color.

They hurried outside, breathing in the fresh air like a starved man given food. It smelled like rain, the ground squishing beneath their feet.

“So, how are we going to travel to the tree and the next location without horses?” Philia asked. She’d been wondering about it for a while, but they had been a bit occupied with getting the last object.

Ari took a deep breath. “The Draconi tree shouldn’t be hard to find, considering the roots are huge. But the Temple of Prophecies… we’ll figure something out”. 

Philia rolled her eyes internally. Sure. It seemed like this whole search for magical objects hadn’t been planned out in the slightest. Her heart sank a bit at the thought of StormCloud. She’s free now, probably doing whatever makes her happy. She’s fine, Philia told herself. She followed Ari who had headed off into the forest.

Dalir Forest was more like a jungle for the amount of greenery. Everywhere you looked there were dense trees, bushes, even vines occasionally. Bright colorful flowers occasionally popped up, especially one lovely blue flower that Philia had spotted. It had five blue petals that were white at the edges, spreading out into a star shape.

“Look at this,” she said, reaching down to touch it.

Ari grabbed her hand and pulled it away, glaring at her. “Stop touching random things. You’ll get hurt and this journey will take longer than normal”.

“What are you talking about? It’s just a flower” Philia said, rolling her eyes. 

“That’s a bluestar plant, which will give your hand painful sores if you touch the petals”.

Philia quickly stepped away from the flower, looking at it in horror. “Okay, you win. I won’t touch any more unknown things”.

They both looked at her wrist where Ari had grabbed it, where the bracelet was now glowing softly.

They both stared wide-eyed at the bracelet. She slowly lifted her gaze to Philia’s. “Tell me what this is and who gave it to you. Now”. She released Philia’s hand and the bracelet stopped glowing.

Philia opened her mouth and said “I can’t”.

Ari’s glare promised more pain than the flower.

“I’m sorry, I wish I could tell you. But I can’t, or else-” she was cut off by intense, searing pain coming from the bracelet. “Damn this stupid thing!” she hissed at the bracelet. She crouched and pulled at it, despite knowing it was useless.

Ari knelt beside and carefully took her hand. She studied the bracelet, which had now resumed its glowing. “Why does it glow when I touch it?” she asked aloud.

Philia shrugged. “Maybe it wants to attach to your wrist too,” she said bitterly.

Ari sighed. “I know you didn’t buy it. I can tell it has magic in it, almost like it was made from magic”. She shook her head. “But I don’t know who could have made such a thing, or why. I don’t think-” she cut herself off. I can’t tell her about Kalian. It’s not my secret to tell, she told herself.

“You don’t think what?” Philia prompted.

Ari shook her head again and dropped her wrist, standing back up slowly. “What can you tell me about it? Anything?”.

The bracelet heated up again in warning, and Philia shot a dark look at it. “Not really”.

Ari sighed and started walking again. “Then let’s continue searching for this tree”.

Turns out the tree wasn’t very hard to find, just as Ari had said. Large tree roots had uprooted the path, blocking their way several times. If they hadn’t left the horses before entering the mountain, they would’ve had to leave them outside the forest .

Philia climbed over a particularly large root, causing a small yellow spider to skitter away. “This tree must be massive if the roots are this big. How are we supposed to get fruit from it, assuming they are at the very top?”.

Ari blew a strand of hair out of her face. “It’s not any bigger than any of the other trees here. It just has large roots. People think it’s because of the special fruit it grows, but no one knows for sure. I’m sure we can reach the fruit somehow”.

Philia sighed. “For how important Badhir made this whole quest sound, he really didn’t plan anything out for us, did he”. 

Ari was silent for a moment. “It’s believed that all these objects are guarded by Celti. If you aren’t meant to take it, Celti will guard the objects. That’s why we haven’t exactly put too much thought into the specifics. If you are the one meant to take these items, then you will. If not, you die”. It’s a miracle we haven’t died so far.

Philia stumbled over a rock. “What do you mean if I am the one meant to? You’re also here”.

Ari didn’t respond.

“Ari. This is a journey to find special objects in trade for my brother. That’s it, right?”.

Her guilty silence was answer enough.

“I was chosen randomly… right? How many people have you sent on this quest before me?” she pressed.

“Several, but this is the first time I’m coming along”. 

“And how many came back? Did any others succeed?”.

Ari picked at something on her shirt, eyes refusing to leave the ground. “One came back, but only because they gave up halfway through. The fact that we are here right now, on the same quest, should tell you how many succeeded”.

A heavy silence fell as they continued walking. Philia asked “This is your first time? How come?”.

She shrugged, but Philia could see it was forced. “The last ‘guide’ didn’t come back, so I was next”.

Philia shook her head slightly. “You trust your leader so much. Why? You don’t question the fact that he sends people on a journey that is most likely going to get them killed? You don’t question why he needs a Phoenix egg, or magical fruit?”. Her tone was light, but it wasn’t hard to hear the slight accusation.

Ari stiffened slightly. “I trust him because he’s been my family for as long as I can remember. He’s taken care of me since I was a child, protected me, taught me how to survive. He is doing this for the sake of Celesia, so that we don’t need to suffer anymore because of the King”. She turned and gave Philia a wry smile. “So that people like you don’t have to be thieves, or get whipped by a certain sorcerer”.

Philia’s jaw dropped. “You saw that?”.

“Practically everyone did. I’m sorry I didn't help”, she said. “We were in the middle of a plan, and we couldn’t afford to get sidetracked”. She winced slightly. “It sounds terrible when I say it out loud”.

Philia waved a hand in the air and shook her head. “It’s fine. I don’t think interfering would have made it any better”. Her stomach growled loudly, interrupting her next sentence. “I wouldn’t mind some magical fruit right now,” she muttered.

Ari snorted and dug around in her pack. “I don’t think you want to eat the fruit. It's said to make you stronger and better, but if you eat it without actually needing it, you get terribly sick after a while”. She pulled out a small loaf of bread and broke it into quarters, handing one to Philia.

She took it with a nod of thanks and ripped a piece off. It was slightly stale, but still enough to silence her stomach.

“We’re here”. Ari pointed ahead, but she didn’t need to. The tree stood out, despite being the same size as all the other trees. The noises of insects faded away as they stepped closer. There was a large clearing around the tree, small wildflowers popping up here and there. The sunlight was bright and reflected off the silver, pear-shaped fruit hanging from the tree on thin branches. 

Below the dazzling fruit were two dragons, one pure black and the other pure white. Both had their eyes closed and wings folded in, silver-tipped tails curled around the base of the tree. Three silver claws on each arm and foot, larger than the ones the Phoenix had. The black one had two long horns shooting out the back of its head, while the white one had horns that curled out to the side.

Philia and Ari both took a step back before simultaneously hiding behind two trees. They both glanced at each other with matching looks of we-are-so-screwed.

“You didn’t think to mention this?” Philia hissed.

“I didn’t know!” Ari whisper-yelled back. “It makes sense. The ‘Draconi’ Tree. But I didn’t think there would be actual dragons here”. She dared a glance at the beasts. “I think they’re sleeping”. She looked expectantly at Philia.

Philia deadpanned back at her. “What?”.

“Go get one of the fruits’.

Philia blinked. “What?! I’m just supposed to climb up a tree with two dragons sleeping next to it? You do it!” she whispered.

“Yes, that’s exactly what you need to do. And no, it has to be you. Your brother is the one who needs this,” Ari reminded her.

“How exactly do I do that without being torn to shreds?”.

“You’re a thief, don’t you do this for a living?” Ari pointed out.

Philia mumbled something that Ari chose not to hear. With a heavy but quiet sigh, she slowly walked out from behind the tree and towards the dragons. Her steps were muffled by the grass, but it didn’t slow her heart. The dragons were even more intimidating up close, individual scales now visible.

She held her breath and stepped around to where the thinnest part of the tails were, carefully stepping over them and right against the tree. She let out a slow breath, and lifted her hands to find a groove in the bark that she could hold onto. Then her foot. It’s just another wall, she told herself. Another wall to climb. And these massive, very deadly creatures are just like the vendor who chased you. Nothing to worry about. She gripped the bark and pulled herself up, finding the next groove without missing a beat. She paused after a few more to look down. Somehow, the dragons didn’t seem that much farther away. They are no different than the vendor, she tried telling herself again, but quickly gave up. Doesn’t help if I know I’m lying to myself. 

Ari watched Philia climb. It was slow progress, but she was doing it. Impressive. I couldn’t, even if there weren’t any dragons. Of course, she’d never tell Philia that.

About five minutes later, Philia was almost to the top. She stayed still for a moment, letting her arms regain a bit of strength before continuing. She could just about touch the lowest branch. She wrapped a hand around it and pulled herself up, quickly grabbing the next branch before she fell. The hard part’s over, Philia sighed internally. She stepped up onto a thick branch, wincing as the branch creaked slightly under her weight. She quickly climbed on to another branch, one she was sure would hold her weight. Refusing to look down, she stretched a shaking hand out to the nearest fruit. Grabbing it tightly, she pulled on it until it broke free from the branch. 

She was opening her satchel when she heard it. Dropping the fruit in as she felt it. As she looked down, she let out a curse. Of course they had to.

The dragons had woken up, and they were staring up at her with angry blue eyes. With one mighty flap of their wings, they were circling the tree in the air, with all attention focused on Philia and the fruit she had taken.

They took turns coming close to the tree, slamming their tail into the trunk or slashing out with their sharp claws. Philia wasn’t sure how the tree was still standing. One branch had already got hit by a tail and broken off, smashing into the ground and breaking into several pieces. 

The black dragon opened its mouth and spat white fire at her, apparently not caring if the tree burned down. She barely managed to jump onto another branch, safely dodging the fire. Or so she thought, before the adrenaline wore off and she realized the bracelet had been hit by fire. Being metal, it absorbed the heat incredibly fast and was searing her hand off. She cried out in pain, shaking her arm in an attempt to cool it down.

“Philia!”.

She peered down towards Ari, catching glimpses of her between the two dragons.

“Climb down!”.

Philia tried to signal that she couldn’t because the obviously angry dragons would more than likely rip her to shreds. As she glanced around, searching for a way to safely get down and escape, the temperature suddenly dropped, bringing some relief to her now burnt skin. A white beam blasted towards the black dragon and ice formed on its wing, clearly visible against the black scales. Another beam had ice forming on the tail. 

Philia could just make out Ari standing still as white fog rose around her. Ice gathered in front of her and then shot towards the dragon, who let out a loud roar and dropped like a rock to the ground. The fall caused the ice to break away, but it was clear from the way the wings were twisted and bent that it wasn’t flying anytime soon.

Leaving Ari to deal with that one, Philia turned her attention back to the white dragon still circling her. Some magic would be helpful right now, she thought bitterly. As she glanced around, her eyes continuously fell on the fruit. Magical fruit, right? “Ari! How, exactly, is this fruit magical?” she called out.

Ari didn’t glance up as she unsheathed her sword, keeping all her focus on the dragon that was going to get up any second. “It makes you stronger, faster. Enhances your capabilities”. She broke off as what Philia had asked fully registered in her head. “You can’t actually be thinking about-”.

Philia plucked a glistening fruit off the tree and bit into it.

Ari groaned and turned back to the dragon, who was now shaking the ice pieces off and glaring at her. It snarled and raked its claws against the ground. Fast as a whip it lunged out for her. Ari only managed to block the talons with her sword an inch from her face. “If you feel like you can outrun two dragons, now would be the time to do it” she called out.

Philia wiped the juice from her chin, hissing as the magic healed her wrist quickly. She could feel the magic flowing through her blood, making her stronger, faster. She could hear each leaf rustling from the wind, each step Ari took away from the black dragon, the fruit dropping to the ground from her hand. She felt like she could jump off the tree and land without being hurt. And as she turned to do just that, she paused and grabbed another fruit, shoving it into her bag before jumping. 

The white dragon let out a deafening roar as she plunged to the ground, landing in a crouch. She bolted straight for Ari and picked her up effortlessly, not slowing down. Ari shrieked and squirmed, but Philia ignored her and ran for the trees. She jumped over large roots, swerved around trees and bushes, making sure to stay away from a group of blue star-shaped flowers.

Once she was sure she couldn’t hear the dragons anymore, even with her magnified hearing, she slowed down and gently set Ari down. “That was amazing,” she said in wonder. “I know you said it enhances capabilities but… I never knew how much. I’m barely out of breath” she realized.

“Well I’m glad you’re having fun now, because you won’t be pretty soon” Ari said darkly.

“What do you mean?”.

“Like I said, if you don’t actually need it, if you aren’t actually sick, the fruit will hurt you after a while. Usually enough to kill a man”.

Philia’s face fell. “How long?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’ll be milder since you only took a bite, and didn’t eat the whole thing”. She slapped a hand at the ground in frustration. “And now we’ll have to travel slower when it happens”.

Philia snapped her head up, face brightening. She pulled out the other fruit from her bag and held it towards Ari. “Eat it”.

Ari leaned away from the fruit that was inching towards her face. “Did you not hear what I just told you? I have no death wish unlike you. Besides we need that for your brother, remember?”.

“Just do it. I have another one”.

“No, I told you-”

Philia held up the bracelet in answer. “I have a plan, trust me”.

Rolling her eyes, Ari finally took the fruit and bit into it. The effect was instant. Even as she chewed she could feel her magic growing more powerful. Her muscles becoming stronger, her senses sharper. “Okay, now what?” she asked.

“I want you to create a very thick, very cold layer of ice,” Philia said, pointing at the bracelet.

Philia watched as Ari’s expression changed from confused to cautious as she looked at the bracelet. ”Your hand could get frostbite, why would I-”.

“You want the story behind this bracelet right? Just do as I ask please”. 

Ari held her hand over the bracelet, and Philia watched in fascination as the metal started to frost over. She could feel the frost emanating off the ice as it grew and grew, until a giant ice ring was sitting around her wrist. Her hand started to feel a bit numb.

Philia gave a sigh of relief. “Okay, now hopefully I can tell you without having my hand burnt off”. 

Ari’s eyes widened in alarm but Philia waved her off. 

Philia proceeded to tell her everything. About how she first met the sorcerer on the night Kalian was taken, later when they met in the market and made the deal. All the dreams in which they’d talked  and the information she’d given him.

Ari stayed silent through it all, paying close attention. When Philia was finally done, she said “So you’ve been giving information to our enemy this entire time”. 

Philia hung her head in regret. Her arm was now covered in water, and while the bracelet had cooled down, her arm was still a bit too hot for comfort.

“I’m not mad, and I don’t blame you. It’s not like you had a choice. But we need to be more careful. I’ll help you hold him off with some information, but if he notices you answering too easily, he’ll get suspicious” Ari reasoned. 

Philia sighed internally in relief. “Yeah, you’re right. We’ll need to be careful”. Then she laughed, falling back into the slightly damp grass. “How did I go from stealing a pack of nuts to stealing Phoenix eggs and magical fruit?”. 

Ari laughed too. “Your skills as a thief came in handy”. 

Philia was about to respond, when her stomach gave a violent lurch. She sat up and pressed both hands to her stomach, groaning at the pain that had now started in her head. “I’m guessing this is the aftermath of eating the fruit?”.

“Yeah. Soon enough I’ll be sharing your pain. We’ll stay here until the pain lessens, and then continue traveling. If we don’t die from it” Ari decided. She shivered slightly. “Though it’s going to get cold soon, and I don’t think we can make a fire with damp wood. We don’t have any thick blankets either, only thin ones”.

“How about the egg? It’s a bird of fire, right? Shouldn’t it give off some heat?” Philia said through gritted teeth. Her head had started pounding, and she could barely think. 

“Good point, though it might not work”. Ari reached over and pulled out the egg from the pack, which was now a third covered in black. She handed it over to Philia, who wrapped both her arms around it tightly. She also took out the thin blankets, spreading them out over a cleared out space and gesturing for Philia to lie down on it. “It’ll be better if you sleep through it. I’ll stay up and keep watch”. 

Philia tried to argue, but the pain was too much to try talking. So she just curled up in a tight ball, the Phoenix egg held tight against her. Please heat up, she thought as she felt her energy drain away and darkness fill her mind.

“Explain to me why the bracelet heated up with magic,” the sorcerer said. “Because according to our deal, the bracelet only heats up when you break the deal. And yet your hand isn’t burned off”. 

They were in a pure white room, with nothing else in sight.

Philia started to lie, but then stopped herself. He can tell when I lie, she reminded herself. “There were dragons that breathed fire. It hit the bracelet and almost seared my arm off”. Not a lie technically. 

The sorcerer narrowed his eyes. “And yet your arm looks fine?”.

“I ate magic fruit with healing properties”. 

The sorcerer searched her face for a few seconds before relaxing. “I hope for your brother's sake you did what I asked and found out what the rebels' plans are”.

Philia glared and sighed. “She said they’re going to use the four objects to restore Celesia. To remove the King and his sorcerer from power”.

The sorcerer waved a hand, disinterested. “I figured that much. I need the specifics about their next attack”.

Philia opened her mouth, and shut it quickly. “I don’t have anything for you” she said.

The sorcerer narrowed his eyes. “Then I will go give your brother a warm welcome into the afterlife”. He turned to leave.

“Wait no!” she said desperately. “Just, give me a little more time. I’ll have something for you by then”. She held her breath, pleading internally. She couldn’t let anything happen to Kalian.

“Fine,” he said without turning around. “If you don’t, I’ll kill your brother and you”. He disappeared with that.

She opened her eyes to a bright blue sky with thin, wispy clouds. The sun was almost at its zenith. Oh no. She’d slept for almost half a day. Ari was snoring softly beside her.

Philia peeled her hands away from the egg. Then she realized, we’re alive. Ari had said the fruit would most likely kill them, so why were they still alive? She reached over and shook Ari gently. “Wake up. We need to get moving. I also have some things to tell you”. 

She slowly opened her eyes, blinking against the sunlight. “We’re not dead?” was her first question.

“No,” Philia laughed. “Somehow we’re not dead. Though I think it’s because of the egg” she mused as she put it back into the pack. “I was visited by the sorcerer. I told him what Badhir plans to do with the four items, which you told me earlier, but he said he needs specific details about the rebels next attack”. She looked away. “He’s going to kill my brother if I don’t tell him next time”. And me. 

Ari thought for a moment. “I could just make things up, but then he would get suspicious if they don’t happen. And that might make things worse” she thought out loud. “Tell him that the last plan I heard of was to raid a rich lord's house on the eastern side of the town, then distribute it to the people”.

Philia nodded. “So, those times we randomly woke up with food in our hiding place… that was you?”.

Ari smiled. “Not specifically me, but one of us, yes”.

“Thank you”. It was so quiet Ari wasn’t sure it was real, but Philia had an embarrassed look on her face, which was turned away from Ari.

“Come on, let’s go,” Ari said with a laugh.

Hoisting the pack over one shoulder, they started walking towards what Ari assumed was the Temple of Prophecies. And there, we’ll see if Philia truly is the one.

After about half an hour, a rustling noise came from their left, and they both jumped back. Ari quickly grabbed the sword at her hip, the metal blade ginting. They held their breath and waited. The dog-like beast flashed in her mind, and Ari prayed to Celti the noise was something different.

It got louder and louder. And then Philia’s face lit up and she ran towards it. “You came back!”. 

“Philia!”. Ari reached for her, but stopped as she recognized the creature.

StormCloud stood there, lowering her head for Philia to pet. She snorted softly at Ari, who stood there in complete shock. And Philia said she didn’t get along well with animals.

Philia still could not believe their luck. Instead of walking, they now had a horse. They couldn’t move as fast as if they had two horses, but still. One was better than nothing.

Ari huffed behind her. “Why do I have to sit in the back? I’m the one who has a sword” she pointed out.

“Because StormCloud likes me more,” Philia answered smugly. “You didn’t treat her very well when you first met”. She could feel the grumbling at her back. 

The sunlight was dimming, and the brightest stars were already visible. They had decided to continue on through the night since they had already slept for half a day.

Philia tilted her head back to look at the stars growing brighter by the second. She could already see the faint outline of the bird.

“You like looking at the stars?”. Ari also looked up at them.

“I guess. It’s more like they remind me of my parents. A lot like how you twist your ring around, I look at the sky. They tried to teach me the meaningful ones, but I always preferred to create my own. Like a puzzle that could take any shape, if you knew how to solve it”.

Ari was silent for a moment. “What constellation are you looking at now?”.

Philia lifted a finger to trace the lines. “A bird. Though I could never connect the stars in a way that made it fly”. She dropped her hand.

“It sort of looks like a Phoenix,” Ari commented after finding the constellation.

Philia twisted her head to try and see it, but she just couldn’t see the creature that had almost roasted them alive. “If you say so”. 

It was well past sunset when the trees started to thin out to reveal a large town. They had both decided to walk for some time since StormCloud had started to slow down. She didn’t shake them off, but it was easy to see she was exhausted.

“Just a little further” Philia whispered into her ear. StormCloud was half asleep. She wanted to let her rest, but they were so close that Ari insisted they push on. We can rest after, she had said. Philia looked for any food in their pack to help give the horse some energy. Nothing except for the magic fruit and an egg. She sighed and kept whispering encouragement.

Ari walked in front, keeping an eye out for any threats as they walked. The forest was quiet except for the crickets, dark except for the small, glowing bugs that occasionally passed by. They didn’t seem dangerous, though she had still drawn her sword the first time. Philia had laughed at her.

Silera town was only visible in the night because of the white stone that everything was made of. The moonlight reflected off it, making it stand out in the ink black of the night. There was one specific building that stood out, a dome. According to what Badhir had told her, that was the Temple of Prophecies. Once there, they would have to talk to the High Priest in order to get the scroll.

“So do you think the Phoenix egg has healing powers?” Philia whispered loudly.

Ari slowed down to walk next to her. “No point in whispering if you’re going to do it loudly”.

Philia stuck her tongue out at her.

“I don’t think it’s the egg. Like I said, maybe we just didn’t eat enough”.

Philia hummed in agreement.

“Or maybe Celti saved us”.

Philia looked over at her with a mix of disbelief and annoyance. “Really? You think she saved us? Why would she do that?” she snorted. 

“I told you. It’s believed that Celti guards these four objects, and doesn’t allow anyone to take them other than the chosen one”. 

Philia laughed with no humor. “ You make it sound like something great. ‘Chosen one’. You think a thief and a sorceress with almost no family are the ‘Chosen ones’? Celti couldn’t care less what happens to us, or anyone else”.

Ari scowled. “You don’t know that”.

“Well you can’t prove that I’m wrong. For all we know, some random person just created her from his imagination and made her look like a goddess. Maybe there is no ‘Sky Above’ or goddess in the first place”.

They fell into a tense silence, neither one willing to see the other's opinion.

“He’s getting worse,” Maliran observed.

A different healer had volunteered today since the usual one needed more time to rest. This one was younger, which meant she was stronger and had more stamina. And yet, she didn’t do that much better at healing him.

“This isn’t working. Soon enough he’s going to die. Disappear” Badhir corrected himself. Where do they go once they are infected? Do they truly die? Or do they meet a worse fate? 

Maliran voiced the same questions out loud, but Badhir didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know. We just need to pray that Ari and Philia come back soon”.

“What if they’re dead? Maliran asked.

Another question that had been sitting at the corner of his head. He hadn’t wanted to send Ari, but if Philia was truly the one, which Badhir believed she was, it would be a good chance for Ari to explore the world and practice her magic. He had told her not to tell or show Philia unless there was an absolute need for it. And he expected that there would be a need. Several of them.

Two light haired people stepped into the room silently. If it was anyone else, Badhir would’ve reprimanded them for entering without permission, but he had specifically given the twins access to see Kalian at any time. He knew they were close friends. Closer than he was with Kalian.

“Is he any better?” Lusim asked. He was the older one, by 10 seconds according to him. 

Maliran gestured at Kalian, who was lying on his back, sleeping. “Does he look better?”.

Both twins made a frustrated sound and looked down. “I feel useless doing nothing to help him,” Lisur said. “His sister and Ari are out risking their lives to bring back a cure. Isn’t there anything we can do?”.

“Not really,” Badhir said. If they were sorcerers, they could’ve lent the healer some magic. Probably would’ve insisted on it. But they didn’t have a drop of magic, despite being amazing fighters.

“Do you really think his sister is the Phoenix Queen?” the older one asked. “What happens if she isn’t and we don’t get the cure?” the younger one asked.

“Then he dies,” Badhir snapped. “He dies and we continue searching for the real Phoenix Queen”. He stormed out of the room, frustration radiating from him. Maliran quietly followed him. Always there to counsel and help, as his job of Second in Command said.

“I can’t lose Ari. We practically grew up together, like siblings. And knowing how that feels, I can’t let Philia or Kalian lose each other either” he said once they were far enough from the twins.

Maliran just stood silently.

“Sometimes, you wonder if this is all worth it,” he said, gesturing around them. “The rebellion, trying to find what is really just a rumor. You wonder if, in the end, you’re ever going to win”.

Maliran opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by someone knocking on the door. Two long knocks, three short ones. He walked over and pulled it open to find a young boy standing there holding a piece of paper. The boy silently handed it to him.

There were two drawings. One was a girl with black hair and green eyes, and the other was of a brown-haired girl with… gold eyes. Below the drawings said “Anyone with information on either of these two people will be rewarded for telling the King or the sorcerer. Anyone who does not come forward will be punished for hiding information and siding with traitors. If you see them, use any method you can to capture them alive and bring them to the King. The reward is 5,000 gold Cikels”. 

Maliran cursed and showed it to Badhir who also cursed. “If people see this, they’ll go hunting for them. People are too desperate for money. And if they find them-”.

“We lose any hope of saving Kalian and possibly lose the Phoenix Queen” Badhir finished. He turned to the boy who was still waiting there and listening. “Go around town and find these papers. I want you to destroy them, but you cannot get caught. Pass on these instructions to any other rebels you see. Understand?”.

The boy nodded quickly.

“Then go”.

He took off, only stopping to grab another paper nailed to a house.

“He also knows Ari is a sorceress somehow”. Maliran ran a hand over his face and sighed. “If they somehow make it back, Ari will have to stay inside for the rest of her life, or constantly wear a disguise”.

Badhir nodded, deep in thought. “We should change locations” he said abruptly, surprising Maliran and both of the twins who had come out of Kalian's room. “They somehow know what Ari and Philia look like, and while they could have been seen on their journey, there is no way they could have known that Ari is a sorcerer. I trained her well, she wouldn't use her magic in front of normal people. So, there's a good chance she was seen while in here. That means our location could be compromised”.

“You mean there’s a spy?” Maliran demanded. “No one here would do such a thing-”.

“I don’t know. It is possible that they could have seen it without a spy, though the chance of that is small…” Badhir drifted off. 

“So where do we go?” Lusim asked.

“To the forest. I’ll have some of the sorcerers create a similar base underground in the forest discreetly. Until then, we keep lookouts outside for any soldiers”. Badhir looked around as Maliran nodded in agreement. 

“But how will Ari know that we changed locations? She could come back here and get caught” Maliran pointed out. 

“Don't worry about that,” Badhir assured. “It’ll be taken care of”. 

Badhir sighed and sat down, stretching his legs out. He often came to the temple of Celti when he needed a moment to think. It usually ended up with him praying to Celti for help. 

He looked up at the statue and tilted his head. He didn’t know what to think about Celti. Hee had told Ari many stories of her as a child, ones he had heard from his parents while they were still alive. Thanks to that, Ari grew up believing in Celti and admiring her. Badhir on the other hand, thought she wasn’t all she was made out to be. If she was such a kindhearted god, where was she now? Why wasn’t she helping them? Or was she helping them, just in unseen ways? After all, maybe she was the one to bring Philia to them, to plant the idea in Kalian's head about his sister. Maybe she’s the reason he even found Ari. 

That brought his mind away from Celti and onto Ari. I wonder how she’s doing? What she’s seen out there? 

He had found Ari as a child, practically a baby. Merchants had brought in a wagon carrying goods, but something must have happened as they were brought to the King and their cart was left behind. He hadn’t stopped to ponder that though, and instead had set his sights on stealing some grapes from their unprotected cart that was abandoned outside the gates. As he snuck in and rummaged around, he had nearly fallen out of the cart when Ari just… appeared. One moment the space was empty, the next there was a child curled up into a ball, staring at him with wide gold eyes, a silver ring that was too big for her fingers clutched in her hands tightly. He had frozen in place, not sure what to do. Everyone knew of sorcerers and to watch out for them… but she had looked so scared of him. Badhir had remembered how his parents left him, and took pity on the girl who seemed abandoned as well. At first she had fought him, even bitten him once, but eventually he earned her trust. He stayed by her side and fed her, taught her how to fight, even taught her how to control her magic. Then one day he asked for her name, and she finally told him “Ari”.

Remembering all this, he didn’t seem to notice the footsteps behind him. A hand fell on his shoulder and he shot to his feet, hand reaching for the hidden dagger at his waist. Only to relax once he saw Lusim raising his eyebrows. 

“You’re not usually one to ignore his surroundings” he commented. 

Badhir shook his head and ignored the implied question. “What’s the report?”.

“The new base is done, and we have started moving everyone but it’s a slow process, especially with Ari’s illusion magic gone. Also, the boy says they collected all the bounties within the streets”. He hesitated. “One of the boys that helped was attacked by a soldier, but managed to escape”.

Badhir sighed and nodded. “See to it that he receives healing. I’ll be there soon”.

Lusim turned to head back, but paused to look at Celti. “I hate her sometimes,” he said.

“Me too”.

They arrived by the end of sunrise, tired, hungry and annoyed. They had stopped talking to each other a while ago because it just turned into an endless argument. Even StormCloud had started to push Philia away. The rumbling in their stomachs sounded loud enough to alert the entire town they were coming.

At the entrance there were two guards, but people entered and left the town easily, with no payment. So they walked confidently into town, thankfully without a problem. People crowded the streets, talking happily as if there wasn’t a terrible disease that was making people disappear. They bought things and laughed with friends, sounds Philia hadn’t heard for a long time.

“First stop, food. Then we can talk about the weird behavior of these people” Philia decided, and Ari had no problem with that idea. They headed for the nearest tavern, which surprisingly didn’t reek of alcohol. Philia stopped outside and gestured to StormCloud. “Someone needs to stay here with her, so if you don’t mind, go and get food for the three of us”.

Ari scowled, but went inside anyway. It was lively and crowded, almost all the chairs were taken. There was a bard playing a beautiful song on a lute. It was clear he loved his instrument as well as the music. He smiled and sang, fingers plucking a tune without any effort at all. People all around were clapping in time with the music, stomping their feet, or singing along. He finished the song with a flourish of notes, and the people clapped and whistled as he sat back down and started into a slower, more gentle melody.

Ari smiled and nodded at him as she passed. It was good to see that the King hadn’t completely ruined all of Celesia. She walked over to a worker and asked what food they had. 

“There’s warm soup, or cooked fish if you prefer that. Both come with bread. There’s also apples. And you can get ale, but it seems to be running out so if you want it, you’ll have to tell me quickly”.

“I’ll take two soups and 3 apples,” Ari said. The boy nodded and went behind the counter to get her order.

Philia shielded her eyes against the sun and tapped her foot impatiently. What is taking her so long?. The smell of fresh food wafting out of the tavern didn’t help her hunger. She entertained herself by listening to the passing conversations. None of them had useful information, but it was something to keep her mind off of food. She looked around. The town of Silera was large. Much larger than the main town. And it seemed to be doing well for itself.

“Do you want this?” a passing woman held out an apple, probably from the basket she was carrying. Starving and tired, the sight of the red, shiny apple was a welcome sight.

Philia almost said yes automatically, but stopped herself at the last second. StormCloud, however, didn’t stop, and Philia had to tug the reins back. “No, we’re fine”.

“Are you sure? You look like you haven’t eaten in a while. I have plenty more” she offered again.

Philia shook her head politely.

“Well, if you’re sure”. She put the apple back into the basket and started to walk away. 

“Wait!” Philia called out.

She turned back, surprised. “Yes?”. 

Hesitating, Philia gestured around. “Why is everyone so happy and carefree? Aren’t people dying from the Nighttime Fever? And how does everyone have money for food?”. 

The woman gave an uneasy smile. “You’re not from here?”. 

Philia considered lying briefly. “No. I’ve traveled from the main town of Celesia all the way here in search of something. If you could tell me how you’re all able to live like this, it would really help me” she pleaded.

The woman looked more than ready to leave when Philia said she was from the main town, but she hesitated. “Because the King is further away, we are able to… disobey some of his rules. Even the guards here agree that the rules are unfair, so they help us live like this by telling the King what he wants to hear monthly. Before the tax collector comes, everyone shares money with those who don’t have enough. Then in return, they share other things with the ones who gave them money, like food or labor. As for the disease, we send those who are infected to The Silera Nursery”. She looked at the ground. “The disease still affects us greatly. My son is affected, and he’s now lying on a cot in the Nursery. I visit him when I can, but for a widow like me, it's a lot of work to dredge up the money. That's why I go around selling these apples'' she explained, gesturing to the basket.

Philia was silent, taking in the lady’s story. “I’ll take an apple then” she finally said. 

The lady smiled thankfully and held her basket out. “One silver Cikel please”.

Philia dug into the bag she carried. Ari had split the money a while ago, saying that they should both have some in case something came up. She held up a silver Cikel and dropped it in the basket, then picked up the smallest apple. “Thank you,” she said. 

The lady smiled at her and backed away. "Good luck, wherever your journey takes you”. 

Philia turned to StormCloud, who quickly snatched the apple from her waiting hand. “If only we lived here instead. Maybe Kalian wouldn’t have gotten sick, and our parents would be alive too” she sighed.

“You don’t know that for sure,” Ari said from behind her. She handed one plate to Philia and held out another apple to StormCloud who quickly took it, almost biting Ari’s fingers off in the process. “Nice trick by the way,” she added. “That was kind of you to drop a few gold Cikels in her basket”. 

Philia hummed in response and ate her soup, feeding the other two apples to StormCloud as well. 

Once they were finished, they asked the nearest person for directions to the Temple of Prophecies.

“Go straight down there and go around the fountain to the left, then take the second right. Then take another left and you should see it” the vendor said. He started pushing his cart away, but Philia stopped him.

“Which way to the Nursery?” she asked.

“Take the same path, except instead of taking a left at the end, keep going straight”.

As he left, Ari turned to Philia with raised eyebrows. “You want to go to the Nursery?”.

“I just want to see if they have a way to heal the disease. I’m sure we can stop for five minutes” Philia said. She started walking towards the fountain that the vendor had pointed at, tugging StormCloud along with her.

“Fine, but only after the Temple of Prophecies,” Ari sighed.

They followed the vendors instructions and quickly arrived at the Temple. It was a large structure, with the dome shaped roof she had seen from the Dalir Forest. Large wooden doors had statues of books and scrolls on either side. It felt and looked old and quiet, yet powerful. Strong. Ari could feel the magic inside. It must be from the prophets. Tying StormClouds reins to a wooden post nearby, they climbed the stone stairs and knocked on the large wooden doors loudly. 

They immediately swung open to reveal two guards that had opened each door, and a tall, white robed priest with thin-framed glasses looking down at them. “What business do you have here?” she asked, motioning them to come inside.

“We’re here to collect a certain scroll” she said, gesturing to Philia. Then she stepped closer and whispered to the lady, who widened her eyes.

“Well then, come along with me”. She walked quickly towards one of the many white doors and ushered them inside. “Wait here. Someone will come to collect your blood”. Then she closed the door with a faint click as she locked it.

Philia dashed to the door and tried to open it. Locked. “She locked us in here,” Philia said frantically.

“Calm down. This is how they protect the scrolls”.

Philia turned to Ari who was calmly sitting in a chair. “”Protect the scrolls?”.

“These scrolls are prophecies. Of the future. Do you know how many people would kill to get even one of them?”.

Philia let go of the doorknob, but didn’t sit down. “So then how come she just let us in? She didn’t even check who we are, or if we have some official paper saying we need to take the scroll”.

“That’s why we’re in this room. Someone comes and takes a few drops of your blood, then goes and gives it to a sorcerer who determines who we are based on it. That way you can’t lie and take a scroll that isn’t yours. That’s why she locked the door, too. So that we can’t just walk out and steal one while no one is watching”.

“So you can take any scroll that has to do with you?” Philia asked.

“For the most part. But there isn’t a prophecy for everyone all the time. The Sighted, the ones who see the future and essentially make the scrolls, don’t always get a vision for someone as soon as they are born. The Sight magic is one of the few ones that you cannot control”.

Philia started to ask another question, but was interrupted by the door unlocking and swinging wide open, right into her foot. The same lady from before stepped inside, closing the door behind her. She looked at Philia, who was now standing on one foot while holding the other and wincing. “Please sit down. I cannot take your blood properly while you are hopping around like a buffoon".

Philia mumbled something but hopped to the chair and sat down, still holding her throbbing foot.

The lady held up a sharp pin as well as two very small containers. “Who is first?”.

Ari looked at Philia, who was still holding her foot, and sighed, stretching her finger out. The lady quickly poked her finger with the pin with only a whisper of pain. Then she quickly tilted her finger sideways, letting three drops of blood fall into the container. She closed it and turned to Philia, who reluctantly stretched out her finger. 

Once the blood was collected, she stood up and told them to wait there again, once again locking the door as she left.

“So whose scroll are we looking for? Yours or mine?” Philia asked.

“Depends. If one of us is the one who is supposed to get this prophecy, then we get it. Or else we don’t”.

“What did you whisper to her before?”.

“Why are you asking so many questions?” Ari responded with a tone that told Philia she wasn’t getting any more answers.

“Fine then, keep your secrets” she grumbled. They waited in silence until the lady came back. She had a look of surprise and something very much like hope as she looked at the two of them. “Yes, we do have the scroll you want, and you can take it”.

Ari slowly got up, eyes wide.

“But you cannot take it now. Only the high priest can access this scroll, and he is busy at the moment. He will be available to you first thing in the morning. In the meantime, you are welcome to stay in a room here”. She handed Ari a key, who took it slowly. “It is the first door on the third floor. Ask someone if you need help finding it’. She gave a small bow to both of them with a small smile before walking away, this time leaving the door wide open.

Philia snapped her fingers in front of Ari’s face. “Hello? Are you okay?”. 

Ari turned to her with a bright smile. “More than okay. You wanted to see the Nursery right? There’s still a lot of daylight left”. She laughed at the confused look on Philia’s face and pulled her out the doors and into the sun.

It was midday when they got to the Nursery. Philia had been bombarding Ari with questions about the scroll, but she refused to answer them all with a small smile. You’ll see soon enough, Ari had said. Philia quickly gave up completely.

The Nursery was a large building, with windows in rows on every wall. The air was stale, probably filled with germs and sickness. But still, Philia made herself go inside, followed by Ari who shook her head in disapproval. 

There were a few people near the door, waiting for their turn to get medicine. Two people stood at the counter, both of them occupied with customers. Philia glanced at Ari before going to stand in line.

“... take these twice a day after meals. You should be feeling better in a few weeks” the lady said. She handed over a box with what Philia assumed were pills rattling inside. The customer thanked her and left as Philia stepped up. 

“”I was wondering, do you have any medicine or treatment for the Black Death?”. 

The lady shook her head sadly. “We wouldn't be so busy if we did. The infected person can stay here at the hospital if they like, but we don’t have a cure”. 

Philia nodded as her heart sank lower. “Can I see them? The infected people?”.

The lady gave her a strange look, but nodded. “They're in that area,” she said, pointing to a stairwell. 

Philia went, forgetting about Ari for the moment. As she climbed the stairs, the smell became stronger and stronger. It reminded her of Kalian. The sight was even worse. Rows and rows of cots, all filled with people that looked like they’d rather be dead. Black splotches covered different parts of their skin, other parts bandaged to stop the bleeding pimples she assumed. One person, a small boy, whimpered and turned over, eyes opening slightly to see her standing there.

“Who are you?” the boy asked weakly.

“I’m… a visitor” she said hesitantly.

The boy blinked at her. “So, someone you know is in here too?”.

Philia nodded. “My brother. He’s sick, just like you”.

The boy nodded, taking her completely seriously. “Is he going to die soon?”.

“Yes, soon enough”.

The boy just stared at her. “Is it painful?”.

Philia gave a small smile. “No. You just disappear one day, quiet as a mouse”. 

The boy nodded again. “That’s good. If it’s painful, then everyone else in here will get scared”. He tried to look around, but ended up just plopping his head back down onto the thin pillow. “They get scared when the others are in pain. They get scary, pushing the nurses away and not letting them help. They say they wish they were dead” he informed her solemnly. 

 Philia just looked at him, blinking back tears.

“How about you?” came a voice next to her. Ari stood there, leaning against the doorframe.

The boy turned his attention to her. “No, I want to live as long as I can. My mother, she visits me when she can, but she’s usually busy selling apples for money. I don’t want to disappear one day and leave her wondering where I am. That wouldn’t be very nice” he explained. He coughed then, a long, body-shaking sound. “You should probably leave,” he told them quietly. “You wouldn’t want to get sick like us”.

Philia slowly nodded at him and left, with Ari right behind her.

They walked in silence back to the Temple, heading up to the room offered to them.

Ari stepped in after Philia, who gently dropped her bag on a chair, walked straight into the bathroom and shut the door. Ari sighed and sat down on one of the beds. It was small, but comfortable. A fireplace in the corner warmed up the room, providing light as well. There was one small window facing the Dalir Forest. 

The door opened softly and Philia went and sat on the other bed. They sat in silence for a while, until Philia said “I really thought they would have a solution. Foolish hope, I guess” she sighed, falling backwards onto the pillows. 

Ari turned to face her. “There was a chance to heal him, even if it was small. Anyone would have taken it”. She twisted her ring around her finger absently. “But he will be healed. Even if somehow we don’t make it back with all the items, I’ll heal him. I promise”.

Philia turned her head to look at her. “Really? Even if we lose all four of the items?”.

She nodded. “And if you don’t make it back, I’ll look after him as if he was my brother”. Her tone made it clear she meant every word. 

Philia turned away, blinking back the tears forming. “Thank you” she whispered. 

Philia awoke to the soft sound of growling. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and squinted around the room. Nothing. She slipped out of the blankets and tiptoed over to her bag, checking that all four items were there. In the moonlight, Philia could see that the egg was half black. 

The sound came again, so she creaked open the door, making sure not to wake Ari up. Closing the door with a soft click, she scanned the hall. It’s coming from over there, she realized. She slowly walked down the hall, stopping every few seconds to listen. 

She rounded a corner and paused. The sound was now coming from above her. Where have I heard that sound before?, she wondered. Turning around, she spotted a staircase spiraling upwards and quickly climbed it. There was only one door, and as Philia crept towards it, she realized it was wide open.

She paused once more, glancing back at the stairs. Should I call for help? But… it could be nothing. Maybe a stray dog, she tried to convince herself. She calmed her breathing before stepping into the room. It was clean and neat, paper stacked in piles and books in order on the shelves. A quill sat in an ink bottle next to some scribbled letters.

To the right was another door, where the growling was the loudest. Philia crept over and pushed it open. It was a bedroom, with an old man snoring softly. And next to the bed was a large, black dog-like creature that looked ready to pounce.

It bent back on its hind legs and snarled. A split second before it jumped and tore into the old man, Philia yelled “HEY!”. The creature whipped towards her and growled as the man jolted awake.

“Who dares to-” he cut himself off as he took in the large creature next to him. Philia grabbed a nearby vase of flowers and threw it at the creature's face, causing glass to shatter everywhere. While the creature was busy shaking off all the glass, Philia grabbed the man by the arm and dragged him out of the room. “Call for help” was all she said before turning back to the snarling creature behind her. Please Ari wake up, she prayed as she grabbed a wooden cane resting against the wall, holding it like a spear. 

It launched itself at Philia, both of them falling backwards to the ground. She dimly registered a faint criss cross mark on its arm, underneath the black fur. Claws sank into her shoulders and its jaws snapped the wooden cane into two. Philia shrieked in pain and blindly stabbed at it with the sharp edges of the cane. It howled and jumped back, its claws tearing out of her flesh. Philia felt warm blood run down her hands and back, unsure what was hers and what was from the creature. She pushed to her feet, spots dancing in her vision and pain throbbing through her arm. 

‘Philia!” came a voice as the door burst open and several guards ran inside with Ari leading them. They all held their swords in a defensive position around Philia, prepared to strike at the slightest movement. The monster growled and ran to the window, smashing through and onto the roof recklessly. It ran like the wind, dropping from ledge to ledge noisily.

Ari ran to the window just in time to see it dash off towards the forest. She glared until it was nothing more than a shadow before sheathing her sword and turning to Philia, who was on her knees, head bent in pain, holding her shoulder tightly. “What happened?” she gasped, rushing over to look at the wound. 

Philia was covered in blood, but Ari could see that most of it wasn’t from her, but from the creature. She gently peeled away Philia’s fingers to inspect the deep wounds in her shoulder.

“I heard noises,” Philia whispered. “ So I went to look, and I found that thing here. About to attack a man”. 

“A man?” Ari asked. Glancing around once, she cupped her hand over the wound and sprayed a gentle mist of ice over them. 

“What are you doing?” Philia asked in a panic.

“Calm down. It’ll help numb some of the pain” she said soothingly.

A healer and an old man came rushing in. The former immediately came over to Philia, stopping only to look over Ari once. Satisfied with her condition, he turned back to Philia and whispered something to her. She slowly stood up and nodded, following him out of the room. Ari moved to follow them, but was stopped by one of the guards.

“Where is it? Where is the creature that was here?” the old man demanded. 

Irritated, Ari pointed out the shattered window. “It’s long gone”.

“It went into the city?” he asked, alarmed.

“It ran into the forest, sir” one of the guards reported.

The man stared at the forest, as if searching. After a moment, he waved a hand at the guards. “You can leave us. Speak of this to no one”. 

They bowed deeply and marched out.

“Your friend saved me,” he said after they left. “If she hadn’t come, I most likely would have had my throat torn out”. 

“Do you know why it attacked you?” Ari asked.

He shook his head. “No doubt it was after me specifically, if it climbed all the way up here. It didn’t look like any normal animal either. What was it?”.

Ari debated how much to tell him, though she barely knew anything herself. “We’ve encountered it once before. It attacked us then too, though it ran away at the end for some reason”.

The man said nothing, still looking at the forest. Then he faced her and gave a tired smile. “I suppose introductions are in order. I am the head priest, Feyon Inar. One of my colleagues informed me about two girls who came searching for a highly protected scroll. I assume that would be you and your friend?”.

Ari nodded, glancing back at the door.

“No need to worry,” he said. “They will take her to the Nursery and heal her. You can visit her now if you wish, but I would like to talk with you while I have the chance”. He picked up the pieces of the wooden cane, sighing and placing them on the desk before turning back to her.

She glanced back once more before picking up a chair that had been overturned. Brushing off the broken vase pieces, she sat down. “We came looking for the scroll of the Phoenix Queen, as you know. My friend and I have been traveling for a while now, searching for different… items. This journey is of the utmost importance to us both”.

“May I know why you are on this journey?” he asked curiously.

Ari hesitated. If this man does agree with the King, I could destroy the entire rebellion. I would also be putting Philia at great risk once he figures out which one of us is the Phoenix Queen. She twisted her ring around her finger, struggling to make a decision. But, he probably already knows we’re against the King considering the prophecy we want. Searching his face for any reaction, she said “We are part of the Flame Society. Against the King”. 

Feyon Inar blinked and glanced at the door before saying, “I see. You should be more careful. Had I been working for the King, you would have just lost any hope we had of fixing Celesia”.

Ari blew a quiet breath of relief. Her instincts said he was telling the truth, and they were usually right. “If you were going to tell the King, I would have stopped you before you took a step”.

He laughed. “It’s good to know that such strong people are with the rebellion”. He lowered his voice. “As well as sorcerers”.

Ari stood up with a jolt, already preparing to freeze him where he stood.

“It’s alright, I won’t say anything. I don’t have anything against sorcerers, least of all against the one who helped me. And even if any of the guards did notice your trick to numb your friend's pain, they won’t say anything. I have their full loyalty, and if I say so, they will not speak of this to anyone else”. His face became solemn again. “But you should be much more careful. The King has been pushing for control over our prophets, and though we have held him off for now, it might not stay like that”. 

Ari didn’t sit back down, but she did release the magic she had been gathering. “He doesn’t have control of this place already?”. 

Feyon Inar gave a slight smile. “This is a sacred and ancient place, here since Celesia was created. Even the King does not hold higher authority here than our prophets. There are rules of course, with yearly checks of our prophecies and prophets. But for the most part, we are left alone to do our work. But now, this King seems eager to grasp all the control he can”. 

‘This King’ stuck in Ari’s head as strange, but she pushed it aside for now. “When can we retrieve the scroll?”.

“As soon as your friend recovers enough to walk, which should be in a few hours. You might as well go and visit her now. I have no further questions about either of you. I think it would be better if I knew less, in case another monster comes. Or the King himself”. Mr. Inar gave a small bow, smiling at her.

“I’m not the-”

“Even if it isn’t you, or your friend, I am bowing because you are fighting for our freedom. Thank you”.

Ari left the room, walking back down to the large doors. She stepped out into the moonlight, heading straight for the nursery. Everything was silent and calm, not a trace of the hideous monster to be seen. 

She turned down another street, feet following the path they took earlier without much thought. A couple of papers, nailed to the side of a flower stand, fluttered in the breeze, catching her attention.

She read the one on the right, heart dropping with every word. So this is what Feyon meant. But how could this even be allowed? The second paper was even worse. 

Ripping the left one off and throwing it away, she quickly cast an illusion on her face. She made her nose longer and slightly crooked, eyebrows thicker, eyes a shade of light brown. Slight differences, but enough that no one would connect her to the picture. Then she took off running towards the Nursery.

Philia almost spilled her water as Ari burst in, scaring the doctor as well.

“Excuse me! No running in the Nursery!” he said sternly.

Ari threw him an apologetic glance and asked “Can I please have a few minutes with my friend? Alone?”.

The doctor scowled, but left when Philia nodded. 

“I need to cast an illusion on your face. There are bounties on our heads” she hissed. She held her hand in front of Philia’s face and applied the same changes.

“What?! Bounties? From the King?” Philia spluttered. 

“Who else could issue a bounty with such a high reward? It has to be him”. Stepping back, she nodded, satisfied with her work. “We are going to have to be careful going back to Celesia. People will be desperate for anyone that resembles the pictures”. 

Philia nodded. “We should get going soon. The sooner we return, the better”. She stood up, wincing as her shoulder moved. “Lets go and get the scroll and be on our way”. Ignoring Ari’s concerned look, she limped to the door and started heading towards the Temple, ignoring the protesting doctor outside.

The temple seemed to glow in the sunrise, showing no sign of the monster. There were now guards outside the Temple, eight in total, but they made no move to stop them as they approached. To their surprise, the head priest came to greet them as they entered.

“I'm glad to see you have recovered so quickly” he said, nodding to Philia.

She smiled tiredly in thanks. “The scroll, please. We need to get going”.

The priest nodded and turned, gesturing for them to follow. He led them down a staircase hidden in the shadows, pausing once to grab a torch from the wall. There were three doors, one of them labeled with a series of strange symbols. 

“What’s beyond those doors?” Philia asked curiously.

“This one is where we test potential prophets, to see if they are one of The Sighted or not,” he said as he gestured to the middle one. “The last one is where we work to translate the ancient language,” he explained.

Both Ari and Philia stared at him in shock. “I thought no one knew how to do that anymore,” Ari said in awe. She tugged off her ring and held it out to him. “Do you think… you could translate this for me?” she asked hopefully. “It’s all I have from my birthplace, my family. I’d appreciate it if…” she drifted off, looking down at the ground.

Feyon Inar took the ring and studied the engravings closely. “After we get the scroll, I can have them take a quick look,” he agreed. Ari nodded in thanks, glancing at Philia with a smile.

He entered the one on the left, pulling a complex key from his robes and unlocking it to reveal a winding staircase going down. As they went down, they stepped into a room filled with rows and rows of shelves. Each one seemed to be stocked with scrolls, carefully rolled up and tied with string. “This is where we store all the most important prophecies” he said as they stepped inside. “And the one you are looking for happens to be one of, if not the most, important prophecies we have”. He stopped beside a mostly empty shelf, save for a dozen or so scrolls. Examining a few, he finally found what he was looking for. With a smile, he handed it to Ari.

It seemed to be very old, the paper curled at the edges and covered in dust. It was tied with a simple piece of white string, a knot that could easily be undone by anyone. 

“That's it?” Philia asked dubiously. “I kind of thought it would be protected by a dragon, or be inside some complex puzzle. This was the easiest item to get so far”. 

Ari smiled internally at her confusion. If only she knew how important this is. She turned to the priest and bowed her head deeply. “Thank you. We will use it well” she promised.

He nodded back. “I am sure you will. Now for your ring”.

They walked back outside, this time knocking and entering the door on the right. There were two people, a man and woman, standing there together. They were poring over old looking paper, glancing back and forth between it and a notebook filled with writing.

“I have something I’d like you to try and translate quickly” Feyon told them. He handed the ring to them, and stood there patiently waiting.

Ari watched every move as they took the ring, held it up to a torch for light, and wrote down the symbols on it. Giving the ring back to Ari, the woman frowned as she looked at the scribbled down symbols. “I’ve seen this before…” she muttered. Then, she grabbed another notebook from a desk in the corner, flipping through pages rapidly. “Here” she said, holding the book out for her partner to see. He nodded as well. Glancing between the ring and the notebook. “It’s the same,” he confirmed. The man and woman gave a strange glance at Ari and Philia, who just blinked back at them.

Feyon cleared his throat pointedly. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask questions. Just translate”.

The pair took the hint and turned back to their work.

Feyon sighed and turned back to Ari. “Sorry. We encourage curiosity here to explore new ways of using The Sight, but that can lead to curiosity in other areas as well” he explained. 

Ari just waved him off with a smile. “It’s fine. I’m thankful they are doing this in the first place”. 

After what seemed like half an hour, with Philia shifting restlessly, the woman gestured for them to come closer. “These are the symbols from the ring” she said, pointing to the ones drawn in the notebook. “This is a phrase from the Land of Sorcerers”. She pointed to a string of symbols in the old looking notebook. 

“They’re the same” Ari said, confusion written plain on her face. 

The man nodded. “So this ring must come from the Land of Sorcerers, and judging from the silver, it wasn’t cheap to make”. 

The woman flipped the page of her notebook and showed it to Ari. “This is the rough translation we got”.

‘To the magic of old, to the land and sky, I pledge my gifts in service of our home’

Philia frowned as she read it. “This sounds like an oath of some kind. But why would you have an oath from the Land of Sorcerers?” she said looking at Ari.

“Well, I must have some ties with that palace but I always thought I was born in Celesia…” Ari shook her head in confusion. “So I’m from a wealthy family in the Land of Sorcerers? Badhir said he found me in a wagon in Celesia, and we had already cut off any connections with the Land of Sorcerers, so how did I get here then?”. Ari looked around, but of course, no one had any answers for her.

Feyon gently placed a hand on her shoulder, bringing her out of her thinking. “You can ponder all that on your journey home. I believe you should be going now, correct?”.

Philia nodded and smiled at Ari. “We’ll figure it out, don’t worry. I’m sure Badhir knows something about this”. She thanked the woman and man, gently reminding Ari to do the same.

With that, Feyon led them back to the main entrance where there were two horses with bags waiting, one of them being very familiar.

“StomCloud!” Philia exclaimed, rushing down the stairs to hug the horse. The horse snorted in greeting, bending her head for Philia to touch. 

“That's a loyal horse for sure. It didn't leave, didn't even make any fuss the entire time it was there”. He walked down the steps and gestured to the other horse. It was black with a white star on its forehead, and white markings on its legs. “This is one of the Temples’ horses that I am giving you. For your travel back to your home” he explained to Ari, who nodded in thanks. “There are also some supplies, like food and water, and medicine for you to apply to your shoulder” he told Philia. 

Philia tried to mount StormCloud, as Ari had done with the other horse, but ended up landing on stomach thanks to her shoulder being injured. Glaring at the guards that had rushed to help her, she swung her leg around and managed to get into a sitting position. Sighing, she nodded at Ari before turning back to the priest. “Thank you”, she said sincerely. 

“Thank you,” he replied and watched them ride out of the town, carrying one of the only things that could save Celesia. 

“Do you think they will be able to do it?” the white robed priest asked, coming out from the shadows and standing beside Feyon. From the moment the two girls had stepped inside, she had known something important was going to happen. And she hadn’t been let down when the prophecy requested was the one of the Phoenix Queen, with matching blood that granted the pair access. She’d also heard of the attack on the head priest, and how the girls had driven the beast off. 

“We will see” is all he said.

Philia gave a long sigh, causing Ari to glance her way with a questioning look. Philia laughed. “I just can’t believe we’ve done it. I thought this was going to be impossible to do but nothing too bad happened”. 

Ari laughed as well. “By all means, be happy. But there’s still the journey back. Things could still happen”. 

“You need to relax a little. What's going to happen now? Another dragon comes out of nowhere and-” She was cut off by a low growl. 

As the horses came to a stop and everything fell silent, the growl came again, this time closer. “...I don’t suppose that’s a dragon?” Ari asked.

“No. I know that sound. It’s the beast” Philia said with certainty. 

“Are you absolutely sure-”.

“I had that thing on top of me, growling in my face. I think I know what it sounds like” Philia hissed. 

The horses shifted nervously as the growling came closer and closer. 

“What do we do this time? Unless you can somehow make the beast go away like last time, which you never did explain by the way” Philia pointed out.

“Don't look at me; I have no clue why it left us alone. I was going to use my ice magic but it left quickly enough”. 

Just as Philia was about to suggest running for it, the beast stalked forward from the shadows. The horses gave a start, fighting against the tight control of their reins. As it met Philia’s eyes, she knew automatically. “It’s the same one from the Temple of Prophecies” Philia whispered. The same criss cross scar was visible on its arm.

And then the beast paused. Took a step back slowly, as if deciding something. And then it turned around and ran off.

“Wait!” Philia called out. 

Still calming her horses down, Ari gave a bewildered look. “You want it to stay?”.

“Well, not exactly. The scar on its arm. I recognized it. It was the same as the innkeeper back in Nevior village”.

Ari blinked. “That lady? But then, you aren’t saying it's her?”.

Philia thought for a long moment. “I’m sure it's the exact same scar. But, humans don’t just turn into snarling beasts as far as I know, so then what's the connection?”. 

“Was there anything special about her? Anything that seemed odd?”.

“Not that I can remember. But she said she was going to Silera Town though, which is where we just left from…”. 

They both fell silent and thought. 

“We’ll pass by that place again on our way back. But quickly. We don’t have much time to spare” Ari decided.

Philia nodded, but her thoughts were still on the beast. Where are they coming from? And how are they related to humans?

Badhir sighed and stretched his sore arms. He had been poring over maps and stolen papers from the castle, trying to figure out a way to steal weapons and armor for the rebellion, but with no success. The security in the castle had gotten much better lately, with double the guards at every entrance and especially at the storage areas.

He headed out of the room, looking around for Maliran. Eventually he found him pacing in the hallway outside Kalian’s room. “Is he any better?” he asked quietly as he approached. 

Without turning around, Maliran said “Not really. The healers have exhausted themselves trying to keep the disease at bay, but they can't do much anymore. He’s already lived much longer than others with the Black Death”. He hesitated, but pushed forward anyway. “Is it really worth it for one man? The healers could be helping us in other ways instead of fighting a lost cause-”.

Badhir stopped him with a severe look. “ You are my second for a reason. I trust you. But we do not abandon one of our own. If there is a way to save them, we take it”. 

Maliran sighed but backed down. “They should be back any day now”.

Badhir nodded slowly. “But with the bounty on their heads, things could be taking more time than we expected. Just pray they make it back at all”. 

Maliran finally turned to look at him. “We lost someone today. One of the twins, Lusim”. 

Badhir fell silent with shock. “How? How could that even happen? He wasn't out on any mission-”.

“He was out on patrol. We can only assume that he was attacked in some way by soldiers and…” he trailed off into silence.

“Where is Lisur?” Badhir finally asked.

Maliran pointed to a closed door at the end of the hall.

When he opened the door, Lisur was sitting in a chair with his head in his hands. At the sound of the door opening, he said “I’d rather not talk”.

Badhir was silent for a minute before saying, “Well then let’s spar. I could use a break from sitting at a desk”. He left without waiting for Lisur, knowing he would follow soon enough. 

Philia and Ari walked on either side of StormCloud silently. They had been walking for a few hours now so the poor horse could take a break from carrying them. 

They had released the black horse back in Nevior village where they had stopped for supplies and to check the Inn. When they entered, the place was abandoned. Tables and chairs were thrown everywhere. Their previous room was the same, wood splinters everywhere and straw from inside the beds scattered on the floor. What confused Philia the most though, was the bag of supplies still on the front counter. “It’s like she never left for Silera Town” Philia observed. “And something ransacked the place instead”.

They went back to the general store to ask what happened to the lady. All the man said was “When I went back for my basket, she had a bad case of Nighttime Fever. She was too sick to move so I just took the basket and left”.

This had stunned both of them. “So then, maybe people don’t disappear when they get infected, but they turn into those things…” Philia thought aloud once they left the store. 

“With how little we know about the Black Death, it is possible… but that doesn’t explain why they keep leaving us alone. It had no problem attacking Feyon Inar” Ari said. “The chief priest from the Temple of Prophecies” she added when she realized Philia didn’t know his name. 

“If they really do turn into these beasts, then Kalian needs to get healed quickly. If he turns into one of those things…” Philia drifted off in her thoughts.

Ari nodded. “We’re almost there”.

Philia glanced up at the darkening sky, a few stars shining already. She could see the outline of the bird already, its wings still closed. 

“Shouldn’t be too long till we arrive” Ari said. She glanced up at the sky where Philia was looking. “What do you see?”.

“A bird that will never fly no matter how hard I try to make it,” she said laughing. Sighing, she looked forward again, patting StormCloud absently. “It feels like so long ago since we left,” she said. 

“Never thought that you’d be traveling so much?” Ari asked. 

“Definitely not with my brother's kidnapper,” Philia said thoughtfully. Ari fell into a tense silence, but Philia shook her head. “I’m not really mad anymore. At least, not at you. Though it might not be the best way to achieve it, the rebels’ goal is to bring down the King. This is your way of… surviving I guess. Your way of getting closer to your goal. Everyone does what they have to” Philia finished. And it’s true, Philia realized. I don't blame them anymore, least of all Ari. As long as they keep up their end of the bargain and he isn't hurt…

“I didn't really like you either in the beginning” Ari admitted.

Philia snorted. “Yeah I know. You threatened me with your sword at least three times on the first day”. 

“Well you deserved at least two of them,” Ari laughed. “But I didn't like you because I thought that… you were just some street thief that had a lot of attitude. Someone who lived off of others’ hard work and needed their brother to constantly take care of them. But I admit I was wrong”. 

Philia raised an eyebrow at Ari. “I am a street thief. Thief who lives in the street”. 

Ari just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

They walked in comfortable silence for a while, before Ari realized just how close to Celesia they were. “Well, back home at last,” she said wryly. 

Celesia looked darker than ever, the smell of death hitting them from miles away. There were lanterns lit at the entrance, illuminating a few people entering Celesia. There were guards, twelve at least, who looked like they were thoroughly checking everyone before letting them in. 

“What's going on? There weren’t these many guards when we left…” Ari said. 

Ari cleared her throat. “I meant to mention this earlier, but back when I found out there were bounties on our heads, I discovered something else as well”. 

Philia narrowed her eyes. “Please tell me it’s nothing worse than bounties”. 

Ari kept her eyes on the guards. “The King was taken off the throne. The sorcerer is the new King”. 

Philia stopped walking altogether. “What? How did that even happen? He’s a sorcerer, no one in the palace would let him become King”. 

“That's the thing, apparently the previous King himself signed the position over”. She gave Philia a long look. “We need to be extra careful now. If any of the guards catch us, they will likely call the sorcerer right there and let him deal with us. With Celesia mainly being a monarchy, he has much more power than he did before. And his first move will most likely be to get rid of us”.

“Wonderful” Philia grumbled. “Well, we have to find some way in”. 

Cautiously, they both walked closer, careful to stay out of the guards sight. A pair of ladies carrying pots walked by, steps slowed with exhaustion. “Excuse me,” Ari stopped them quickly. “Do you know why they’re checking everyone so thoroughly?”. 

The two ladies glanced at each other before the right one said, “Someone else warned us that they were on the lookout for two girls. There’s a big reward for capturing them”. There was a moment of tense silence, where the two ladies looked at Philia and Ari with shrewd and calculating eyes.

“Thank you, we will be sure to be on the lookout for these girls,” Ari quickly thanked them and dragged Philia, along with StormCloud, away. “We can’t enter through there” Ari said as they speed-walked away. “There’s no way we won’t be caught”.

“I know the layout of this whole town. There’s no other entrance that would be less guarded” Philia said, shaking her head. Scanning the area around them, Philia looked for any ideas. The best she found was a small boy standing in a group of bushes. A boy with careful brown eyes that she recognized. “Look” she said, smacking Ari’s arm lightly. “I know that kid. And from the looks of it, he seems to recognize me too”. 

Ari took a glance and narrowed her eyes. “Might as well go see what he wants”. 

They made their way over, where the boy seemed to be waiting for them. 

He greeted them with a solemn nod. “Badhir sent me. They increased the guards thanks to the bounty on both of you. So we had to move locations”. The boy tilted his head towards the forest next to the town, then turned around and walked in that direction. The same forest, Philia noticed, that she had walked through to get to the Temple.

Philia and Ari glanced at each other before following. 

“So what’s your name?” Philia asked as they walked deeper into the forest. Ari threw her a glance that clearly said not-the-time. The boy answered nonetheless. “Zahra. And yes, I'm a girl” she added. 

Philia stared, dumbfounded. “You’re a girl? But, you look nothing like-”. She was cut off by Ari elbowing her in the ribs. “What? Just saying” she muttered, rubbing her side. 

Zahra laughed, a sound that lifted the mood. “I know I don’t look like a girl. That’s on purpose. Girls are often restricted when going out, and seeing as I’m by myself, that wouldn’t have been helpful. I thought turning into a boy would be better” she explained. There was a minute of silence, nothing but the sound of footsteps as they walked. “My mother had the Black Death and I’ve been alone since. Afterwards, I was found by one of the rebels and taken in after being… beaten by guards for stealing nuts”. Zahra fell silent after that, and Philia knew it was final this time. Just like me. Suddenly, a memory struck her.

“You!” Philia said in shock. “You’re the one I gave the mangeril fruit to back then. I thought you were a boy then too”.

Zahra laughed mischievously. “Yes, that was a day before I was found by the rebels and taken in. Thank you for that, by the way. Though I guess me saving you now is repayment for that”. She smiled over her shoulder at Philia, who smiled as well. 

A few more minutes of walking, and Zahra stopped. “It should be around here somewhere…” she muttered. Philia and Ari watched as the young girl stomped around in the grass, searching for something. StormCloud stomped her feet when Zarha got a bit too close. Finally, just as Ari was about to suggest something, Zahra’s foot hit something that was not grass. She crouched down and gave a series of knocks: 3 short, 1 long, 2 short. 

That’s the signal for rebel bases, Ari remembered. She had done the same back in Nevior village. 

After a moment, what had seemed like grass was pushed open to reveal a hole. And none other than Maliran was looking up at them. Philia narrowed her eyes immediately. Maliran glared right back. “Nice to see you all in one piece”. He nodded at Zahra and Ari. “Come inside, quickly. But the horse needs to stay out here” he added, eyeing StormCloud. 

Philia quickly tied StormCLoud to a tree, leaving a lot of rope for her to move around. “I’ll be back soon, okay? Stay out of sight for now”. StormCloud neighed softly, moving off to graze.

One by one they all dropped inside the hole, with Ari going last and pulling the door shut. They could only assume it had gone back to looking like proper grass. 

Philia managed to look less surprised this time, but still couldn’t keep in her surprise. For an underground base, the sorcerers had done an amazing job of recreating their past base. The layout was the same as she remembered it, which meant Kalian would be in the same room as last time. “I need to see my brother,” Philia said immediately. Maliran opened his mouth to say something, but Badhir appeared and stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “I'm glad to see you both alive”. He walked forward and hugged both Ari and Zahra. To the second one he whispered, “Thank you. You can go take rest now and get some food with the others”. He nodded to Maliran, who gently took Zahra by the hand and led her towards the smell of food. Before leaving though, Zahra looked back and waved to Philia. 

“You have the four objects, yes?” Badhir asked Philia. She nodded silently, gesturing to her bag. “Then follow me”. He turned around and started going down one of the several hallways with Philia and Ari close behind.

Philia’s mind raced as they walked. She could smell the sickness already. What if it’s too late? What if they don’t hold up their end of the bargain? What if I’ve failed? Images of the beast flitted through her head. 

These thoughts left when she saw him, sleeping on a cot. For how long it had been, he looked only a little worse. Nowhere near as bad as it should have been for 13 days. Their sorcerers must have helped a lot. She ran to Kalian, careful not to wake him up, and knelt beside him. “He’s still alive,” she whispered. 

“We did promise to heal him. Can’t do that if he’s dead, can we?” Badhir reminded her. 

Philia gave him a small, thankful smile before looking at Kalian once more. Squeezing his hand once, she stood up and turned to Badhir and Ari, who were both waiting for her. She lifted the bag over her head and handed it over to Badhir, who took it gently. He set it down on a nearby wooden chair and opened it. First he took out the prophecy which sat at the very top. Despite being shoved in a bag for 3 days, it looked as pristine as when they received it. With a look of disbelief and wonder, he looked at Ari with a question in his eyes. She just nodded with a smile on her face. Gently, he placed it down next to the bag. Next he took out the fruit, a bit dirty from being in the bag so long. Thankfully it hadn’t been smashed though. He handed that to Ari, who took it gently. Next came the Phoenix egg. Philia’s heart sank as she saw the egg was now two-thirds black, with flat white spots. “I know it’s not in perfect condition, but there was nothing we could do-” Philia started to explain. 

“It's okay,” Badhir stopped her with a smile. “The fact that you even got one is amazing. Hopefully though, the disease wouldn’t have killed the bird yet”. He cradled it in his arms and walked towards a firepit in the middle of the room that Philia had not even noticed in her haste to see Kalian. It was round and large, with small wood pieces already in a pile, waiting to be burnt. Carefully, Badhir set the egg down directly on top of the wood, making sure it was stable before letting go. And suddenly, it hit Philia what the whole setup was for. 

“You’re going to hatch it? Right here?” she asked bewildered. “Shouldn’t you maybe do it in a more safe place? With the proper materials and setting?”. 

Badhir laughed at her worry. “Despite being a magical bird, it is still a bird. It requires heat to hatch, and will take the first people it sees as its parents. There’s nothing too special needed. Other than this of course,” he said as he pulled the glass bottle out of the bag. 

The Everlasting Fire was still as colorful and alive as ever, dancing around at the bottom of the bottle. Badhir walked back to the firepit and kneeled down. Taking a breath, he slowly uncorked the bottle, letting the fire flow out and onto the wood. It caught fire quickly, and the flames flickered intensely. Philia watched as the flames seemed to draw nearer to the egg, caressing and nudging it. The egg seemed to shine as well, drawing light and life from the fire. The three of them stood around the firepit, captivated by the flames and the egg. Soon enough, a crack appeared at the top. At first it was just one, but then another appeared, and another. Fissures ran down the sides with smaller cracks branching off, making the egg look like a mosaic of fire and death. 

And then, it fell apart to reveal a fluffy little ball of feathers. 

Ari could’ve sworn the room wasn’t sweating before, but now she had to wipe her forehead to stop beads of sweat from forming. But she couldn’t take her eyes off the baby phoenix. 

It clearly wasn’t a normal phoenix. The Nighttime fever had left its mark. About half of the feathers were pitch black, with white spots peppering the feathers. As it got closer to the neck, they faded into a fiery orange, and then into red as they reached the head. But it still looked breathtaking, the Everlasting flame still dancing around it.

Everyone held their breath, hoping that it would wake up. 

And then, it shifted, moving around till the head finally popped up and large, black eyes blinked open at them. At her. Stumbling out of the egg shell that was still wet with blood, it slowly shuffled over to Ari, chirping softly. She had never heard a sound so lovely. Ari knelt down as the bird approached her and gently pecked her outstretched palm. Chirping once more at her, it then turned around to face Badhir and Philia. Dimly in the back of her head, a question came to her. Why did it approach me first and not Philia? But she was too focused on the phoenix to think about it. It waddled over to Philia, who carefully knelt down to it as well. She held a hand out slowly, but the phoenix ignored the hand and focused on Philia’s bracelet instead. Its black eyes suddenly focused on the shining metal, it started pecking at it. Over and over, it slammed its beak into the silver till it cracked. And then, it broke off completely.

Philia gasped, standing up suddenly and scaring the baby phoenix away. It rushed back to the firepit, tripping over its own claws in the process. Carefully it nestled back down in the Everlasting fire that had died down and closed its eyes. 

Philia rubbed her wrist, inspecting it. “How did it do that?” she wondered aloud. She glanced at Ari, who was equally stunned. 

“Well, Phoenixes do have magic of their own. Maybe it was able to overcome this magic?” she suggested. Both of them paused and glanced at Badhir, who had been silently observing this whole time. He was now glancing between them with raised eyebrows. “I'll ask later. First though, Kalian”. He gestured to Ari who still held the fruit in her left hand. 

She gave a start and nodded. “Right, my bad”. She walked forward and handed the fruit to Philia. “Wake him up and let him eat it. He should recover soon after. Then give the rest to the bird” she suggested. “Hopefully it’ll help with his disease”. 

“His?” Badhir questioned from behind them. 

Ari stopped and blinked. “Sorry, it just came out. It could be a she, I’m not sure”. She dropped the fruit into Philia’s trembling hands and backed away.

Philia turned to Kalian, who still lay asleep, breathing softly. Kneeling next to the cot, she placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. “I need you to wake up,” she said. “Please”. 

It took a few seconds, but then his eyes fluttered open to reveal a familiar green. “Philia” he croaked out. His voice sounded as dry as the Vipers Desert, and Philia would know from experience. 

“It’s me, Kalian”. She grasped the outstretched hand, tears forming in her eyes. “You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve seen recently. But first,” she held out the fruit. “I need you to eat this, okay? It’ll heal you”. 

He squinted his eyes at the fruit before taking it weakly. Slowly but surely, he managed a few bites. But then his eyes closed again.

Panic growing on her face, Philia shook him again. “Kalian? Wake up. What's happening?” she asked, turning on Badhir and Ari. “Why isn’t he getting better?”. 

“He will,” Badhir assured her. “Give it some time”. He glanced at Ari, both of them having another silent conversation. Turning back to Philia, he said “Take a seat. We have some things to talk about”.

After Philia placed the fruit next to the phoenix and sat down, Badhir sighed. “I’m guessing you know by this point that this journey was not a random one, and neither were you. Kalian has been with the Flame Society for a while. I’m sure you’ve noticed him sneaking out during the night”. He grimaced slightly. “It was a risk, with the sorcerer and guards around, but he managed to visit and help us plan almost every night. He is one of our most valuable members, and normally, we would have taken him in fully like Zahra. But, he refused because of you” he explained. 

Philia just blinked at him.

“He said that joining the Flame Society should be your choice, and that he refused to force it on you. If you wanted, you should be able to live a normal life like everyone else here”. He glanced at Kalian. “This was the plan, before he got the Nighttime Fever. Soon after he came to us with a different plan. Now that he was affected and would soon disappear, he didn’t want you to live on the streets by yourself. So he requested that we take you in”. Another pause, with a glance at Philia this time. “As he told us about you and the life you’ve lived, we realized that you fit a certain description of the Phoenix Queen”. The baby Phoenix looked over at that, but quickly went back to pecking at the silver fruit again.

At this, Philia gave an unamused laugh. “The Phoenix Queen. Do you really believe in that? She’s not real. Did you really want the Phoenix just for this?”.

Ari just sighed. “I know you don’t believe in those kinds of rumors, but just hear us out. The prophecy we got is proof. Open it,” she urged.

Philia gave them a blank stare before picking up the scroll and untying the knot. Careful not to rip the paper, she unfurled it and scanned the faded writing. 

“She with no one but a brother

With nothing but steel to call her back home

Shall rise from the dirt and lead

With the never ending flame and egg of gold

The fruit of life and scroll of old

৩𐩕ਃ   ।ೱೲ   𐏕۟⅏ٵㄏ   𑀬𑁍𑀇”

Philia read it aloud, then closed it and looked up at Ari and Badhir, who were staring at her as if she was the solution to their problems. “This doesn’t necessarily mean me, it could be anyone else-”.

“No, it couldn't,” Ari said firmly. “Remember in the Temple of Prophecies we had our blood taken? I explained that you were only allowed to get prophecies that were about you”. She gestured to Philia. “This proves it’s you”.

“But you also came-”.

“It isn’t me. I have no family, and nothing calls me ‘home’. Apparently my home is the Land of Sorcerers, and if I’m from a wealthy family like they said, why would I ‘rise from the dirt”? It’s not me”. She said it with so much confidence, that Philia was inclined to believe her. 

There was a tense silence, till Badhir cleared his throat. “I realize this all sounds crazy, and it is. But you’re the best chance we have at restoring Celesia and freeing its people”. 

Philia slowly looked up at him and Ari. They both stood there, looking at her with such hope and respect. As if she was something more than a street thief. Slowly, she said, “Say I believe this… interesting theory of yours. What then?”. 

Badhir gave a smile like he had won a very intense game. “Then, we train you and the Phoenix to fight together. Once that’s taken care of, we plan out a way to take down the sorcerer and return the throne to the King”. 

Philia furrowed her eyebrows at him. “You want to put the King back on the throne? How will that help?”. 

“The King was benevolent when he first came here. The kingdom was flourishing, till the sorcerer came in” Ari piped up and explained. “So we believe that the sorcerer is somehow controlling the King like a puppet, using his authority to take control over Celesia”. 

Badhir nodded and joined in. “In one of our infiltrations into the palace, we saw the past King once. He had a glassed over look, not speaking at all. He only nodded or shook his head, and it was based on what the sorcerer said”. 

Philia thought back to when she met the sorcerer by the fountain. The way her mind had turned hazy and it was hard to think straight. She nodded slowly. “I think you might be right”. She looked up at them with regret in her eyes. “But I’m sorry. You’ll have to do this without me. I’m a street thief. Not a leader or some queen”. She stood up and walked towards the door. 

“Philia”.

The sound of Kalian's voice, strong and quiet, stopped her. “Please reconsider. You’re the one, we all know it”. 

Philia opened the door and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. She pushed past the random people outside and out the disguised entrance they used earlier. She got all of two steps before Kalian was behind her again.

“Philia! Please wait!” he called. But the fruit must have not fully healed him yet, and he fell on his trembling legs.

At that moment, everything she had been feeling left and she whipped around, running back to her brother's side. “Careful! You haven’t walked for over a week, it’ll take some time to get used to it again”. 

Kalian gave her a pained smile. “Yeah, I realize that now''. He got back up and sat with his legs stretched out. “Listen to me, Philia. I know this all seems like a lot, and I’m sorry I hid everything from you. And while you will always have a choice, please think about it. You have a chance to help save this kingdom, to give others a better life that we never had. Isn’t that something worth fighting for?”. 

Philia looked away from his sincere, pleading eyes. “I won’t be able to do it. They’re all expecting some great mastermind to lead them to victory, and I can’t do that”.

“You won’t know if you don’t try”. 

After a long moment, Philia sighed and looked back at the disguised hideout, where she was all but sure Badhir was listening in. Where Ari was waiting for her. Where the baby Phoenix was sleeping, the one that was supposed to be her partner. “I’m gonna regret this”.

Philia crouched on a slanted roof, peering over the top at the fountain. She couldn’t help but notice the unprotected fruit stand in a shadowy corner, trying to stay hidden from thieving hands. Memories of the day with the fruit vendor came back, the same day Kalian had disappeared. She shook herself back to the scene in front of her.

In place of the sorcerer, five new guards had been stationed around the area. They all had similarly soulless eyes, with no emotion. On each of their hips hung a long, coiled whip with a silver end, along with a long glistening sword. The memory of the whips tipped in metal shivered down her spine.

“They won’t be able to hurt anyone else soon enough” came a familiar voice behind her. 

Philia smiled and twisted her head around to look at Kalian. His eyes now shone with a new purpose, his green eyes clear and sharp, his skin golden in the fading light. 

Beside him was Ari. She had the same dull brown eyes, though Philia could’ve sworn specks of gold still shone through. Her sword still hung on her hip, though it didn’t seem as intimidating as the soldier's swords. 

“I know,” she replied, turning back around to peer at the soldiers. “We will end the sorcerer's reign. Even if it takes a war to do it”. 

The sorcerer looked out the stained glass window, the crumbling houses and dirty streets making him narrow his eyes in disgust. “Have you found anything?” he asked, finally turning to address the motionless soldier behind him, red robes shifting.

 The guard's eyes didn’t shift at all as he said “No. We rechecked all the houses as you asked, nothing was found. They managed to raid the food carts outside of the main gates, though only about half of the goods were taken. The vendors were unharmed. We took their remaining goods and brought them into the experimental sector”.

Jakar nodded. “Good. Go collect a report from them tomorrow and bring it straight to me. I want progress. And find those rebels”. He flicked his hand and the soldier backed out of the room without another word. 

Jakar looked back out the window, as if he could somehow see that girl scurrying around in the shadows. He had felt it when the bracelet broke. His connection to the girl had been lost. And his magic was nothing short of powerful. It would take an extremely powerful magic to break the charm. Or… He tilted his head in consideration. They managed to get back with the Phoenix, and that bird broke the bracelet. He sighed. It doesn’t matter though. Now that she’s useless to me, there’s no need to keep the beasts from her.

“Guards!”.

Another guard appeared within seconds, eyes as dead as all the other soldiers. “Yes Your Majesty”. 

“Send out more guards to look for the rebels, and specifically the girls with bounties. Find them, and their Phoenix. And also,” he added. “Release the newest group of beasts to hunt down the rebels”. 

The soldier bowed and left to carry out his orders. But a messenger took his place. “Sir, the King is awake and talking”.

Jakar smiled. “Good. Lead me to his cell now”. 

And with that, he followed the guard down into the darkness.