The forest

The sun was up. The phoenix already carried him for hours. Aurelis did not particularly panic anymore. Much rather, he enjoyed the views. He wondered, how far away the phoenix seemingly was from its nest. Having to look for potential food that far away, really meant that these planes were empty. But Aurelis wondered. They didn’t tell him about monsters or beasts roaming around. Did that mean the phoenix was a demon? Or one of the demis? What did ‘demis’ even mean? Aurelis had lots of time to think but he mostly observed the ground.

They went so fast, that the ground looked like a ribbon moving alongside them, so he couldn’t recognize much. At least he was able to discern the terrains as streaks of different colours. They changed from a dark green to sandy orange and then to a lighter green again. But there was no trace of any countries nor cities. There could have been small villages on the way, but with that speed he would not have noticed them.

He was not exactly sure, but he thought he recognized feint blue streaks of energy from time to time. Somewhat similar to what the spirits emitted. Rarely mountains were in the way, but the flying chicken dodged them so fast, it still felt like they were flying straight. Just with a little bit more turbulence. Aurelis sighed.

The phoenix slowed down massively. Aurelis was able to see what was below him again. A huge green net of trees spanned the ground, up until the horizon. Slowly but surely they descended, coming to full halt over one of the treetops. The ice on his shoulders cracked, the phoenixes grip loosened. Aurelis dropped. He fell straight into a gigantic nest, causing several small branches in it to crack. Three small featherless icy blue phoenix hatchlings surrounded him, breathing out cold vapor and chirping in chaos.

They looked small in comparison to the phoenix at least, which landed directly behind one of them. Each of the hatchlings was still bigger than Aurelis. His heart beat faster. He did not want to end as fodder for overgrown chicken. He scanned the area around him. Over him was the treetop, which was still easily thirty meters above him. Around him there were only the hatchlings and the phoenix inside the nest.

Aurelis did not want to fight a grown phoenix, nor did he want to hurt hatchlings unnecessarily. But how would he get out of this situation? Was he even able to fight? He saw no solution. One of the hatchlings beaks shot towards him. Aurelis jumped up, dodging the attack faster than he could even process. But not only that. His jump reached so high, he met the phoenix on eye level. Where did he get that strength from?! He was able to see past the nest. The trees were enormous. Even after being able to see over the edge of the nest, he did not see the ground, only the trunks of the trees and their branches, which already were bigger than any trees he has seen before in his life.

Aurelis landed behind one of the hatchlings. He held in for a moment. Maybe he had a chance of getting out of there without having to fight them. The phoenix screeched and leaned forward, its eyes being locked onto him. Aurelis gulped. If he made one wrong movement, the phoenix could interpret it as a try to hurt its children. He had to be careful.

Aurelis stepped backwards, slowly making his way to the edge of the nest. But the hatchlings all turned onto him again. They sprinted towards him. Aurelis knew that as long as he used them as shields, the phoenix wasn’t able to attack him. As he reached the border of the nest, he jumped up onto the edge. It was so thin though that he tumbled backwards and fell head down.

His eyes widened. How the hell was he supposed to survive that? He knew that the ground was far below. Aurelis looked down, all the muscles in his face wobbling from the whipping wind. In between the plethora of leaves-free branches he was able to see a hint of light green. The ground!

His feet tingled. Slowly but surely they became more unmovable. It was the phoenix again. As the hatchlings weren’t in danger anymore, it immediately chased right after him. But it still did not try to completely freeze him. It probably was able to, guessing from how strong it looked. Aurelis still didn’t know what exactly that thing was able to do. But it definitely did not try to kill him. That glorified chicken tried to not dry freeze its food.

Aurelis looked around. He needed some opportunity. And just below him there it was. Before the phoenix was able to slow him down, Aurelis hit a branch. He cried out in pain but grabbed onto it, swinging around once, breaking free from the icicles. His strength seemed greatly increased, having been able to hold onto that! He landed just on top of the branch. Below him were hundreds more.

The view to the ground opened up more, which looked like a huge meadow. The sun didn’t reach that far down, but the grass emitted a light blue energy. Just like the streaks which he has seen on the way. He did not have time to think about that. The phoenix was right behind him again. And Aurelis had no choice but to jump. This time though, he dared to try something else.

He slid down to the lower half of the branch, pressing his feet against it and shooting diagonally down to another branch. He was insanely fast! Not as fast as the phoenix still, but he was close. Due to his speed, he did not land on the branch, but shot right through it. But not only through that one, but three more, drilling directly into the ground. His head hurt, but he did not take much damage. The phoenix descended right in front of him. It screeched and huffed. Its icy feathers lit up in a blueish glow. Aurelis gulped. The phoenix was done playing.

Tiny ice spears formed all above it. One by one the numbers increased, until there were hundreds of them. The phoenix leaned forward. Their eyes met. Aurelis took a step backwards, sweat running down his face. He tried to think about what he could do, but he could not form a single thought. Anxiety had taken him over completely. The ice shards shot towards him. Aurelis closed his eyes and turned away. One of the ice shards still barely grazed his face, but there was no impact of other shards. He only heard loud clunking sounds, as if something stopped the ice shards. Aurelis opened his eyes. What was that?! Little barriers that looked like they were out of pure light surrounded him. They protected him, as they were covered in shards.

Suddenly there was this flash again. Aurelis heart rhythm changed. His vision became blurry for a moment and his eyes turned into black again, leaving only the iris in white. A golden halo crowned him but its aura emitted pure black energy. He was able to think clearly again, but his demeanour changed completely, as if he wasn’t himself anymore. There was an animalistic viciousness inside of him, a voice, different from his own. ‘Finish it.’