Phoenix

“Here it is, the phoenix infected shrine.” Jordan said as they approached. Behind him, everyone gulped in nervousness.

The place looked brutal. There was no doubt that the shrine used to be filled with life, covered in vines and trees and flowers, but all that was burnt down. Every single plant on and in the immediate area of the shrine was either burnt black or in the process of burning. There were even a bunch of ‘flowers’ that were burnt twigs with large flames on the end. It was fiery and brutal, but at the same time oddly beautiful.

In the middle of the shrine sat the phoenix Uraina told them about. It was big, though thankfully not as big as some of them imagined. It was about the size of a small house, many times bigger than any fiterolta got, but not the massive impossible beast that they had feared it would be.

“Mina, the snow?” Jordan said, pulling her out of her revere.

“Oh, right.” Mina answered.

Channeling the power that she’d figured out how to do earlier, Mina waved her hand and created a snow cloud around them.

“Brrrrrrrr, do you really have to make it this cold?” Natalia asked, both her and Iro already shivering aggressively. Mina raised an incredulous eyebrow in response.

“This, isn’t that cold. Some of my classmates still wear t-shirts outside when it’s only this cold.” Mina remarked.

“Seriously?!” Iro exclaimed, and Jordan let out a chuckle.

“Yeah, this really isn’t that bad where I’m from. People who grow up in different climates have different temperature tolerances.” He remarked lightly before putting his serious face back on. “Still, enjoy the cold while it lasts, because it’s not going to last long.”

His words prompted the girls to put their own serious faces back on, and Jordan’s words were quickly proven right. Before they even reached the edge of the burnt grass outside the shrine, the heat began overpowering Mina’s snow. In response Mina put some more oomph into the snow, but it wasn’t enough. Walking up to the center of the shrine, the heat soaked into them like a hot summer day, only barely made manageable by Mina’s cold weather powers. Still, they determinedly pressed on, soon coming face to face with the phoenix, which was sleeping right in front of the statue of Uraina almost like a guard.

“So… what now?” Iro asked.

“We wake it up, and we fight it. The three of us weaken it, and Mina deals the final blow.” Jordan explained.

“Wait, why do we have to wake it up to kill it? Why cant we just take it by surprise and kill it in it’s sleep?” Natalia asked, but Jordan shook his head.

“It doesn’t work that way unfortunately.” Jordan told her. “This thing isn’t an ‘animal’ like the fiteroltas now that it’s linked itself to the shrine. It’s essentially a divine infection, one that can only be cured by other divine power. We need to exhaust it, then have Mina deal the final blow when it’s too weak to regenerate, otherwise we’ll just be wasting our energy.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”

“Plus, it’s a phoenix. coming back to life is kinda their thing.” Jordan tacked on.

Mina nodded along with his words, while Iro and Natalia gave him a confused look. Regardless, the group got into formation. Jordan pulled out his sword and shield and placed himself in front of everyone, with Natalia standing relatively close behind him, then Mina and Iro a few steps behind them. With everyone ready, Jordan stepped forwards towards the phoenix’s head.

“Deigh Ruaig!”

As Jordan chanted, his sword began to glow an icy blue, and once he was done he plunged the sword into the beast’s skull, an explosion of ice erupting from it.

“SQUAAAAAAAAAA!” The phoenix screeched in pain, and Jordan instantly jumped back from it, pulling up his shield to block the wave of fire that erupted from it as he did. The fire vaporized all the ice, but Jordan managed block the wave from hitting himself or his allies.

“Hold on, I thought we weren’t going to attack it while it was asleep?!” Natalia exclaimed as the phoenix got to its feet.

“I never said that. I said we weren’t going to kill it while it was asleep, but there’s nothing wrong with getting a head start.” Jordan sassed with a smirk, and Natalia shot him a dry glare.

“Hey uh, can we focus on the big fire bird please?!” Iro called out, making Jordan and Natalia snap back into focus.

“Right. You all know the plan. Natalia and I will draw its attention, meanwhile you two will hurt it from range and keep yourselves save. LET’S GO!” Jordan roared. And so, the battle began.