The Eternal Phoenix & The Phoenix Hatchling Festival

I awoke to a beam of sunlight filtering through the curtains, hardly able to open my eyes. 'I must have been sleeping on clouds' I thought as I slowly stretched out. There were more weird dreams, too. They were happening more and more since leaving the academy. Though I never really remembered my dreams when I was in the academy anyway.

Giving a little shrug, I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed and got dressed to start the day, only noticing a very slight vibrating pulse coming from my left wrist after I had gotten dressed. I didn't think much of it, probably just part of the attenuation, but it seemed to stop the moment I thought about it.

Outside my door I found a slew of new papers posted to the wall; errands for the day, physical exercise routine, mana control training, sigil writing, even spell creation. It was overwhelming to say the least, but I was chosen to be Miss Anare's apprentice for a reason! Steeling myself for the day to come I gathered the errands list and made my way to breakfast. I still hadn't seen even a sign of Miss Anare, but when I got to the table there was a hot meal ready and waiting for me.

The warmth of it was invigorating, not to mention the whole thing being delicious, but as soon as I was done I had energy to spare. Today's errands would be no problem! Hurrying to my room I grabbed my bag and a few necessities; spell parchments, quills, extra ink. Taking a look at the list of errands I saw that my first task was..

"Buy myself new clothes..? But.. I don't have any-" before I could say the next word, what I could only describe as a wad of notes rose up from the paper I was holding. I screamed. I really couldn't help myself. I'd never even seen a five-hundred note, and suddenly I was holding a stack of them. More money than anyone in my family had ever seen in their entire lives, probably even across every generation!

As soon as I touched the top note with a slightly shaking hand, glowing text appeared above it reading, 'Mari. This is your monthly allowance, please use it responsibly. -Anare'

I stared at the words, reading them over at least five more times to make sure I actually knew what I was reading. Monthly. Every month I would be holding this much money. I couldn't even imagine spending this much money in a year, much less a month! I stumbled over to my bed, steadying myself against one of the posts, then my left wrist began to vibrate and flash gently. Jumping in surprise my first instinct was to grab it, and the moment I did I heard a surprisingly calming sound..

"Mari? Can you hear me okay? I'm glad you figured out how to answer. Did you finish eating breakfast already?" It was Miss Anare's voice coming from my focus, and despite my anxiety my shaking slowed, and my breathing came back under control.

"M-Miss Anare? Wh-How am I hearing you right now?"

"Oh, did they not teach this in the academy? I suppose it hasn't reached them yet, I'll have to meet with the headmistress.. It's a spell I developed; I call it.. Sigil Speak!"

I blinked a few times, "Sigil Speak?" I asked, noticing the slightly amused tone to my voice a bit too late to stop it.

"The name is still a work in progress!" Came Miss Anare's voice, sounding flustered. I laughed, I couldn't help but imagine what she looked like with a blush across her puffed up cheeks.

"O-Oh, Miss Anare! About this money?" I began, fully intending to return all but one note to her.

"Hmm? Oh your allowance. Is that not a sufficient amount?"

"No no no! This is.. this is WAY more than enough Miss Anare! I've never even seen a five-hundred note before! I can't possibly take this!" I rushed out, my earlier anxiety returning.

"Oh. Hmm.. well, it's fine. Though I suppose that means you can leave errand four to me."

"Wha.. errand four?" I looked down the list, buy clothes, deliveries, meeting with the local mayor.. "Accounting..?"

"I receive quite a lot of monetary gifts on a somewhat regular basis. Most of it is gratitude from villages or towns I've saved from raids, some comes from noble families looking to improve their standing with me, and some of it is royalty payments for my published spells. But, don't worry about that for now, I'll be able to do it while you adjust. As for your allowance, I don't believe it right to take away what has already been given. What you do with it is entirely up to you, okay?"

I wanted to protest, but I couldn't exactly argue with her logic. Hopefully she would simply lower the amount going forward. "Y-Yes, Miss Anare. Thank you very much."

I heard her laugh softly, I could feel it vibrating through my wrist even, and it sent a shiver across my body. "You're quite welcome, Mari. Now, you'd better get to it, we're doing baseline testing today. Be careful on your errands. When you get home, head straight to the training hall; it's the largest building on the estate. See you soon."

My wrist flashed again then went back to the dull, gentle white glow it always was now. I looked back at the fortune in my other hand, took a deep breath, and shoved it and the errands list into my bag.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Even if I had been told what to expect when I left the estate, I never would have been prepared for what awaited me. Unlike yesterday, the streets were bustling with actual festival activity today, and the subject of the festival was, well, none other than me. Artist recreations of my face were plastered across banners over the streets, each of them reading "The Phoenix Hatchling" in bright, bold lettering. I had heard that the selection of a new apprentice was a celebrated event, but to hold an entire festival dedicated to the apprentice themselves..

I pulled the hood of my uniform up and held it tight around my head, hoping against hope no one would recognize me as I went about my duties. How naive I was. The moment I opened my mouth to speak to a tailor, what I could only describe as pandemonium flowed through the streets, word of my being there spreading like a wildfire. I was inundated with people. Hundreds of excited faces crowding as close to mine as they could, bodies pushing into me from all angles, all hoping to get just a look at the new apprentice of The Eternal Phoenix. It was far too much. The noise of the crowd pounded at my eardrums like a war party trying to break down the front gates of a castle, the constant flow of different faces assaulted my eyes, making it impossible to focus on any one thing.

I covered my ears and shut my eyes tightly, trying my hardest to close myself off to everything that was happening, but the shouting drone of a thousand voices still made it through. I pressed into my ears tighter and tighter, until I felt a sudden chill passing through my body, emanating from my wrist. For a moment I kept holding my ears, my senses taking their time to catch up as I realized the sounds were gone. Experimentally, I slightly uncovered my ears, and the silence still remained. I cracked open an eye, and the space around me was clear of people. Opening the other, I straightened out and looked around.

It was surreal. All around me I could see swirling snow, creating a circle perhaps a metre and a half across, the edge of which no one seemed to dare enter. I could see their delighted, screaming faces just beyond the blur of flakes, but I couldn't hear them. Somehow, they seemed even more ecstatic than they already were, like they were seeing a miracle first-hand. I looked down at my wrist, and saw a silvery pulse of light tracing through my veins. I took in a deep breath, the sharp sting of cold air confirming how cold the air around me was. Focusing for a moment, I decided to try to will this sphere of cold closer to my body, and it moved just as I wanted it to.

Closer and closer I pulled it, until it sat only a few centimetres from my body in every direction. Here, I could just barely make out the heavily muffled sound of the crowds, but I couldn't be touched. No matter how many people crowded around me, I could move freely, like their bodies were instinctively moving away from the icy chill that surrounded me. With this, my first test was successful. I could still run errands!

I set about my tasks as quickly as I could, not knowing exactly how long this would last, or whether it would burn out my mana. I picked from an assortment of premade clothing that I could tailor to fit later, and ignored the efforts of the shopkeeper trying to give back the money I set down for them. I made my way to the post office to pick up a crate of alchemical materials, leaving another five-hundred note for them and ignoring their protests, then made my way to the town hall.

Much to my relief, it seemed as though the mayor and their administrators were out enjoying the festival, so I took that as reason enough to leave as quickly as I could. I rushed through the crowd and back toward the estate. As I ran, rather than warming up like I'd expect, I seemed to be getting colder, and somehow.. faster. A layer of ice was forming on my skin, and yet I'd never felt more free before. A walk that had originally taken me the better part of an hour was now over in minutes, and I barely even felt out of breath. It was intoxicating.

Every inhale carried with it a biting chill that woke my body up time and again. I quickly made my way to the training hall and threw open the doors, brimming with confidence that whatever I had to do in here, I'd get to see Miss Anare's expressions of wonder and amazement. But, that wasn't what I saw. When I walked in, I saw Miss Anare standing in the centre of the training hall, seemingly as bright as a star. From her back unfurled wings of rolling fire, and the sand beneath her was solid, perfectly smooth glass. Her gaze was serious, with that kind of smile someone who's about to have the time of their life might have.

I could feel her anticipation clawing at the edges of the blizzard swirling gently around me, I could feel the ever-building heat coming off of her in waves, melting the ice on my body just a little.

I could hardly contain my excitement.

*Author's Note: Jeez! I really got into a flow state with this one, sorry for how much more wordy it ended up being! I'm excited for tomorrow's chapter though, so I hope you are too!