The Eternal Phoenix & The Voice

Two months. Two months of terrible sleep. Two months of guilt. Two months of longing. Anare reluctantly dragged herself out of her bed and got dressed. No breakfast today, same as every day.

Between training Marin, her work as the Phoenix, and her personal work trying to find a way to bring Mari back safely, Anare hardly had time for anything else. Mornings were dedicated to training, afternoons to working, and the majority of the night to spellcrafting.

She made her way to the training hall and waited. It would be the same today as it was yesterday. Drills on mana control, close combat, and spellcraft. Marin, to her credit, was picking things up incredibly quickly. Whether that was because she now inhabited a body that already knew these things, or her own merits, Anare didn't know. She didn't want to put the energy into finding out, either.

When Marin walked through the doors of the training hall, Anare saw on her face the same look she'd seen every day since Mari disappeared. She felt a pang in her chest. She missed Mari's smile, her look of wonder and curiosity.. Nothing had been the same, now. Marin's hair had faded streaks of red through it, her eyes had pools of green settled in the bottom of them, and even her face looked different.

Anare knew that Marin felt the same guilt. She did her best to convince her that it wasn't her fault, but nothing seemed to get through. Now, they trained in silence. Anare didn't have to bother keeping her flame in check anymore, the cold pouring from Marin was enough to make even her feel cold now. It wasn't the comforting, cooling embrace Anare had come to love from Mari. It was empty. Utilitarian.

Anare had to duck suddenly, her focus returning to the spar as Marin's hand nearly collided with the side of her head. Marin gave her a surprised look, but it didn't last long as Anare went on the offensive. A continuous flurry of punches and kicks, all blocked perfectly. 'She really is quite good at this' Anare thought to herself.

The sparring came to a sudden and screeching halt as Marin's focus pulsed brightly suddenly, nearly blinding the both of them, and from it came a voice neither had heard in quite some time..

"Marin-- there? Spell-- unstable-- safe--" Mari's voice was echoing through the focus, though only a few words made it through. Anare immediately rushed to Marin's side, who seemed too stunned to even move.

Anare's voice came out in a shout, "Mari?! Mari I can hear you, I'm trying to get you back here I promise! I'm so sorry for what I did to you!"

"Not-- fault-- Anare-- iope helping--" came her broken response.

Anare rushed herself, her hands shaking violently as sigils formed around the focus. She poured her mana into it, forgetting everything else as she worked only to stabilize whatever tenuous connection Mari had managed to make. She began to trace the minuscule thread of mana to the other world, and in an instant she was stopped dead in her tracks.

Anare's flame burst forth from her body. Her scar pulsed with pain. She felt Mari's mana, yes, but there was another mana. One she thought long gone.

She heard a chilling whisper in her mind, "Hello Anare.. its been some time, hasn't it?"

Calliope. Anare had been certain Calliope was dead, had done everything in her power to make sure of it herself, along with Faye. But this was unmistakably their mana, their voice.

"I'm here with Mari." They said quietly. "She has recovered well, no thanks to you. I'm surprised you found another ice affinity, and so capable too.. she's a fast learner. Right now she's desperately flooding her mana into the pathway she herself opened, doing everything in her power to speak to you and Marin. Please know Anare, she is safe, and I have no intention of harming her. I'm even going to help her get back to you."

Anare's flame was burning brighter and brighter. In the far distance she could almost hear someone yelling, but her mind was reeling. She spoke aloud, her voice low, quiet, yet brimming with hatred. Every word was backed by a roar of flame. "If so much as a single hair on her head is plucked, I will give you the death you earned so many years ago."

Calliope laughed, their voice fading into the background, "That's what I'm hoping for, Anare.. it's about time you ended this curse you placed on me."

Then, there was silence. The world around Anare seemed to light up again, and she immediately pushed her flame back down. She looked to her left. Marin was covered in a layer of ice, staring at Anare in fear.

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

I rushed from the training hall, ignoring Anare's calls behind me. I could still feel the burn of her mana across my body, and my ice was barely enough to keep it at bay. I made straight for the teleportation sigil, the direct link to Faye's office in the academy. She wouldn't be expecting me, but I felt I had no choice. I stood in the circle, activating it without a second thought, and before I could blink I stood in her office.

The conversation froze instantly, and Faye stood. "Right, we'll have to continue this discussion another time I'm afraid, allow me to show you to the door."

I turned my face away before the students she was speaking to could see me. I wasn't sure they would recognize me, but I couldn't imagine their pained faces if they saw the body of someone they looked up to being puppeted around by a complete stranger. I waited, listened to them shuffle away and to the heavy wooden doors close and lock behind them.

When Faye returned, I turned to her and held out my left arm, the focus still pulsing softly. "Mari made contact somehow, but it was interrupted, and then Anare started saying something I couldn't understand, her flame was--" Faye pulled me into a hug, stifling my rambling.

"Settle yourself, Marin. There is nothing to be gained from panic." She spoke with a careful and measured tone and pace. Her hug was stiff and unnatural, but the honest attempt to calm my nerves was appreciated. I took a breath and pulled away, then began to explain properly. I could still feel the heat of Anare's raging flames.

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

I sighed heavily as I handed the cashier money and thanked them, before I left the store. Two months, and the most I'd managed was a crackled connection. Though I hadn't even expected that, to begin with. I was certain that I would be trapped in this world, that I would grow old and die, never casting a spell again.

I made my way through the tight, twisting streets, holding my hoodie tight against myself to make sure it didn't get caught on anything as I slinked my way through one small passage after another. Calliope made sure their home was well hidden, and even if a human of this world were to somehow follow the correct path accidentally, all they'd find would be an empty lot.

I pressed my fingers against the barrier. As I did, hundreds upon hundreds of sigils appeared in the air, each shimmering with power. It had taken me a few days to figure out how to pass through it freely, and even now it still took me a few minutes to find the correct sequence to open the barrier. I stepped through, holding the food to my belly inside my pocket.

It was always such a shock, passing from the outside world to the interior of the barrier. The constant roar of the city faded away to nothing, replaced by the gentle rustle of leaves in a constant breeze. It was peaceful, and though I did appreciate how much it felt like home, I knew it wasn't.

I slipped quietly through the front door. After the excitement earlier in the day, Calliope had gone into another of their so-called 'naps' which I could really only describe as hibernations. They would last days at a time. I didn't particularly mind, though. The quiet and solitude gave me time to work. I entered into my workshop and closed the door behind me, then pulled a chocolate bar from my pocket and unwrapped it.

I was close. Much closer now than I was before. I had taken every precaution I could, every single problem I could think to solve, had a solution written into it. I chewed on the chocolate, savouring the crisp wafer in the middle as I stared at my work.

On the far wall was a sigil about the size of my window at home, surrounded by thousands of much smaller sigils, each one linking to another in a complex web of sequences that had taken me ages to piece together. It was far from done though. It turned out that creating a new spell capable of moving physical matter between dimensions was non-trivial. Even with Calliope's help I was still months away from completion at the current pace.

I'd simply need to keep going until it was finished.