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#1Daiko Flayme 

From Flesh To Fire [SL] Empty Tue Feb 22, 2022 9:02 am

Daiko Flayme
Man, it was too early for this young, lively light to burn out, but the truth had finally reached the girls and, subsequently, the rest of the members of Blue Pegasus. Daiko Flayme has died… that was the end of the young man’s tale, his journey as a revved Hunter and Takeover Mage donning the mark of Blue Pegasus. Death was the end of one’s mortal life on Earthland, a certain fact that every living creature knew of. There was simply nothing to be done about it… overtime, they simply… s-simply had to move on and accept his demise. It was a fact of life, and they didn’t have to let his death be the main focus of his influence over them.

But it had only been a little while now… not even a day. Daiko’s corpse was still on the bed. Alisa and Sofia had walked away, needing time to really take in the fact that his life ebbed away in their hands.

Only Kerii remained for now.

Daiko’s body looked so calm in death… it was poetic. He had found everlasting peace, certainly because of his good-willed life and countless sacrifices to uphold genuine ideals and morals. He was a gentle man… but there was something strange about his lifeless body.

In front of the blonde elf of the forest, without modesty, his skin began to crack. It was sudden, but small waves of heat began to emit from him like heat fans, while his skin slowly crumbled and turned color. Over the span of a few seconds, heat emerged up in the air and his body crumbled down to mere, red and yellow scales akin to ham from reptiles… or pheasants?

While the ordeal on his corpse must’ve been shocking, the real surprise was the manifestation of an avian entity above the corpse. If Kerii was to raise her gaze, then she would feel the strength of a sun hit her back in the face for a brief instance, before her eyes would adapt the slightest and immediately make out the full form of a pheasant-falcon hybrid. A bird of rapture-like features mixed with the long, colorful wings of paradise… donning cloaks and ornaments of the most dazzling fires. Its heat enveloped the entire room, but it was such calm, calm and peaceful heat that it made not a single noise. It was as if the heat blocked away sound altogether.

“… This is not the Temple of the Sun? Has my mind altered to such a point that I forgot the promised place…?”

WC: 427

#2Atani 

From Flesh To Fire [SL] Empty Tue Feb 22, 2022 9:06 am

Atani

Atani Tathvir
Bâd gurth vi ngalad firiel
- 633 | @ Daiko -
Daiko was dead.

Atani did all that she could, but everything remained futile. The people of Blue Pegasus who went to go fetch a potion with haste were not fast enough. Atani didn't know if they ever arrived or if Alisa stopped them in their tracks before they could enter the room where Daiko rested. It was easy to say 'if only I was stronger' or 'if only we had the potion at ready' to shift the blame for Daiko's death, for whenever a death of a fellow guild member happened, anyone would want to find a reason for it. They would want to find a reason so that it could never happen to another soul, but unfortunately the reality was some things could not be prevented. As much as Atani wished that was not the case, the same remained true for medicinal practice. Babies occasionally died from no known cause. They just simply... ceased living. It was sad, but unavoidable. If Daiko's ailment truly was rooted in his magic, this too might have been his inevitable end.

Atani was alone with the mage who passed at far too young an age. She told both Alisa and Sofia that it was okay to leave. She had dealt with caring for numerous deceased bodies at the place she practiced her healing magic in Athalran. Magical accidents, poisonous foods, forest beasts, she had seen them cause the deaths of numerous elves. Though most of the sick and injured could be saved, there were some who were too far gone, and once they passed, herself among other healers would aid in their care, at least until others would come.

In her culture, one's spirit was sacred. Even in death, it remained tethered to the body; however, since the body was no longer functional, that connection was weak. If you wanted the person's spirit to go peacefully into nature, to make sure it didn't get lost along the way, you had to be there for it, and so that was what Atani was doing with Daiko. Even if he did not believe in her elven ways, she still wished him well in the afterlife.

The Wood Elf held Daiko's cold, dark hand. His skin was leathery and dry, almost as if it had been charred. She closed her eyes and began to mutter an elven prayer in her mother tongue of Val'Elvarin. In the midst of it, she began to feel waves of heat pulsating through the hand she was holding. For a moment, she was worried it was just her imagination, and the waves she felt was just her own pulse... but no. She opened her eyes and eased her grip on Daiko. She gasped as the top layer of his skin crumbled to ash. Atani gasped and shook off the flakes from her hand. She stood back and watched with awe as Daiko's body began to change.

Her green eyes widened. Underneath the flaking skin was Daiko's normal flesh colored in the same warm shade she always knew it to be-- Actually, no. It then turned redder. Parts became orange and then yellow. It was a sunset of scales.

"Sofia! Alisa!" Atani called, but neither of them came. They might have even been completely outside the guildhall by now. She looked back to Daiko and gasped at the birdlike manifestation above her guild mate's corpse. She had to shield her eyes from the bright light it emitted, but soon enough, she could make out its corporeal form: it was a phoenix.

"… This is not the Temple of the Sun? Has my mind altered to such a point that I forgot the promised place…?"

"The... Temple of the Sun?" Atani shook her head. "Who are you and what are you doing over my friend's body?"

20% WC Reduction (Guild Lvl. 3)
633/1600
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From Flesh To Fire [SL] Lu7gGv2
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#9b2222 - Sinese

#3Daiko Flayme 

From Flesh To Fire [SL] Empty Tue Feb 22, 2022 9:08 am

Daiko Flayme
The phoenix immediately came to the realization that someone was right next to it, a confused, elven lady of unknown heritage with no relation to the bird of fire… or so, she thought. Things weren’t like that, if reality was unchanged. The phoenix remembered her… she was Kerii. A precious friend of the flying entity. One who had been by his side for very long, who was met along the ranks of Lamia Scale. The phoenix remembered it… and it had quite a lot to explain.

“… I see. You are Kerii, yes,” it spoke to her in a new voice – one that belonged to no other person that the elven beauty had ever met before, “… Mhm, I remember thoroughly. The life I led under the shelter of human flesh and blood… yes, you and Arisa… and Kái too… Shahrbaraz and Aguero… and even Konstantin… give me time, madame, for my thoughts must be allowed the time to allocate themselves in the right order again.” The bird then landed on the bed, right on top of the crusty remains of the shell that used to be Daiko’s body… but what did it mean by its previous words?

Its wide, blazing wings didn’t burn anything. Not a single atom was scorched in its presence, except the auric fuel of ambrosia and energy of life that was the charcoal to its fiery coat. “I… I have lived long enough,” the phoenix spoke up once more, signaled by the sudden dimming of its blazing tongues hugging its wings, “I did not realize that my mortal life would overlap with the promised hour… it beats in the deepest of my chest. It is soon to be the fifth turn of a century. I… I cannot allow myself to stay here for any longer.” The phoenix then turned to face her, Kerii, its friend who made it feel heavy in its core, “Kerii, I owe you an apology. I remember now… you refer to me as a separate entity from your friend, Daiko. You must know that it is not the case; please, believe in what I have to say.”

What the phoenix tried to explain was unheard of, a unique circumstance for a previously thought-to-be general Takeover Mage.

“I am… I’m the one who made him to be. The one you refer to as Daiko… he was me. A mortal curtain of Savannan blood and flesh, so that I may pour life through him – a life born from a hasty promise I made to his grieving mother… y-you must listen now, closely, or I will fly to the Promised Tower in sadness…”

WC: 439
TWC: 866

#4Atani 

From Flesh To Fire [SL] Empty Tue Feb 22, 2022 9:11 am

Atani

Atani Tathvir
Bâd gurth vi ngalad firiel
- 807 | @ Daiko -
The elf's voice caught the attention of the flaming bird hovering over the pile of ashes belonging to Daiko. She had told the phoenix to get away from her friend's body, but what it had been reduced to was a far cry from that. Regardless, it was all she and the guild had left of their longtime comrade. It was bad enough they no longer had a body to bury. She wasn't going to let this... this burning entity scorch what little they had left. Atani kept a watchful eye on the mythical bird as it focused its gaze on her. It elected to ignore the words she said, but still chose to acknowledge her presence. Creatures such as these, they had an odd way of communicating. They spoke as if they were the only ones with authority, as if they weren't in the presence of an S-Ranked mage who would be willing to defend Daiko at all costs. The mage felt as if the phoenix didn't care for her statement in the slightest, but that was fine. She saw no need to repeat herself. If the bird wouldn't answer, she would cast her own judgement on it... And from what she had experienced thus far, it wasn't in the phoenix's favor. The next thing to come from the creature's mouth all but solidified that for Atani.

"… I see. You are Kerii, yes."

The elf's heart stopped. There was that name again. That stupid name people kept saying with no context. The name of a girl who abandoned her friends in the midst of battle; the name of a girl who left so many people's lives without a single word; the name of a girl she couldn't find in any records throughout Fiore; Kerii. Atani curled her hands into fists by her side. Water began to swirl around them. Her jaw clenched tight. "I'm not..."

She had barely been able to mutter those words before the mystifying voice belonging to the phoenix trumped her own. It mentioned names. Several names, all of which had zero significance to the Wood Elf. There wasn't but a single one to ring a bell, not even the names of Shahrbaraz or Aguero. Among the names that bore no meaning, the flaming entity seemed to have troubled itself. It proclaimed that it needed time to 'gather its thoughts,' which would have been fine, had it not drawn closer to Daiko's remnants.

"No, don't-- !" It aimed to perch atop his ashes. Atani thrust her hand forward. The spiral of water that had been building up momentum around her fist launched itself in the direction of the phoenix, but at the last moment she stumbled. The spell missed by inches. It crashed into the wall. With a wave of her hand, the liquid disappeared before it could taint a thing in the room. She looked curiously at the phoenix. "He's not... burning." Her mind was a mixture of disbelief and awe. This creature to erupt from Daiko's body, resulting in its disintegration... it no longer caused harm. A few moments later, he spoke once more. "I have lived long enough." That was interesting to hear coming from a creature fabled to be immortal via the cycle of rebirth. It continued to talk, though Atani wasn't quite sure if she followed. It spoke something of the promised hour, something of the fifth turn of the century. As knowledgeable as the elf was in creatures, be them mundane or magical, her expertise was not in the legendary phoenix. Their tales were far more common to hear in the country Seven, not in the city Athalran. Thankfully, the avian flame was able to shed light on the topic.

Daiko and the phoenix were one in the same. An immortal being trapped in a mortal body... but not in the way a spirit was once trapped within Atani. This was a type of symbiosis that profoundly affected Daiko. It had the capability of manifesting in a physical manner, something unique to only one type of magic. Daiko was a Take-Over mage. And the very soul that rested within his own broke every known rule to Take-Over magic. Rather than Daiko having control over it, the phoenix had enough power to not only break out of its vessel, but to kill him in the process as a form of rebirth. "I'll... I'll listen," she told the phoenix. Her brows knit in confusion as she tried to understand what the avian was telling her. "But first, tell me. You shared your life force with Daiko only to make him die-- knowing you'd make him die before he'd even had the chance to live a life a thousandth of your own? All of it being disguised as a magic that was supposed to be a gift to even possess?"

1440/1600
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From Flesh To Fire [SL] Lu7gGv2
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#9b2222 - Sinese

#5Daiko Flayme 

From Flesh To Fire [SL] Empty Tue Feb 22, 2022 9:18 am

Daiko Flayme
Kerii… she acted far more recklessly than the mortal boy’s memory bore. Maybe it was due to the sight of her friend having died, for death in one’s close vicinity often brought sour and depressed states to emit to the surface. It was a depressing hour for her, but the bird in her presence wasted little time and continued. Coda might’ve suffered the most from Daiko’s death – as it befitted creatures of pure, instinctual mindsets with raw, primal emotions to stir within them. Creatures, animals, or simply the races beyond the sentient civilizations of man, elf and beastfolk… their feelings were always pure. Purer than sacred water. Purer than a diamond. A man’s tears could be out of a desire to gain favor or to guilt-trip someone, but a creature’s tears were always sincere.

And yet, Coda had stopped crying… for she felt a kinship with the Bird of Fire. It was a sudden turn to a calm state for the friendly raptor, and Kerii would be sharp enough to notice that. Alas, the Phoenix had a story to tell.

“Let me tell you about the young man who called himself Daiko,” its voice echoed, resonating across the walls and bringing a feeling of condensed authority to saturate the air, “And then, you might be able to let me perform my promised mission…”
The Phoenix’ story took place in Worth Woodsea, over 20 years ago. The story was about a settlement of Savannans, and a specific one at that – those who were gifted with long lives among mankind. They had fled from their homeland over a century ago and settled in a few places in Fiore, bringing their endangered culture along with them – a culture that revered the Phoenix as a gift from God and a source of eternal life. Their concrete jungles were houses of exotic but ancient nature and design, decorated with carvings and sculptured walls, ceilings and frames displaying ancient mythos from tales of old. The Phoenix held the most influence in these carvings, and many walls were protected by its wide, spreading wings of stone embracing the rooms.

However, there was a reason why they had fled so many years ago. Their source of long-lasting life… some elders had lived the lifespan of elves, but how come? Simply, the workings of a wrongdoer from old times; the Phoenix had been sealed in a prison, this prison being a large, round stone plate that they took along with them. The Phoenix’ powers of life could be sapped and injected into humans regularly, but it required a link – a bridge of sorts that had to symbolize the lack of their wish and the core of having their wish granted.

Since they wanted eternal life, it meant that they scorned the finite and mortal… they scorned the day when their own blood would wet the ground. And thus, the dead blood of hand-picked individuals were necessary to tap into the seal and drain the Phoenix’ powers, which was covered up as a ‘blessing and test of determination’ and as a chance to become a member of the Clanic Fathers. Yes, they only chose male sacrifices, for women were needed for reproduction, but the nature of the ritual and the lie that covered it up was not something that any sex should ever go through.

In the case that you were chosen, you would be slaughtered on the stone plate. Your blood would then activate the seal, and for a temporary time, the Phoenix’ magic would engulf the settlement. But Clanic Fathers? The notion that the sacrifices were saviors? Lies whose origin had begone to forgetfulness. Even the choosing of the next Clanic Father was based on massless assumption of some clairvoyant ability to choose them out.

In this cultural blood-pool, there was a widow with her newborn son. She had named him Daiko, after the white and large carrots that grew in the northern woods. She held such immense delight and love for him, but what horror a mother would go through if she were told that her newborn child was the next Clanic Father… it led to bloodshed. The mother wanted to save the child, and the shamans wanted to stop her. The child had to die. It had to die, for it was the right thing… wasn’t it?

What was one child’s life for the life of the entire clan? These sacrifices only took place once a decade, and the mother would have plenty of time to raise another. But she was reckless in her approach of her dead child’s remains, screaming in horror… and she did something unpredictable. She broke the stone plate.

A Phoenix who had suffered imprisonment in such a long time would also lose its patience and cool, and thus it unleashed its wings of fire upon the population. Worth Woodsea looked like it was suffering a forestfire, and almost all members of the clan were incinerated. But the mother lived, albeit against her own wishes as she cried: “Burn me away! Kill me! End me! Bring me back to my son! Bring me back to my child…!!!”

The Phoenix realized what had happened. The poor child’s life had been robbed from it. A newborn never got the chance to speak its first word or eat its first meal or drink its first cup of water. How… heart-choking. It felt as if its blood was freezing to ice under carpets of hell and oil.

And that was when the Phoenix decided to, in a way, grant the mother her wish… but its blood could only make the living immortal, not revive the dead. At least… no, it couldn’t revive others so easily, but it could revive itself! That was it! If it merged with the boy’s own dead flesh, then maybe… just maybe…

And that was when the forest fire died out. Not a trace or an ember left… nothing but a confused, teary mother and an infant’s live cries and sobbing…

And now, Kerii knew as well. What Daiko was. What had happened to him long ago. Not even Daiko was aware of this, and the bird of fire made sure to inform her of that. “I am Daiko… or at least, I was for a while. In a moment of desperation and empathy, I decided to become a living human, and thus my mind convinced itself that I am Daiko Flayme… but in the end, I am the Phoenix. I have always been, and my time is almost up. I must give birth to myself once more, and become an egg.”

The Phoenix took a deep breath, because Kerii’s expressions were just as… tearful as the mother’s. It brought sour feelings up from times past. “… D-… Tell me, Kerii, for I must leave soon. I have a world to see, and a life to restore. Every 500th year, I turn back to an egg and undo myself. From the ashes of my old self, I return to life once more, and yet… this heavy feeling in my chest won’t go away. I may be Daiko Flayme, but my mind is not the same as before. Daiko’s mind is not mine, but at the same time, it… is.” It was like an identity crisis, really.

“I… do not want to part. I promised his mother that… he would live. Flying away in this state would be a coward’s act, and I am no swindler… so tell me! Open your heart and proclaim your wish with all your might; do you wish to see Daiko Flayme again?

WC: 1265
TWC: 2131

#6Atani 

From Flesh To Fire [SL] Empty Tue Feb 22, 2022 9:21 am

Atani

Atani Tathvir
Bâd gurth vi ngalad firiel
- 740 | @ Daiko -
Atani demanded the phoenix explain its actions. Once again, it failed to answer. The frustration boiled within the elf, but she tried to contain it... for Daiko's sake. All the bird seemed to care about was that Atani agreed to hear its story. So, without shedding any more light onto why the phoenix had willingly hid this crucial information from Daiko, causing him to ultimately die in pain, sorrow, and confusion, the creature decided to start from the very beginning. Just as Atani knew of phoenixes, the one before her confirmed that he and his brethren did not come from Fiore. Though her first guess was that the family would have been from Seven considering the popularity of the legendary bird there, it appeared she was incorrect in that regard. The phoenix and the people who worshiped it in the story all hailed from Savannah which was a surprising revelation indeed. People of all nationalities it seemed flocked to Fiore. Foreign mages and adventurers were a common sight, though for the most part they all hailed from the same continent: Ishgar. Savannah was located directly south of Ishgar. The only viable way to travel for most would be by boat, and depending on where you were in Savannah, that trip could be an incredibly tiresome one. It by far took far more time than anyone on Ishgar traveling from their home country to Fiore.


The trip itself was incredible to hear about. What made it even more impressive that these people who brought their endangered culture over to Fiore managed to do so whilst preserving the ancient magic it was built around. Particularly, this ancient magic revolved entirely around the phoenix before her. Through some spell unknown to the elf, a Savannan managed to imprison the mythical creature in a slab of stone such that they could take advantage of its powers. Once trapped in stone, this tribe could sap the eternal life force from the bird itself, though not without some sort of conduit. This conduit... was a dead body. Atani furrowed her brows and gestured for Coda to come by her side. She gently held her arm out if she wished to perch. For the information that was soon to come, Atani thought they both would need some form of comfort. The words to follow were just as the elf feared. Of course, not just any member of the deceased would do for this ritual. No, that would be too simple of a solution. This carcass, it had to be one that was freshly slaughtered upon the stone. In other words, a sacrifice. A human sacrifice. Among certain members of the clan though, it was perceived as a great honor. These poor souls were dubbed 'saviors.' A sick attempt at making the selfish desire for immortality be perceived as something noble. Atani had heard of similar rituals being tradition in Earthland's earliest civilizations, but to think they were still in the present day? It made her sick to her stomach.

Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, the phoenix revealed that these sacrifices were no more than infants. She gasped through closed lips. All of them... innocent children ripped from their mothers. It was unthinkable. What was more, Daiko was destined to be one such child. "Daiko..." the elf murmured. She looked longingly at her friend's ashes. If the tribe had its way, so much joy would have been lost in the world. At least... at least the world managed to hold onto Daiko for this long. Atani listened to the rest of the phoenix's story. It ended with it having conflicted feelings towards its path to revival. Though it spent years upon years of being trapped in stone, it came to grow attached to Daiko Flayme. So much, in fact, he sometimes forgot his own identity in favor of the mage's. But he would not just stay from his own desires. He wanted to know if Atani wanted to see him again. Hearing those words come from the phoenix, the elf's heart skipped a beat. Her green eyes lit up. There was still a chance to save him.

"Yes!" she blurted out. She then took a brief moment to compose herself before answering yet again, albeit in a calmer manner. A more respectful one befitting of the creature who held Daiko's life in the balance.

"Yes, I'd do anything for him to be with us again."

- Exit -

2180/1600
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From Flesh To Fire [SL] Lu7gGv2
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#9b2222 - Sinese

#7Daiko Flayme 

From Flesh To Fire [SL] Empty Tue Feb 22, 2022 9:22 am

Daiko Flayme
Coda heeded hastily to Kerii’s arm, perching on it and keeping her beaked face close to the elf’s, notifying her that the avian companion was… shaking a little. Did Coda understand all human language? Not really, but when it came from the beak of the Phoenix, then it resonated too strongly with the raptor and caused the usually carefree bird to seek refuge in the elf’s company. This story was heavy.

But Kerii had found a path, a string of possibility that could lead this sad day to its undoing. A string that could bring her dear friend back to life once more, and it depended on her answer… and her answer was expected of an old friend of Daiko’s. With that said, the Phoenix had no more qualms against her and began blazing up in flames again. The wheels of fate began to spin…

“Then I will see to it that I resume my life as the Savannan pyromage, the Take-Over asset of Blue Pegasus! But my time is approaching steadily, and I will have to revitalize myself,” it began to tell, suddenly reducing the size of the flames around it until it looked like it had shrunk itself down, “I will enter my egg and gather Ethernano. To revive myself, I must be taken to the tallest point of the Temple of the Sun and build my nest of myrrh and resin there. Then I must be lit aflame, along with an item of Daiko’s memory… and thus, my life will turn to ash. And from the ash, I shall rise once more – not as a Bird of Fire, but as the young man I used to be…”

And on the bed full of vermillion scales lied a deep-red, scaled and head-sized… egg. It was pleasantly warm to the touch, but it was packed to the space between atoms with mana. “Let me guide you down south of the country, for across the waters there shall be an island… and I pray that the temple still stands to this day. It has been 500 years since my last visit…”

WC: 352
TWC: 2483 (END)

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