- Split Phoenix Thoughts:
- ”Who… am I, again?” Everything around him was burning, he was in a sea of fire, boiled alive… and yet, his form endured it all. Nothing harmed him anymore. Was this purgatory? Or was it a whole new world birthed in front of his eyes? “Fire… yes, I’m a Fire Mage. No, I’m the Phoenix… I was never human, was I?” Why ask yourself that question? You made it sound like you were… unsure. Unsure of who you actually were. “I miss my mum… but she did not birth me. She birthed Daiko Flayme… and I am Daiko Flayme… why… why am I Daiko Flayme, again?”
Images began flashing by; images of a crying mother, sad as any could ever be, with her dead infant in her arms. It brought tears to the person in focus. “I… I wanted to comfort her. Her tears tortured me, and I had no other choice! Yes, that’s right – I simply took on the identity as Daiko Flayme, but there was no Daiko Flayme before I- but the baby- the baby had no conscience! No experience! No sense of who it was! Who was the baby going to be?! What kind of man would Daiko Flayme become?! I DON’T KNOW WHO I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The journey had begun, faithfully so. The Phoenix had opened its heart up to Kerii, unbeknownst to it that it used to be her old, fellow Lamia Scale guildmate years ago. It was a strange feeling of familiarity that didn’t trace back properly, as if the Bird of Fire still suffered from the split personality disorder that it bound itself to. And yet, it had made its words clear and had promised that Daiko Flayme would return, so long as the elven lady would heed to the Temple of the Sun with it and ready the ritual in its stead.
There was only a little amount of woods between the port town and the beach if one ventured directly down south from the guild hall. The woods was lightly inhabited by creatures of the forest; you could scarcely find any foxes, though, for the climate here in Hargeon was unbearable for them for the most part. However, reptilians took full advantage of the long summer times, gathering energy for their muscles from the heat of the sun. In a way, they were able to transform heat energy into kinetic energy, climbing and swimming and slithering around once they had gained enough. That was one of the reasons why crocodiles, lizards, snakes and iguanas were often seen sunbathing or laying on a naked rock with direct exposure to the unforgiving rays of the sun…
However, their bodies needed more than just energy. It needed nutriments – in other words, nourishment. Food. Edible substances to gain proteins and minerals from. All of the reptilians native to Hargeon’s nearby wilderness were carnivores, preying on living flesh in one way or another. The iguanas sought to the fishes in the blue sea, using their expert skills in swimming to catch their prey from behind. Crocodiles were top ambush predators, lying in wait like floating logs until unwary prey stumbled into their striking range where none could escape. Some sought to the woods like lizards, feasting on insects and smaller animals, while a few species of reptiles feasted on inanimate infants and eggs.
Many of these lizards did pay attention to the egg in Kerii’s hands, but none of them made a move. It was too big and unconventional for them to achieve, for the act alone would cost more energy than they could obtain from it – the egg would ultimately end up useless to the lizards if they even attempted, so they simply stuck themselves to the tree crowns, branches and logs and glared at the elf. Perhaps, her elven heritage made things too clear to them… that the egg was important to her. It put them in a sort of state of blankness, halting their motion for a while…
“I believe that we must continue the other half of the journey by boat. The island is a good mile across the waters…”
WC: 689