"The whole pot is glowing," I commented.

"It's the heat mana stone! I don't know what that egg did, but it made the mana stone go completely bonkers!" Fiona cried out.

She and I both stood flat against the kitchen wall after having entered. We were both too afraid to get closer, expecting the pot to explode. I even held a chair in front of us like a shield.

We were the only ones here. I had ordered Henry to stand guard outside and prevent anyone from entering.

The pot was boiling angrily and spewing water in all directions. The pot's metal was bright orange and yellow.

"I asked to cook the egg. Not the pot," I joked.

Fiona glared at me. "If this thing of yours explodes my kitchen, you will never hear the end of it from me."

I pursed my lips.

I should probably do something about my younger sister running her experiment in this kitchen in a few months.

During the wintertime this year, in the original timeline, Elda tried baking something, which led to the kitchen being decimated to ash. I couldn't understand what a twelve-year-old managed to come up with that would do such a thing. Luckily neither Elda, nor anyone else, was hurt.

BANG!

The pot crackled and finally exploded into bits.

My hands moved up, and I felt an impact on my chair-shield.

I opened my squinting eyes and laughed, seeing the pot handle squarely planted halfway through the chair.

"Look at that! The chair worked!" I proudly showed Fiona.

However, she didn't seem to be in a laughing mood. Well, it was understandable. We could have still died. Except I had the benefit of restarting.

My eyes followed her gaze.

The egg was stuck to the heating mana stone and was glowing a bright yellow hue, with red cracks appearing throughout. It seemed to be absorbing the mana stone’s embedded magic.

"Think it's hatching?" I asked.

Fiona didn't respond and stared at the egg as the red cracks thickened.

"Mmm?" I blinked in confusion.

The brightness of the eggs suddenly dimmed away like a candle blown out. The mana stone fell away like an ordinary rock and crumbled into dust.

"Why did it stop glowing?" I walked over towards the dimmed egg.

"LUCA! Get back!" Fiona cried out.

She attempted to grab me, but I had stepped forward too quickly.

I picked up a silver spoon from one counter and walked to stand right in front of the dim egg.

"Don't touch it!" Fiona cried out.

I ignored her warning. My hand extended, and I poked the egg with the spoon.

However, I was glad I hadn't attempted to touch it with my bare finger, as the spoon's end immediately melted into a puddle of silver goo.

Crack.

The first real crack appeared through the egg. Unlike the previous glowing red ones, this one was a gray line.

"Pst! Luca, come back!" Fiona tried to wave me over, but didn't dare to move away from the wall.

"I'll be fine." I waved back.

I wanted to see this thing hatch.

Crack. Crack.

Another two gray cracks appeared. The top part protruded slightly.

"Come on, little guy. You can do it." I encouraged the egg.

CRACK.

The top part came off, and a fuzzy golden head and beak poked out.

"For your information, I'm a female. So 'little guy' is quite inaccurate, but I forgive your mistake as you did not see me hatch yet."

My jaw dropped open.

I saw its little beak move. And I heard the words. But how??

"How are you able to speak?? You were just born!" I exclaimed. "And you're a bird!"

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"What does being a bird have to do with anything?" The fuzzy golden bird turned up her beak. "You're speaking, so why can't I?"

She pushed out the rest of her shell with her beak and wings.

"I couldn't speak for years after being born," I said.

The bird rolled its eyes and broke out from the last of its shell. "Well, you are but a mere human. And I am a magnificent phoenix. So I suppose that's only natural."

"It's a phoenix? It's an actual phoenix?" Fiona gasped near the wall.

"Yes, I am a phoenix. You may appreciate and take in my perfection." The small phoenix fluttered up and extended out her surprisingly long wings and majestic golden tail. "Ah, but I don't like being referred to as an 'it' either. I think the name Leona will suit me nicely."

Damn it.

A sudden pit in my stomach formed.

I suddenly realized that I could not save Jasper using a phoenix egg.

For one, that egg was now a living, breathing bird with a mind and intellect of its own. And even if I could somehow catch and convince Fiona to cook up Leona as a meal for Jasper, there was something wrong about eating another coherent and highly intelligent being. It felt cannibalistic.

"Is it possible to eat one of your feathers?" I asked Leona.

She fluttered over directly in front of my face.

"My feathers? Whatever for? I can assure you they don't taste very well." Her golden eyes stared back into mine.

"As a cure?" I said.

However, even as I suggested this, it felt stupid coming out of my mouth. We had the essence of a phoenix feather in our cellar already. I didn't need Leona's feathers.

How did I not think to try it on Jasper first?

Leona rolled her eyes. "I think I know the cure you're thinking of. The one that uses the essence of phoenix feathers? It's somewhat a hoax. The cure exists, but it uses feathers of ordinary birds for the visual effects. The medicine is real. The feathers were added as a marketing ploy."

"How… do you know all this?" I asked.

No matter how I thought about it, it didn't make sense. Of course, talking upon birth was extraordinary from the start, but to possess such knowledge too?

"I'm a phoenix. Phoenixes inherit knowledge from our ancestors. It's a bit clunky and imperfect, and I have just been born, so you'll have to excuse my lack of awareness of this current time."

Leona fluttered around the kitchen, examining everything.

I wonder what Leona's Intelligence is then?

"There's quite a bit of unfamiliar objects that my memories don't comprehend. What year is it?" Leona asked. She flew over and sat on my shoulder.

I flinched, expecting her to burn me, but the warmth she gave off was soft and pleasant.

"It's 780 of the Adovorian Calendar Year," I replied.

Leona blinked in quick succession.

"Adovorian Calendar? What is that by the Flinx Calendar?"

"The Flinx Calendar ended in the year 2467. The Adovorian Calendar picked up from then," Fiona responded.

I was glad Fiona was in the room with me, because I certainly didn't remember any of this history.

"That's impossible. That means I've been sitting as an egg for over a thousand years!" Leona exclaimed.

"That sounds about right. Phoenixes have been considered a thing of legends for centuries now," Fiona spoke up. She picked up a broom and began sweeping the pot remains around the kitchen.

"A legend?" Leona looked between us. "Are you saying you haven't seen any phoenixes in a thousand years?"

I shook my head.

"There have been none that I know of," I said.

"You are the first," Fiona said.

Leona's wings drooped.

"I'm alone then," she said. Her voice came out soft, without the vigor and pride from before.

"Cheer up; there may be more. They might just be hidden," I suggested.

Leona's golden eyes gazed at me.

"Hmpt!" She turned her beak up. "Perhaps you are right. Phoenixes are magnificent beings. There must be more like me."

"Can the two of you now please leave my kitchen? I need to clean up this mess. I have meals to prepare and people to feed." Fiona waved towards the door.

I scoffed.

An actual phoenix appeared, and Fiona didn't seem to care. She only cared about it when her kitchen was at risk of being blasted to bits.

"We'll be out of your hair shortly," I said.

I gazed at Leona. "I just need something to hide her."

Her appearance was far too conspicuous.

If the manor wasn't in enough uproar over cats, they would lose their heads if it got out that there was an actual phoenix here. It's too much of a headache for me to deal with now.

"Why must you hide me?" Leona cocked her head.

"You stand out too much. I don't know what people would do if they knew you were a real phoenix. You might be kidnapped, even."

I was confident the people in the manor could keep their mouths shut, but a phoenix was something that was considered a myth until today. Anything was possible.

Leona flapped her long wings and flew towards one of the windows, looking out into the courtyard.

"But what about those magnificent creatures? Why can they waltz around freely, and I have to be hidden away?"

I walked over to the window to see what she was looking at.

The courtyard was mostly empty except for a batch of chickens.

"The chickens?" I was confused in what shape or form this phoenix considered them in any way magnificent.

I was additionally baffled that she had no idea what a chicken even was.

Did chickens not exist a thousand years ago? No. That's impossible. They had to have existed.

"Yes, is that what they are called?" Leona agreed. "Chickens… even their name is magnificent."

I nodded, dumbfounded.

Perhaps even phoenixes are dumb in some ways.

"So, tell me, why can those chickens do as they please while I have to hide myself? Are they that much more magnificent than I?"

"Because it's normal for chickens to be out and about. Everyone is used to chickens, so it's not unusual," I said. "But you are a phoenix."

I didn't understand why this was so hard to grasp.

"Ah. So it's because of how exceptional I am? Being a stunning and rare phoenix-like me is a painful predicament." Leona made a show of spreading out her wings to show them off again.

"Yes, indeed." I nodded.

"So if I were to look like one of those chickens, would I be able to go out?" Leona asked.

I frowned. I wasn't sure what she had planned.

"I suppose."

"Wonderful!" Leona pulled herself together into a ball and exploded into flames.

I coughed at the sudden ash and dust in the air.

"Peep!"

Out of the pile of ashes emerged a fuzzy yellow chick.

"Leona?" I asked, unsure.

"Indeed! I mimicked those chickens, or rather their chicks. And looks like I fooled you. Ho ho ho… I am magnificent."

"Very magnificent," I echoed.

Leona puffed out her little yellow fuzzy chest.

"Human, can I leave with you as I am now disguised?"

The yellow chick stared at me expectantly.

I sighed.

I couldn't say no.

"Fine, you can come as you are."

"Wonderful!" Leona flapped her short yellow wings and jumped onto my shoulder. "Let us go then, human."

"You can't speak, though. Chickens don't speak," I warned Leona.

It's fine. I can speak into your mind.

"I can't telecommunicate, however. So I'll have to speak out loud to talk to you."

"Peep!"

Hmpt. Well that's your problem. Not mine. Learn to telecommunicate too.

Damn it. Now I have two beings I had to find ways to speak to without looking like a madman talking to himself.

I wasn't sure what was worse, to be caught talking to thin air or conversing with a chicken.