Thea found herself running. Giant beasts draped in shadow kept close to her heels no matter how fast she went, no matter how many turns she made.
She couldn't shift and fly away, she tried again and again but every time it failed, and she felt as if her soul was being burned away.
She couldn't attack the beasts. Anytime she would go to use her flame it was the same soul-searing pain from when she tried to shift.
She felt helpless, she couldn't fight, she couldn't get away.
To her left and right, she could see the faces, and hear the screams, of her legionnaires as they were ripped to shreds by the beasts. She couldn't help them.
Anytime she tried to fight the shadows she would be burned away in pitch black inky flame. She would then wake up to the screams and pain and shadows once again.
Over and over, she ran and burned and listened to the screams.
Sometimes she just gave up, but the pain was too much, and she would start running again.
There was one time the nightmare had an aberration. She was in the midst of fleeing the beasts when a sharp pain as if someone had driven a knife through her body, intruded on the sameness. She almost wrote it off but it was different from the pain she felt gnawing at her soul.
Thea wondered what it was as it caused her to stumble to a halt. She thought she saw a small pinprick of light in the darkness as the shadows swarmed over and devoured her once again.
The next time the aberration failed to happen, and she was back in the endless cycle of the nightmare. She began to wonder if it happened at all.
**
Zag flew through the night into the northern mountain ranges. He alighted on a well-worn ledge in front of a massive cave.
He walked through the entrance and laid the phoenix down on a cleared patch of relatively level stone. He finally got a chance to examine her, and she was not in a good state. Her golden flame was sputtering and flickering in a way he could only see as unhealthy for her species.
He searched through his mind and searched for memories on how phoenixes dealt with their wounded. Most of what he recalled is that they just healed themselves with their fire. However, he remembered the incident where Thea healed him after the battle at the ruined fort, they could heal each other it seemed.
He puffed out a short stream of flame and practiced working in the golden phoenix flame that she had ‘gifted’ him with at that time. The fire came out as a stream of crimson with flecks of sun gold fire dancing around inside it.
He practiced mixing the flames for a while since too much dragon fire would just result in her being burned away.
When he was satisfied with his control over it he let out a gushing stream of fire and lowered it towards her gradually, careful not to let it come into direct contact with her body.
He watched as her golden flamed reached up and hungrily grabbed at the fire he was releasing towards her. As her flames grew stronger after absorbing his he would lower the stream of fire closer to her. Eventually, she was engulfed in a whirlwind of dancing crimson and golden flames.
Her flames looked to be burning on their own after he let his breath dissipate. She was still lost to sleep however, which was something Zag decided to do as well once he was confident she wouldn't die.
**
The dream had changed. The shadows had been eaten by a wall of crimson fire. Her soldiers were replaced by golden lights that ascended up the wall of flame into the sky. The screams were gone, the soul-searing pain was gone. She collapsed on the ground, the nightmare was gone.
**
Thea woke up. Her mind was foggy but it did manage to grasp two things, she hurt everywhere and it was pitch dark, she couldn't see anything. She strained and lifted her head enough to determine by the soft light coming from what looked like a cavern entrance that she wasn't blind.
She collapsed back down after that effort and shuffled her legs and wings trying to achieve a more comfortable position on the stone she was lying on.
Thea wondered where she was. She remembered being knocked out during the battle with the qilins and those shadow...things and then after that she only remembered the pain.
With her eyes not being useful in this level of darkness, she strained her ears trying to hear anything that was around her. She was used to a night full of sounds but here it seemed oddly quiet.
There! She could hear the sound of breathing. It was the rhythmic breath of something in a deep sleep. She couldn't hear breathing coming from anyplace else, she figured it must be only her and whatever was slumbering in this cave and the rhythm wasn't one that fit a sleeping qilin or phoenix or any other being she was familiar with, too much air was being moved through its lungs.
She drifted back to sleep with those thoughts racing through her mind.
**
She awoke once more. Thea had no idea how much time had passed since she had drifted back to sleep the last time but it was still pitch black. She still hurt everywhere but it wasn’t quite as difficult to lift her head and try to look around.
Thea cursed her lack of night vision as she looked around. She tried to stand up and even had some success, she wasn't sure if she could take a step or not, and she was certain she wouldn't be flying anytime soon.
“You should go back to sleep,” a voice in the darkness told her. She swung her head around to face the direction it came from.
What she saw were two golden eyes reflecting the soft light from the cave entrance. She flinched back from it which more or less caused her to collapse in a heap.
“You have nothing to fear in this place,” the voice told her. “I am not your enemy. Now go back to sleep, and we’ll talk when you can see properly.”
Lying back on the stone she began to think that there was something familiar about the voice. She thought back on everything and while she was doing so drifted back to sleep.
**
Zag sat watching the phoenix sleep as the sun rose and light slowly invaded his lair. She was breathing easier than she had been throughout the night. The telltale twitching and trembling of her nightmares were no longer there and her flames crackled in a relaxed but steady way over her body.
Overall, Zag thought she looked quite healthy, although he wasn’t sure how she was going to take the drastic change in appearance. He expected her primordial flame would cause some changes once his dragon fire passed on to her but nothing quite this drastic.
Her feathers were no longer the solid sun gold that marked all phoenixes. They faded into orange and then crimson in streaks and highlights throughout each feather. It made her look as if she was made of natural flame instead of the magically specialized fires of the flame-touched.
He started to shuffle around the lair amongst his treasures. He dug through different things to kill time by immersing himself in the nostalgia of remembering how the items came to him. Gifts from human kings long dead, books from libraries long-lost to time. He moved some things around and placed some things in an area to be worked on or restored later.
Eventually, he heard the phoenix stirring around, and he came back over to where she was. She was noticeably stronger. She was able to stand up and hop and walk in the ungainly gate used by most large birds. He could still see her legs wobble, and she had to use her wings more often than she should for keeping balance.
“Well that’s a good sign, I wasn’t entirely sure if what I did would work or not,” Zag said to her. She didn't panic as much this time, but she still jumped at the sound of his voice. “It was the first time I used phoenix fire to directly affect something after all.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
She stared at him with a blank and uncomprehending look.
“There are women’s clothing in those crates over there,” he indicated several boxes he had brought over while she still slept. “Take what you like from them since I’m sure you have questions. Take a peek in that mirror and you’ll have one more at least.”
She kept one eye, full of suspicion, glued to him as she went over to the crates and mirror.
Zag watched her as she looked at herself in the mirror. She seemed frozen at the sight, he wasn't entirely she even breathed during the entire time she gazed into her reflection.
She eventually pried herself away from the mirror and with stiff movements went behind one of the crates of clothing and shifted to her human form. He watched her shove the top of the crate open and sift through the top layer of carefully folded clothing.
After several pieces of clothing were dug out and several pieces were put back only to be traded for others she came out from behind the crate. Her expression showed how shaken she was by the changes but the anger was also making itself known.
“What...did...you...do...to...me!?” she held up stands of her formerly sun-golden hair now streaked with red.
“It was your power that caused it,” Zag gave her an irritated glare. “In fact, if anyone were to complain it should be me, I have a golden spot on my chest where you healed me, you know?”
She was rendered speechless. She stood and stared in open-mouthed shock and had no idea what to do.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Zag reassured her. “Although I think once you understand the benefits the changes won't seem so bad.”
Thea stood with her feet at shoulder width and crossed her arms under her chest. She took a deep breath in order to calm down after the severe derailment of her thoughts.
“Go on,” she encouraged Zag to proceed.
“I told you before about primordial flame, this is what it is and does,” he explained. “It gifts and receives the fires of the flame-touched. My mother said it is a fragment of the fire god himself but who knows, I doubt she actually asked him personally since they didn't get along.”
“Gifts and receives?” the anger had faded off her face and disbelief had taken its place. “You mean to say…”
“I just healed you with fire,” Zag replied. “Dragon fire isn't really known to be able to do that.”
Zag lifted one of his forelimbs up and spread his claws. In his hand, a golden ball of flame danced to life. It looked tiny in relation to his massive bulk but it was the only thing occupying Thea’s sight.
“And you,” Zag continued, “should be able to use my flame to an even greater extent than I can use these phoenix flames.”
“I see,” she said, “at the cost of looking ridiculous.”
“If you could go back home all the young phoenix lads would be all over you, you’d be cinnamon in a field of wheat.”
“Don’t mock me!” she snapped before calming herself down again. She knew full well that she was at a disadvantage if Zag became angry. “What even is cinnamon?”
“It’s a spice from the south, it has a nice sharp flavor. I wonder if I should call you that from now on…”
“I will fight you!” Thea yelled losing all pretense of being careful. “You said: “If I could go home...” tell me what happened.”
“You probably guessed that, at best, most of your troops are dead,” Zag started to explain. “When we were in Tiantang my son found out that there had been a coup in the Phoenix Duchy and the ruling family had been overthrown while you were busy chasing him around in the north.”
“My parents...?” the shock and fear of hearing that news caused her entire body to go limp. Zag thought for a second that she would collapse.
“I don’t know what exactly has happened to them,” Zag told her. “Were there any strange humans trying to involve themselves in the court?”
“What? Not that I know of,” she snapped back up to face him. "Why?"
“Because it’s has been happening in Tiantang,” Zag explained. “I received a letter from Huilei’s sister while I was there.”
“Tell me,” she hesitated a little, “what did they do to me after I was captured.”
“They impaled you with a spear that kept you in your pure-blood state and paraded you through the city in a large iron birdcage.”
Her face paled at his blunt description she had never felt so angry. The anger had opened the gates for her grief and frustration to slip past her facade of military logic. Nothing in her training told her what to do.
“What are you planning to do with me then?” she barely kept her composure.
“Eventually you need to meet with my mother and the ‘being’ she is watching over, although we have to wait on that for a while,” Zag stood back up and stretched. “In the meantime, I don't really care what you do, I’m just not going to let the Covenant have you.”
Thea looked at the ground for a long time. Zag just stood and watched her. He didn't want the sounds of him moving to interrupt her thoughts.
“Why wouldn't you bring me there right away?”
“I’m currently kidnapping Huilei’s sister by proxy,” Zag was being very nonchalant. He even looked rather bored from Thea’s perspective.
“What!?” Thea was shocked, “Why? Oh, you must be using the witch who summoned you!”
She was a little freaked out when Zag smiled at her in response. A dragon’s smile just looked predatory no matter what.
They were interrupted by the sound of her stomach growling.
“I’ll go get something to eat, you might want to turn back to your pure-blood state for it,” Zag told her. “Think about what you want to do and if you need to use the bathroom just go outside somewhere. Treat those clothes well they belonged to my first mate."
She watched as he lumbered out of the cave entrance and leaped off the ledge into the air. Tears were escaping through her mask more and more.
She walked out of the cavern, still trying to hold back the tears, and took the clothes off. She folded them neatly and set them off to the side with a few small stones as weights to keep them from being blown away.
She handled her business and shifted back to her pure-blood phoenix form. Still, not really able to fly due to being so weak she clambered up onto the flat top of a large rock and laid down in the morning sun. It was only then that she gave herself over to her grief.
**
Zag flew towards his favorite hunting ground, an abnormality of unnatural heat past the hot springs he had taken Liangfeng to so long ago. He looked down as the greenery changed from mountain pines to the trees and ferns that filled the steamy valley he was looking for.
He observed the creatures in the place looking for one with enough meat on it for both him and the phoenix that was also small enough he could still fly while carrying it.
He circled again and again until he noticed some kind of predatory lizard slinking around a herd of creatures that were too large for him to carry off. It fit all the criteria and was too focused on its own hunt to notice him. He simply needed to time it just right so the herd of creatures didn't alert the predator to his own presence in the sky.
Zag waited and the creature made its move. It charged a young member of the herd and everything was thrown into chaotic turmoil as they scattered. Small birds flew chattering from the trees and brush in alarm.
Zag dove, he increased his speed to the max with a few flaps of his wings before he tucked them back and let gravity handle the rest. The target gained ground on its own prey and was prepared to make the final sprint to close in and trip it up when Zag hit it. The ground seemed to shake with the impact as the creature was killed instantly from the impact, multiple bones were crushed including the neck.
The prey it had been chasing ran away even more terrified of its savior than it was of the creature hunting it.
Zag gathered up the creature into his jaws and struggled back into the sky. He turned back to his cave and made his way there with all the haste his burden would allow.
**
Zag made it back to see the phoenix sunning herself on a stone perch. He wasn't able to tell if she was still awake or not but as he landed heavily and put down the carcass of the creature he had slain she lifted her head.
The Phoenix scrambled down from the perch and hopped over towards him. She looked back and forth between him and the carcass. She was instinctually wary with him being a larger predator.
Zag moved a short distance away and laid down in the sun. He kept his eyes locked on her as she tore into the underbelly of the creature with her talons and ripped the flesh from it with her hooked beak to swallow it down.
He couldn't help but grin when he realized she was digging her way to the best parts of the feast.
When she looked like she had her fill Zag got up and proceeded to eat the remains, bones and all. He finished and turned his gaze to find that a bird can look shocked and slightly horrified.
He watched as she came back to herself and with a burst of fire she burned off the bits stuck in her feathers and melted a hole in the part of the ledge she was standing over.
Zag huffed muffled laughter as she backed away from the hole once again mired in shock and surprise.
“It took me quite some time to control the bit of phoenix fire you gave me,” Zag reassured her. “You'll have to be careful with it for a while.”
She glared at him and his unnerving smile.
“Do you need water, as well?” he changed the subject.
She shook her head to indicate that she did not.
“Have you decided what you want to do?”
She hesitated, she tried to remain objective in her decision-making. After a moment of thought she nodded to indicate that she knew what she wanted.
“I’ll go back inside," Zag told her. “Tell me what it is when you finish out here.”
Zag went back into the cavern and laid down not too far away from the entrance. After a few moments, Thea made her way inside as well and walked over to where he was.
“What do you want to do?”
“I need to find out if anyone survived the ambush,” she told him. “There was also something strange going on during the attack I wanted to investigate.”
I see,” Zag nodded.
“Then I need to go home, I need to find out for sure what happened. My mother was very close to laying an egg.”
“Very well, we can leave when you can fly again,” Zag curled back up and started to go to sleep. “Work on building your strength back up and controlling your dragon fire. If you get hungry let me know.”
Thea was stunned by how easily Zag accepted everything. She wondered how the world must seem to a being as long-lived as a dragon.
**
Over the next two days, Thea rehabilitated her strength to the point where she had no problems with flying. She felt like her regenerative powers were even stronger than they were before she got the unwanted highlights on her feathers and hair.
Once she was sure she was strong enough she decided to go tell the dragon that she was ready to leave.
“Dragon,” she called to him after she made her way to where he was, “I am ready to leave.”
“Where do we need to go?”
“It was along the southern road leading into the Werelands from Tiantang City,” she explained to him.
“I was hoping the Boy would reach here first but something must have held them up,” Zag muttered while he stretched. “They’ll just have to catch up. I assume we’ll go to Proelefsi to find out for sure what happened to your relatives after that?”
“That is my wish,” Thea replied.
“Very well, I’ve actually never been there before,” he flared his wings and prepared to take off. “Let’s see if you can keep up.”