The glow from his enflamed left hand lit up the gem in a thousand iridescent fractals. The effect of the flickering firelight on the object was so mesmerizing that it took Tilly several moments to notice a pulling sensation on the flame around his hand.

Tearing his eyes from the glowing gem, he saw the flame surrounding his hand straining toward the gem, like iron fillings to a magnet.

“What the-” He muttered as he tried to cut off the flow of his mana to his hand.

It didn’t work.

He actually felt the flame in his chest stoking higher in response to the pull on his mana. Whatever this was, his flame-aspected mana wanted to connect. As he pushed harder, he realized he could cut off his mana flow, but the mana itself seemed… reluctant. The straining flame’s wispy edges stretched as hard as they could, falling just short of the gem’s surface.

Well, the fire inside him hadn’t steered him wrong so far, and this was a quest reward…

Tilly’s wince of concern softened as he felt something from the gem that reminded him of the mewling noise a kitten would make when it was looking for its mother. Hunger?

Mystified, Tilly slowly moved his hand closer, until the flame’s edge touched on the surface of the gem. Upon contact, it was sucked into the tiny crack on the gems gleaming face. The pulling on Tilly’s mana pathways did not lessen, if anything it increased, and he couldn’t help but glance up at his mana bar, as the gem continued to pull on his flame hungrily.

Tilly watched as his mana ticked down to eighty percent. The glare from the gem had grown noticeably brighter, and it occurred to him that he didn't want anyone coming by to ask what was going on. So looking around, he hunched over the now happily shining object and started to move away from the tents.

“Man, I hope Nyuk was wrong about you... If you look like you are going to explode, I’m jumping into the river, I swear!” He muttered down urgently at the object he was trying unsuccessfully to hide under his jacket.

The gem continued to glow brighter, and heaven help him, Tilly found himself smiling at the contented burble it released into his mind as the pull suddenly cut off. Tilly looked around suspiciously at his surroundings, but the far edge of the camp he had wandered through was quiet. At this point, the gem…

No, the egg, had grown as bright as a bonfire. Sapphire-hued light danced through its many facets.

Tilly moved away from the edge of the camp toward the bank of the river, tucking the thing under his leathers. Another contented burble sounded off in his mind, and he shot off a quick plea to Origin that this wasn’t some sort of cute/sentient bomb.

Once his moccasins hit the sandy edge of the river bank, he hunkered down and took the gem back out, shielding as much of the light as he could with his body.

“What exactly are you?” He whispered to it.

In response, it started to thrum, then vibrate, as the light emerging from its center brightened. Tilly's expression of wonder broke down into a cringe of worry as the small crack burst with an even greater light and began to spread across the surface in a network of fine fractures.

“Please, please, please. Don't be a bomb.” He hissed at the object as the vibrations it was produced built into a crescendo.

Tilly - felt? Understood? Heard? He didn't really know how to describe it.

A tiny exultant cry emerged from the back of his mind as the surface of the crystalline egg shattered into a million motes of light.

Blinking his eyes rapidly to try and clear the sudden blindness, he rubbed at them with his other hand.

“Peep?”

As his sight returned he was surprised to find something that looked a lot like a chick standing on his hand, no bigger than a baseball.

“Peep?” It said again, giving him that side-cocked one-eye look that only birds could give. Its down coat was completely white instead of yellow, and its little feet supported surprisingly sharp talons for a newborn.

“What are you?” He asked again.

Then as if the system had finally decided to throw him a bone, an Identifier pinging above its head.

Bonded Newborn Phoenix

No level, but he guessed he would have to figure that out later. For now, he was struck by how unbelievably adorable the little thing was.

“You are way better than some fancy new class… aren’t you?” He cooed at the chick as it began to scratch and peck at his hand. Tilly immediately got the impression it was asking for more… food. Especially since the little talons only mimicked the motion and didn't break the surface of his skin.

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Without thinking he enflamed the hand it was standing on in response to its unspoken request. It chirped happily finding itself surrounded by the blue fire and began to peck in earnest at the flames dancing around it. Tilly perceived the heat being pulled from around his hand, up into his palm, and then disappearing as the phoenix consumed it.

“What do I call you, little thing?” He asked in delight.

Without breaking off its happy pecking, Tilly felt a complex series of images and sensations move through his mind.

He saw an infinite flat expanse. It was completely dark and cold with nothing to break up its features. Then something changed far in the distance, the darkness lost its heaviness and the smallest blush of light burst forth. The light wasn’t powerful or overwhelming, but in the context of the endless dark expanse, it held a whole universe of meaning.

The chick broke off its pecking as the flame sputtered out, another 10% of Tilly’s mana gone. It then settled down happily onto his palm.

“Any chance you have a nickname? I don’t think that will translate very well into regular speech.”

“Peep!” The chick trilled offendedly, cocking its head at him in consternation before settling down into a seated position and preening itself.

Before he could make any suggestions, he felt its awareness begin to move through his memories like a light illuminating the page of a book. After a few minutes, the chick shook its little head and ruffled up its down feathers before tucking its head into its shoulder.

The awareness faded from his mind, and Tilly heard a faint whisper dance at the edge of his consciousness.

She who kindles the dawn.

Then she was asleep, nestled in the palm of his hand, and he couldn't help but smile. He could feel the little creature's complete trust in him as it drifted off. He had been given charge of something helpless and adorable, and as inconvenient as it might turn out to be, he felt its unconditional trust eroding at some of his self-doubt.

“Thanks for working so hard to simplify it for me, little one. How about I call you Kindle out loud, but between us, I'll use your full name.” He whispered.

The little phoenix didn't reply, and Tilly watched the minute expansion and contraction of her little chest as she settled into a deep rhythmic sleep. Watching her like that called Tilly’s attention to his own bone-deep weariness. He had been beaten like a drum, done CPR, and walked all over the Alliance trying to reconnect with the few people he hadn’t seen on this side of the portal.

Tucking her into the crook of his arm, slightly out of sight, Tilly headed back to his small one-room shack. He arrived almost an hour after sunset and he slid open the unlocked door to his small house. As he closed the door on the ever-changing city landscape outside, he wondered for a moment why his small building had remained untouched.

Shrugging to himself he moved into the room in almost pitch-black darkness, kicking the edge of his bed in the process. He grunted in frustration and Kindle ruffled up her feathers before resettling absently in his hand.

Not wanting to disturb her any further, he crawled into bed and set her against the warm exposed skin of his neck. She chirped sleepily and moved in closer until a light but very noticeable pressure started to expand and constrict in the space between his shoulders and his chin. Without further thought or worry, he too drifted off to sleep, dreaming about the breaking of dawn and the beginning of things.

…

The next morning he awoke to a jabbing in his neck. He jerked back, afraid he was being bitten by a bug.

“Gah” He gasped as scrambling sleepily from his bed.

A small cry of outrage followed him as he moved from his original position.

“Peep!”

Coming completely to wakefulness, the full breath of yesterday's events hit him and he looked down at the little phoenix in awe…

She looked him dead in the eye, and slowly mimed scratching and pecking.

“Oh! Of course. You are hungry!” He said, his eyes wandering around the room, and finding his typical breakfast tray and pitcher of water. Man, they were good. How did they always have this ready before he woke?

Kindle followed his glance around the room and found nothing of interest. She peeped at him again to grab his attention and mimed eating, trying to help him understand what she wanted.

“Yeah, yeah! I get it. But we can’t just feed you off the heat my flames produce. I can only assume your appetite will grow, so we need to figure out a better system...” She eyed him critically, unimpressed by his excuses.

“Besides, no way am I going to feed you inside a wooded building. Meals will happen strictly outside!” He said firmly.

Tilly moved over and began to scarf down his food to the outraged sound of more than a few chirped complaints from his new companion. The injustice of his act was clearly more than she could bear. As quickly as he could, he scrambled out the door, with Kindle insisting that she should now ride on his shoulder. When he placed her there, her little claws locked into the material of his jacket and no matter how he moved she stayed happily perched in place. And so he emerged out into the street with an all-white chick riding on his shoulder, like some sort of wannabee pirate.

On his way to the parade ground, he stopped a group of carpenters and asked what they did with their waste pieces of lumber. The lapin replied that they were sent into the camp and added to the firewood supply. When Tilly inquired if he could have some delivered to the parade grounds each day, the lapin bowed and went off to speak with some of the other workers.

Reassuring Kindle that he did, in fact, have a plan to feed her, he jogged to the parade ground realizing that the phoenix was not at all bothered by his movements. By the time he arrived, the drilling had already begun and he could tell he was later than he had been yesterday.

“Baby-Man! Where have you been? Are you scared to fight Gorock?” A booming voice called from beyond the water troughs.

Tilly winced and cleared his throat to try and clear the sudden nervous warmth that rose from his stomach at the thought of several hours with the giant warrior.

“Am I looking forward to it? No.” He called, turning to square up on the Bastion who of course had also received a new class in the aftermath of the Quest Reward. Except his was different from his companions,

Level 48 Wall Breaker

The Gorock stood there, almost twice as tall as Tilly, and looked down at him with a sadistic grin on his goat face…

Or not, Tilly still couldn’t read Gorock's expressions, but if he had any money, he would have put it all on ‘Sadistic Grin’.