It was an excellent day for MRD. Even though the coilgun hadn’t managed to take out all of the Rogues, the field test proved the effectiveness of the weapon. Of course, it was kept a military secret for the time being, but it was only a matter of time before it was more widespread.
Although Prelinsa and the others didn’t see any more Rogues in their area, the attacks intensified in number elsewhere. Though with the countermeasures in place, they were kept far from populated areas. For now, they were still under control, and there were no civilian casualties yet. There was still no sign of the mysterious teachers, even with Rensa’s method actor strategy.
The public was growing restless at this point, and a few were starting to question House Silvermoon’s ability to manage the Greater Realm. As this went on, Rensa ordered increasingly strong and capable mages to look for the ghostly enemies.
After her outing in the Great Desert, Prelinsa returned to Pyrus, where she was instructed to take a break for a week. It was important not to overdo things, and take it easy once in a while. If Prelinsa didn’t take it easy, one of the higher ranked Silvermoons would eventually force her to do so.
“Glad to have ya home, Prelinsa,” Missus B. commented over lunch.
“Same,” Prelinsa agreed, setting down her fork. “It’s nice to have just the two of us like this.”
“If only Marianne could see what a fine woman you’ve become,” Missus B. mused. “Sorry. I know ya don’t like talking about the past.”
“It’s fine.”
“So. What are ya gonna do this week?”
“The usual,” Prelinsa replied. “Practice my magic. Go out on walks and runs. Maybe catch up on that book you recommended. The Fluffy Witcher.”
“Ah yeah, that one’s a hoot! Not gonna spoil it, but I think you’ll enjoy.”
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Later that day, Prelinsa flew off over the lava flats to Pear Mountain – the volcano near Pyrus. She wanted to see if she could reinforce her understanding of the Path of the Phoenix, which might help her even better deal with the Rogue situation.
There were Six Stages to the Path of the Phoenix, as taught by Elder Kirith Silvermoon:
The Origin Stage was where one received a Phoenix Spark.
The Synthesis Stage was where the Spark became a Heart, and integrated with the body.
The Purification Stage reconstituted the body – increasing its lifespan, burning away weaknesses, and making one largely immune to poisons and illnesses.
The Adamance Stage increased one’s lifespan even further, and allowed one to cast fire that would never go out.
The Renewal Stage allowed one to live without food and regrow entire body parts.
The Rebirth Stage allowed one to cheat death itself, being reborn over and over again in fire.
During the Second Civil War, Prelinsa had broken through to the Purification Stage with the help of an Avatar of the Phoenix. But in the six years since, she hadn’t made as much progress as she would’ve liked – she was still at the peak of the Purification Stage. Even so, being here after six years was considered incredible pace.
Flying overhead, she could see the lake of lava in Pear Mountain’s crater, with various islands dotting it. Here, the dance of fire and mana was extremely strong, which was beneficial to learning. The smell of sulfur was rather intense, and there were various poisonous gases being vented into the atmosphere that would incapacitate most people. However, this was far from overwhelming for a Phoenix Warrior in the Purification Stage.
There were others present in the crater – some of the Elders and Phoenix Knights. Some sat peacefully in meditation, while others sparred with each other. Some were even swimming or floating in the lava. The intense heat bothered nobody – heat resistance came with the territory of fire magic in general. Most couldn’t take this level of heat, but Phoenix Warriors were the strongest fire mages.
As she descended into the crater, Prelinsa didn’t disturb the others, instead landing on an unoccupied island. She drew her katana, closed her eyes, and breathed in and out, taking in the sensations around her. The thick smell of smoke and sulfur. The shouts of sparring warriors. The occasional pops of a lava bubble.
Then, she opened her eyes, and took a fighting stance. She imagined a strong opponent before her. Prince Rupeth was the best swordfighter she knew of. Prelinsa yelled and began attacking the shadow-Rupeth, clashing swords.
Rupeth was going easy on her, but allowed her to maintain the pressure. However, he fought casually, without a care in the world. She continued to pile on the aggression, before Rupeth counterattacked and forced her on the defensive.
Prelinsa stopped, and reset herself, lowering her sword. Something was still missing in her technique. She knew she had to be able to force more out of Rupeth than this. The Adamance Stage was all about persistence – the ability to persevere in the face of great hardship.
Prelinsa had persistence, but it seemed like her fundamental understanding was somehow lacking. The amount of heat in Pear Mountain wasn’t enough to help her. Eventually, the volcano itself would die, too, after all. The Primordial Fires on the other hand were everlasting, and fundamental to the universe, but her grasp of them wasn’t complete enough.
Prelinsa took another deep breath, and resumed her shadow sparring. She kept going at this without fail for a few hours, but in the end, didn’t succeed in advancing her understanding.
Seeing that it was not working, Prelinsa chose to do something different, and dove headfirst into the lava.
The lava was extremely thick and dense, which made it hard just to stay under the surface, but Prelinsa forced herself under with blasts of fire. She was surrounded by heat, and couldn’t see anything – only feel. Her hearing was also out of sorts. She swam around, occasionally resurfacing for air, while using the mana flow to understand her orientation in space. Hoping that the lava would give her answers.
It was a comfortable swim, and it helped just a little. Prelinsa could feel her Phoenix Heart reacting to the lava. But ultimately, it wasn’t enough, and she didn’t want to push the issue and risk blowing herself up. She emerged from her efforts without having made much progress.
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On the fifth day of her break, Prelinsa went out for another long walk. Walks were good. As she entered a plaza, she saw Corynn pacing nervously. The Silvermoon Princess had a bit of a frown to her face, and her tail was held low and stationary.
“Corynn? Something up?”
“Oh, Prelinsa,” Corynn said, looking up. “Have you seen Carolynn anywhere?”
Prelinsa shook her head. “I haven’t, why?”
As they spoke, a red squirrel stopped by to watch the two pokkits. It tilted its head curiously.
“I haven’t seen her at all for the past few days, and she hasn’t responded to my calls or texts,” Corynn explained. “I’ve asked other people I know too. I’m getting a bit worried.”
“Hmm. I’ll let you know if I see her.”
“Thanks.”
Prelinsa waved goodbye to Corynn. As she headed down the street, a security robot passed by in the other direction, rolling along on six legs that each had a pair of rugged wheels. It had a sensor tower on top, mounted to the same rotating assembly as a magic blaster turret. Prelinsa could sense mana burners and enchantments – it was an artificial mage.
Prelinsa waved at the machine, wondering if it would respond. It did, stopping briefly to scan the pokkit.
“Echo on. Identified ally Phoenix Knight: Prelinsa Silvermoon-Brunswick. Unit Lithium Five says hello. Echo off.”
It then continued on its way. Even though she’d seen robots many times before, it always impressed Prelinsa how intelligent they were. According to Rensa, machines could eventually rival people in terms of general intelligence and self-awareness, thus achieving sapience. The Grand Princess had made formal statements that research into such machines should be very carefully regulated. Machines that were judged to be sapient would also be given rights befitting of their status.
Prelinsa wondered how one could even tell that a machine was sapient. For the time being, there probably wasn’t much use speculating. That was a job for the experts.
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As she made her way back home along the streets that evening, in the residential outer shell of the Fortress, Prelinsa smelled a familiar scent, mixed in with copious amounts of alcohol. This immediately concerned her, so she picked up her pace, heading towards the source.
Entering an alleyway, she found Camilla stumbling about, looking extra dolled up with nice makeup, a short, black, sleeveless blouse, and very short denim shorts. Even for the summer weather, her arms and legs were way more exposed than they usually were – it was an unusually ambitious look for the lycan.
Camilla was also absolutely hammered out of her mind and reeked terribly of booze – it was the first time Prelinsa had ever seen her in such a sorry state. Normally, she was so diligent and serious. If their positions were reversed, Camilla would probably be rolling her eyes and scolding Prelinsa for doing something so dumb. Not that Prelinsa could get drunk in the first place.
The lycan nearly tripped on nothing, almost falling into a puddle of urine that someone had left behind. She only just barely kept her balance by putting both of her hands on a nearby wall. Camilla’s Firebird Heart was in chaos, but luckily it wasn’t burning brightly at the moment. That could cause issues otherwise.
“Hey… izzat Prelinsa?” Camilla slurred, looking at Prelinsa in a daze and getting herself off the wall. Her face was flushed red, and her eyes were only about half open. This look triggered something in Prelinsa – Camilla looked strangely attractive in this state.
“Cammy, you’re very drunk,” Prelinsa commented, moving over to help Camilla stay upright. She overrode her sinister desires with her concern for her friend.
“Hehehe. Prelinsa, there’s four of you. Four Prelinsas, just for me~” Camilla’s tail wagged rapidly in happiness, as Prelinsa put her arms around Camilla’s torso to keep her upright. Camilla’s floppy ears twitched faintly.
“Come on, let’s get you back home to the Leclerc Marquisate,” Prelinsa urged. “Mira’s going to be worried about you.”
“Nooo! I wanna go home with the Prelinsas~” Camilla clung tightly to Prelinsa. The smell of alcohol was very strong, and with Prelinsa’s supernatural senses, it would’ve even made her woozy. However, it was offset by the resistance to ill effects provided by her Phoenix Heart. Prelinsa wasn’t a religious sort, but she mentally thanked the gods for that – otherwise, things could get dicey. It wasn’t right to take advantage of Camilla’s inebriated state.
The pokkit had heard that liquor sometimes brought out one’s inner self. Maybe this desire for affection was what Camilla had been suppressing the entire time. Camilla was a fairly repressed person, so she sometimes held back even when she didn’t have to. Now, all of those feelings were spilling out of her like an overflowing mug of… alcohol.
“No,” Prelinsa said firmly. “Your family’s more important. I can stay with you at your home if you really want, but we’re not going to my house.”
“Urgh, fiiiiine. But only because you promised to come with me.”
Prelinsa began helping Camilla walk, but Camilla stumbled again, and Prelinsa had to help keep her upright. The lycan, who was still slouched over, looked up at Prelinsa with doe eyes, her face still scarlet red. “I can’t walk. Carry me,” she said.
Prelinsa closed her eyes and thought for a moment, once again suppressing her temptations to do evil things. Then she breathed out and opened her eyes again. “Alright,” she agreed, gripping Camilla by the waist and preparing to lift her up. “Up you go-”
“Wait, stop! Put me down!”
Prelinsa did so. Camilla promptly turned to face the alley wall and unzipped her shorts. Prelinsa looked away and covered her ears as Camilla began emptying the alcohol out of her system. It wasn’t a rare sight for a woman in the military to do so standing – it was less vulnerable and there were techniques for it, even without the ‘advantage’ that men had. But typically that was done out in nature, not in the middle of the capitol.
This went on for a little while – there was quite a lot of alcohol.
“Okay, I’m done~” Camilla finally said, putting her clothes back into place. “Now bring me back home~” She said, a bit more bossily.
“Give me your hands first so I can clean them,” Prelinsa said.
Camilla complied, holding her hands forth. Prelinsa raised her own hands and cast some cleansing phoenixfire on Camilla’s – probably the least exciting use case for phoenixfire. For good measure, she also destroyed the evidence on the alley wall. Being a magic soap dispenser was not what she had in mind when she chose to become a Phoenix Warrior.
“Alright, now I’ll carry you home.”
She gently lifted Camilla up in her arms. Camilla giggled.
“Hehe, a princess carry. So you do know how to be romantic~”
“Yeah?” Prelinsa remarked, summoning her phoenix wings and taking off for the Leclerc Estate.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“I’m going to mark today down in my diary. The day that Prelinsa flew me under a night sky~”
“With how drunk you are, will you even remember this before writing it down?” Prelinsa wondered aloud.
Camilla pouted. “That’s rude. Of course I’ll remember.”
“Well, I’m not sure that you’ll want to,” Prelinsa commented. She didn’t fly too fast – she wanted to keep the ride comfortable for Camilla.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Camilla asked. “This is soooo perfect. You’re carrying me in your arms like a bride, flying under a cloudless sky. The aurora’s real pretty tonight, too. Look how it shimmers back and forth, back and forth…”
Suddenly, she retched and made a face.
“Hmm. Looking at the aurora is making me sick…”
“Okay, we are landing right now,” Prelinsa said.
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Luckily, they found a public restroom just in time. Prelinsa waited outside for several minutes, giving Camilla some privacy. Camilla wouldn’t have wanted Prelinsa to see her in such an undignified state. That said, Prelinsa’s sharp ears could hear some rather unflattering noises coming from the restroom. She did her best to ignore them.
Eventually, the lycan woman staggered out, looking quite a bit more sober now, and with some of her makeup hastily removed. She held the back of her hand to her forehead, looking incredibly ashamed as she slumped down on a nearby bench.
“…I am so, so sorry,” she said, looking up at the aurora, and not daring to look Prelinsa in the eyes. This time, her face wasn’t red because of the alcohol. She also appeared to be suffering from a terrible headache, as she winced in pain.
“Are you okay now?” Prelinsa asked.
“Ugh, gods no. I feel awful. Both physically and mentally,” Camilla complained.
“Yeah, I figured.”
Camilla finally made eye contact with Prelinsa. She looked very agitated, as she began to vent uncontrollably. “This is all because of you, you know? I can’t get over you. I don’t even know what I’m doing right now! If only-”
“So it’s my fault you’re a total wreck right now,” Prelinsa interrupted, crossing her arms. After having tried to be helpful, she felt rather annoyed at this ungrateful outburst.
A flurry of different expressions came out of Camilla. First she looked panicked, then regretful, then apologetic and deeply ashamed. “Wait, no! That’s- ugh. I’m sorry. That wasn’t… what I wanted to say,” she said quietly, staring down at her feet.
Prelinsa took a deep breath, calming herself as she uncrossed her arms. Getting annoyed wasn’t the right solution here. She needed to be compassionate. Right now, Camilla was in a terrible headspace, and didn’t necessarily mean what she said. Like Missus B. would say, her friend was sick, and needed help. She channeled her energy into trying to be helpful.
“Then what did you want to say?” Prelinsa asked more softly, trying to be empathetic and listen actively.
“I… I don’t even know!” Camilla blurted out, trembling as she began to cry. “I’m so stressed right now! There’s so much bad stuff going on with the Rogues! I’m scared that someone I know is going to get hurt! Meanwhile, I’ve been working so hard towards becoming a Phoenix Warrior, but the Elders never wanted to teach me, and the reason why is me! Not some skill or talent issue, but me personally! I’m the problem! So I can’t learn the Path of the Phoenix, and I can’t even be together with you! Everything sucks! What have I even been working towards my entire life?!”
Prelinsa nodded along occasionally. Tears streamed down Camilla’s face as she stared Prelinsa in the eyes, perhaps desperately hoping for some kind of answer. Prelinsa took a long moment to think of the right words to say. It wasn’t easy, as she wasn’t naturally a good speaker.
“…You worked towards being a better person,” she finally said. “Maybe you learned magic and martial arts for a selfish reason. But when you helped save the villagers in Sarcodes, you used your powers for the greater good. Those villagers were grateful to you, and you were really happy when they thanked you. I was watching you – I could tell.”
“I… what?” Camilla looked confused, blinking at Prelinsa.
“I saw you smiling when the kids thanked you,” Prelinsa said. “You should’ve seen the look on your face. You really liked that you did something good for them. So that can be your new reason for working hard and improving your skills. Right now, you can also use your powers to help people with the Rogues. There are a lot of things you can still do, even if you don’t learn the Path of the Phoenix.”
Camilla wiped some tears from her face. “But… changing my reasons just like that, after so long? That feels… shallow,” she protested. “Like I’d be denying everything I did up to this point.”
Prelinsa shook her head. “Nah. What you’re doing right now is shallow,” she replied.
“Er, excuse me?” Camilla looked insulted. She looked like she took that personally, and wanted to go on a tirade about how she wasn’t a shallow person at all.
“Please, listen to me, okay?” Prelinsa continued. “Sometimes, you get hung up over things feeling just right to you. Sometimes that’s good, but right now it doesn’t matter. What matters now is that you’re a drunken mess. Who knows what would’ve happened if I hadn’t found you? Right now, you’re so hung up on yourself that it’s stopping you from doing anything good, including helping the people you care about. If avoiding things that feel ‘shallow’ makes you act this way, then stop doing it. Please.”
Camilla was about to reply angrily, but seeing Prelinsa’s worried expression, she stopped herself. The tension began to fade from her body as she fell silent. She rubbed her eyes.
“I’m worried about you,” Prelinsa finished. “Mira and your parents are, too. Come back to us. We miss you.”
Camilla sighed, taking a slow and deep breath. She tried to collect herself and her thoughts, putting her hands together and staring down at her feet again.
Prelinsa sat down next to her, letting her think for a good, long while. Instead of putting more pressure on Camilla, she just stared up at the sky, admiring the aurora, the stars, and the moon.
The silence went on for a long while, with just the two of them alone. Prelinsa just took in the environment. Laughter from a party nearby. Some fireflies dancing around. The breathing of Camilla next to her. Despite everything that just happened, Camilla still smelled nice.
Eventually, Camilla spoke again.
“…Thanks. I think I needed to hear that,” she said softly.
“No problem,” Prelinsa replied. “We’re still friends. I want what’s best for you.”
“Mm.” Camilla paused, timidly. “Can we just… stay like this for a while?” She asked.
Prelinsa gently rested her hand on Camilla’s shoulder.
“Yeah. Sure.”
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“Prelinsa, you didn’t need to come with me all the way home,” Camilla said, as they approached the gate of the Leclerc residence.
“No, I insist,” Prelinsa said. “I know security is way better than it used to be, but your mana heart is still a mess. If you get attacked, you can’t defend yourself.”
“Fine. But you can leave now that we’re here, right?” Camilla asked. “Besides… I don’t want you to be there when my family sees me,” she added, nervously.
Prelinsa nodded.
“Sure. Is there anything else I can do before I go?” She asked.
Camilla paused, looking like she wanted to say something. But she decided not to, and just shook her head.
“…Just go.”
“Alright,” Prelinsa said, taking her leave.