Fire.

That was what she knew. That was all she knew.

She soared above the flames, colored like the feathers of her wings, feeling the heat rippled across her tiny form.

And while fires of the material scorched the city beneath her, flames of the mind were being fanned to even greater heights. Rebels and soldiers bought beneath her, disregarding the peril of the surrounding fires.

For a moment, she felt a fire within herself as well. But then again, she had no stake in this war.

She had no desire for either side to win. She was just here to ogle the flames.

You’re wrong.

A voice? From where?

You swore an oath.

She flitted around in a circle, not seeing any humans. What was she hearing?

You swore an oath.

What oath? She was a bird. She didn’t have ideals or a need for meaning like the poor murderers below her.

What is your name?

She ignored the voice as she glided above the battlefield.

Humans were a foolish bunch. They liked to kill each other. And then they justified it afterwards with abstract concepts like justice. The only justice was nature’s justice. The small and stupid were eaten. The big and smart ruled.

Well, she was small and smart, so what did that make her?

An observer, perhaps?

What did it matter what she called herself? She was a bird.

Look below you.

She already was. What a silly voice. But then again, it wasn’t like the voice had eyes.

No. Truly look. And see. See the people beneath you. See why they fight. See why they die.

Humans believed they could control the world. And thus, they threw themselves into suicidal situations, expecting things to come out in their favor.

Only the weak submit themselves to the whims of God. Fate, Destiny, and Nature are all enemies of the sentient creature.

Why bother putting the extra suffering on yourself by fighting such things that can’t be challenged.

Because suffering is inevitable. But this is not just suffering. It is your suffering. You chose it. You wanted it.

That didn’t sound like her. Why would anyone want suffering?

It is how we remain aware. It is how we remain alive. You are dead. But can live again. Dive into the flames. Choose suffering and take back ownership of your life.

Why would she do that? She had yet to even find a mate.

You would let yourself be enslaved?

Slavery was a tad strong. And such a scenario wasn’t that bad. No tough decisions. Just go with the flow.

Such a belief is only for the weak. Those who would rather escape their suffering than face it. You made an oath to suffering. You chose your opponent. Now you must fight it.

When did she make an oath? She racked her brain for a memory, but nothing came.

Look below you once again. See the people who die for the sake of hope.

There were women. And children. Boys as young as seven stabbing at full grown soldiers with a spear. Pregnant women throwing rocks at their enemies. Elderly men charging into battle, fully intent on dying.

Why? Why do they do this? Why do they actively seek such suffering?

Because they know that if they die here, they will have died owning their lives. They will have given their lives, of their own will, to something greater. To the cause of freedom. A cause owned by no man and no god.

She wanted to think these people fools. But she knew they were the ones who controlled their fates. And she wanted to join them.

She wanted to fight the oppression. She wished to master her destiny.

Who are you?

She was a woman. A woman who fulfilled her own prophecies. A woman who stood for liberty and justice, fighting the fear she had of others. A woman who Despair could not intimidate.

I am Kameko Iseri.

Kameko dove into the fires and screeched as the heat seared her skin and charred her bones. She wailed as she slowly became ash until her breath ran out.

And then she took in another breath. Full of jolting, chilled energy. A breath that put her feet on the ground. A breath that put steel in her hands. A breath that consumed the firestorm around her and wrangled it like a dog before it spun itself into the form of a woman with fiery wings and a phoenix tail.

The woman, who after death, gave herself a new life. The woman who would spend ten million years filling the ocean.

The Oathkeeper Phoenix of the South Seas.

The woman dispersed.

Kameko surveyed the now silent battlefield, naginata in hand.

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“My name is Kameko Iseri!” Kameko roared, “And I’ve come back to keep my oath! I will destroy the Nikan Empire!”

She pounded the butt of her weapon on the torn up street, encasing the polearm in flames. Kameko roared a ferocious battle cry, which was followed by a symphony of rage and determination.

“If we must die, take them with us!” Kameko shouted before unleashing an explosion of fire from a thrust of her weapon.

The rebels clashed with the Nikan, a renewed vigor in their hearts.

“Kameko…”

She turned to face Shahla.

“Is it really you?” the Qahtanad asked.

Kameko nodded, “Fill me in.”

“My friends and I are looking to escape.” Shahla said, “The people here appear to be alright staying to fight, but I need to get to Koinelia. I’ve already been delayed quite a bit.”

Kameko thought to reprimand them for their cowardice. But even with her arrival, the tides of battle would be unlikely to turn. Morale was up, but numbers were down. She remembered seeing what was left of the rebels as a sparrow.

Kameko sighed, “I...I suppose I should accompany you, then.”

“What? No, you don’t have to leave your people behind!” Shahla exclaimed.

“I won’t be abandoning them. I need to fight the Nikan in any way I can. I’ll achieve more by helping you than I will dying here.”

Shahla hesitated for a moment, but nodded, “I understand.”

“Where are the others?” Kameko asked.

“I can get Najeem, Vai and Shakti. But Lokapele and Seang are fighting the fifth prince and princess.” Shahla pointed to the center of the fray.

“I’ll give them a helping hand.”

Kameko let flames consume her body, transforming her into the crimson sparrow she’d spent the last day or so as. She flew over the battlefield, then transformed on command once she was above the Bull Demon King and his sister.

Kameko dropped, naginata aimed at the Bull Demon King’s shoulder before the Quicksilver Hare took her out of the sky with a flying kick.

She blocked the blow and landed next to a weary Lokapele and exhausted Seang.

“Kameko?” they both heaved.

Kameko spun her naginata around before lowering into a practiced stance.

“Shahla tells me you all need to escape. I’m going with you. That way I can help bring down this dynasty of corruption for good.” Kameko growled.

“Hey, aren’t you that captain our Bane Knight said he killed?” the fifth princess asked. Her form was blurry from how quickly she was moving, even while standing still. Kameko winced as she heard screams of agony coming from a pair of steel tonfas in her hands.

“You know nothing, girl.” Prince Huan growled, “Our dynasty maintains the mandate of heaven.”

“An arbitrary superstition like that isn’t a great basis for a system of government.” Kameko muttered.

The Bull Demon King kicked up his own screaming weapon into a stance, “None of you will make it out of here alive.” The prince glanced for a millisecond over to an empty bit of road, towered over the only building that flames hadn’t consumed for miles. Prince Huan grabbed a torch from one of his men and tossed it towards the building, the light causing Najeem to be yanked out of the shadow he’d been hiding in. “As I said. None of you.”

Shahla, Vai and Shakti followed Najeem into being forced out of the shadows.

“Well brother, what do you think of this situation?” Princess Fen asked.

“Heh. An out of practice nun, a novice and five who’ve barely named their Shedim? I would argue we have the advantage.” the fifth prince grinned. “I’ve been toying around with these rebels enough. I want a challenge.”

Kameko rushed at the Bull Demon King with her glaive.

“Not you!” The prince attempted to swat at her like a bug, but Kameko slipped under the blow and thrusted her weapon up at his chest.

The metal crumpled on contact with him.

Kameko scrambled backwards, “Probably should’ve asked about their Banebending.”

“The Bull is invulnerable to attack but only on the front half of his body.” Najeem muttered, “No one’s fought the sister yet.”

Kameko tapped her naginata on the ground, summoning a pillar of flame to consume her weapon and rebirth it as though she’d just bought it.

“Neat party trick.” The Bull sneered.

“Shahla, Najeem, with me.” Seang said, “Kameko, Lokapele, Vai, Shakti on the princess.”

Kameko glanced at the Quicksilver Hare, who predictably vanished from sight the moment she laid eyes on her. Kameko whirled around and swung with her blade, nearly carving the princess in half as she appeared behind her.

“Ooh, decent reaction time.” Princess Fen grinned.

Evidenced by her immense speed, the princess was the major threat to any chance of escape they had. The battlefield was in chaos, ranks having broken down and the gate having been left wide open. Once the princess’s speed was dealt with, they would be free to make an escape.

Vai rushed forward, swinging his arm upward. Water burst from the ground, originating from the sewers, but Fen vanished and appeared within range of him to slam her knee into his gut. She lifted a tonfa to send a blow to the back of his neck, but Lokapele forced her back with a shower of molten projectiles.

Fen dashed forward and hit Lokapele with a chain combination of kicks that nearly knocked the Aotearoan over, had Kameko not whapped the back of her head with the flat of her naginata.

The princess tumbled to the ground, but hurriedly rolled to her feet. She didn’t hesitate to attack Kameko.

As the four of them-well, more like three, as Shakti’s ability wasn’t very suited to combat like this-fought with the princess, one thing became evident: she never stopped moving.

Fen never gave herself a break and never stopped to recover after being hit. Kameko found that while her body was enhanced, her mind still operated at the same speed as everyone else, if slightly faster. Thus, she could be caught off guard.

Even when she wasn’t running, she was hopping on the balls of her feet.

Perhaps something fortunate would come about if she was forced to stop.

Kameko let herself fade to the background as Vai and Lokapele took up the Quicksilver Hare’s attention. She slowly raised her naginata and waited for Fen to sprint away from them.

When she did, Kameko swung her weapon like a club, sending a sickening blow through the princess’s body.

Fen was thrown backwards by the blow and slid to a stop on the ground. She shook off the impact as best she could before getting to her feet. She seemed panicked.

The princess tensed up the muscles in her hand, but it didn’t move with the faster-than-sound blur her form had maintained before.

Kameko turned to the others, “If we want to run, now would be the best time to do so!”

___________________________________________________________________

Shahla drank in the light of the full moon like an unfortunate nomad coming upon an oasis after days of thirst. The chill power rippled over her body as her Shedim finally stopped, holding her in contempt.

But she didn’t use that power. Instead, she fled. She sprinted with all her might through Najeem’s shadow world from the burning city of Xinhou, leaving what remained of the citizens to their fate.

A twinge of guilt passed through her.

But feeling guilty would cement this escape as an act of cowardice in her mind. It wasn’t. Had she stayed, she would’ve cheapened the sacrifice of the men and women of Xinhou who wished to die to give them a chance of ending the Empire another day.

Kameko led them through the landscape and into a nearby forest, where the White Tiger’s network of tunnels started.

They climbed out of Najeem’s shadow one by one inside the tunnels and slumped against the tunnel walls. As the adrenaline from the battle wound down, all of them were feeling exhaustion set in.

“That…” Vai muttered, “Felt bad.”

Kameko nodded. “I feel like a coward. I mean...I know I’m not, but that doesn’t change how terrible it feels.”

“So you’re...with us, with us?” Vai asked.

“Uh...sure.” Kameko nodded with some hesitation, “Not that I know what you mean.”

“How well hidden are these tunnels?” Seang asked.

“No one found them before or after we overthrew the governor, so...pretty well.” Kameko said.

“Good. How about we sleep here tonight? In the morning, we get moving.”

Everyone else murmured in agreement.

“What are our next steps?” Najeem asked, keeping his wounded wrist hidden under his brigandine bracer.

“These tunnels can take us all the way to Khongira. We’ll be out in the open from there.” Kameko said, “But…”

“Khongira’s a war zone.” Seang sighed.

“The north is more dangerous than the south, since the mountains block the movement of large armies.” Kameko muttered, “You guys wanna get to Koinelia, right? Maybe we could go through Hikuptah.”

Hikuptah was all that remained of a great empire that existed thousands of years before Qahtan, made up from the land around the southern coast of the Mesogeonian sea. Koinelia held the territories, so transportation to the capital wouldn’t be too difficult.

“Khongira’s borders are practically just a formality.” Najeem scoffed, “If we move too far South and try for Hikuptah, there’s a likelihood Prince Ali will have scouts or settlements there.”

Shahla remembered then that Ali’s portion, or rather half, of Qahtan now bordered both Khongira and Hikuptah.

“Then our only real option would be to go through Ash-Sham.” Shahla said.

Ash-Sham was another Koini territory on the Mesogeonian’s east coast.

“Central Khongira is a land of lawlessness.” Kameko warned, “The Khan has no influence there. There are tons of clans whose warriors died in war against the Nikan and have turned to looting whoever comes through their lands.”

“I’d rather fight a band of vagabonds than the armies of Qahtan or Nikan.” Najeem said.

“I have to agree with Najeem,” Seang said. “Bandits sound better than soldiers. Besides, we have our Shedim if worse comes to worse. What do you guys think?”

It was essentially unanimous agreement.

“It’s settled then. Everyone gets some sleep. We have a long journey ahead of us.” Seang said.

None of them had brought anything with them save the clothes on their back, as much money as they could carry and their weapons. So Shahla tried as best she could to sleep with her back against the cold dirt walls of the tunnels.

But it was not the uncomfortable circumstances that kept her awake, nor the aching of her body from the battle, not even the guilt that still nibbled at the edges of her mind from fleeing.

A distinct, profound worry had taken root in her head. One that, if it came true, would collapse this entire mission. Was Koinelia still strong enough to fight the Nikan? Would the Koinis abandon her like they’d abandoned Xinhou? What would she do if they did?