A continuation, and an attempt at first person.
My name is Rume.
I have no father, no mother. I simply am. I suppose I had parents, once, a long time ago. I know I had a grandfather a long time ago; the great Emperor of the Flame, the Phoenix King. Stories of him have become my life, my purpose...I am his heiress after all. They tell me I was born only a few years before he died, and even if I was old enough to know him, I don’t remember. How could I? That wasn’t me. They say it was but...I’m not that girl. She, Ignira, died, and become another, Cindri. And that woman died to become me; Rume. I wasn’t born from a womb; I was born from the ashes of my progenitor. For me to live, someone else had to die. What kind of monster am I?
Alumno says I’m destined to free our people, become the Empress of Ember. I’m not entirely sure how that’s supposed to happen when our people are practically enslaved by the wretched Galdrinians...they’re the ones that killed my grandfather. Alumno says my grandfather knew they were coming, and that they were going kill him. How could he have believed he would die when he, as the phoenix, had lived for over two thousand years?
Whatever it means, he’s dead now, and I’m the phoenix. The gods put me into this world this way, my eyes catching fire when first they opened. Well, Ignira’s eyes. I suppose my eyes burned when I was...born...as well, but Ignira was truly born. That’s how they knew she was a phoenix like my grandfather, the only other phoenix ever to exist; his burned at each of his reincarnations. It is apparently the mark of a phoenix. Like me. The only phoenix.The phoenix no one knows exists. No one but Alumno, anyway.
Alumno’s my guardian, his family entrusted with my care since our empire was destroyed two hundred and twelve years ago. He’s the only father - the only family - I’ve ever known. I know he cares for me, but sometimes I see a bit of resentment in his eyes; he was born into his role as much as I was, but came to it as a child when Cindri was in her prime. Sometimes, I think he is trying to turn me into her, a proud woman of great wisdom and passion. I think he loved her.
Now he has a wife and two children in the hovel connected to mine. He must preserve the guardian cult for generations to come; it gives me more time away for myself.
I am no Cindri, boisterous and wise. I am not Ignira; beautiful, silent, dangerous. I’m just rough-around-the-edges Rume. How could they stand living in hiding for so long? I can’t have friends, lest they should see or hear something they shouldn’t. I’m forced to be alone. Alone, except for old Alumno. At least I get to play with his little ones.
Regardless of how they are treated, my people seem happy. Their ancestors were the ones cast down by the Galdrinian. Now they have begun to rise again in this society. Some have even become wealthy merchants, some marrying pale-skinned Galdrinians. Yes, they seem happy in our small city of Shoen. The lord here is a proud, fair ruler. He tends to stay out of the people’s affairs, leaving us to generally govern ourselves. The heir seems like he will follow in his father’s footsteps, eager to please him. I wonder if his father knows of his mixed breed lover in the city. I’ve seen others of Lord Zanid’s children, handsome and aloof as they wander the streets with their cronies. They seem to look through the Ciniris, thinking only of themselves. Alumno says they cannot be trusted, and I tend to believe him. They do not care for us. I don’t want them to.
When Alumno is not training me in some lost art or over the ancient histories of Igniris, I come away to the forests surrounding Shoen. It is built on the slopes of the great mountains, a guardian between Galdrin and the wild, freezing ranges beyond. Occasionally, I catch a glimpse of a young man wandering the woods with me. I believe he is a son of Lord Zanid; Theonid, I think. I cannot let him see me, for that could be a confrontation of the worst kind. Alumno would be furious for weeks, never allowing me to leave our little hovel. I am holy, after all. We can’t risk me.
Except, sometimes, when I am sure I am alone, I fly. My fiery soul encompasses my human body, and my arms become wings, my legs a tail of flame trailing behind me through the sky. Away from the city I go, deep into the icy peaks of the east. Alumno used to try to train me in being a phoenix, but he does not understand; flying doesn’t take training, and the battle is innate. When I am the phoenix, I am me. I simply cannot be anything else but me when I am transformed.
They came with the dawn; shadowy giants flying down from the northern mountains. Some wondered if they were the dragons of old returned, but I knew better. Alumno had described them as serpentine creatures, flying without wings. These were no snakes.
Their black scales glittered in the rising sun as heaving wings carried them across the sky. The dragons that defeated my grandfather spewed water from their maws; these had tongues of flame licking their lips. They descended upon the city like birds of prey, burning great swaths of forest in their path. People around me fled, the world in chaos as I stood silently, watching them come. Determined, I turned towards the gates, but a hand grabbed my arm before I could move further.
“Come Rume, we must flee the city.” Alumnos’ grip was firm.
“No. I can’t! I can stop them!”
“You cannot! They are many and you are one. You cannot expose yourself so! You will be hunted down, our people destroyed!”
Tears unbidden began to well in my eyes. I bowed my head and mumbled, “alright.”
We rushed into our hovels, putting together our meager possessions in our bags. After only a couple minutes, the five of us fled through the streets, dodging burning homes and screaming people. We pushed through the crowds at the gates, always holding one another’s hands, then fled south into the forest. People grew less as the woods thickened, but the destruction of the city could still be heard. We stopped in a small clearing to rest, the children crying and clinging to their parents. As I watched their terrified faces, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“I must go back.”
Alumno glared at me from across the grove, “no. You must not!”
With a last, pained look at them I through my head back and my arms out. Closing my eyes, I let go of the raging fire within and let it consume me. I carefully moved some distance away from the small family before rising up from the trees, flying swiftly to meet the assaulters.
I threw the first dragon I met into the ground, tearing his scales with my talons, burning the flesh beneath. Screaming, it tried to burn me, but flame cannot burn flame. It quickly fell still, lifeless. As I took to the skies again, I looked down to a sight that struck both hope and fear into my heart: dozens of long, wingless dragons rising up from the city, attacking the black monsters from the north. How were there so many after all this time? Why were they here?
Before I could wonder much longer, I was surrounded by three immense winged dragons. I flared my fire as much as I could, hoping to burn them, but it only seemed to blind them. Desparate, I flung myself into the nearest of them, smashing it into the others. As they crashed into a nearby building, a long, blue-green dragon appeared from above to shoot carefully controlled bursts of water into their burning maws. They tried to burn him as they untangled themselves from the wreckage, but only steam was released. The lithe dragon and I seemed to sense one another’s thoughts as we tore into the beasts’ flesh, working in tandem to kill the ruthless beasts.
We rose up again, but as we had fought, the overall battle had taken a turn for the worse. Water dragons were dropping from the sky, limp and burning. Larger winged dragons were coming from the north; we were being overwhelmed. I darted forward to help a large, red and gold water dragon penned in by two of the black beasts. As I distracted them, two more came to attack me. The red and gold dragon below fled with what water dragons could escape. I frantically attempted to draw as many of the black dragons towards me as possible, keeping them from chasing the fleeing serpents. They could not hurt me if they could not touch me, and I tried to hit as many as possible with my talons, incurring their wrath. A few realized they could not harm me, and broke off to chase the water dragons. I could not help them defend themselves as I was slowly being surrounded by a sea of black.
Exhausted, I flared my fire as brightly as I could, and plunged down into the forest, pulling in my flames as I went down. By grace of the gods,I landed in a berry bush, hidden from sight by its leaves. Before I fell unconscious, I glimpsed a dark shape circling over the trees.
I awoke to rustling leaves in darkness, some animal looking for berries. My body ached, and I felt dizzy lying on the ground. I moaned softly, feeling the bruises and tears in my skin from my fall. As I shifted in the bush, I heard a soft yelp.
“Wh-who’s there?” a voice whispered.
I groaned again, more loudly, as I tried to answer, “don’t worry.”
“I uh I have a knife!” the voice shook as it grew louder, “I know how to use it!”
“Please help me,” I whispered faintly.
A light appeared near my face as leaves were pulled back, revealing a boy of about twelve holding a matchstick. His light blue eyes grew wide as they met mine.
“Oh!” he yelped as he fell backward, the light disappearing as he dropped the match.
“I won’t hurt you, please don’t...” I moaned into the darkness.
“I - who are you? Um, are you ok lady? Why are you in a bush?”
“I fell. It hurts,” I forced the words out, trying not to move. “I’m Rume.”
“Rume? That’s a weird name. I’m Tid.” He paused. “Do you need help?”
“Please - help me stand.” He climbed over the branches of the bush as I tried to get up. I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming as sharp pain shot through my back. My body healed more quickly as the phoenix, but I could not transform with this boy here.
He pulled me up and laid my arm on his shoulder, surprisingly strong for such a small boy.
“Tid,” I gasped, “are you alone?”
The boy was silent as he lifted me out of the bush.
“They left me,” he whispered. “In the palace. They forgot me and they left me.”
We walked between the trees in silence, the boy carrying me more than anything else. We reached a patch of grass and I collapsed onto it, groaning as rolled to lay on my back. Tid sat down a short distance away, staring into the trees.
“Why were you in the palace?” I forced out, trying to forget the pain.
“It is my home.”
My brain struggled to work, but realization came through.
“Tid - who is your father?”
“Lord Zanid, guardian of the mountains, ruler of Shoen,” the boy said softly. He began to weep quietly, curling into a ball near a distant tree. I was alone with my pain.
As I heard Tid’s breathing slow, I dared a hope - could I transform without waking him? Heal while he slept? I waited what seemed like hours to be sure he was completely asleep. Then, I let go.
Transforming wasn’t something I ever had to practice, I never had to learn control. But there was a release of something, like a dam holding the flames back from consuming me. They rose from my skin, burning away my injuries, healing me as they enveloped my humanity. I let them burn for a moment, exalting in the freedom and purity of the phoenix, before pulling the fire inside again, recapturing my soul.
As I lay in the now charred grass, I turned my head to check on the boy, and saw him staring, eyes wider than ever. Before he could speak, he collapsed onto the ground.
I got up slowly, tenderly checking my body although I knew it was whole. I covered the boy with his cloak, tucking his satchel into his belt.
“Don’t fear, little Tid. You will be safe.”
I transformed again, trying to keep my flames low. I gripped the boy with my talons and slowly made my way through the forest. The nearest city, Cintris, was about 30 miles away. It had been the seat of the Empire - my Empire - before its fall. As I quietly flew through the trees towards the grand, dying city, I wondered what would happen to the people of Shoen. Would they make it through the forest? Were the water dragons still being pursued? Would the black beasts come to Cintris? What were they?
The trees began to thin a few miles out from the city, and light from the rising sun started piercing the gaps in the canopy. I couldn’t risk being seen, so I set the boy down. His cloak was darkened from my flames, as weak as they had been, but he seemed to be unharmed. I retreated to my human form and sat next to him, watching him stir. Could I just leave him there, alone and afraid? I would have to; he already knew too much. Alumnos would have suggested ridding myself of him, since the boy was most likely presumed dead already. Where was the man anyway? I hoped his family had escaped safely.
Alumno had taken me, once, to Cintris, as a part of my training. I was young then, not much older than Tid. I had been afraid in the large, bustling city; I had never really enjoyed crowds. As an escape from the city, Alumno had shown me a cave system near the former Imperial Palace, on the slopes of Mount {VOLCANO}. Hopefully, I could find Alumno waiting for me there.
Tid stirred on the ground next to me. I had to go, and quickly. Perhaps he would dismiss most of the events of the night before as a dream. As I darted away through the trees, I looked back, seeing the boy sit up, blinking away sleep.
“Be safe, young one,” I whispered, turning back towards the city.
Alumno claimed Cintris has been created by the gods for the Phoenix Emperor, a protected home for him and his people. The city sat in a deep crater at the edge of the mountains, surrounded by rugged peaks with two volcanos on opposite sides of the city. To the south of the city, separating it from the valleys below, lay a large, glassy lake - the final resting place of the Emperor. My grandfather. How was he defeated? Alumno says it was a quick fight; I just don’t understand how he could have lost. I - we - are so powerful!
I approached the bridges to the city, blending into the scattered refugees coming from the woods. There were only a few that had made it this far; the hike through the woods was long and hard. My only possessions were the clothes I was wearing, and most of the other refugees had fled with only what they could take in a moment’s haste. I was not the only one with nothing.
“Where are you folk from?” a guard stopped in front of me.
“Shoen,” I replied, “it is taken.”
“Taken? What’s that supposed to mean, girl?”
A nearby man burst out, “monsters! Great winged beasts - we can’t go back! So much fire -” He broke off, sobbing, sliding to the ground.
“What is this nonsense?” the guard growled.
I closed my eyes before speaking, “Shoen is gone. Black dragons came from the mountains, breathing fire from their mouths. We had to escape.”
The guard went white, “I-”
“You must tell your lord. Our people are coming, he must let us stay here.”
The guard glared at me before barking orders to another soldier.
“Get on, then,” he grumbled, turning away and jabbing his thumb towards the city.
I walked on.
I made my way through streets overcrowded by the constant flow of refugees over the last few days. I had slept behind buildings in dark alleys, waiting for the right time. I needed to get food before I could hike up to the caves, but it was becoming more and more rare. I had collected a few scraps from kind passersby when I first arrived in the city, but having no money made it difficult to get anything more.
As the crowds grew, so did the rumors. Rumors of dragons summoned by the Ciniris people for revenge on the Galdrinians, the resurrected Phoenix Emperor at their head. Rumors that the Phoenix Emperor had faked his death two hundred years ago, waiting for the perfect time to return. The water dragons had returned to save them; no, they had fought on the side of the winged dragons. All dragons were evil and had decided to destroy humankind. Of one thing the people were certain: the phoenix was alive.
My dark skin marked me as Ciniris, automatically turning me into a lower class citizen. My people had always been a little less than everyone else, but we had fallen from all good graces with the attack of the dragons. They breathed fire, so must be associated with the Flame Empire. The phoenix was back, and they were responsible. They were hated.
On that day, my third day in Cintris, I glimpsed one of the sons of Lord Zanid. His eyes met mine, lingering for a moment before moving on. I was almost tempted to ask after Tid, but that could only end poorly. The young man’s eyes moved back across the crowd, searching, and I turned away, blending into the crowd as much as possible. No need to draw attention. It was time to get to the caves.
I pushed my way east through the throngs, towards Mount {VOLCANO} and the palace. As I approached the palace, I could see that the local lord had taken up residence there. Anger arose unbidden within me, anger at the lord’s presumption. He was proud in the conquering of my people, taking even our most revered places as his own. Hundreds of years would never change our people’s beliefs. I tried to contain the flames of fury boiling inside me as I neared the walls. I had to focus on the task at hand: getting to the caves without being seen.
I worked my way around the palace walls, slinking in the shadows of late afternoon. The walls abutted the slopes of the mountain, and the cave entrance was hidden a few yards up across open ground. I had expected the crowds to slow me more than I had. I had to wait in the shadows, hidden from the guards on the walls above.
A city guard patrol walked past, discussing the refugees and rumors overflowing the city.
“...blackies will finally get what they deserve once the Council’s done with ‘em...”
I cringed. Many Galdrinians seemed to have found a new hatred of my people after the attack, calling us brutal names and refusing us service. Our dark skin stood out next to the pale, green-tinged skin of pure Galdrinians. Even mixed blood people were the recipients of muttered curses on the streets. It was still fairly quiet, the hate growing slowly in the city, bubbling under the surface.
