Angel Monarch

The whole world turned into a bright mess. In a few hundred meter circle all the snow had melted and in the middle of it was a fifteen meter long fiery bird.

The phoenix had resurrected, and became even stronger than before. Its bright colored feathers turned pure white and on each a small fire burned constantly. Its magnificent eyes were gone and in their place, two white flames watched the world.

It spread its giant wings and was about to take to the skies, but suddenly something hit it right between its right shoulder's connecting bone. The white and gold spear slowly turned into spheres of light, then fully disappeared.

The phoenix fell back to the ground, but didn't stay there for long. The hatred burning within its eyes began burning even brighter.

With a perfect spear throw she managed to take away the monster's flight, but that was only a small advantage in this fight. Her legs and arm healed enough to be able to use them at about ninety percent efficiency, but the pain had only increased.

Since the freezing cold wind went away, her melted skin wasn't as numb anymore. With gritted teeth she started running towards the bird.

Its eyes watched her every movement, and she had a bad premonition. Throughout this battle she mostly followed her instincts and this time wasn't different either. The woman changed tactics and began running in a zigzag pattern, which she had done just in time.

The two burning eyes of the monstrous phoenix glowed even brighter, and in the next second two beams of pure white energy burst out of them. The ground exploded wherever they touched it, and since it was aimed at the woman everything around her went up ablaze.

In her left hand the longword appeared again, then the black flame came next. With a shout of pure rage she ran on towards the large bird. The energy beams in its eyes quickly went away, and the phoenix decided to make it a physical fight.

It moved its wing in a sweep that left fire in its wake. The woman had to jump back and change directions to avoid it, but in a moment another wing passed her. This time it set everything behind her aflame.

Her head swiveled quickly and only after another second did she realize that everything around her was in flames... She was encircled.

Just the heat from these fires were so hot that even the somewhat healthy parts of her skin began to blister. With a few deep breaths and gasps she calmed her turbulent mind, then before the phoenix could melt her with its fiery breath, she used her sword to cut through the wall of flames.

Slowly she started walking on the extremely hot stone ground, then when she came close to the fire she swung her sword. The black and white flames met and countered each other.

She didn't stop for a second and just marched on, with each cut and swing a part of the flames got extinguished. Sadly the ground didn't really have time to cool, so with each step her fresh blood boiled beneath her feet.

The pain was indescribable. Even worse, on the sides the flames were still there and were slowly melting her whole body. The clothes she wore previously were fully burned away, same for her hair. The rest of her body looked like a grotesque zombie's.

It was a miracle in and of itself, that she could still move forward. At some point she closed her eyelids to protect her eyes and quickly they melted shut. Where previously her ears were located only two holes remained, and she couldn't open her mouth either.

With each agonizing moment she moved on. There was no thought in her mind, the pain burned them all away. The only thing keeping her going was a deep anger right within her soul, the flames were only oil for that fire burning inside her.

After what felt like an eternity she felt the cool air again... she persevered and came out of the sea of flames.

Swiftly she dismissed the sword and summoned it back as a very thin scalpel. With very quick hand movements she made two small cuts on her eyelids, and a larger on her mouth. .net

With a small scream of pain she opened her eyes and looked around. Her vision was all over the place, the colors weren't right and everything seemed to be leaning to the side.

'Damn... My eyes were damaged as well, it will be much harder to stay standing now...'

Gradually she felt her body fall apart. From all the pain and extreme heat her organs began to shut down. There was only minutes left before her vital organs went as well.

'Where is... the... phoenix?' Was her only thought, but no matter where she looked there weren't any sign of it. Suddenly the ground around her began to darken and as she looked up, she found the bird.

Its head was currently speeding towards the woman's head. She moved as fast as possible and managed to dodge the attack. As the phoenix landed a large cloud of debris flew up everywhere, and a bigger stone that was at least a few hundred kilograms hit her straight in the chest.

With a loud scream of pain, she felt nearly all of her ribs and even her spine breaking. Her vision was swimming in blood, but still she tried to rise from the broken ground... she couldn't.

Even though her soul was burning ever so brightly, there wasn't anything she could do. She felt nothing from below her waist, and even her arms had barely enough strength to move.

Her darkening vision looked up and saw a pair of burning eyes only about a meter away from her. The phoenix looked her up and down once, then it stuck out its tongue and licked its beak.

The woman couldn't even react as the giant bird bent down and bit into her stomach. Right before her eyes a small intestine was being pulled out.

While she screamed as loudly as she could, in her hand a sword came into existence. Her eyes stared at the monster with unfathomable amount of hatred, then using every single drop of strength she stabbed the sword right into its flaming eye.

The beast's movements suddenly stopped. The woman watched as the fire in its eyes and on its feathers slowly extinguished. It stood there for a few more second before it fell over dead.

With all her remaining strength she reached out and touched the monster's beak. It was still covered in her blood and part of her intestine was sticking out of it.

A feeling appeared inside her and with it came a question for which there was only one answer in her mind... yes.

...

Through the icy plains a lonely man walked. His receding hair was white as the snow below his feet. His face wrinkly and old, but strangely enough he walked with vigor, he even seemed to have a spring in his step, like he received some amazing news.

His whitish-blue eyes only looked in one specific direction, and that was where he was headed. The man wore dark pants and shoes, with a white shirt and a vest above it. But his most defining characteristic was definitely the long white coat, the kinds that scientists wore.

Strangely enough his movements were strange. It looked like he was just walking normally, but every now and then he seemed to disappear, then reappear a few hundred meters away.

As the man walked through the empty plains he came across a group of eight. They were running in the same direction as he went. With a mad grin he waved towards them, but none seemed to notice him.

Only the little girl's eyes turned to him and widened for a second, before she resumed her run. It was like she immediately forgot what she was looking at. The man chuckled a bit, then got bored and teleported about two dozen kilometers to the north.

He stopped and looked at the ground in front of him. Everywhere in front of him the snow and ice had melted, only the stone ground below remained.

It took him a second to find what he was looking for, but when he did the smile on his face widened.

"There you are child..." He whispered to himself, then with measured steps walked towards a destroyed part of the stone plain.

While walking he looked at the large corpse of a monster. When he had gotten close he touched the feathered head and began hysterically laughing. It took him a few minutes to finally stop and turn away.

His interest instantly seemed to spike, and his mad expression even turned a bit surprised. He expected to see that wildly beautiful and alluring young lady, but instead there was only something that resembled a corpse.

"Oh, you poor little angel. You managed to kill the beast, but at what cost... Let Uncle Harold elevate you from those painful memories and give you better ones..."

His hand gently touched the woman's skull. While editing her memories he transferred a small amount of essence, which worked wonders with the whole healing process.

Slowly the melted skin began to regenerate, her ribs and spine became whole again, and even the scar on her stomach knit itself back together.

When she was back in her beautiful form, Harold hadn't even looked at her. He just quickly pulled off his white garb and gently placed it on the woman's naked body.

With him working on her mind and giving her a boost of essence, he decreased the evolution time by a lot.

Her eyes spasmed a bit, then gradually opened. When they finally focused on the man's face, they turned a bit teary and a thankful smile appeared on her face.

"Uncle Harold... Thank you for your help... What would I do without you..."

Harold slowly reached out and gently took her hand, then with a similarly warm smile he answered.

"Oh, my little Seraphine... Of course I helped you, just like always... Don't you remember?"

They both laughed a bit about their happy memories. And inside Serapihne's mind the feeling of inexplicable sadness, loss and despair finally fully dissipated... leaving no trace behind.