Chapter 69: Ashes of Memory
The voice of the phoenix rolled through the air effortlessly.
’This thing is strong... it could be higher than Demi-God...’
Valerian’s senses would normally be able to determine the rank of another being, even if they are a higher rank. But anything beyond the mortal ranks was just a guessing game.
And if he had to compare the phoenix to the strongest person he knew, which would be Freya who sits at Ascendant...
Then the result would be clear: the phoenix was stronger. Overwhelmingly stronger. If it wanted to, it could erase Arthur and Valerian with just a thought, and they would be unable to defend themselves.
But luckily, the phoenix didn’t seem hostile.
’It knows about me and my race.’
A million thoughts raced through Valerian’s mind, different scenarios and explanations for why the phoenix would possibly know about his Celestial side.
"How do you know about me?" Valerian asked, unable to hide his nervousness in front of such a strong being.
The phoenix stayed silent for a moment, making both of them only more nervous.
"You must be the last one... The others died long ago."
"The others? So you knew other Celestials? What happened to them?"
Valerian always wanted to know about these so-called Celestials. Ever since he awakened and saw that he was not a human, but apparently of some ancient and powerful cosmic race, he wanted answers.
But his title [Last Celestial] gave him little hope of finding answers, and even the library of the castle never had any mention of Celestials. So the phoenix proved to be the best option to finally find out what happened to his people.
The dying phoenix exhaled a deep breath and warm air escaped its beak, but it wasn’t burning, more like a soft warmth.
"Yes, I knew the other Celestials. Child, do you not know anything about yourself?"
Hearing the question, Valerian felt a little bit of shame at his ignorance about himself.
"Here, let me show you."
The phoenix raised one of its massive wings in the air; the simple act seemed to take a lot of energy from the already dying being.
Slowly, the wing approached Arthur and Valerian, who were still floating in the air.
"I’m gonna move to the side and let you have your moment," Arthur said, with clear unwillingness to be anywhere near the phoenix’s body.
The giant wing approached Valerian, who didn’t flinch or move. If the phoenix wanted to harm them, they would already be dead, and moving away wouldn’t save them. Even teleportation would be meaningless against something of its rank.
The blue, burning wing stopped closely before Valerian, and from it, little streams of blue fire appeared and moved towards Valerian slowly.
-Let it happen.-
He followed Valerie’s command and didn’t move away from the fire streams. When they made contact with his head, a soft and gentle warmth spread in his mind, and images appeared in his head.
Valerian found himself inside the body of a young man with short and wild pale blue hair; his eyes had a fire in them that practically radiated heat and life.
The man was walking down a street of a city with houses made from clear white stone. It was a sunny day, and the heat of the sun gave him a good feeling.
He wasn’t alone in the street; dozens of other humanoid people were there. Some of them had similar burning eyes, but in different colors, some had blue, others had red, and again others had green, but they all had the same flame in their eyes.
The other group of people were also humanoids, but they had horns. The horns varied in size and design from person to person; no horns were ever the same.
It was a peaceful time, with the people living their day-to-day life: talking, trading, laughing.
Then the scene switched. The city disappeared, and in its stead was carnage. The buildings turned into mountains of corpses.
Bodies of people that looked like the ones in the city, and others with leathery wings and horns, or feathered wings.
In the distance was a large-scale battle, with mountain-shattering attacks flying around, obliterating everything they could touch.
Armies made from leather-winged and feather-winged beings fought against phoenixes and dragons in the sky. Little humanoid figures also flew in the mix, assisting their allies against the attacks of the winged beings.
The ground was red with the blood spilled; the sky was cracked and crying at the misery below. Fire of all different colors burned everywhere, with large mountains of ice and deep trenches carved into the earth like scars created by angry gods.
The point of view was from high above, and the body of the young man was replaced with the burning body of the phoenix.
He let out a cry that shook the heavens, and with a flap of his wings, a wave of blue flame descended on the fighting armies.
The attackers burned while the allies healed, swinging the course of the battle around. That was until a beam of concentrated light crashed into the phoenix from the right side, and a beam of darkness from the left.
Both of these attacks had enough power to erase entire worlds, but the phoenix shook them off. Spinning around, it let loose a wave of flames that swallowed the world below.
When the flames receded, the two beings that attacked him floated in front of him.
One of them had an ashen gray male humanoid body with a pair of imposing horns pointed forward. A pair of leathery wings hung from its back.
The other figure was a being draped in robes woven from light. With long, flowing golden hair and clear blue eyes, it looked at the phoenix with hard resolve. Behind it, three pairs of white feathered wings hung.
The phoenix let out a war cry loud enough to make reality shake, and blue fire swallowed its surroundings.
Valerian was snapped out of the vision and was thrown back into his body.
He heaved heavy breaths and tried to comprehend what he had just seen.
’What the fuck, what the fuck!’
"What was that?!"
The phoenix looked down at Valerian with clear pain and guilt.
"It was the day we lost everything."
The images of the peaceful city and the people living there melted into the battlefield filled with death and misery. The image of the leather- and feather-winged beings fighting the dragons, phoenixes, and people sat clearly in his mind.
"They killed them... They killed my people."
Something inside him was angry. It was similar to when Goran insulted him and he lost control, but this time it was different. If before he was angry, now he couldn’t contain the rage that built up inside him.
When the rage was about to take over, another stream of blue flames flowed into his mind. It didn’t take the rage away; it just brought the rational side to the foreground.
"They did, child. We tried to fight, but we lost in the end. And your people had to pay the price."
Now, with the rage shoved to the side, Valerian could think normally again. Taking a deep breath, he turned towards the ancient being.
"Can you explain everything, please?"
The phoenix looked deep into Valerian’s steady eyes and weighed something in his mind. But after a few seconds, he came to a conclusion.
"It’s time for you to learn just what you are, child."