by Virlyce
“Yes,” the matriarch said. Her gaze remained on Tafel. “So?”
“I really don’t want to admit it, but they’re right,” Tafel said and sighed. With Vur as a husband, who wouldn’t be insecure? It was a good thing his dragon aura made other women too scared to approach him. What if he met more people and realized she wasn’t that great of a person? There were tons of people with better personalities and looks than hers. Some were stronger too. If she hadn’t met him when they were children, would he even spare her a second glance today?
The phoenix matriarch nodded. “If it’s you, then I think it’ll be fine,” she said before hopping in front of Tafel. Though she had shrunk, the matriarch was still twice Tafel’s height.
“It’ll be fine for me to be insecure?” Tafel asked, furrowing her brow.
The matriarch shook her head. “Take care of my children,” she said and smacked Tafel’s forehead with her wing. “If you can bring them to the place where your stepdaughter-in-law is, that’ll be even better.”
“Mom?” Emile asked, tilting his head. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Mm, for a bit,” the matriarch said and withdrew her wing. A golden mark with a red hue in the shape of a fireball was left behind on Tafel’s forehead.
“This,” Tafel said, touching her hand to the rune. Her eyes widened as mana surged through her, causing her insides to burn. “Why?”
“Because Emile trusts you. And you’re able to acknowledge your own flaws,” the matriarch said. “Leave this place. My final stand against the dragon will be held here where my power’s at its peak. I was caught off guard by gravity magic last time, but it won’t happen again.”
An ice dragon with gravity magic? Tafel thought. It can’t be, right? The phoenixes flocked around her, interrupting her thoughts.
“Older sister,” one of the phoenixes said as she perched on Tafel’s horns. Her head tilted. “Smells like bacon.”
“Matriarch!” Persephone said, biting her lower lip. “Why did you imprint a stranger but not me?”
The matriarch raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t I already say? Because Emile trusts her. If I can’t believe in my children, then who would I ever trust?” She sighed at Persephone’s expression. “And you tried to wash Emile with water. Really, Persephone? My lineage would have no chance of survival with you at its head.” Persephone’s face contorted even further, causing the matriarch to sigh again. “I can’t imprint someone who worships me. How can someone who sees themselves as beneath phoenixes be worthy of standing among us?”
“I will never forget this, matriarch,” Tafel said, dropping to her knees and lowering her head. “Thank you.”
“Raise your head, my daughter,” the matriarch said. “You’re a phoenix now. But you really must go before the dragons arrive.”
“You can’t leave with us?” Emile asked, furrowing his brow. “Why?”
“There’s still another cluster of eggs that have yet to hatch,” the matriarch said. “They won’t survive if I leave this region.” She smiled at Emile. “Don’t worry. Unless my ashes are scattered, I’ll see you again.”
Tafel sighed as she stood up. She had always wanted an imprint, but receiving one in this situation—wasn’t it a bit too tragic? “Matri—, Mother,” Tafel said and hesitated. If the dragon was who she thought he might be, then…. “I’m not sure if it’ll help or make things worse, but you can say the green dragon Nova will definitely seek vengeance for you. He’s my husband’s grandfather.”
The matriarch blinked and smiled. “I understand. There’s more to you than what I expected. I’ll definitely survive and come find you after the battle is over.”
***
“How much longer until we reach the phoenix nest?” Vur asked a dwarf who was riding in a carriage beside him. He was lying down on Lulu’s forehead with his head turned to the side. A day had passed since the phoenix matriarch was beaten back, but his mana still hadn’t recovered. When he inspected why his recovery was so slow, Sheryl had apologized and said she needed a lot for her evolution.
“About three days at the pace we’re going, Your Gloriousness,” the dwarf said. Since Vur had transformed into a dragon and defeated the phoenix matriarch by himself, the dwarves accompanying him stopped referring to him as a substitute. Some even chose to believe he was actually a dwarf who enjoyed polymorphing himself into a human.
Vur grunted, causing Lulu to cross her eyes and look towards her forehead. “Will you recover by then?” she asked.
“Yes,” Vur said. “I only need a few more hours. My mana should’ve came back after sleeping yesterday, but it was borrowed.”
“Sorry!” Sheryl said from the yellow runes on his shoulder. They were brighter than before with hints of feather-like patterns inside the sun. “But your mana capacity will definitely increase when I become a volcano elemental. Your fire and heat resistance will increase too!”
“Oh,” Lulu said and sighed. “Then why’d it take you two weeks to wake up last time you became a dragon?”
“That was a regular nap,” Vur said.
“Oh,” Lulu said again. “Makes sense. Darn. I made this potion that recovers mana, but I have no idea how it’ll affect someone if they drink it. I was hoping you’d be desperate enough to test it out.”
“Huh?” Stella asked from where she was sitting on Vur’s chest. “You made a potion that recovers mana, but you don’t know what it’ll do? How do you know it recovers mana?”
“Well,” Lulu said and scratched her snout. “I put in ingredients that recover mana and mixed them together, and the cauldron didn’t explode. If the individual parts all recover mana, then the final product should too, right? But sadly, that’s not how the real world works, and things can change when mixed with other things. Which is why I want a test subject.”
“Have you considered drinking it yourself?” Stella asked with a snort. “Dumb lizard.”
Lulu blinked. “Someone’s in a bad mood,” she said. “Woke up on the wrong side of Vur’s chest, did you?”
Stella snorted again, but she closed her eyes and didn’t respond, crossing her arms over her chest. Vur frowned at the fairy queen and poked the back of her head, causing her to yelp and fall over face first. “What’s wrong?” Vur asked. “Hungry?”
“A woman’s anger is not always due to hunger,” Stella said and shook her fist at Vur before sitting up and fixing her hair that had fallen over her face. She sighed and lowered her head, biting her lower lip. “I’m just upset. Memories of my previous self keep coming back, but there’s something missing—something very, very big that explains why I’m so angry all the time.” She raised her head, meeting Vur’s eyes. “What happened to me, Vur?”
“You nearly destroyed the world,” Vur said as he sat up, catching Stella with his palm before she could fall off of him.
Stella blinked. She squinted at Vur’s face before tilting her head. “I didn’t know you knew how to make a joke,” she said. “Doesn’t that count as a lie?”
“Dragons don’t lie,” Vur said with a nod.
“We don’t?” Lulu asked from under him. “Are you sure about that? Luke deceives Mom all the time when he runs off to see his girlfriend.”
Vur acted as if he hadn’t heard her, keeping his gaze on Stella. The fairy queen scratched her cheek. “I was that amazing?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why’d I give up the memory then?”
Vur rubbed his chin. “You gave up the memory?” he asked. “What do you mean?”
“The price for reviving is some of your memories,” Stella said. “Fairies get to pick and choose which ones. No one else does.”
“Elementals too,” Sheryl said. “I think it’s because we’re frequent visitors to the Wisty.”
Diamant grunted in agreement.
Vur nodded. “Then your previous self gave up those memories for a reason,” he said. “Isn’t it better to make new ones than try to remember what happened before? The past is the past; it’s meant to be forg
otten.”
“Uh, no it’s not?” Lulu asked, raising an eyebrow. “People keep historical records to help the people in the future remember the past.”
Vur ignored the silver dragon again, smiling at the fairy in his palm. Stella glanced at Lulu before meeting Vur’s eyes. She nodded and hugged his thumb, curling up into the fetal position around it. “Then I’ll trust you, Vur,” she said. “If you think it’s better for me to not know, then I won’t try to find out. But do you know why my children are here? I sensed their traces on the phoenix. And I’m very upset about that.”
“Really?” Vur asked. “I didn’t notice.”
“That’s because you fainted,” Stella said, drawing circles with her finger on the back of Vur’s thumb. “It was faint, but I knew a fairy had come into contact with the phoenix. And fairies are not fire-retardant!”
“Isn’t that weird?” Vur asked, tilting his head. “Why would your children cross the ocean to come here? Maybe Auntie would know.”
“Right!” Stella said, sitting up straight. “Is there anything going on between me and Lindyss?” She bit her lip and lowered her head. “Sorry. I told you I wouldn’t ask about my past, but I just did.”
“You used to be good friends with her,” Vur said.
Stella blinked. “But it seems like she hates me?”
Vur grunted. “Stuff happens.”
“Oh,” Stella said and scratched her head. She nodded before lying down again, snuggling against his thumb and closing her eyes.
Vur lowered his palm and lay down on Lulu’s head again. The clouds passed by as Lulu continued plodding along, matching the pace of the dwarves who were systematically capturing the elves. A hint of red light appeared on the horizon, causing Vur to furrow his brow. “Forest fire ahead?”
Lulu stood on her hind legs, peering over some tree tops. She shrugged. “Maybe.”
***
The phoenix matriarch opened her eyes, stood up, and spread her wings. She let out a screech that caused the flames surrounding her to fly up into the air, filling the sky with bright-red fire. Her surroundings had already been evacuated, allowing her to set the whole nest ablaze, increasing her strength with every fire lit. Tafel had wanted to stay behind, but the matriarch forced her to take the baby phoenixes to a safe place. Even the elves, who’ve lived there for hundreds of years, were removed from their homes.
The wounds the matriarch had suffered during her previous clash with Vur, including the self-inflicted one she created to escape, had all healed. She took one last glance at the cluster of eggs behind her, making sure they were engulfed in flames, before flying out of her nest towards the sky. Her eyes narrowed at the procession of dwarves, their cars snaking through her forest like a line of ants through a field of grass. At the head, a silver dragon stiffened and looked up, meeting her gaze.
“Hey, Vur,” Lulu said, nudging the person on her head with a claw. “She’s staring at us.”
“I know,” Vur said as he stood up. He scratched his head. “Just in case, keep your mana potions at the ready. I’ll test them for you if I need them.”
“Really?” Lulu asked, a gleam in her eyes. “You will? I guarantee that one of my potions will fully recover your mana in an instant!”
“Stop making him repeat himself,” Stella said. “If he says he will, then he will.” She nodded before dissolving into motes of purple light, merging into Vur.
“I don’t want to be greedy, Vur,” Sheryl said from the runes on his shoulder, “but can you give me some more of her flames? I might be able to directly absorb them if she hits your shoulder. I feel like I can evolve even further!”
“I’ll try,” Vur said and nodded. He leapt into the air, transforming the moment his feet left Lulu’s head. A pair of wings burst out of his back, launching him towards the phoenix in the sky, his body continuing to transform mid-flight.
“We meet again, dragon!” the phoenix matriarch said as she swooped at Vur, talons outstretched. The flames in the vicinity wrapped around her feet like armor, causing them to give off an incredible amount of heat.
Vur sucked in his breath, his stomach ballooning outwards. A moment later, a torrent of icicles flew out of his mouth accompanied by a dense layer of white frost that clashed with the flames in the sky. The phoenix matriarch continued forward as if she hadn’t noticed the icicles, her body shimmering as she increased in speed. The icicles passed through her as if she were made of flames, leaving her unharmed.
Vur flapped his wings, soaring up into the air higher than the matriarch, but flames erupted underneath the phoenix, causing her to chase after Vur without needing to flap her wings. Vur let out another breath of frost, but the matriarch passed through unimpeded, the flames in the sky flickering for a brief moment. Vur’s eyes glowed as he increased the gravity around the matriarch, causing her to falter.
“In these flaming skies, I am the monarch!” the matriarch shouted. She turned into wisps of fire while the flames above Vur contorted and wriggled, forming the crude outline of a bird. A moment later, the flames solidified, and the matriarch’s talons struck Vur on the shoulder, tearing a long bloody gash through his scales.
Vur roared and swiped his tail at the phoenix as she passed by, but his tail passed through her as she reappeared above him. He glared at the matriarch as the wound on his shoulder closed, white tendrils of light dancing around the flesh. “I can absorb the flames around us, Vur,” Sheryl said. “It’ll take a while, at least an hour. Can you hold out for that long?”
Vur nodded as the flames in the sky swirled towards him, colliding and dispersing against the runes on his shoulder. Usually, the golden rune on his forehead shone brighter, but Sheryl’s runes emitted a light that overshadowed it. He flapped his wings and flew up towards the matriarch, his body swimming through the air like a fish through water.
The matriarch screeched as she summoned a fireball that was the size of Nova’s meteor. Vur roared and halted, raising his front legs while leaning back almost as if he were standing on air. A circle of runes appeared in front of him, the mana coming off of them causing the sky to shake. The crude surface of a meteor appeared, colliding with the massive ball of flames. Vur flew down towards Lulu while the meteor and fireball grinded against each other in mutual destruction, raining thousands of flaming rocks onto the forest below.
“Potion!” Vur said as he got closer to Lulu. She stood on her hind legs and made a tossing motion towards Vur with her front paws. Out of nowhere, a ball of green liquid appeared in the air. Vur opened his mouth and chomped down on the liquid, swallowing it without hesitation. His eyes widened as all the runes on his body shone brighter, the golden glow on his scales increasing in intensity as well. He nodded at Lulu before flying back towards the matriarch. “It works.”
“Nice,” Lulu said as she lowered her front legs back onto the ground. She smacked her paw against the forest floor, creating a tablet of stone which she picked up. “Now let’s record the side effects.”
“I’m a fifth of the way there, Vur,” Sheryl said. “Around fifty minutes left!”
Vur grunted as he snaked through the flaming sky, approaching the matriarch. The meteor and fireball finished destroying each other by the time he made it back. Out of nowhere, a pair of talons ripped across his wing, causing him to roar and thrash his claw out to the side. The phoenix matriarch retreated out of range, flying next to the other phoenix in the sky. “Simple creatures fall for simple tricks,” the matriarch said as the phoenix beside her shattered like the image on a broken mirror. “Think, is this body of mine real?”
Vur roared again as his tail swiped beside him, smacking a phoenix that had just appeared. His tail passed through it, scattering it into a swirl of flames. He snorted as white tendrils enveloped the wounds on his wings, stitching the gaping holes back together.
“I don’t understand,” the matriarch said. “How are you proficient in holy magic as well?” She glanced at Lulu, who was scribbling notes onto the stone tab
let with her claw. “It’s not her.”
“Shut up!” Vur said as he exhaled out a breath of gray smoke. Hints of red tinged his cheeks, his eyes slightly unfocused. “I’ll teach you a lesson. Dragons are the strongest!” He charged through the air flailing his limbs with wide, powerful swipes that left him vulnerable to attacks. Like a spinning ball of destruction, he whirled around and around, striking with his claws, tails, wings, and even snapping down with his jaws. Lightning bolts, fireballs, icicles, and wind blades flew out of him like fireworks.
“Vur! Vur! I’m getting super dizzy!” Sheryl shouted. “Slow down!”
The phoenix matriarch’s eyes widened as she avoided his strikes. Every time she was hit, she’d disperse into wisps of fire and reappear elsewhere, but the flames in the sky decreased in intensity as well. “Y-you!” the matriarch shouted. “What kind of fighting style is this!?” There were a lot of openings to attack which she took advantage of, but Vur fought recklessly, letting her cut his bone to cut her flesh. His wounds would heal a second after every exchange, making the matriarch feel like she was punching a pool of water.
“Hold on,” Vur said, ceasing all attacks while holding one claw up into the air. His face was completely flushed. He hiccoughed and fell over backwards in the sky like a dead log. The matriarch stared at him with her beak hanging open. Right before Vur was about to crash into the ground, his wings opened and he flew upside down, gliding towards Lulu. “Potion!”
Lulu heaved another glob of green liquid into the air which Vur promptly swallowed. Then she scribbled onto her tablet as he flew back up towards the matriarch. “Potion may be ever so slightly alcoholic. Just a teensy bit.”
The matriarch was at a loss as to what to do. The flames that she had spent days stoking were dying down with every tussle between her and Vur. Any injuries she inflicted on Vur were instantly healed by forces she still hadn’t discovered. If she retreated now, she’d be leaving behind her eggs which she was unwilling to do. But there was no way for her to win. She tried burning the potion that Lulu kept providing Vur, but he always managed to drink it before she could. And every time Vur drank the potion, his attacks would become more unbridled. Her holy area had already been devastated by the time Vur flew through the ground, thinking he was in the air, and it was only due to luck that he avoided the area with her eggs.