2 Phoenix's Ashes

His eyes were hazy as he tried to take in his surroundings. In the same breath, the haziness left his eyes widened as he released a wail of extreme pain, awakening the sleeping animals of the forest. The pain felt similar to his whole body having been lit aflame by a radiant sun. Besides the burning he felt, he was unable to move his body. In his countless centuries of life, he had yet felt a pain of this caliber. He knew that every bone in his body had been broken but didn't know how. The last thing he remembered was being in the Desert of Remorse kneeling 365 days and 365 nights.

Though now he was in what he could tell was a wooden shack. It had the warm robust nature smell that went along with the feeling of comfort the simplicity of it gave. The wood had been recently cut still having been vanilla yellow with no signs of age. The unimpaired vibrant glowing white rays of sun shone through a hole in the east wall.

Hearing the sound similar to a door a voice sounds throughout the room, "You're awake," her voice was surprisingly calm while also sounding akin to the sound of an angel, was as sweet as candy, as soft as morning clouds and timid as a young girl.

He tried to reply to the girl but all that escaped his mouth was a grunt-filled of pain. Quickly noticing this she rushed over to his side as she slightly lifted him up from his laying position. At the movement, he felt more pain another grunt fell from his lips.

This world was cruel with no sense of mercy. In life, it was just as merciless as it was in death. When you leave your mother's warm embrace, when you are thrown out into the world there is no idea of safety, no second chances for those with regrets.

At this moment though he would believe this all to be falsities created by those who don't understand the idea of life.

He held regrets; he never felt safe even when in his mother's embrace. Yet here he sat in extreme pain unknown to how this all came to be. This wasn't the body he remembered, this body was young unlikely his past self. This body felt pain an emotion he had long since forgotten. This body was crippled in the ways of magic unlike his past of standing at every peak. Most of all he wasn't alone, there was someone likely less than a decade old by his side.

She was an unmatched beauty, a plain white dress adorns her body, her hair was long and looked similar to a pale yellow glow of a dulled sun. Her skin glowed comparable to the full moon on a cloudless night, her eyes were like an ocean with rays of sun glistening off its surface. She has a fine nose, pointed chin, and a jade-like neck. She gave off the aura of a child purity and kindness.

"Don't try and move on your own, I used some healing magic on your shattered bones but they haven't completely set yet." She spoke with her still angelic voice.

This idea of having someone else care for him was foreign. The idea of always being alone without anyone standing at the same peak was something he had long given up on. He was a demon, god, Death. Over everything he made been addressed multiple ways to where if you declared a title to the heavens he was likely already addressed it.

Before it all, and even today he was no god, no demon, nor Death herself. He was human the weakest of all races. Humans are the jack of all trades race average at everything with no superior traits.

They may not hold the most overall strength nor the brightest intellect; humans were the most adaptable. This was because they held no low-end trait they were average in everything giving them the ability to react and adapt to any situation someone put before them something the other races couldn't do.

He spent many millennia traveling the realms, time after time he would see humans at the bottom of the social ladder. When he reached the peak, he would never be written as the race he truly was he would be something else altogether. He would had been revered as a god to some and a demon to others, however, never a human.

"I'm actually surprised you are actually alive." She commented in a concerned tone as her eyes glistened in the light.

"When I found you, you were lying motionless on the ground with all your bones broken and not breathing at first glance you seemed dead. I couldn't just leave you there alone though so I brought you back and used my magic to heal you." She continued growing a smile. The brightness of the sun couldn't even compare to her own smile. "I'm glad I didn't too because here you are alive likely because of it."

"Thank…you…" His voice was hoarse and weak along with being filled with pain. The idea of being cared for may be foreign to him but he hadn't forgotten formalities taught to him.

"No. No," She hastily said.

"Don't force yourself to talk yet. I just heard your wail of pain and rushed to see what happened. My name is Lilith Vermillion and you will be in my care for a while." On her happily smiling face, she held a beauty no ten-year-old should have.

"Aster…Curtail…"

Time continued to flow by as Aster was bedridden for day after day. Lilith would always come and talk to him in the morning before making him soups for his meals. Aster had been independent his whole life so this idea of depending on another was an idea he was foreign too. He had enjoyed the silence the lonely peak had given him though. The first morning it was an enjoyable difference but as morning after morning came he began to dislike the idea of companionship. The silence he had long since got accustomed to, was destroyed in a single week.

She always sounded so joyful to be able to talk to him, even though he rarely replied. Talking had brought great amounts pain to his already burning body. She never seemed to mind the silence though; she would continue to talk. About how beautiful the sun was, or even how the rain brought feelings of sadness. Every time words would escape her pale pink lips she would be praising the simple things but in a profound way. She sounded so joyful with every word carrying the laughs of chiming bells on a wedding morning.

This joyful sound to the ear didn't lower his sense of dismay at the feeling of not being alone. Through it all, he could sigh in dismay unable to change his current situation. If this was the past all this would only take from the sun rising in the east to setting in the west for him to be healed. His healing capabilities had been at their peak unrivaled by anyone under the sun. Today he was a non-mage unable to even use the simplest of spells, the injury having chances to take his life.

So, he lay unable to escape this dependency on someone else. He was forced to rely on someone he had never met before today. At the rate of current healing, he was going to be in this situation for a month having to depend on Lilith. The sense of silence he had begun to enjoy was a dream he would likely never get to achieve, even after he was healed she likely wouldn't leave him.

Over the next three weeks, he laid in the care of Lilith slowly being able to do things himself. It started with being able to talk in conversations with Lilith which brought him no joy.

"So what's your story?" She asked with her tilted to the side incuriousness.

"My story on what?" Aster answered completely knowing the story she wanted but was trying his best to avoid it. He himself was not sure how this body got the way it was and saying that he was reborn wouldn't be a good answer.

"The story of how you ended up close to death alone on the ground?" Aster was hesitant to answer her, unsure of the answer himself. The longer and longer he stayed silence the more suspicious Lilith would become from his answer.

"I don't remember." It wasn't a full lie as he really didn't know what had happened to put him in this situation. The last thing he remembered was being alone in the Desert of Remorse yet he awoke he was here being cared for by Lilith. He couldn't say any of this though as that would be more suspicious than not remembering anything at all. He could only assume something big happened to this person which is why all the bones in their body had been broken.

"Since you don't want to tell me you don't have to," Lilith answered still smiling.

Aster wasn't overly shocked by her response as from the day he had met her, she always seemed more mature than her looks gave credit for. Those few moments of hesitation were likely seen through by her no matter how few breaths they lasted. Even still he hid the minimal amounts of shock in his heart.

The room fell to silence as Aster how no clue how to restart the conversation. Talking was foreign to him. The silence wasn't bothersome though, to either of them, it was a calming difference. Day after day Lilith would come and talk the day away, today the only exception. They both sat there without saying a word unwilling to break the tranquil room. Aster enjoyed the silence more than Lilith had as it had reminded him of his days of constant travel. Reminded him of the world he was currently in, he would repeat the fate of the realms he once existed in. So from sunrise to sunset, no words had been spoken both of them having sat there in tranquil silence.

A full month had passed since Aster had been found by Lilith and was brought back to her little hut. It was the first day that Aster moved since having all his bones broken. It wasn't on his own as Lilith was supporting him as he took each step. The owner of this idea wasn't Aster, as he would never agree to have more dependence on someone than needed. This ingenious idea was completely from Lilith's own head and against Aster's wishes.

Aster had arisen from his bed the moment his feet touched the ground he released a groan of pain which had awoken Lilith. In the breath her morning haziness left her body she appeared next to Aster forcefully supporting his as she tried to make him sit back down. Begrudgingly he sat down on the makeshift bed.

Lilith's face was covered in panic as she checked him over to see if any of his bones didn't set right. In her usually calm eyes, were filled with sadness, paired along with the fact her pale lips had been pushed down into a frown.

"Why did you try and stand up on your own?" She asked with a pout bring a new type of beauty to her previous self. She was concerned for his well-being but this would never change the fact that Aster hates relying on others.

"I have been this bed too long." He, of course, wouldn't say that it was because he wanted to get away from her as the pain she would inflict on him would likely be ten times worse than he had once felt. An angry woman is far scarier than any demon, or god he had ever faced. Gulping down the fear he hid it deep in his heart.

"It's been a month Lilith I should be able to move by now." He stated trying to change her mind, he knew it likely wouldn't work but never hurts to try.

She stayed silent for a few moments thinking about everything, "I'll let you leave the bed,"

At hearing this Aster's face lit up in surprise unsure of how her mind changed so quickly. He thought she would tie him to the bed making him unable to move, but now she allowed him to get up.

"But I have to be supporting you." She continued with her condition.

Aster may not have enjoyed the condition or even wanted to agree to it. It would force him to do the one thing he didn't wish to but with her longer. He just wanted silence to be alone like he once had been. Being able to move outweighed this thought, he would rather be standing for the first in a month and trapped with Lilith than being trapped in the bed. There is only so long someone in can trapped in such a situation.

Now he seeing the forest he had been in for a month his own eyes, it wasn't Lilith explaining it all to him nor was it through the small hole in the wall. The sounds of the animals making wonderful tones from all around him. The morning rays of light coming in from the canopy giving the falling autumn leaves a golden glow. The slight cold breeze a remembrance that this isn't all a dream. Comparing all beauties in nature it paled to the beauty of Lilith. She held a beauty no human should have. The rays of lights gave her golden hair a new sense of beauty. Her calm blue eyes reflecting the beauty of nature within them. Her petite form giving a beauty only a child could hold. She felt like an angel descended from heaven to grace the world with her prescience.

None of this mattered to Aster he would choose isolation over being Lilith any day. He would go back to his past any day without a second thought. He had been reborn for a chance to fix his regrets; he had been given a second chance in a new life. If given the chance though to make the same choices all over again he would. He would become a living myth once more, a legend but not for killing.

He would make his legend on helping those no mattered how much he loved isolation.

As Lilith brought him out of the forest bright rays of light blinding him.