Phoenix

I feel the gaping wound in my chest gurgle and shoot blood up into my vision, blinding me from the stars above me.

The pain is unbearable, a blazing hole in my chest feeling as if it is scorching the flesh around it into a molten lump of meat; all I can do is grasp at the wound, hoping it'd heal if I just snatch at it some more.

I struggle around in the mud, kicking, gurgling, grasping at my wound, trying as hard as I can to let out my breaths.

as if trying to grasp the slight bit of hope I have that someone will come save me from this horror.

why? why me? what did I do to them? who did this to me? was it my friends? no it couldn't have been, why am I thinking like that - but where are they, where is Cain, he was at my side, where did he go? did he chase after the attacker? I need him here I need him to help me. I don't want to die.

where is my guild, why am I left gurgling on his own blood like a wounded suffering bunny trying to catch its breath.

I feel my body starting to numb, tears of the pain before, washing the blood from my eyes that had once shot up from my wound. 

I can see the blurred stars in the sky staring down at me like I'm some insignificant life form not worthy of its saving.

I feel I am floating in the clouds at night, it's so dark yet so devastatingly beautiful. I wish I could experience this with the members of my guild, adding to the numerous amount of memories we have collected throughout our journeys.

my mind is starting to slip away, I'm seeing buzzing lights, I no longer feel my body, no longer does the pain from the wound ache me. 

finally this nightmare is coming to an end; all I can think about is waking in my royal blue sheeted, golden framed bed my best friend Cain gave me as a gift from our battle against the ice giants in the mountains of Eskar; as my friends greet me asking of the nightmare I just woke from.

It's dark, where am I? why am I conscious? did I die? is this heaven? hell? did someone save me? what is going on?

From the darkness appears a bright red blazing flame emitting a sphere of light in the distance; the darkness ignoring the light, almost as if the space itself, is void or nothingness.

I somehow move towards the flame, not walking, more like floating like what I'd imagine a ghost would travel like.

Eventually, I'm close enough to the flame to realise it's not just a flame, but what I'd describe as a cat sized, pigeon being consumed by blue flames.

Is this a phoenix? but they're only spoke of in books, stories, no one has ever seen one that wasn't then accused of being insane.

"Hello Human!" a playfully childish voice calls out.

"W-who is this? who said that"

The fiery bird, no longer a small flame in the distance, appears to be an at least 8ft tall phoenix; a fiery bush of feathers covering its flesh, eyelashes at least a foot long, as sharp as a razor thin blade, thin on the inner brow and blazingly powerful on the ends that curl into a spiral.

Sharp fox-like Eyes, menacingly beautiful, luminescent - fiery irises staring into me as if burning into the depths of my soul.

I freeze, mesmerized by the intimidatingly beautiful beast - No, not a beast more of a mystical creature out of the stories I was told as a child standing before me.

Within a single blink of my eyes, the phoenix is gone; I look down to see a child-like version of the phoenix that was just right in front of me, did it just transform?

"My name is Sol!, offspring of the deceased great phoenix Sieun." the childish voice playfully calls out.

"I wasn't aware beasts could use telepathy"

"Beast? I am no beast!, I am a phoenix, I am no slave to such animalistic instincts!" the phoenix says in an awfully overconfident childish voice.

"I apologise for my rudeness - now could you tell me what this place is? why is it so dark and how, are you able to speak to me?"

"Now now, one question at a time mister." The little phoenix says with a devious smirk.

"I just died, and yet I'm here speaking to a phoenix, don't tell me you expected me to just not be curious"

"We're inside of your consciousness."

"What does that even mean, and why exactly are you here?"

"I'm here to ask for your help of course."

"haha, you're hilarious."

"Did I say something funny, mister?" The phoenix says with searching eyes as if trying to find the joke.

"Weren't you listening to me? as I've already stated, I am dead, I am of no use to you - so how exactly am I supposed to help you?"

"I apologise, I misspoke - what I meant to say was I'd like to make a contract with you."

"what do you mean, contract?"

"surely you're familiar with "beast" bonds as you humans call them"

"so... It's like making a deal with the devil?"

"I am not familiar; you humans have such funny words" the little phoenix lets out a little giggle.

"Never mind - and what exactly would you want me to do if I accept this contract? you want my soul or something?"

"Do you think of me as some sort of fiend" The little phoenix replies, narrowing its brows.

"Not necessarily, but you can never be too careful"

"What I wish, is for you to take me on your journey!" the little phoenix excitedly says while swirling around my legs like a stray cat.

"What journey are you talking about exactly? Sorry to burst your bubble Scorchy, but my journey has already ended; it ended when I was left suffocating in my own blood"

"So you don't seek revenge? you don't seek to find the one who left you dying in that muddied field like an out-of-sea fish grasping at the air trying to save itself? such a shame, I guess I was wrong about you, former Great human" the little phoenix tauntingly says.

"I never said I didn't want revenge, I'd gladly accept this contract - but as you already know, I'm not exactly in the best shape to be taking you out on journeys; and plus, what exactly would you be gaining from my journey?"

"I'm considered a child of my species, I have not yet reached the limit of my potential, nor do I know what that limit is; what I hope to gain from your journey is knowledge, experience and growth. I am the last of my species, I no longer have an elder to show me the world; and I wouldn't mind having a little fun on my way around" the phoenix says with a cartoonish grin.

"So you want me to be your father... strange request for a phoenix; and like I've said before, I'd gladly accept your request Scorchy - but I am currently dead, bodiless and completely useless"

"It's Sol, not Scorchy, and haven't I already told you - I am a phoenix."