Chapter 006 – Temple and Heart

[282 AC]

Some time later Phenex could already see the Titan of Braavos in the distance.

There were of course a few locations he wanted to visit in Braavos, like the House of Black and White, or the Iron Bank. Maybe even fight some duels at nigthfall as was the custom in Braavos.

Still, he didn't have time for that today, as he had another more important task to finish to the South East. So Phenex turned around and started to fly down the coast, passing by Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh, Lys and eventually reaching Volantis.

It was also here that Phenex stopped.

Volantis. He could feel some kind of pull from somewhere in the city.

Shrouding himself with a bit magic, Phenex followed his instincts, reaching a massive temple, three-times the size of the Great Sept in King's Landing, the next moment.

'The Temple of the Lord of Light', Phenex realised.

He didn't know what it was that attracted him to the temple, but he planned to find out.

Turning into a human again, Phenex still kept his magical concealment up. He could feel a lot of humans with a tiny bit of magic in his immediate vicinity, probably the Red Priests, but none of them were able to see through his disguise.

He even doubted that there was anyone in this world that was capable of such.

Simply walking in from the front door, Phenex let himself be guided by the attraction he could feel from the depths of the temple.

No doors were able to keep him from advancing as he could be as formless as fire itself, simply passing through cracks and slits, while he sensed less and less people the further he went.

Half an hour later, Phenex finally reached the innermost part of the temple and his destination. A massive weirwood door and oily black coloured stonewalls were the last obstacles in his way.

Phenex could even feel some feeble ancient wards shielding the entrance, being interwoven into the stone wall itself. Still, these wards could at best confuse and redirect a normal human, but he was far from human.

Again passing through the tiniest gaps on the door, he appeared in a chamber that was completely made from that oily black stone and only had one entrance.

A woman was already in the chamber, kneeling before an altar in the middle of the dark room.

Though what really captured Phenex's attention was the object floating above the altar – a heart made out of fire, blood and ash.

The ash forming the general shape of the heart, while the floating blood and fire were moving through the heart like it was a living beating organ. It was this heart, that lit up the room dimly.

It was also the heart from which Phenex could feel the pull drawing him closer and he finally knew why.

The ash that formed the corporal body of the magically created heart was ash that had been left behind by his father undergoing one of his rebirths.

Phoenixes would all undergo a rebirth through fire every several thousand years, leaving behind only ashes of their old form. It was something that happened naturally with time and was different from the inheritance process.

It was that exact ash that had been used to create this magical organ, and it was easy to make out the general function of it for Phenex.

Using blood sacrifices, powers similar to a phoenix could be granted to the sorcerer that performed the ritual, like crude forms of fire magic and a corrupted form of rebirth in very rare cases.

It was probably also used to make prophecies, as that kind of magic was especially draining and fatal, so only fools would use their own magic when they had access to such an artifact.

Phenex himself could also use his fire for visions, since he himself was an aspect of life manifested in sentient form, but he knew that prophecies weren't something to be trusted or relied upon from his memories.

The question that presented itself now was wether he should simply destroy the magical organ or do something entirely different.

The faith of the Lord of Light would probably crumble within a few years, if all the priests lost their connection to this pure source of magical power, something he didn't really care about.

On the other hand, he may be able to use this to his advantage and try something more interesting than simple destruction, he could always just come back here and destroy the heart anyway.

Dropping his magic shroud, Phenex approached the kneeling woman, who was alerted by his presence through the noise of his steps.

Turning around the woman shouted at Phenex: "Who are you- … "

Though she fell silent the moment she saw Phenex's eyes having turned into flames, while his whole body erupted in a blaze, turning him into a creature of pure fire, as his presence filled the room.

A creature whose presence was basically identical to the magic exuded by the artificial organ, but several times stronger.

The woman's eyes widened and her breath hitching, as she whispered: "My Lord."

Before falling to her knees and prostrating herself before Phenex, staying silent in fear of offending the god before her.

"You are named Kinvara, are you not?"

If his childish voice surprised the woman, she didn't show it in the least. She only nodded without raising her head, still not daring to speak.

"Tell me do you know who and what I am, Kinvara?"

"R'hollor. My God.", Kinvara answered in a low and reverent tone.

"Look at me, Kinvara.", as she slowly raised her head, Phenex whole form turned into gigantic long-necked bird made out of fire.

"I am no God, Kinvara. I am the Phoenix, an immortal embodiment of Fire and Life."

His fiery body filled the small chamber completely with incredibly hot flames, leaving only the place, where Kinvara stood and the altar with the heart, untouched.

Kinvara wasn't only shocked by the words, but by the demonstration of magic and power before her.

Never in her hundreds of years of life had she seen something comparable and she had been alive even before the Doom of Valyria.

She had seen great magic being cast and enormous dragons flying in the sky, but nothing could compare to the power she felt from the being before her. Her magical senses told her of the infinite well of fire and life.

Though she had to cut her connection with this sense immediately after, while she started to bleed from her eyes, ears and nose.

She realised the being in front of her – this Phoenix – was absolutely not something a mortal could ever hope to see through, or rival in strength.