Phoenix Knight

Ra's skin gave off the appearance of recently cast bronze as thick ropes of smoky tendrils rose from his body. The remnants of the white flame that had previously encased him in a fiery armor was still visibly fading from view. 

"How do you feel?" Ra glanced down at the small bird in his hand, it was staring at him with smoldering red eyes and he knew the voice had come from it. "Solara?" the bird seemed to blink in acknowledgement. Understanding came to him in a flash, "So this is rebirth," he thought as he placed Solara on his shoulder, "I feel different," he answered honestly, casting a glance at his shoulder. Solara nodded, "This much is expected, your life force has been subjected to a qualitative improvement after all. "This means..."  Solara nodded, "You now possess an Anima," she responded, "however, with gains come losses, the Dragon magic you've always used is now beyond your reach." Ra was stunned hearing this, "I've lost my powers?" Solara shook her head, "It would be more prudent to say your powers have changed." she said softly, "Go on, try them out, this place can no longer seal you."

Now that she mentioned it, Ra did feel an immense well of power inside himself, but it was so alien to him he wasn't sure what to do with it. Certain abilities he had learned of in the Dragon library were still usable by him, but they had to be adapted, changed, more suited for the type of magic he now possessed. With a thought, a thick formless flame sprang to his hand. It released no heat, even as the white flames licked at his palm. 12 days and nights passed as Ra practiced his new powers, soon he could shape and control the formless flames, he had also adapted most of his abilities to suit his new powers. Solara had explained more about magic than he'd ever known. The first law of magic is all magic has a source, even hers. A Phoenix's magic comes from death and rebirth, it is a type of magic that exists in an infinite cycle. They accumulate it in their lifetime and release it with each death. Dragon magic is trickier and far less stable, according to what Ra had told her, Solara deduced that Dragons store magic inside their bodies, and since it is never used it is expelled when they die. She surmised the magic must come from the world they live on, and humans who absorbed the magic from these expelled stones became dependent on them to maintain their capability to use it. Ra had a much greater understanding now of all the events of history as if he had been there to see it happen. Furthermore, his grasp on Phoenix magic had directly propelled him to the final stage, level 1, Ancient Phoenix Knight.

The difference in power between an Immortal Dragon Knight and an Immortal Phoenix Knight was like night and day, Ra felt like no one beneath the Godling stage could so much as touch the hem of his cloak, and even then only with great effort.

Ra smiled at the beautiful golden skinned bird sleeping peacefully on his shoulder, "Let's go home," he whispered, and as if in answer, she yawned and raised her head before squeezing herself into a tighter ball and going back to sleep. Ra waved an arm to open a gate, and a 60 foot tall pulsing white portal blinked into existence. It radiated an intense aura and even Ra was blown away, staring at his hands in astonishment. "Such power?" he chuckled helplessly, "It seems I'll have to hold back in the future," he said helplessly as he stepped through the gate returning to the Academy.

Ra had still underestimated his newfound power, after stepping through the gate he realized he had overshot the Academy by at least 10,000 miles. The one skill he had not practiced just son happened to be portal magic. This was a realm if magic that accessed many different strains of magical energy, and up until today he believed it mastered and well within his domain. However, he could not predict how powerful his magic would become to the point where he even lost control of spells he had once held complete control over. Deciding not to chance a return portal, Ra chose to walk back to the Academy, not daring to even fly lest he somehow underestimate his capabilities again. "This will definitely take some getting used to," he said aloud, laughing to himself.

After he'd walked about 400 miles Solara suddenly raised her head, "Someone is...hurt, over there," she said lazily before she once again buried her head beneath his cloak. "Where?" and an image of heavily scarred trees sprang into his mind, in a clearing stood a little boy about 9 holding a stick surrounded by huge men wielding axes. The boy had blood dripping into one eye and his hair was stained red and matted against his face, but he stood in proud defiance of the men while gripping his stick. Ra concealed his presence, to others he would appear invisible, and flashed to the boys side. 

"Move aside, boy!" said one of the men licking his lips, he wore a disgusting expression on his face, and his companions also sported similar twisted appearances. "Get fucked!" shouted the boy, "You will not touch my sister!" Ra glanced behind the boy and saw a little girl bleeding on the ground, most of her clothes had been torn off. Rage began to take up residence in his heart, but he restrained himself, for now. "That's quite a mouth you have on you boy!" said the man again, "look here, the boys and I work hard, we feed the two of you, yeah? and in return we don't ask much, right fellas?" he asked looking around at his companions. To which they all nodded enthusiastically, "See? we took you in, all we're asking for is a bit o company..." The man reasoned with the boy as if he truly were not asking much, The boy still shook his head violently, and fat tears rolled down his cheeks, "No!" he sobbed, "You're hurting her, she's not old enough!" he yelled, the man's face suddenly hardened, "Now you listen here boy, we didn't wanna kill you but don't think we won't do it!" he said threateningly, and took a menacing step forward, the boy flinched and stumbled several steps backward, he felt a strong reassuring hand on his back helping him balance, and he felt strangely comforted and more confident. He turned a steely gaze back to the men, "Anyone who dares to touch my sister will die." he said coldly.  "YOU!" unmitigated rage now replaced the lecherous looks on the men's faces, "you're asking for death!" they howled, the leader was even more enraged, "brat, there's a road to heaven and you refuse to take it, there's a path to hell yet you insist, very well. I shall grant you your wish today!" And he raised his axe high, the metal blade glinted in the sunlight, the boy dodged the oncoming axe and swung his stick with all the strength he had and whacked the back of the man's hand, the man dropped the axe and roared in pain, and a glint flashed in his eyes as he sharply turned his neck to glare at the boy. Ra moved like lightning, and in the next instant he had revealed himself and the man's throat was in his grip. The man kicked and flailed as Ra lifted him off the ground, he seemed incredibly small at this moment, the stench of piss began to waft through the air as a stream of liquid poured from the man's pant leg. Solara wrinkled her nose and flew high up into a tree. Ra gagged in disgust and dropped the man in the puddle of his own piss. "Solara," and she swooped down from the tree and landed on his shoulder, he walked over to the two kids, "Hi," he said and allowed a brilliant smile to emerge on his face. He felt the boy relax beneath his palm, "hold on tight," he said, and with that he teleported their group out of the clearing.