The Phoenix Chaser -one-

If life were as simple as the word that represented it, adventure, lessons and joy would have no meaning. The sad, the bad the glad; none of it would have any importance in a simple world. That is why I take you back, back into the times of old when mythical creatures roamed the fields and fairies played at the cowslips ears. Dragon's bellies burned with greed, and gryphon's dotted the mountainside. The skies would glitter with furies eyes, and the grounds would rumble with the foryx's tred.

Do not let the aura of enchantment fool you: this was not a time of wonder, as much as a time of fear. These long-lost creatures were not all kind, and some had terrible power. Some examples would include the titans. Or rather, once did include them. Their power became too much for even themselves. No one knew where the great elementals went, or where their power had gone. And this, my friends, is where our story begins.


-

Rolante: a peaceful fishing town. It was a hub of docks and seamen alike, all searching for their biggest catch. It was rather large, a small city if you were generous. The stone streets stunk of fish and garbage, small alleyways littered with foul means. Shift-covered children run about, snapping whatever wasn't nailed down.

Away from the docks, there was a high-class part of town. It was famous for its high hilltop view, looking out over the rest of the town and the sea. The houses belonged to nobles, or the rich. The farther up the hill you were, the richer and more powerful the family.

One house towards the lower part of the hill housed a wealthy family. They had only one child to be heir to the fortune, a small and frail girl. She had been born sickly and was not expected to live very long. Years went by and the girl still lived, despite the medics warnings. The family believed the Doctors to be after the fortune and took their child to no more doctors. By age 14, she was on deaths door on a monthly basis.

"Naia," The father, a powerful banking man by the name of Sephif, said, a serious tone in his voice and face. "This cannot go on much longer, can it?" The man looked tired and worn, gray beard and hair with well-used clothes on, though still earning a regal aura. He put his large and assuring hand on a smaller woman's shoulder. She was sitting in an old air loom armchair beside their fire pit, her gray eyes vacant.

"I know, but she is more sick than ever. Let her have a little longer." She replied listlessly, her gaze never leaving the burning flame. Her deep gray eyes, sagging and full of sorrow, showed to emotion. A hint of hope was there, maybe in the very crevices of a small, sad smile that snuck onto her face.

The man sighed and ran a hand through his wispy hair. "If we keep trying to keep her with us, she will have nothing to inherit if she does live. What we talked about before…" He paused, obviously getting prepared to say something. "We have no choice." The woman's smile grew. It was almost all out of sadness for her doomed daughter, but down inside her heart of hearts, she knew that some part of her was relieved. It made the mother I her sick, but the woman in her feel ready to be free.

"I know. Let me see her once more then." They walked together down endless corridors, finally arriving in front of an ornate children's room. Sephif slowly opened the door and walked inside. The small, brown haired woman pushed past her husband and stopped short at the foot of a large bed in the room. She sighed and sat on the edge, her husband soon following her.

"She is… gone already…" Naia looked with her worn eyes over onto the sheets. Haizeha, her first and only child lay, unmoving, and never to move again. This was when the mother in her finally gave up. It was time to move on with her own life. Their nightmare was over, and so was Haizeha's. They had both been preparing for this for years. It was only a matter of time. The man laid his hand on her arm again.

"We can always try again, Naia." He sadly smiled as they went to call the Doctors to take away their lost daughter. In the bed lay the unmoving body of a 15-year-old girl, wispy brown hair lying around her small shoulders. Her chest laid still, not a breath coming out of her any longer.

-

'A light…' A small voice inside her head echoed. 'Why… why do I see light. My time is over…' Haizeha had been in nothing but darkness for a long time now. She remembered being laid to bed by her mother, having her usual late night coughing fit then absolutely-

No. She remembered one more thing. Right after the girl felt her chest rise, then fall for what she knew was the last time, something appeared to her. She didn't know how to describe it, but the best thing to compare it to be a vision. A small bird, a sapphire blue, it spoke to her…

"Ahhh!" She yelled, opening her bright, blue eyes. A dream. It was all a dream she thought with content. But, where was she? Not in her bed, that was for sure. It was dim, and there were things around her. They almost felt like other bodies, bunches of arms and legs. It couldn't be- They wouldn't- 'Oh lord!' The girl screamed internally, 'They think I'm dead!'

Just by the feeling around her, she knew she was in the famed body cart. It was how they got rid of the constantly dieing people in larger towns. The girl was in an utter state of horror. She was alive, and surrounded by sick, dead bodies. "Help! Help! Help!" She cried, in the strongest voice she had ever used before, which was not much. Her thin and teen voice was still rather childlike, and never before had she spoken above much more than a whisper. Her small hands were trying to pry the other bodies away from her own tiny one. The smell was already making her feel sick to her stomach. If she didn't get out soon, then-

The gentile rocking of the cart stopped and she heard two men talking outside her limb-covered prison. 'Come on, you sods, make up your minds!' She thought with indignation. They seemed to be conversing about a ghost trapped inside, the imbeciles. She heard moving and rustling now, and more light filtered through. "Hey!" She cried her voice already horse, which was a funny sound since her voice was rather delicate and childish. "I-I'm over here!" From in her strange and uncomfortable position, more light shined down. The shadow of the cart men overcastted her and started, rather roughly, pulling her away from the cadavers. Soon she was lifted out of her cage and onto the ground. Her two saviors, as they could be called, were two poor, grungy men, obviously from the slums.

"Ay, Luke." Said one with a scar on his lip and a rather large build. "How you think she got in 'ere?" She scratched his head, looking at the small girl before him. Haizeha was wondering why he kept looking at her so oddly, when she realized she was only in her undergarments. They always took your clothes away when you were taken in the cart. She was lucky to have what she had on. A flush fled onto her pale and displeased face. "W-Well don't just stare, please! I need to get home!" Her chestnut eyes looked around, seeing that in fact, she didn't even know where she was. It was like the country side, only why would she be there? Then again, why would she be in the Death Cart?

"Sorry, but we thoughts you were dead. You 'ad stopped breathing' for two days." Said the other, looking of the more respectable type. He at least had his greasy hair caught up in an old hat. He picked up the cart again and beckoned to the other one. "Sorry we 'aint do more. We have a deadline, ya' know? God must be on your side to be havin' you here and all." He tipped his hat and started trucking the cart away; the scar lipped one spotting beside him.


Haizeha simply stood in shock at what had just happened. "I-It wasn't a dream." She stuttered aloud, mostly to make sure she herself knew. She looked down at her hands, making sure there was actually blood flowing beneath them. She could feel things, that's for sure as the wind was nipping at her bare arms and legs. Her skin was a healthy pink, as it should be.

But that was the problem. Her skin, ever since she was born, was a sickly yellow. It had just hit her that she actually felt well and nice. Not coughing, or sneezing, or tired: she felt alive. Her bright eyes were wide with shock. 'What on earth is happening to me…' She put her hands on her face and sat still, thinking things over for a very long time. The young woman eventually sat down on the side of the road against a small willow, her knees drawn up to her chest and she simply thought. Thought about her being alive, about her health, about what on earth happened to her before.

Long after night had fallen, and the girl fast asleep, a strange dream came to her. 'Haizeha…. Haizeha…' Her name echoed in her head, a strange blue light enveloping her mind. She was in a simple blue dress, suspended in nowhere.

"Who are you?!" Haizeha cried, looking around warily. Her wavy brown hair was down around her shoulders, a style she never wore due to her constant fever. Another bright light clouded her vision for a moment, and then she found herself at the bottom of some body of water. The lazy morning light drifted through the waves far above. Many dark colored fish swam to and fro, ignoring her. Haizeha grasped her mouth in fear, her being not able to swim, nor owning a pair of gills. She slammed her eyes shut and awaited the feeling of water entering her lungs and for the energy of life to leave her once again.

But that feeling did not come. She cracked one deep brown eye open, finding she could indeed breathe and move about, as if she was flying. Her moment of freedom was over quite quickly. A shape of a small sparrow or something flew, or rather swam, around her body. It created a whirlpool of bubbles around Haizeha, mesmerizing the young girl. She watched the bubbles float away, up to the sunlight above.

"Haizeha…" The echoing voice repeated. Haizeha was ripped from her gazing. The small bird hovered in the cool water in front of her, staring with its black beady eyes.

The bird looked almost like the water around it. A calming sea blue feather shade was complemented by hues of yellow and green. If Haizeha didn't think she was going crazy, she could have sworn they were shifting about on its body. "Wh-what are you…?" Haizha said in an equally echo'd tone. The creature was about to answer, but all of a sudden, the water around her started flowing away. She struggled in the current, but it took her away, down, down into the deeps…