We were flying aimlessly in the sky. I could barely move after all the aura I spent on that escape. I was throwing up blood once every ten minutes. It's a ritual at this point.
"Hey, kid, I'm gonna land for a bit," Arxia said, voice tired.
"We won't get locked up again, right?" I asked, already dreading another prison break.
"Either land somewhere safe or crash somewhere randomly," he replied dryly.
"Makes sense," I muttered.
We found a small river near a clearing. The sun was bright, and the trees gave just enough shade.
Arxia landed, shifted into his human form, and collapsed onto a rock with a sigh. I was already on the ground, lying face-down like a six-year-old fur carpet.
"The floor is cold. It's nice," I mumbled.
"Nice of you to enjoy the scenery while we're on the run," Arxia snarked.
I turned my head to look at him.
"At least if I die now, I'll die on this nice floor," I said after thinking about it.
"Does it matter where you die? You won't remember, will you?" he asked, giving me a pointed look.
Yeah, I get it. He wants me to address the elephant in the room. He's practically yelling it with his eyes.
What do I say? I don't know what's going on either.
"There's this me, and there's Viktor. I'm not Viktor. I'm me. Why am I here? No clue. So don't ask," I said in one breath, looking at him like maybe he had some magical answer.
He tilted his head, confused.
"Who are you?" he asked, genuinely this time.
"Nobody. Doesn't really matter," I muttered, looking away.
We didn't say anything after that. Just sat in the silence, waiting for whatever came next.
"So, either you were a war criminal or a loser who doesn't wanna remember his past," Arxia said with a snort, curiosity not leaving his eyes.
"I am impressed you think I'd be strong or smart enough to be a war criminal," I replied, laughing, throwing up more blood.
"You did good, kid, you salvaged hope out of nothing, give yourself some credit, yeah," he said, looking serious for once.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, except for more blood. I settled for a smile.
We rested for a while. Arxia grabbed some fruit, and we got water from the river. The sun went down, so we decided to stay there for the night and leave tomorrow.
Not exactly smart, but flying while half-dead at night didn't sound better
The pain was getting worse as time progressed. I couldn't sleep. Arxia bandaged me up with some leaves he found, but it started to itch.
I was lying there twitching, watching the full moon in the sky, all radiant.
SWOOSH
I saw wisps of blue flame, the phoenix came into view.
"I see you are alive!" It said chirpily.
"Can't you do some phoenix magic and patch me up?" I asked, giving the phoenix a look of pity.
"I blew up an entire prison for you, and you ask for more, tch! ungrateful brat," the phoenix hissed, turning away.
"Fine! At least explain what's going on. Why's the rarest mythical bird babysitting me?" I questioned, giving it a suspicious look.
"Ugh, where do I start?" the phoenix mumbled, it looked lazy to be honest.
"From the beginning, if you will, why the hell am I here?" I muttered, twitching more.
"Look, I don't know what happened either. My soul is somehow linked to yours. Only phoenixes can mess with time and rise from the ashes. We don't bond with humans like the dragons. I lost my memory as well, it is still cloudy," the phoenix replied, scratching its head.
"So, nothing useful," I grumbled.
"Oh, come on! You have a mythical bird following you around! What more do you need?" the bird asked with exasperation.
"A refund if possible, I already have enough problems. Now I've got a flaming chicken stalking me too!" I said, turning away.
"EXCUSE ME!" The phoenix flew to the other side and walked close to intimidate me.
"What? Aren't we bonded? Do your worst," I replied with a smirk.
"Ugh! I hate this," the phoenix grumbled, flying to occupy a branch nearby.
The night passed, and I couldn't sleep now that I had a blue light flickering near the bedside table.
"Wait, it is that phoenix, right?" That's the first thing Arxia asked after opening his eyes.
I gave him a nod and a casual shrug.
"What? Why is it here?" he asked, rubbing his eyes like he was still dreaming.
"To be my humble bard and document history," I mumbled out.
"Tch! I am forced to put up with that broody kid. Not my choice of course!" the phoenix replied, flaring up.
"Right," Arxia replied, blinking.
"Can you turn off your lights ?" I asked, not wanting to reveal our location to the whole world.
"Can phoenixes shape-shift?" Arxia asked, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
"Do I have to?" it asked lazily, shaking its wings.
"Tch! Fine," it relented after seeing our excited looks.
The phoenix burst into blue flames, the flames swirled around the phoenix for a while like a small twister. It died down with a smoke to reveal a small girl around my age. She had blue hair and icy blue eyes.
"Done!" she said, flipping her hair dramatically.
Great. Now I have a blue-haired brat who thinks she's royalty.
Arxia clapped, while I looked confused.
"Wait, aren't you like centuries old?" I asked, genuinely concerned.
She hit my head and looked pissed.
"That's not how you talk to a lady! I am bonded to you, remember, it affects the way I look," she replied dryly.
"Right... Right," I replied, rubbing my head.
"Do you have a name?" Arxia questioned.
"Let me think of something... befitting of me," she said, thinking deeply.
"Let's get moving!" I suggested, scratching my leaf bandages.
"I'll pick Nyxara, Nyx like the night, cause my beauty is amplified at night, you know what I mean," she said, looking so proud of herself for coming up with that.
"Great. Budget glowstick it is. We'll shorten it to Glowstick," I said, pretending to be deep in thought, while Arxia snorted and Nyx flamed up her blue hair, looking annoyed.
Arxia transformed into a dragon, and we got off to continue our journey.