Shivaya was meditating in her usual graceful curl by the pond, wings folded neatly, eyes half-lidded. To anyone passing by, she looked like a serene enlightened hen communing with the universe.
In reality, she was arguing with a very stubborn chicken body.
'No. You will not crave worms. You are the daughter of the Phoenix Clan, not a-'
Rustle… step… step…
A faint, draggy rustle crept into the edge of her senses.
Her feathers prickled.
Heavy steps, familiar aura. A… very familiar sense of something stupid was approaching.
Her eyes twitched.
It didn't take an empress to know who it was, of course it was him.
She opened her eyes the moment that stupid rooster brushed against her awareness.
Instantly her brows furrowed slightly.
The rooster trudging up the hill looked like someone had wrung him out and forgotten to hang him properly. His feathers drooped, his comb sagged, and his chest, which was usually puffed out like he owned the world, was… flat.
It was the first time she'd seen the loud, stupid rooster not strutting or bragging with his chest thrust toward the heavens like he was the protagonist of existence.
Richard, still lost somewhere in his thoughts, came to a stop beside her and settled down with a small, graceless thump. His tail feathers sagged like wilted petals.
He clucked a greeting, a distracted cluck, and stared off at nothing.
It was so absentminded that Shivaya's frown deepened.
This was the "first" time she'd ever seen this rooster so quiet, so…vulnerable.
'…What happened to him?' she thought, reluctant curiosity pricking at her. 'Did he forget how to be an idiot? Is that possible? Did the Will of the World finally fix a bug?'
She hesitated.
It wasn't that she cared. Absolutely not. It was just very, very boring to sit here absorbing life energy all day and night with nobody to mentally insult. Besides, his gloomy aura was ruining her meditation.
But if she asked…
Wouldn't that make this stupid rooster think she was worried about him?
Ridiculous.
Absolutely not.
She glared at him sideways, as if sheer willpower could peel open his skull and read his thoughts.
Richard, who had been silently replaying the battle and the moment that golden web inside his Path snapped… felt her stare like a physical poke.
He perked up immediately, comb lifting a little.
"Oh? My beautiful hen, I'm sorry," he clucked quickly, straightening up as if he'd been caught slacking. "I was checking something just now. Do you want something?"
Then, as if a hopeful little light went on inside his tiny chicken brain, his comb lifted a bit more.
"Hehe… have I caused you to worry about me again?"
Shivaya rolled her eyes so hard they almost circled the horizon.
Richard chuckled, feathers relaxing as that familiar reaction soothed him.
But the smile faded just as quickly.
His shoulders dipped.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, surprising Shivaya with the softness of his tone. "I thought these days where you have to comfort and listen to my worries would never come again after I became the overlord of this flower field but…"
He stared at the flowers in front of him. The petals swayed in a gentle breeze, innocent and bright.
"You know…" his voice dropped, rougher, "I failed to protect my subordinate again today."
He said it slowly, a familiar confession he doesn't let anyone else other than her to hear.
Shivaya stilled.
Without thinking, her body shifted. Wings loosened, claws scooted just a little closer on the ground. Her side brushed his. The distance between them shrank until their feathers touched.
Inside, Shivaya's mind screamed.
'What are you doing?! Move back. Move back right now!'
Of course she knew this position. In her fuzzy, pre-awakening days, the ones she tried very hard not to remember, to forget, this stupid body had comforted this stupid rooster whenever he was dejected over a subordinate's death.
But that was her BEFORE she regained her past life memories.
But no matter how hard she tried to pull away, her body refused to obey, as if some old instinct had sunk into bone and muscle. She could move her eyes, she could move her beak a bit, but everything else… stayed stubbornly out of her control.
Richard, oblivious to the internal rebellion happening next to him, continued with his eyes lowered.
"I thought… that after conquering this flower field… none of my people would die again."
"I thought I was strong enough to prevent it."
"I thought the path my talent showed me was one where no one would fall."
His claws dug into the dirt, scraping little furrows.
"But I was wrong. It was my mistake"
Silence settled between them.
A soft breeze brushed the sea of flowers, petals whispering against each other. The hill, usually lively with drills and shouts, was quiet. Most of his army was scattered about, resting, eating, or snoring in exhausted heaps.
Shivaya listened without a word.
Richard took in a shaking breath. He'd thought he was used to death, he'd seen it so often in his early days, fighting to become overlord of the flower field. Back then, death was frequent, brutal, and close. He had grieved… but he had always moved forward.
Maybe that was why this one cut deeper.
Maybe because it had been so long since anyone under him had died.
"And… we couldn't even recover the body," he murmured. "It just vanished. I couldn't even bring it back home. It's as if it disappeared into thin air."
He lifted his head and met her eyes.
His gaze was raw, honest. Unusually unguarded for a rooster who loved to pose.
"Do… do you think I failed as its boss?" he asked. "Would it curse me if it knew I couldn't even recover its body? Knowing that it might be rotting in some creature's stomach while I couldn't do anything about it?"
He had tried. Of course he had tried.
After sending his army away first, he'd stayed behind, comb shadowed, searching again and again along the stream, through the bushes, under rocks.
But there had been nothing.
No corpse. No disturbed soil. No blood beyond what had already dried.
With his subordinates, he couldn't show too much sorrow or concern. Their morale was fragile, their belief in him still forming new layers from the recent victory. He could grieve, yes, but he shouldn't stay grieving, at least not in front of them. He had to stand tall. He was their overlord, their shield.
But with her…
With her, he could let his wings sag.
He could be just a rooster who didn't know what to do with the hurt in his chest.
Shivaya stared at him, silent.
She knew exactly how to make him feel better. Of course she did. This was basic high-level knowledge, a casual bit of trivia from her past life.
But why would she?
'Don't forget,' she reminded herself coldly, 'This stupid rooster is someone you might need to kill in the future. So what if he felt down, this wouldn't kill him'
The thought hit like ice water.
Her body tensed.
An instinct surged up in her chest, hot and desperate, an urge to say something, to share information that would soothe him, to lessen that raw look in his eyes.
'What-, what is happening?!' she cursed inwardly as her beak opened a fraction against her will. Her tongue moved, shaping the beginning of words.
'No! What is with this stupid body?!' she raged internally, trying her best to clamp down. She could feel the tension like a tug-of-war between her will and muscle memory.
Her body, as if realizing it couldn't force the words out…
Slowly, very slowly began to lean toward his shoulder instead.
Shivaya's mind blanked.
'WAIT WAIT WAIT- ALRIGHT I'LL TELL HIM, I'LL TELL HIM, STOP!'
If she let this ridiculous body follow its instincts, where would her face go? Where would her dignity go? She could already see it: pressed against his shoulder, comforting him like some doting henwife.
Absolutely not.
The moment she relented, her body froze in place, stopping the slow lean with a tiny shiver. Shivaya exhaled very softly in her mind, feathers settling.
Still wary that her body might rebel again, she grudgingly turned her head to look at Richard. He looked even more dejected up close, eyes dim, comb drooping, as if he were the dumbest creature ever conceived.
Which, to be fair, in her opinion, he kind of was.
"You can just resurrect it later, you know?" she said at last, the words coming out more bluntly than she'd intended. "After all, didn't you awaken a Domain-type Path?"
Richard blinked.
Once.
Twice.
"…?"
He stared at her, beak slightly open.
Then he laughed weakly.
"Ah… ahaha… that's a funny joke," he said, giving her a small, wobbly smile. "You're trying to cheer me up, right? Hehe… resurrecting the dead, huh… as if that's possible…"
In his mind, he tried to interpret her words into something more reasonable.
'She probably means I should look forward instead of dwelling on the past, right? Like… "they'll live on in your heart" or something? Resurrection, hah. As if.'
But even as he tried to dismiss it, a tiny spark lodged in his thoughts.
'Resurrection of the dead, huh… is it really possible?'
Then, a familiar, calm presence brushed his thoughts.
His panel flashed.
[Your Path "Feathered Crown" is classified as a Domain-type Path.]
[Thus, eligible for resurrection ability.]
Richard's heart stopped.
'…What?'
He jerked upright so fast that a few feathers burst loose, drifting down like startled petals.
'W-wait, system, WHAT do you mean I can revive my dead subordinates?!'
[Affirmative.]
The answer came without hesitation.
His beak hung open, trembling.
'What? How?!'
[Specific condition to manifest resurrection ability: Unknown.]
[Note: You can use your Talent to see specific conditions for new abilities.]
Richard stared blankly into the air, vision full of invisible panels only he could see.
He covered his head with his wings, heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst out of his chest.
"I really can actually revive them?!" he blurted aloud.
Shivaya let out a long, long sigh, rubbing her temple with the edge of one wing.
'Hmph. As if it's that easy. If you can do it, I'll call you, godfather' she thought mockingly.
Even in her era, far into the future, among ascended beings and legendary civilizations, she could count the entities with infinite resurrection domains on one hand. And even they didn't know exactly how they gained those abilities. They just woke up one day and the world politely refused to let their chosen die.
Her gaze drifted inward as she sorted through memory.
Paths.
They were the crystallization of one's existence, a direction in which Body, Mind, and Soul evolved. And while all Paths ultimately led to Ascension, that did not mean they all began at the same starting point…Nor did they develop along the same curve.
Most paths granted early, tangible boosts to combat power: sharper claws, stronger bodies, faster minds, overwhelming presence or various abilities.
Domain-type Paths were… different. They are like a combination of various types of paths, a jack of all traits. They are extremely weak in the early stages. No flashy combat bonuses. No convenient attack skills.
Before the Age of Zenith, they had once been dismissed as inferior version of support-type paths, useful, maybe, but not truly fearsome.
Domain-type Paths started far behind other paths, but they are not weak. While they might not be the strongest when it comes to direct combat power amongst all paths. Domain-type paths like their name suggest affect those under the domain, in the late stages, they could turn entire civilizations into personal playgrounds.
And among the possible unique manifestations of domain-type Paths…
One of the rarest, most broken abilities was infinite resurrection, unlike support-type path single target resurrection ability, this one is for all under the domain's protection.
A ruler who could let their people die and then simply… bring them back.
Strong? Yes. But such a path wasn't without flaws. Those under the protection of an infinite resurrection domain could not awaken their own Domain-type Paths. The price of infinite lives is to only recognize a single sovereign. Only one domain-user per civilization.
Depending on the scale of the civilization and what they are facing, this was either a fatal flaw… or no flaw at all.
The most noticeable example of this flaw in history was precisely in this era where Gaia and-
Shivaya's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Richard suddenly leapt into the air.
"HAHAHAHA!!"
He flapped wildly, scattering feathers across the hilltop like confetti. His earlier gloom cracked under a surge of wild relief.
If there was even a chance he could resurrect his people…
If there was even a sliver of hope that no death had to be permanent…
He spun toward Shivaya, eyes practically sparkling.
"Ahhh! My beautiful hen! You really ARE my lucky charm!" he crowed.
He leaned in, beak first, with full intention to plant a grateful kiss on her forehead.
Shivaya reacted instantly.
THWACK!
He got a foot to the face instead.
Shivaya's kick connected perfectly with his beak, snapping his head backward. Richard tumbled end over end, feathers flying as he crashed into a patch of flowers with an indignant squawk.
'That was close,' Shivaya thought with a shiver, yanking her foot back and scooting away. 'Luckily, I got control of my body back after saying that, or I might really have been defiled.'
Just imagining her body leaning into that ridiculous "kiss" made her feathers stand on end.
She huffed, turned her head away from the rooster, and re-focused on her awakening. Life energy swirled faintly around her, coaxed by habit and experience.
Richard popped back up from the flowers a moment later, petals stuck to his head, wearing a big, foolish grin.
"Hehehe!"
He didn't seem to mind the assault at all. If anything, being kicked appeared to have reassured him that this was not a dream.
The sky above them shifted slowly to a shimmering gold as the sun dipped toward the horizon. Warm light spilled over the flower field, washing the ponds, trees, and creatures in soft amber glow.
Below, scattered groups of rabbits, snakes, lizards, and chickens rested, ate, or practiced small drills, the fatigue of battle still clung to them.
Richard looked at it all: the hill, the pond, the flowers, his subjects and felt the earlier grief loosen its grip, replaced by fierce determination.
If resurrection was possible…
Then he'd get it.
Others might have no idea how.
But he had something others didn't.
His feathers shivered as he closed his eyes.
[Talent: The Path - Activated]