FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Duo had found a nice plateau, half surrounded by the mountain. It actually looks like if a giant had put down a hot cup of coffee on the side of a huge block of chocolate. The cup melted down about halfway into the mountain, leaving a near round platform, surrounded by walls. Since it doesn't look like rain, it was perfect for them.

Kin sits against the wall, facing his phoenix, while she just nestled down as usually. His clothes and a few snacks he grabbed before leaving were on the other side of the platform, as far away as possible from the firebird. She was feeling better already, after her destructive run across the meadow near Amaya and the 'removal' of the bandit threat for the city. Including everything around them.

"Zaiya. How does this work, I mean, a phoenix body. I can feel your feathers, muscles moving when you beat your wings, I see your eyes and scaled talons. When those people were casting their boom-spells at you, and I saw them going right through your wing, I was really scared, but you didn't even flinch."

She smiles at him "Our body is energy given form. If you look into a lake, do you think, throwing something through the surface will destroy it? Or even interfere with it? No. It will just be there, once the projectile is gone and the ripples on the surface calm down, the lake will be back to where it was. It is very similar for us. What you see is not blood, like yours. It is liquid energy, leaking from it and instantly reforming whatever was damaged ."

He tilts his head "Is it at will? I mean, would that mean, you could take on any form you want? Or.. what happens if you would loose a wing, like that guard captain nearly lost his arm?"

She looks curious, as if dreaming with her eyes open. "May be. I don't know how, but if I could find out, it might be possible. May be that's the way to become your little falcon again. Wait, you don't like.."

He interrupts her "No, I love you as you are. I am just thinking. What about a very badly damaged wing?"

At that, her face takes a grim expression "Yes. That too. My second bond with a sorcerer. He.. said he is a scholar and researcher and he.. tried all kind of things on me. Including that. The wing, once cut off, would slowly turn to liquid fire, and once cooled down on the ground after several minutes, only the feathers were left. They take days to disappear. IF there is air. He actually created lanterns with my feathers in them, that were still glowing after I " She takes a break and sighs " left him."

She nudges him when she notices his expression of sheer terror at that. "Don't worry, he wasn't, i mean. It doesn't hurt. The fire that flows from the wound on our body slowly reforms the wing. Within hours it is usually back with feathers, fully functional."

He rubs her head "That sounds more then cruel."

She rubs her beak against his cheek "It may sound like it, but all it does is weaken us somewhat from the energy that was the wing and what is needed to reform what is lost. You may feel my muscles moving, but its only a very small part of the force behind any movement. You saw it when that metal thing hit my wing and folded it midway. A human bone would have been broken. Mine was too, but I was easily able to unfold it, and within seconds, it was back to its original state. I don't know what exactly happens there or why we don't feel pain there, but I know far more about the subject then I ever wanted to know."

Her voice got quieter with every word, and he tugs her head on his lap to stroke her comfortingly.

"That will not happen again! Is it ok, if I ask about what happened again, some other time? I mean your past humans. Not now but some other time?"

She sighs and presses her head more against him. "I told you all about Denson. And some about my other humans." The last words sound tired and final.

He keeps stroking the feathers on her head "As long as you feel this, I'm fine with it."

This night, Kin doesn't sleep on his bird to keep warm, instead he keeps her head on his lap, comforting the phoenix, until sleep claims him, and his head falls to rests on hers.

She wakes up a few hours later and notices him still bend over her head. It feels comforting and she doesn't want to move. But the wind got pretty cold here in the mountain.

Since her control over her aura is very good by now, she increases her heat slowly to the point where she thinks his clothes would still be safe on the other side of their plateau, and moves her body closer to him without pulling her head out.

Then she spreads a wing over her carpenter and gently pushes him against her, until she could comfortably put her wing around them both.

"May be I should just tell him. The memory is back anyway now." She sighs. It would only upset him more. "At least, he wont burn down everything around him, when he is upset."

The phoenix is already feeling better, though. She pulls her human even closer and closes her eyes again.

When the carpenter wakes up his back and legs hurt like if Akira had formed them with his hammer. Far worse then after sleeping in small spot inside the cave, when they were running from the sorceress.

"Good morning." He mumbles, then notices he is leaning against his bird with her wing around them.

Zaiya stirs lightly, but not more, so he just straightens his back slowly and smiles.

"I guess, we have time." He reaches for her head, as he always does, and as soon as he starts stroking through the feathers there, she opens one eye and says sleepily "Don't stop. Only five more minutes."

"I should have guessed this would wake you up. So, we go more to the west along the aqueduct today?"

"Sure.. in five minutes.", then she closes her eye again.

Fifteen minutes later, he gently sets her head down and crawls out from under her wing.

He considers going back, once he feels the cold air around them, but decides against it and instead walks to the edge of their platform to put on his cloths and look over the thin wall at the landscape below.

The view is just magnificent. To the east, he can see Tacoma Peak with the dam. As if waking, the eye of the sun slowly rises above the horizon and bathes the seemingly endless meadows below and to the south of them into light. The aqueduct that goes south towards the capital, Serenity City, with the surrounding rocky ground that was left after they built the aqueduct in the else green plains.

All around, plains, very few little forests, like the one with their altar. A few farm steads, tiny from up here and seemingly days away from any city or village.

To the west, he can see another very high building, a tower. Made of dark, large bricks. He stares curious at it, trying to make out any more details, but it seems there are no windows or doors and only a small path leading to it.

"It's probably just too far away, may be we can go there next."

The warmth from behind turns down and the slight clacking sound of talons on stone warns him of the beak, that soon nudges him from behind.

"You stopped!"

He turns around and smiles at her "Yes. You gotta earn your head scratches! What do you think, where should we go next. "

She rubs her beak against his head. "According to where you were looking to the last minutes, you already picked a target, didn't you?"

"Not picked, but... this looks interesting. Do you know what that building is? "

She leans her head lightly on his shoulder and scans the tower "I don't see any window. May be on the other side. No houses around it. Its strange. Should we go? "

She looks around if they forgot something, then lies down for him.

"Sure! I see, you are feeling better." He tugs one of the long head feathers, before getting on her back.

"Yes. I am still worried about what happened on the dam, but it can't be changed now. " She sighs.

Once Zaiya feels his arms wrapped around her neck, she hops on the wall, then dives down from the mountain, falling for a few moments along the mountainside, then angles her wings to dive away. The phoenix glances back and smiles before squeezing his legs against her body with her wings once more and spinning towards the ground. She spreads her wings when they get close and returns into a glide towards the tower.

"Did you ever see a building like that? It must be twice or thrice the height of the aqueduct!"

The phoenix shakes her head "I don't think I ever did. But honestly, I tried to stay away from the ground for most of my life."

"I guess, there is a first time for everything! May be its not a building and it just looks like a tower?"

She had gained some altitude since their last dive, so she dives again, until they are very close to the ground once more, soaring through a small orchard near one of the farms. She looks happy, being able to fly through it without torching the area.

"I am really thankful that you asked me to practice working with my aura." She takes a moment to nip his shoulder "Master."

He grins and bonks her beak.

A few crows fly up from a nearby field, as they fly by. A dog barks at them and the farmer leaves the house to look up at the giant hawk flying over his farm.

He runs towards the pen with cows, waving his pitchfork at them. Zaiya laughs and actually flies another circle before telling the farmer, that she is no threat to him or his farm.

At that, the farmer drops his pitchfork and stares up in disbelief as they disappear.

Kin laughs "That might turn into an epic tale. Its easy to instigate stories into human minds by doing things they cant explain."

"We should do that more often, it is fun!"

She flies down a little, when the tower gets closer.

The tower is very high and broad. She thinks, she should be able to fly INSIDE. It would be difficult, but its easily three times her wingspan in diameter. But first, they have to find an entrance, one where she fits through.

"Are you cold? Should I put on some warmth again?"

"Nah. I'm f..."

He gets interrupted as a round, dark object appears in front of them and Zaiya screeches when some ice colored but flowing like water, shoots out of it towards her. Like if someone emptied a giant bucket of flowing ice over them.

It hits both completely unprepared and the phoenix drops like a rock as Kin gets tossed backwards of her back.

Both frozen in a ball of ice. Zaiya gets knocked out by the initial icy blast, while Kin watches them drop to the ground, but before hitting it, she disappears, while he still falls.

He tries to scream as the ground is advancing rapidly. He can feel the impact for just a moment, then his world turns to blackness.

Kin wakes up on the back of a carriage. It smells like wet straw and the movement of the carriage increases his headache.

"Ha, you are awake! Good thing, I thought, after that fall, you wouldn't wake up. You have been lucky, son. The names Krun, was out here getting straw from my fields, when I saw two bodies fall out of the sky. The large one disappeared, the other made a sound like breaking glass on the ground."

The carpenter sits up "Zaiya.." He groans again as he turns around. The man steering the wagon looks small, with dirty, brown hair all over his head. "Stop the wagon for a moment please."

Krun does so and turns around. His face looks like a melon lying sideways. And old with a lot of scars. He wears a dirty, tattered cloak. "You look good, for falling out of the sk..."

"Listen! Where is my bird? The other body falling... She cant just be gone!"

The farmer shakes his head "There was only you, mate. I was looking around near where you dropped – nothing. And the only building nearby is that tower, about two hours on foot and it got no entrance. I just deliver food there every week, they pay good money."

"Can you bring me there? Please?" Kin sounds desperate and the farmer regards him thoughtfully.

"Its the other direction, but ya can go there yourself easily. Just follow this road. Me cant tell ya, how to get in, but the guy living there usually just steps through the stone, once I call him out. Master Janosh, I have brought food!" He chuckles. "Kinda scary dude with robe and glowing mask. He tosses me a pouch of gold, then all my supplies start to disappear and him too, then I leave.

Kin doesn't wait for more explanations and jumps down from the wagon with a quick "Thank you", then running as fast as he can.

The farmer shakes his head, confused. "Bird? Like a chicken? That big thing? Crazy gal."

His lungs start burning not much later but he keeps going. The fear of something happening to his phoenix paints all kinds of dark pictures into his mind. What if he doesn't find anything at the tower? What if he simply cant enter? What if she is somewhere else?

He tugs one of her strings. A Head feather, hoping she would give him a signal or just come flying towards him, but nothing happens. At least, he still got those strings. That actually calms him down a little. She isn't just gone.

The open plains and fields soon switch to a small forest, but the road is broad enough to easily let the wagon through.

He coughs and his legs hurt now, but still he keeps going.

They should never have flown without her aura. Without its protection, it must have been easy to do .. whatever happened up there. Or would it even have mattered? He doesn't know, but he feels guilty for asking her to do it. The light forest soon makes way for more plains, no more farmland. Only grassland with hedges and a few single trees every then and there.

His vision slowly blurs on the edges as his body becomes more and more fatigued. He never had much stamina for running.

The carpenter stumbles a few times and it gets more difficult to get up with every time he falls to the ground.

"Zaiya...." The thought of his phoenix gives himself a push every time he is about to give up and he continues on.

Running turns into staggering, like a drunkard, that sways from one side of the road to the next, or rather from one lantern to the next. Only without the supporting lanterns.

At long last, he arrives at the wall of the tower but he is unsure what to do.

He leans against it heavily, too exhausted to even shout for what-was-his-name? Then he sags to the ground, his limbs wont move. But he fights the tiredness, that trys to claim him – pull him into sleep.

"So you are that carpenter, the bitch keeps cussing about."

The voice has come from behind him and he fights hard to turn his head to see. The person speaking wears a similar robe then Rikka: Black, hooded cloak to the ground, dark cloths beneath where he can see and hands free. His hood is pulled deeply into his face. Under it, Kin can see a red, glowing mask forming a strange symbol.

He sighs "I never should have helped her, this is already getting tedious. I have better things to do then this."

"Where...Zaiya... Help..." Kin pants.

"And why should I? Just leave me to my studies..."

Something in his body or soul snaps, and he sits up, fighting himself back to his feet. He leans heavily against the tower. "If.. you don't bring me to her, I will tear down this building with my hands, if I have to. Then you wont have peace."

The hooded figure laughs "You got spirit, friend. And I assume, 'her' is not the sorceress. Fine, I can bring you there, but it wont be nice for you. She can be pretty... difficult, Rikka. And she ... " He looks up at the sky, blue with a few specs of white, "...she really dislikes you. You were lucky she didn't bring you in too. That's your chance to run and..."

"Get me in there already!"

The person, Master Janosh, as the farmer had called him, shrugs "As you wish, at least, you wont be bothering me anymore then." He sounds bored as he waves a few dark blue runes into the air. Different color then Rikkas, Kin notices, then his stomach starts acting up before the world goes dark a second time this day.

The carpenter wakes up in, what looks like a small cage, barely enough to sit in and dangling from a wooden log, that is stuck into a brick wall. He shakes his head slowly, before looking around the room.

The room is wide and round with dark purple brick walls on all sides. They are full of desks and bookshelves at the base. And a few VERY expensive looking, wall mounted weapon stands with swords, a shield, a lance and several smaller weapons like daggers. On one side, there is a dark mirror. Black swirling mists seem to move in it, like sandy water in a glass that is shaken. A lot of candles are burning everywhere, but they cant be the only light source, since the room is brightly lit.

Then he looks up.

The room goes up farther then he can look – or so it seems. Many more cages dangle above him, with no way to get up to most of them. He still cant pinpoint where the lights come from and it bothers him greatly.

Kin leans forward to look down. He isn't too high above the ground, may be a bit more then his own height. The ring around the room with the furniture is only a few steps broad, then some all around steps lead down to the middle of the room. The middle is free of any furniture as far as he can see. He pulls himself up, or tries to. Some of his strength returned, but he still exhausted and his lungs still burn. He can not have been unconscious for long.

"RIKKA!" He shouts, when he sees the sorcerers. She still wears her black robe with her hood off.

She ignores him and stares at something on the ground, still hidden by the base of his cage.

He quickly leans forward and whispers "Zaiya. No... "

The phoenix was exactly below his cage, lying on her back. Some stake like, dark objects about half his size pin her wings to the ground and she has a large collar from similar material around her neck. There is no visible fire aura around her.

There are candles all over her body. Around her on the ground are strange bright white symbols and more candles.

She seems to mock the sorcerers, who walks around her more and more agitated with each of the fire birds words, trying to read through an old book bound in leather.

The bird smiles up sadly at Kin, when she sees him. "Good morning! She is back, but cant break our bond. She is trying the fourth ritual by now and nothing worked."

The sorceress growl angrily at her. "Don't worry, pigeon, it will work, and if I have to drag in enough water to douse you down to that falcon again."

That shuts the phoenix up. She obviously was trapped, so Rikka has all time of the world.

In Kins head, Zaiyas voice is full of pure sadness. "You... should have stayed outside. We.. cant win here. It is her tower. A Sorcerers tower. The base of her power, here she is strongest." She tries to hide the uncertainty in her voice "If you had stayed away, she could have never broken our bond. But now... "

Kin glares at her "And tortured you until she had found a way anyway. Great. No way I let that happen..."

Zaiya closes her eyes and doesn't answer. She knows he is right. Rikka would not stop searching for a way to jab those hooks into her again. If the sorceress doesn't find a way, she would just search for her human again and kill him. May be now, together, they have a small chance?

"Did you tell the peasant about your past yet? About the insides of towers like this and what happens? What great literature has been written here?"

Zaiya seems to shrink at that, shivering. "I .. did." She hesitantly answers.

The carpenter shouts angrily down at them now. "She told me everything I wanted to know. Why cant you just leave us alone.

"Oh, I might have, if you hadn't made a fool out of me several times. " She raises her arms and spins around the phoenix in a circle "You see this? This is real architecture. This is where the powerful reside. And before you ask, we are far away from the spot you were talking to that useless weakling, Janosh. This tower is mine, a masterpiece, at the bottom of a lake of magma. Just stay put, there is no escape for you this time."

Zaiya doesn't give any indication of pain as Rikka steps over her wings.

"It would be so easy to just kill you, farmer.."

"Carpenter.." Kin and Zaiya both correct her at the same time.

"...peasant. But my master has other plans. Sadly." She walks up to one of the desks and sits.

"If you would cancel your bond, it would save a lot of time and not-so-nice things I would have to do..."

The carpenter starts laughing "That.. is too funny. By the sun, why would we do that?"

Rikka yawns, having expected him to decline "Well. Lets just start with the show then. Pigeon? Go ahead and tell your story. Or.. better I will pluck it from your memory and use my magic to make sure we can all watch it as if we were there... "

Of course, Rikka doesn't plan to do that just to make it more enjoyable. She has been studying grand master Balthasars books for years, but there are many tiny questions, that she cant seem to get answers to. For example, the ritual she just finished several times, that should replace the bond but doesn't seem to work. May be, she could find some details in the stupid chickens memory, that would help her with the puzzle. If she wasn't ordered to repeat it over and over, she would have gotten rid of the annoying carpenter already.

"Now you two, lean back and enjoy the show! We will leave the boring farmer out and start with the interesting part."

The tower disappears and makes way for a nice area outside, plains, with one road being the only visible sign of humanity. Not the only one. The view shifts as if the person with the camera looks back. A Farm moves into view with one of the farm houses burned down. The area around the building is black too, but the other houses or the fields luckily didn't catch fire.

All three of them are mere white silhouettes in the real looking world around them.

The vision turns around once more, with an emotional hint of sadness, then it moves along the path. The grass beside it seems to change color slightly, but nothing more.

"My aura just barely started to grow. I don't know why I kept walking instead of flying."

Zaiya explains to him, obviously that is right after she lost her first human. “I should have flown."

A strange, glowing globe, visible but also completely transparent appears ahead of her and she walks curiously towards it. Power. A lot of power.

He is curious “What is that thing?"

She answers patiently as usual. “That is a strong power source. Someone is casting there. If you think back to Vedh, Griffins see it even while its not used to cast something. I can only see it like this when its used."

Most of the environment around her is white, she didn't pay attention to it at that time. But the bench that appeared soon after is crystal clear in her memory. It is old, the wood carved and moldy, the stones it rests on have green moss all over them. Then the vision focuses on the man sitting there. He wears a black robe, hood on his back so his gray hair was clear to see. Same color as his long beard, which seems to be unmoved by the wind.

"Hello, you look sad, bird. What happened to you?"

She slumps down on the path and starts talking to him about ... everything. Telling the human how she was looking for a human to bond with, since she just learned how to do that and hopefully being able to lay an egg. The farmer she picked was living far away from any city. His family careful but nonetheless friendly to her. He gave her her own building to live in and she helped against wolves and even bandits once. She finishes with when her last human dies to a heartsickness only two months after bonding.

Zaiyas voice enters his mind again, sighing. "I was naive. And wanted to talk to someone. And he seemed kind."

The old man gets up and walks with her, “I am called Bartholomeus. May be we can help each other." They continue along the road and the vision slowly disappears.

It rebuilds into a near identical room like the one all three are in right now.

A similar mirror is in this room too, desks and bookshelves are everywhere, but on different spots in this one. On the opposite side of the mirror is a large area cut into the wall, a metal grid lying on top of a fireplace with a giant bird sitting on it.

That must be Zaiya. A barely visible aura on her and very timid looking.

Kin tries moving around and he can, but neither his vision nor his position in the vision changes as if the input from his eyes is overwritten by the vision. So he blindly feels for the cage and searches for the door, trying to open it. Its old, not very sturdy and he is sure with some time, he can just crack it open by pushing back and forth. With anything from a screwdriver to a hammer it would be only a second. But with only his bare hands, it will take a few moments.

The old man, still with the black robe, sits at one of the desks, writing. His hood was over his back, showing the gray hair and long, gray beard again. The aura of power, that surrounds him feels overwhelming.

Kin isn't sure, if only he can hear Zaiya as she explains. "This is all my perception. You feel what I felt at that time. And see and hear what I have seen and heard. Not sure why this isnt from my point of view now, though."

"And a certain someone, might use you soon to cushion his fall. So.. don't be alarmed. And make sure your talons don't look upwards. " He grins, as the door opens. He cant see anything still.

She sounds confused "What.. do you mean? I cant look into you right now, to find out. And she cut my talons, so I couldn't use them to .."

Then he jumps. Or falls. She notices his uncertainty and fear, that actually just appears when he realizes that he might crash to the ground, if he didn't land on her. Or really into her talons, STUPID.

"Kin? Whats ... OOOfff" She coughs in his mind and wiggles, but is still pinned down. He winces as some of the candles poke painfully into his body when he lands, but at least, the flames aren't really any trouble.

"Oh, you crafty little human. No, take your hands away from the collar! It suppresses my aura. Even though, she didn't break our bond. This tower is at the bottom of a sea of lava. My fire wont hurt you, but it will burn everything inside the tower if I activate it. And if the tower looses its protective magic, it will be flooded with magma." He slumps on her chest, feeling defeated. But at least, he was with her again for now, as the 'show' continues.

The next few days run faster, as if fast forwarding. The wizard keeps writing, reading and studying the phoenix while she stays on her spot above the fire, nursing her power and aura.

The Sorcerer set up some candles and starts painting symbols on the ground with chalk, sets down more candles. The symbols are all blurry and Rikka complains disappointed.

"You stupid chicken, why couldn't you pay attention to the REALLY important things?"

Zaiya says nothing. She doesn't care about the sorceress one bit, but even though she cant see, she carefully starts grooming Kins hair again, not very bothered by her past – at least, not showing it.

She stops at the next scene, though.

The old man is finally finished with his preparations and waves the timid bird in the vision towards him.

"Zaiya, please lay down here in that circle. I will try something now."

She follows quickly and submissively at his order "Yes, master.". There is no playful undertone when she addresses the sorcerer compared to when she talks to her carpenter. Then the young phoenix just watches, as he plucks out a few feathers, and watches what happens.

"Does this hurt? " - She shakes her head "No, not at all.". Kin doesn't feel anything either, so according to her explanation earlier, it really doesn't bother her at all.

"Interesting. Your blood is " He is about to touch the red liquid, but quickly pulls away as the sleeve on his robe catches fire.

"This is incredible. It is hot, very hot. And reforms the feathers.. " She also looks at the spot in surprise. "I didn't know about this." Then adds apologetically "Or that its so hot."

He touches her head and she coos "Its ok, Zaiya. Don't worry."

She stays in the middle of the symbols and waits.

"Its perfect for another test. " He weaves some symbols into the air, similar to Rikkas, not blue but pitch black. They are somehow still clearly visible, even against the dark purple bricks of the tower behind him. Zaiya stares at the symbols, completely mesmerized.

Then she starts struggling lightly. It feels like Kins...no, young Zaiyas energy, her power and lifeforce, is being sapped away in a small, bright and bubbly red stream towards the sorcerer. To him, it feels much like when his bird did the Kar'ahn, very uncomfortable but not painful.

Bartholomeus seems to form the stream into a globe and pulling tiny lines of power towards his hands, which then connect to his robe and other clothes.

"I am trying to tap into your power and use it to imbue my clothes to be resistant to your fire. I thank you for offering your protection to me, but I will need the same for my cloths and .. " He looks around " For the rest of the room too."

The phoenix on the ground looks uncomfortable "It... I don't like that.. It feels like I am loosing myself.." She doesn't move, though, simply enduring it.

When he is finished, he smiles "But it works, I have to write that down. All of it. You are magnificent. If you only were stronger... I can tap into your power and make use of that for my spells. I..." That's when he finally turns around and notices, the Zaiya was reduced to the small falcon like creature Kin saved after the attack on Juniper. She was shivering and crying pitifully.

"I.. don't feel so good, master, can I please go back to the fire?"

Her voice shivers, even though she tries to sound indifferently “I was very lucky there. If he had taken more, I might have died. I don't think he was paying attention to me or my well being there."

Kin had crawled towards Zaiyas head to lean against her, but now, as she starts shivering at the memory, he just wants to comforts her. "This part is the past. We will beat her again. As often as we have to."

Bartholomeus picks up the little, shivering falcon and carries her over to the fire, before tossing her on the grid.

"Thank you, Zaiya, this was very informative. Rest, you deserve it. "

She nestles down demurely "Thank you, master."

Kin rubs her head "Tss... you were quiet different there, were you?"

Zaiya sounds embarrassed "Yes. I was young, inexperienced and thought it is my part to give for an egg. In a way, it is. And I wouldn't mind, if it wouldn't have been.. abused."

The scene goes into fast forward once more. With more writing, reading, and only slows down at slight changes to the symbols on the ground, replacement of candles. The Zaiya in the vision slowly regains her normal size and weak fire aura.

"Zaiya, I have some theories. I think, you are just about invincible. At least to normal means, weapons and injuries. Your only weakness is, if you are drained of power. Please get in the circle again."

This time the young phoenix hesitates. "Master, I didn't like what happened last time. Do I have to?"

Bartholomeus voice doesn't change, still kind and comforting. "Yes, please. It is necessary."

So the phoenix nestles down in the circle once more and doesn't resist, when the sorcerer pulls out her wing and starts cutting at the base of it.

Kin shivers and closes his eyes, but it doesn't help, the vision is in his head. He can feel what the phoenix feels: Nothing, but he still shivers from it.

Then the wing comes loose and drops to the ground. Bartholomeus drops to closely investigate and the whole scene zooms in on it too, as Zaiya watches interested too.

Kin meanwhile vomits beside the circle from what he just witnessed. He just hopes, it WAS outside the circle or at least, not over his bird.

The wing then starts to dissolve into liquid and runs over the ground. Leaving black stains on the purple ground whenever a drop disappears shortly after it gets loose from the wing.

A few minutes later, only the feathers remain and the vision turns back to the whole room. Red drops flowing from the stump and start to slowly reform the wing. There is not even an uncomfortable feeling around the area, just a small 'loss' and her body working on regrowing it.

The scene doesn't wait for it to happen completely.

The wizard leaves the wing to take more notes before he once again, starts casting a spell, this time on the bird herself, using her energy again.

The phoenix looks miserable and he stops once more only when she is back to the tiny falcon form.

"Definitely less power. So that wing stored some of your power too."

Kin is about to vomit again, when he sees Bartholomeus pick up the tiny falcon with just one wing, and carries her back to the fireplace. She shivers and the bubbling red liquid at her wing stopped coming forth and reforming the wing.

He hugs her neck again "This is...so cruel."

Zaiya coos at him "The wing is not the problem. He completely took all my power again, making it impossible to heal for now. If not for the fireplace and days of rest he granted me after every experiment, I would be dead. " She frowns "My first experience with a sorcerer. And one, I told every phoenix I met later above the clouds."

The vision goes back into fast forward, a few more similar rituals follow with no visible effect except for her power being drained again and again from the poor phoenix.

After the last one, the sorcerer finally proclaims "My last experiment, finally finished. Rest now, Zaiya. I think, I got everything I wanted from you. Beside my part of the deal."

She perks up and the real Zaiya starts shivering, even sobbing. Kin is slightly scared, the last parts didn't bother her at all, while he couldn't bear watching it. What could possibly happen next, that breaks her like that. He ignores his own uncomfortable thoughts and comforts her again, without knowing what was happening.

The fast forward lasts far longer this time. Bartholomeus obviously giving her more time to recover then he did before. It even seems like her aura got slightly stronger now and at the end, he beckons her into the circle ones more.

"It is time for my part of the deal. I have found a suitable human for you. But first, you have to get on your back. Lets try this..."

The young Zaiya suddenly gets jerked on her back and she screams while it happens, then her wings get pinned to the ground and she screams again. Kin nearly strangles his bird, as the an insane pain shakes his very core. He screams with her, even Rikka can be heard screaming in pain.

"What is this, master? It HURTS."

He shrugs "I guess, its a side effect. I replaced our bond with an artificial one. One that should not be painful, once canceled, but it seems, using it causes pain."

She pants, unsure what he is trying to do. "But why did you do this?"

"Research. I am a scholar. I am writing books. This book is about your kind, and what we can do with them. Uses, abilities, rituals. Etc. In case, a phoenix doesn't want to bind with a mage, you helped me create a method to do it artificially. "

Zaiya looks at him horrified. So far, the emotions from the vision-Zaiya that were felt by the carpenter were distant and weak beside when the sorcerer pulled her around, but now all kinds of emotions seem to overwhelm Kin in this scene. Guilt, anger, betrayal, pain, helplessness. Feeling what happens inside her was heartbreaking, and him holding her neck probably comforts the carpenter more then his phoenix.

Then some street thug appears in front of the mirror. Tattered cloths, about the same height as kin, dirty and unshaved. One boot looks like its about to fall apart. He just... appears. Kin blinks.

"This is the woman I want you to mate with."

"What? Tats a bird, no woman." The thug is confused, but Bartholomeus just waves him off.

"Just do it, and you will get the same amount again. You got an hour, do what you want."

Kin is actually too busy to try and SOMEHOW close his eyes to pay much attention to what happens. Of course, it still doesn't work, the white mist that is his body in the vision is as unmoving as ever.

After the hour is over, Bartholomeus returns and tosses a pouch at the thug.

"Man, you are some perverted son of a bitch. But you pay good." - After that, the sorcerer waves his hand and the thug vanishes.

"Well, Zaiya, I held my promise – and I made sure, that he had the bond for the time he was in here. Now lets see what will happen."

She starts writhing, as more black mist starts forming around his hands, then down to her body.

"Master, this.. doesn't feel right, please stop."

"Don't worry, Zaiya, it wont take long... there, its nearly done."

The real Zaiya starts sobbing uncontrollably now, her head turned to press against Kins body. Even without seeing anything, its obvious, the next part is the worst part for her.

The sorcerer waves another spell and something starts growing, then moving in her lower body until an egg, is be pulled out of her. Black as the night and considering no furniture starts to burn, not even the candles wax liquefies next to the egg, it is cold.

Instead of taking time to hatch, this one starts moving instantly as Bartholomeus watches with the curiosity of a child.

The phoenix stares at it in horror, though "This... is wrong. It should not be like this. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, HUMAN!?"

She struggles, but cant move more then her legs through the air.

Then the egg cracks open. Unlike the fiery one, this one cracks open like a normal chicken egg and a dark bird falls out of it. It stumbles a bit, before it screeches and flaps its wings. A dark mist seems to surround the hatchling as it scans its surroundings, before taking flight inside the tower.

"Interesting. That is... unexpected. " The young Zaiya starts sobbing, the sight must be horrible for her. This should have been her first egg and it hatched into an abomination.

An invisible force seems to grab the little, dark phoenix and drags it towards the place Zaiya has been to recover.

"Thank you Zaiya, our deal is done and I have no more use for you. If you would be stronger, I might have more, but you are far too weak to be any help for me and my spells. "

These words hit Zaiya even worse then the failed try on a phoenix egg.

She had gotten to her feet, head near the ground and eyes closed. Her voice sounds completely devastated. "Yes, master." She waits for him to remove her from the tower.

The vision from the insides fades and is replaced with large buildings around her. She is right outside a brick building, that is in the harbor area, considering the buildings and the tiny specs of blue, that are visible through the narrow spaces between the storage buildings. She screeches, as her wings gets pulled against the wall, pinning her slightly above the ground. Stars again explode in Kins mind while he and Rikka, both scream horribly again. The real Zaiya somehow stays quiet, though.

After being pinned against the wall, young Zaiya continues sobbing, unable to move, but at least, she can catch some sunlight there.

That's when a well clothed man walks through the spaces. His clothes are white, more like the apparel of a high official, but judging his behavior, he wasn't. He was clean, shaved and is most likely looking for whatever caused the screeching. From how he is behaving, he is a burglar or thief in disguise. He seems to be looking over his shoulder quiet often, making sure he isn't followed.

"Denson.." Zaiya whispers to him. "He is the one that will free me, and give me back my dignity and confidence." She is looking forward to this part, of course. But Rikka doesn't care about it much, she saw what she wanted to see, and after the first bucket of water Denson tossed at the phoenix, the vision is being replaced by the tower they are trapped in. No use for the sorceress to experience the pain of water removing the phoenix's power.

Rikka ignored him completely, as he is still busy comforting Zaiya, and went back to her rituals.

"Zaiya. You are always worried about being useful. " He pulls her head towards him again. "You don't have to worry about it anymore. Being there with me is all I would ever want."

She rubs her head against him again. "I can do so much more. If you ever want to learn magic, I would gladly supply you with my power. Ev..." She stops and coos, as he silences her with the feathers on her head.

"That is nice, but even if that happens. It would be just helping. All I want or need is your company."

The phoenix closes her eyes and whispers gently “Thank you. I am glad to have picked you."