Airborne Wings

Chapter nineteen- Ember

 "Finally, you are awake." Said a familiar voice. Demi-Human. Ran through Ferno's mind.

"You!" He growled but stopped his sentence when he saw Peacock sitting next to her.

"I never got to introduce myself, so I thought I'd wait till you awoke."

"How long have I—?" Ferno winced at a shock of pain.

"Don't worry, for only about an hour were you passed out." She sighed. "Terra... Is sad, though, maybe YOU can cheer her up." she said. "You should still rest, though." she smiled. A barrier was above her and Ferno's heads. The fox that Ferno had seen before slinked into view.

"My name's Koda. Her name's Kyra. Also, my friend Chimera said that you were her owner," Koda said, and he gave his chest a shake. Chimera slithered out and Ferno picked her up quickly as if the floor were lava. Ferno thanked Koda. All of a sudden, a boy came running up to the barrier and ran right into it, passing out immediately, his nose bleeding.

"Whoops. I guess I forgot Milo was here," Kyra giggled. "Also, you can talk to him like you always do. He can understand our language as well as speak it." Kyra undid the barrier, pulled Milo in, and made the barrier again.

"Hi... Ferno." Peacock whispered. Her talons were bleeding and her eyes said she was exhausted.

"Hi..." Ferno said back. "But what in the world happened to you guys?!" Asked Ferno, who looked Peacock up and down.

"Queen... Evil... Tried... Kill... Me..." She said through ragged breaths.

Ferno's body moved without him asking it to. His eyes teared up without asking it to. He cried onto her without asking it to. Ferno's body moved out of reflex. Ferno scrambled away from Peacock out of embarrassment. To Ember's surprise, all of her wounds faded away and what was left was bright blue feathers.

Suddenly, the barrier shattered and Peacock's body floated in the air. Her eyes were black and her body twitched. Her back split open and a spider-thing came out. It's obsidian black body reminded Ferno of a widow spider except the fact that it's actual upper half of its body was like a human. The only real difference between it and a human's, was that there was a floating cross mark on its forehead. Queen Daffodil's eyes were blank as well, and her face was covered in a white substance that glowed red at certain intervals.

Her claw was in the air, and she moved Peacock's new form over to her. Queen Shadow backed away from her in fear.

"What's wrong, little champ? Too scared to face the real Queen?" She said, Peacock's spidery form scurried all over the arena, making everyone scream and jump up in fear. Everything Peacock bit –even the non-living— became spiders like her. Peacock didn't stop until all of the Phoenix were dead and/or spiders like them. Ferno couldn't move. He was terrified.

The queen called to the spiders in a sweet tone and when they came, she... stuck them in her mouth and swallowed them in two big gulps.. The moment she did, her body began to morph into a grotesque form.

She was black and looked like a spider but with the head of Queen Daffodil and the head of Peacock on Queen Daffodil's... butt –you didn't misread that—.

Even though it might've been funny for some other phoenix, it definitely was scary and made Ferno's stomach lurch and knot itself.

Kyra stepped up behind Ferno and morphed into her Phoenix form. "It looks like we might have to fight for this one," Kyra sighed. "To morph to your regular form, just imagine you flying in that form. Same with this one; I'm sure you've seen yourself?" Ferno shook his head.

"Oh. Well..." A mirror plopped into her talons. "Here. We... Need to hurry." Kyra said. "I've—"

"Too late". Queen Daffodil cackled.

"Oh my, it's been too long," she laughed again. "THE WORLD IS MINE TO MEND!" She grinned. "Kyra the stupid, Milo the weak, and Eve my 'daughter,' you are up against me, Queen of the Shadows, Queen Widow!" She ran toward Ferno. "And lastly Ferno the Dark." She smiled, showing all of her teeth. "Why don't you come back to the dark side? Our side? Before you abandoned us, you worked fantastically... Ferno the hero? Pfffft! He wasn't a hero! He was a TRAITOR! But you can take that name back if you come to my side," she tilted her head to the side.

"Okay, Your Majesty... What do you want me to do?"

Ferno gasped awake and rubbed his forehead. Just a dream... Just a dream... Even though Ferno tried to tell himself this, he couldn't seem to actually get himself to believe it. It... was so REAL. It looked real, it felt real, and, worst of all, Queen Daffodil turned evil.

But... This was Queen Shadow's doing, right? She was the only one not affected by the voice-changing. He HAD to find Alder. He had to find Ram. And Sasha. And Terra. Yet, how would he be able to if even his dreams weren't on his side? Maybe he was just worrying too much. ...But what if that wasn't a dream at all? Ferno shook that out of his head; that was very definitely a dream. He was still in the arena, but he was... back into his Prisoner Chair? Peacock sat on his right while Eve and Raun sat on his left.

Chimera rubbed up against Ferno's feathers and croaked softly. He smiled and petted her smooth forehead. I can't ignore this. I have to be strong and tell somebody who will listen. ...And I have a plan.