Heart's Desire

Phoenix

Refocusing on the scene in front of her, Kat noticed startling differences. It's the cottage but it looks different, like from before I got there. She noticed that the garden she had painstakingly cultivated was no longer there with the cobblestone pathway that lead to the front door. The wood surrounding her home was worn with many cracks showing the bare interior.

She turned to look behind her to see that the forest was untouched, overgrown, and beyond the recognizable view of what she was accustomed to. Cupping her hands to her mouth she called out, "Griffin?" Hoping to hear his voice in response. When nothing happened, she took a step toward the cottage but paused when she felt a strange tugging sensation at her chest.

Her gaze turned down upon the emerald laying there and it began to twinkle. She tilted her head and thought, It's trying to tell me something but what does it mean? When she looked up, there was a figure standing there. Kat jumped back startled. This glowing white figure held its hands out to her while wings of fire spread from behind.

"W-who are you?" Kat stuttered before speechlessness took over again. As her eyes focused on the figure's features, she noticed a beautiful woman with hair the color of the orange sun and eyes of red flame.

She looked deep into Kat's eyes and then a voice in her head said, "I am the spirit of all things beauty and good. I reside within the stone you now wear around your neck. You must be the one meant to save us all. My name is Phoenix."

Phoenix's wings folded into her side as she slowly walked to a stump surrounded by a ring of small mushrooms. She sat down on the base of it and beckoned Kat to her side with her hand. "Sit child and listen to what I have to say."

Kat's eyes grew wide as she forced herself to move one step forward, then another, and another until she was sitting on her knees in front of the magnificent spirit in front of her. Before continuing, Phoenix recited an incantation under her breath and held her hands out to Kat. In them appeared a wand with purple quartz for the handle.

"The wand! How did you get that!" Kat exclaimed with bewilderment. "Griffin gave that to me!"

"And where do you think he got it from?" Phoenix said with a twinkle in her eye. "This wand is infused with my essence and is what keeps the darkness at bay. The wood is from the first tree of the forest and the quartz is from its earth below. This is the only thing that can save it now. You must not let it out of your sight as you are the only one to wield it."

Kat's hands wrapped around the wand as she brought it to her chest, feeling protective over it. Her blue eyes looked the wand up and down before she placed it on her lap. "How do I stop the darkness for good? What's to say it won't come back?"

"You must find the original tree at the heart of the forest. Only there will you be able to stop it from destroying this forest and to live in peace at your cottage. I was always sad how it went to ruins after I left..." Phoenix's eyes looked longing over the land before them, between the Sequoia trees.

"You used to live here?" Kat gasped as she tried to understand. "How could that be though if you lived in the stone?" The spirit's eyes grew dim as she pondered the memories that brought her to her prison.

"I was captured by darkness itself, a spirit with no name. It has tried to take over this place since its conception to no avail. I battled against it until it found a way to trap me here. I have not seen another being since. That is, at least, until you. It had been 273 years but at last, someone has come."

She took a deep breath and returned to her feet, Kat following her lead. We must get out of this stone, find Griffin, and return to the cottage to save the forest. She lifted a hand to clasp the stone at her neck and unknowingly spoke a short incantation.

A sigh of relief was all Kat could hear before her vision blurred to white, again. Suddenly she was looking at her two closest allies in the shadow of a cave, still trapped in Griffin's mental prison, but together at last and safe for now.