St Chaos Healer

Ch 45 - The Divine Protector's Arrival

At this moment there were loud screeching noises booming from the outside of this building. I could hear the loud flapping of the wings and the agitated screeching sounds created by the phoenix familiar flying outside.

It seemed to be hovering over the premises of the ceremony hall for some time as if it was scouting the area.

At this moment, the mages were busy fiddling with the barrier surrounding the central stage.

Meanwhile, the other candidates and I are still on our knees with our heads bowed looking down at the floor. The room temperature has been rising for a while and I am just kneeling watching the sweat trickling from my brow onto my nose and then falling down on the floor.

There's literally a pool of sweat forming down under the candidates.
We were instructed to carry a water bottle but for some reason were restrained from drinking any until they allowed us to.

After waiting for some more time, the sound of the fluttering of the wings became even clearer like it was just above. I couldn't help but take a peek above the central stage.

From the circular roof opening, tiny particles of flames entered the amphitheater. It almost felt like the little sparks of flames were alive like little bugs. As seconds passed by, the tiny flickers of flame became bigger as the sound of the fluttering wings got louder and louder.

The tiny bright flicker of flames after entering the amphitheater would then fly towards the barrier where they were somehow stopped and disappeared within the barrier surface. If it weren't for the barrier, the flames would have already started a big fire inside here.

It wasn't only me who had long stopped bowing their head. Everyone, despite kneeling, was looking up to catch the glimpse of the divine phoenix familiar.

"Children, one word of advice" suddenly the old mage spoke, "When the divine protector descends to that stage, his brilliance is not something that everyone could see."
The old mage again turned back his focus on the barrier.

To be honest, that was quite weird.
A mage giving advice and not an order, which was surprising. But to be honest, I wonder what he really meant.

"It is here." shouted one of the mages.

As I glanced up, the first thing I saw was the razor-sharp talons slowly descending from the central sky and entering the amphitheater. The talons were massive, almost the size of a wagon.

As the phoenix slowly descended, the winds became quite turbulent.
Soon its wings came into view. As the wings flapped, creating numerous little sparks of fireballs. After all, the wings of the phoenix were made of pure bright flames themselves. If it weren't for the barrier surrounding the stage, the amphitheater and the candidates would all be burned down to ashes.

Finally, the phoenix talons touch down on the marble ground landing gracefully. Although the razor-sharp talon cut through the marble flooring like butter almost submerging within.

There was a dead silence after its arrival, even the mages were sweating profusely.

The amphitheater that was dimly lit now was now illuminated red thanks to phoenix flames.
Along with the light came the soaring temperature that was rising rapidly.

The phoenix despite being just a familiar was a huge bird.
It had a long slender neck allowing the beast's head to be a bit taller, almost reaching the height of the second balcony of the amphitheater. Meanwhile, its beak was long and menacing, the top beak was longer and curvy while the under beak was shorter but wider. Its wings were made of pure flame covering its body like a beautiful coat of flames. The talons of the beast were long and curvy that it had penetrated the very floor as it stood.