Phoenix

Chapter 6

The area she lived in was on the outskirts of Seattle, a mix between a suburban and urban area, yet it only took a 15 minute drive to make it Downtown, exactly where she was headed. She took a taxi Downtown, then got off in front of Saki's Jewelry Shop. Saki was a Phoenix, who was a second generation, her mother had been banished from the realm, and she had never seen the Realm, therefore had never tasted Essence. So she had powers but not many because she had never had Essence, but she wouldn't die from lack of Essence because she had never had it, therefore unlike Kris she would live as long as a human, and die much the same. Saki was also Cutter's cousin. Cutter lived in SFO somewhat, his headquarters were made from ripping into the seams of this dimension, to create his own pocket dimension. The entrances were extremely hard to access, and were heavily guarded. Saki had a Portal that lead to Pier 39 where one of the entrances to his headquarters was located.

Kris walked into the store and smiled, "Hey Johnny, you keeping shop for Saki?" Johnny was Saki's 7 year old son, he was adorable with his floppy brown hair, and doe eyes'. He smiled big,

"Yep! Mommy's in the back, do you want me to go get her?" Kris smiled at the 7 year old,

"Could you? Oh and by the way," she threw a black bag at him. He opened the bag, inside were 4 decks of Pokemon cards, the kid was obsessed with them. He grinned a big toothy smile, got up and hugged her,

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Kris!" She laughed and hugged him back,

"Its the least I could do for missing your birthday." He smiled a devious grin, but before he could say anything, she spun him and around and gave him a gentle push, "Now be a good boy and go get your mother." He stuck his tongue out at her, and she did the same, causing them both to laugh before he ran into the back room. A few minutes later, Saki walked out.

Saki was half Cherokee, half Phoenix, therefore you could see the faint fires in her honey colored eyes. She was model height, with bronzed skin, and waist length straight black hair that swished behind her. On her right arm was a wolf howling at the crying moon, representing her heritage as an Aniwaya, one of the seven Cherokee tribes known as the "Wolf Clan". She smiled warmly at the sight of Kris, and hugged her, "Its so good to see you. You should visit more often, shame you girl," she joked, as she let go of Kris and gently swatted her on the head. Kris smiled sheepishly at her and replied,

"I will, how are you?" 

"I am as well as can be expected." A concerned look crossed Kris's face,

"Is the land lord gone?" Saki gave her a sharkish smile,

"Oh he's gone alright. Gone to the wolves you could say." They both burst out laughing, joined in by Johnny although Kris knew he had no idea what they were laughing about. 

"So what brings you here, its not for tea I'm sure." Kris became serious,

"I need to see Cutter." Saki grew serious and nodded,

"Johnny, lock down the store, I'm going to go talk to Kris." He nodded solemnly,

"Okay mommy." As they walked to the back of the store, Kris asked,

"Have you told him?" Saki didn't break her stride as she replied in a angry tone,

"No." Johnny didn't know he was part Phoenix, and last time Kris had tried to get Saki to tell him, and she had thrown Kris out, that was 3 months ago. Johnny knew that his mom was different, and that magic existed, just not that he was magical. 

"You'll have to tell him sometime Saki. You need to teach him, before his powers grow out of control and he hurts someone accidentally." Lightening fast, Saki whipped around, anger blazing on her face,

"Drop it Kris, or so help Creator I will kick you out again." Kris took a deep breath feeling like screaming, the kid had power, he may be only a fourth Phoenix, but he was the grandson of a Royal, his powers would grow out of control, and he would hurt someone, and she didn't want him to live with that guilt, that he hurt someone, even if it was unintentionally. Saki spun around and continued to the back room, closing the door behind Kris. Saki went to the wall, closed her eyes' and whispered in the Olde tongue, though her accent had much room to improve,

"Sa' mey." (Open) The wall shimmered, and she stepped through, followed by Kris. They stepped into another room, that was an extremely tiny pocket dimension, its entrance hidden by a cloaking spell. Saki took a knife from the counter, it had runes on it written in Divine, the language of the Gods, an Hindi kattari and handed it to Kris. Kris closed her eyes', and let gold warmth flow into the kattari, sapping her energy, though it activated the blade. She then murmured,

"Flūv' ė'sa' mey ' tû' Rëgå' té 'Pyré." (Flow and open the Gate of Fire) and slid the katar across her palm. As crimson red mixed with thin gold strands pooled in her palm, as she walked over to the orb carving on the ground and let her blood poor into the circle. She then stepped back and handed the knife to Saki, as she slit her palm and repeated the same words, then let her blood drip into the orb carving. Saki was the keeper of the Gate, it was a Phoenix gate made from Essence, therefore only one that had Phoenix blood could activate it, though anyone of any blood could travel through it, they were extremely difficult to find. Some could only be activated with the blood of the keeper of the Gate, others were municipal transportation for Phoenix and could be activated by using any Phoenix's blood, Saki's Gate was the former, and when of age, the right would pass down to Johnny.

The orb slowly glowed white, then suddenly, a ring of flame shot up, and would have burned anyone had they been standing there. She nodded at Saki, "Thank you. I'll let myself out." Saki nodded once solemnly,

"Be careful. There's been a lot of Nix activity in San Francisco since the Hunters were taken down." Kris smiled then stepped through the ring.

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She stepped out into an empty alley on Pier 39 in San Francisco, California. The wind was a biting cold that pierced her flimsy windbreaker, pushing the salty musk of the ocean into her nostrils, draining her even more, especially after using what Essence she had left inside of her. It was running out, and the transfusions she was being given weren't sustaining her, she needed fresh Essence.

Looking down, she pulled her hood over her head and casually weaved in and out of the crowd, till she saw the ice cream shop. She walked behind it to a little wharf side, and at the end was a tiny beach littered with broken bottles, metal cans, and other miscellaneous items. Looking at the cold, murky water with dread, she stepped back, then ran off the edge of the dock, and dove into the icy water. 

The temperature hit her like a rock, it was freezing, and that was zapping her, fast, she couldn't take much more, she needed heat, and air, her kind didn't do well in the cold and it was draining. But the only way to reach the gate was to drown, which would get the nymphs attention, they would then take her to the gate. She swam deeper, and deeper, ignoring the burning need for oxygen and warmth. Just as she was abut to claw her way to the surface, a hand grabbed her ankle and pulled her down. A woman with extraordinary beauty, translucent yellow white hair and bright blue eyes' was looking at her. Her feet and hands were webbed, while her skin was a gossamer color, and gills were on the side of her neck. Lena. Lena's eyes' widened as she recognized Kris and pulled her to the Portal. She jumped into the Portal with Kris in tow. The Portal was a Tunnel but had air in it, therefore the minute they entered the tunnel, Kris collapsed to the ground shivering and gasping for air. As they fell through the kaleidoscope colored Portal, Lena sucked all the water from Kris's clothes and hair, drying her, letting a little warmth into her. 

"Hey... Ll-ena," she said through chattering teeth, taking in deep breaths. Lena gave her a painful smile,

"Sorry. Didn't know it was you. Next time call ahead." Kris gave her a sarcastic half-smile, and replied still shivering,

"I'll make sure to do that." Lena bit back a laugh, as they were dumped on the ground. They both landed with a forward roll, and got to their feet. On the edge was a pool of water that contained the Portal, it looked like if you dived into it you'd hurt yourself, but you wouldn't though, you'd dive into the Portal. His hideout looked like a bunch of warehouse put together on the interior, and was located in its own pocket dimension, so it was only accessible by certain Portal which were in obscure locations all over San Francisco, this was the second easiest by far. There were three tunnels leading in different directions, that were 10 feet high, 10 feet wide.