The Vengeance of Circe

The Might Of The Phoenix

It was 47 degrees in New York and the pavement burned through the thin soles of my sneakers, and I felt my skin cool down in shade of the trees in Central Park. Snuffle barked with approval as strangers stroked his fur and gazed at him lovingly. Charles had allowed us to take a holiday and said he would let us know in case of an emergency so I decided to see the sights of New York. First on my list was Central Park. I laid down onto the soft grass and propped my head up and stared into the baby blue sky with wisps of white like an artists impression of the sunny afternoon sky. I felt a nap coming on and so I closed my eyes and felt the relaxing waters of sleep wash over me as Snuffle nuzzled my ears.

I woke immediately, I felt something in the ground. I checked my phone and I'd only been asleep for half an hour. I sat up and petted Snuffle, there it was again! It was like a tremor in the Earth but it wasn't an earthquake, I was sure of that. I let my mind wander below the Earth's surface, nothing, wait there was, an anomaly. I drew closer and it repelled me! I snapped my eyes open, the sky wasn't clear and beautiful anymore, it was dark and the wind had turned frosty. Something was coming, something evil. I reached out and implanted a psychic message in the citizen's minds.' LEAVE NOW'. I saw people pack up their bags and start heading towards the exits of the Park. The ground was shaking nonstop now and Snuffles was barking like mad. It suddenly stopped. I peered down and suddenly the ground next to me exploded into clouds of dirt, I felt the explosion knock me back and I felt my head thump against the sturdy tree trunk, I felt my vision dimming but the last thing I saw before I blacked out was a floating woman with beautiful lilac hair.

I felt bad for the girl sprawled beneath me but if the mystical and arcane powers of magic had brought me here, I'd need to battle her. She seemed rather weak and feeble but the psychic shard wouldn't have gone to her without reason. I conjured a freezing North wind and set them towards the girl and if they didn't wake her up, I had a few ideas, to say the least.

I woke up as freezing winds stung my legs and arms giving my goosebumps goosebumps. I opened my eyes and felt anger rush through me, it was a beautiful woman, with a gorgeous suit on, her hair was free and the most beautiful flower crown sat on her head like a crown of nature. I reached towards her with my mind to see who she was but again I was repelled but I got the emotions of anger, hatred and envy. She descended and shook her head condescendingly, again fury rushed through my body, I didn't even know this person so why was I getting angry? She raised her hands and muttered some word and flames sparked to life in the palms of her hands, she pushed her hands towards me and an indigo jet of flames rushed towards me!

Instantaneously the Phoenix took control. I extended my arms and absorbed the violet flames, my clothes burned away revealing my suit below, I wrenched the flames away from her control and absorbed all the energy I could. I saw her eyes widen in fear but she still stood her ground, I flung my arms out and psionic blades manifested, I felt cosmic energy flood through me as the Phoenix gave me more power, I rushed towards the woman, ready to send her wherever she came from when suddenly she was gone, just gone and all that was left was a lavender flower.

It was The Phoenix! The Phoenix Force is an immortal and immutable manifestation of the universal force of life and passion. Born of the void between states of being, the Phoenix Force is a child of the universe. It is the nexus of all psionic energy which does, has, and ever will exist in all realities of the multiverse, the Guardian of Creation. The Phoenix is among the most feared beings in all of existence—having the power to cut and re-grow any part of the universe, as well as destroy it entirely, which is part of the Phoenix's purpose: "The Judgment of the Phoenix", to burn away the obsolete. The Phoenix Force is described as being the embodiment of the very passion of Creation—the spark that gave life to the Universe, the flame that will ultimately consume it. I'd clashed swords with the overgrown sparrow many millennia ago but I clearly remember it was guarding my prison dimension and so I had to battle it, my abilities weren't at their strongest but neither was the Phoenix's. I'd barely beat and left it licking its wounds, it's found a new host, I knew how to destroy it temporarily but the hard part was how I'd do it. It was stronger, much stronger but if it was working for the Warder's then it must have been corrupted. The vague wisps of a plan started forming together in my mind, when suddenly sharp pains exploded throughout my mind, it was searching for me, this dimension wasn't the safest but in terms of time and space it was the furthest, I'd come to the end of all time and space and it still found me?! I could feel it drawing near, it's astral form.

I felt the time slipping away in this dimension, I needed to go somewhere impenetrable. I muttered an incantation and a swirling vortex appeared, I took one look behind me and saw a barrage of flames rushing towards me and I ran through, I felt the familiar coolness of portal energy wash over me and I was back at square one, my prison. I kept the portal open but I had to be quick, I ran through the marble hallways towards my personal chambers, I flung the oaken doors opened and ran to the left corner of the room and pulled up the marble tile, revealing a staircase lit by flickering torches, I ran down into the darkness and came to the secret room. The walls were coated in ivy and in the middle was a massive bowl, filled with crystals and one golden window crystal in the centre along with four torches, I lit the torches with my magic and the fire from the torches poured themselves into the crystals, the crystals thrummed with energy and the golden window crystal shot a beam of light into the air five centimetres above it, it'd created a small portal into Olympia, window crystals could be used to conjure a portal as long as there was a window crystal in the destination as well, it looked big enough the fir my hand in so I reached inside and felt around then found what I was looking for, I pulled out the orb and closed the portal then ran back upstairs to my room, I replaced the tile and ran to the initial portal, I changed the destination to Earth, the frayed edges turned a healthy green, I extinguished all the torches and leapt through.

The Phoenix was there, waiting for me. She rushed towards me again but this time I stood my ground and uppercutted her, she let out a gasp of shock as she fell and got up again, she clutched her stomach, wincing in pain then she immediately stiffened and her white glowing eyes locked onto me. She placed her hands on her temple and I felt coils of psionic energy wrap around me and lift me into the air, I was slammed into the ground a dozen times and I was sure my hair was in a mess. I held the orb up and when I neared the ground again I threw it and the orb exploded into blasts of black lightning and shadows and I was heading straight into it, the coils loosened then disappeared as I fell into the shadowy blast.

The Phoenix grew mild as though it was fearful of what was going to happen, it no longer burned bright but burned like a dying fire. Ever since the woman fell into the strange lightning storm the Phoenix seemed weaker. The shadows suddenly collapsed into itself, she was still standing but now she looked more powerful, lighting sparked from her eyes and her hair, now black seemed to rear with anger. She raised her hands and tendrils of shadows rose from the ground and wrapped around me and threw me into the air then a blast of lighting hit me in the air, I spiralled to the ground and landed with a sickening thud. I gently touched my sides and a gasp of pain escaped, I was definitely internally bleeding, she descended from the sky like an Angel Of Death, I stood up, clutching my sides then as she drew near I unleashed a blast of psychic energy, she barely flinched. I manifested my powers into fiery swords and pounced forwards but she simply waved her hands and the swords collapsed into dust. Using my last reserves I projected a shield around myself, I saw Snuffle in the trees, he leapt down from the trees and bit the lady on her knee, she glared at him and he instantly sat down and bared his teeth at me, his eyes had gone completely black and he snarled and snapped at me, any more of love was gone. I felt a tear trickle down my cheek, she'd brainwashed Snuffles, my dog! Fury rushed through my veins and I used all my energy to send her crashing through the trees, I felt a pain in my chest, a shadowy blade was embedded in my heart. It dissipated and there was only a gaping wound in my chest. I felt no pain, only the life slipping away from me, In the blink of an eye, she reappeared with a look a sympathy on her face. I felt the fire extinguish in my soul and I felt as though something was clawing at my insides like an animal in a cage, I understood, the Phoenix was leaving me, why? I felt betrayed, a fiery mist flew out of my torso and formed into a bird and seemed to be free, when it pulsed a dark amethyst colour, the woman hand was surrounded by swirling indigo symbols, then the Phoenix was pulled towards the woman's hands, she compressed the bird and bright light shone from within and when she opened her hands, sitting in her palm, a yellow shard remained.

She knelt beside me and held my hand and whispered,' There are bad things going on and the Phoenix was involved in them, I intend to find out what is going on but know this, don't trust the Warder's, remember that, repeat it to me,' I whispered it and she nodded in approval like a doting mother, she pulled out a vial of iridescent lime liquid from thin air and told me to drink it, I raised it to my lips and it was like sweet nectar of the gods. When I put the bottle down, she was gone but I felt myself healing, my bones knitting back together and my organs repairing. I felt life return and my heart started beating again, I stroked Snuffles and thought out loud,' Who was that Snuffles?' Wisps of violet smoke appeared in the air and spelled out, 'CIRCE' in an elegant script then it was blown away by a gentle gust of wind. My phone buzzed, I opened it and it ws Charles, he was calling us back, I felt a smile slowly creep up on my face, I'd have a lot of explaining to do to him.