Scenarios

Shattered

I'm in the middle of a battle with the Cthulians. It's chaos. I press against a tree for cover and fire my gun out at the enemy. I've been protecting this pile of ash for a few minutes now. It's a recently dead phoenix. I could use a little help cutting through he battle field, so I intend to watch over this body until it reforms. It shouldn't be long now. As if on cue, the ashes start glowing. I watch in wonder as the glowing silhouette of a great bird rises with its wings spread wide, a magnificent call coming from it. A streak of blue energy shoots from the distance and hits the silhouette right in the center of its chest. Another screech comes forth, but this one full of pain and sorrow. The glowing silhouette glows brighter for a moment, a terrible crack down its chest where the streak of energy hit, before fading and sinking back to the ashes in an instant. The pile then flies in all directions and the ash disperses in the wind. My mouth hangs open and my eyes are wide in horror. I don't know what just happened— I didn't even think such a thing was possible— but I somehow know without a doubt that this phoenix will never reform. Battle around me stops as Endromic Fighters look on in horror and Cthulians revel in what they've just done. Protector Joey himself appears in a flurry of purple sparks, his face a mask of horror and sorrow, and falls to his knees where the ash pile once was. His hands scramble over the ground in panicked disbelief. "Wha..." I start, my voice failing me. "What just happened? What did you do?!" I whirl on the wizard who did this. She smiles, a horrible, evil smile. I whip my gun up and fire at her and she disappears into smoke, a horrid laugh following. The sound breaks the spell. Endromic Fighters surge against the Cthulians with vengeance. Joey stays kneeling over the missing ash pile, stunned by sadness. I stumble over and fall to my knees as well, tears spilling from my eyes. Phoenixes represent a beauty that can be found nowhere else in existence. They represent rebirth in death. They embody the message that death is not the end, that the death of one inevitably leads to a new dawn for another. In the way that they fall and rise again and again, they show us that the sadness of death can turn into a beautiful thing with time. But... that image has been shattered. This phoenix will not be born again. It will not rise to live again. The phoenix is now nothing more than the soil I kneel on. I let out a rage filled scream before I jump to my feet and charge after the wizard that did this.