The Phoenix's Maiden

His Mistake

Kamandag caught the goddess falling midair whose currently unconscious because of the lightning that suddenly struck her from above. She has no idea who did it and most of all she does not expect it to be like that. She almost annihilates the attacking enemy and in a blink of an eye all of her hard work has been shattered to pieces. But first, she needs to bring the unconscious goddess to safety. She flew towards the nearby hill, where they scouted the enemy camp earlier.

She carefully lay her down on the ground and she tried to wake her up but its no use since the lightning is powerful, and keeping in mind the side effects of the ritual if interfered. She didn’t expect that they had powerful warriors inside that hut that can do that. Commanding the elements is very rare for an underworld creature since in the underworld, except for fire, land, and water, other elements are scarce.

She underestimated them and she thought that its her mistake, focusing on her level without knowing that it’s actually Arthur who did that. Speaking of Arthur, the fairy remembered him and she just fixed her position then makes sure if there are no enemies around before going back to find the knight. When she made sure that everything is clear she transformed back to her black fairy form to conserve energy and she is very exhausted from that divine form she used to wipe out the enemies earlier.

Poison remained quiet inside her head after being humiliated by her own actions. Kamandag spread her wings and flew off the ground, there are no enemy harpies left but in the ground the ground troops are like ants scrambling all over the place and they are going towards the main hut where Arthur is. “This is bad,” she whispered to herself.

“It’s worser than bad,” Poison remarked when they spotted Arthur from the hole that the lightning caused, lying down on the floor.

“I need to save him,” she told Poison.

“But first you need to deal with these many enemies,” Poison continued her sentence. They can both read each other’s minds since both of them exists in a same brain.

“If Amaterasu is only here that should be a piece of cake,” Kamandag is not confident dealing with them since she is suffering from exhaustion because of her move earlier.

“I am telling you that you should let me take over,” Poison suggested.

“Why would I trust you?” Kamandag questioned her motives.

“You should,” she told her without giving Kamandag any reason to trust her.

“What can you do? My body is exhausted, we will lose whether I allow you to take over or not,” she told Poison. Logically speaking, Kamandag has a poison since they exist in the same body, Poison taking over will not make a difference. She is still exhausted from that fight unless Poison can make miracles. Miracle is a thing in mystic realm, it is a kind of magic only the divine ones possess, such as the gods like Amaterasu and the inhabitants of the heavenly realm.

“Just trust me,” Poison insisted.

“How?!” Kamandag is panicking since the situation is getting worse as time pass by.

“Transform into your redeemed form,” Poison instructed the fairy and Kamandag transformed into her redeemed form as she was told. “Then let me do the rest, just don’t try to resist because I don’t have the power to take control of you,” she sounded so evil there like stealing her body. In a blink of an eye, Poison and Kamandag switched places.

“Nothing happened,” Kamandag said because she can still perceive what her eyes can see, she tried to move her body but she can’t. “Why can’t I move?” she asked Poison.

“Hey! I already told you not to resist,” Poison reprimanded her. “My control is a bit shaky so cooperate with me,” she added. “This thing is like exchanging riders on horse but they still board the same horse, just think this whole thing just works like that, if the passenger resisted the rider’s control, they will both be caught in accident,” she explained. “Just relax and see things through until the end,” she finished.

In Kamandag’s side she can still feel what her body can but her system won’t respond to her and every time she does that Poison is complaining about her resisting her control. That’s why she tried to relax herself and tried to trust Poison. What choice does she have except for that? They enemies cornered them and one of their friends’ life is in danger. Making decision in this moment is very crucial and they can’t make any mistake because if they do, everything is over for them. Amber is the only one left and what’s worse is she is still not prepared for this kind of thing.

“Worry not, I can solve this,” Poison whispered. “O dear creator of all things bless me with power that I beseech thee,“ she chanted. “Bless me with power to cleanse the darkness,” she added and her body started to glow and the strength of Kamandag’s body is replenished, her wounds healed in an instant. Kamandag was very surprised, she has no idea that Poison can perform miracles. Her redeemed form is enough to make her a divine being and Poison that came with it knew it well. Underworld creatures such as Kamandag has the genes of their descendants, the fallen divine ones. In short most of them can perform miracles but they had no knowledge that they can do that. It’s been so long since an impure was cleansed like her.

“Woah!” she exclaimed inside her mind. “I don’t have any idea that you can do that,” she told Poison.

“Told yah,” Poison bragged. “I think this is enough to save your friend,” she said.

“Yes, forget about erasing them just save Arthur,” Kamandag ordered Poison.

“Your wish is my command,” she instantly flew towards Arthur send the enemies backwards because of the impact. Poison instantly grabs Arthur’s body and the young knight is still conscious so he opened his eyes only to see Kamandag carrying him but he does not know that Poison is the one saving him.

“Back to the hill,” Kamandag instructed her and Poison launched herself upwards again. “Woah! Is this how it feels like?” she asked Kamandag pertaining to feeling of excitement and rush in her chest, in Kamandag’s chest to be clear.

“Enjoy it while it last,” Kamandag told the joyous Poison. They are once again back in the hill where Amaterasu is still lying safely and soundly. Arthur tried to move his body but pain trailed all over his body, he groaned making Poison aware that he is awake.

“Are you alright?” she asked as she was instructed by Kamandag. Kamandag decided that they can’t know about her, at least just now since this will make things complicated.

“Yes,” he answered cheaply. His eyes was caught by Amaterasu. “What happened to her?” he asked.

“A lightning struck her down,” she answered.

“Where?” he asked again and guilt is starting to crawl in his heart.

“In the main hut,” she answered immediately because she doesn’t know what to respond except to follow Kamandag’s lead.  This time Arthur felt the guilt of causing trouble to them, they don’t know that he is the one who struck that lightning down. He has no idea that Amaterasu is above him that time, he got careless because of anger.

“Please,” he tried to plead. “Please finish what the goddess has started,” he requested to Poison.

“What is that?” she asked having no idea about the goddess’s plan. Kamandag was caught off guard by that question and Poison’s sudden question.

“You fool, don’t give him clues about your existence yet!” Kamandag scolded Poison.

“I- I mean yes I will do that,” she immediately takes her question back launched herself upwards.

“Hey!” Kamandag shouted, and she was caught off guard again by her sudden response in her situation. “Why did you say that?” she asked.

“I don’t know!” she answered in panic.

“WhAT?!” Kamandag exclaimed in her mind. “How do you plan wiping thousands of them by your own?” she asked Poison again.

“I will improvise,” Poison answered.

“You better make it work,” Kamandag argued.

“I will manage,” she responded.

“You better be,” Kamandag answered back. From up high they can see still the other abbadon flying towards them, and Poison prepared herself for the battle. The others from down below prepared their bows and arrows to shoot her down. Each arrows have poison that has enough potency to paralyze even Kamandag’s redeemed form. Doing all of these at once, evading and attacking seems too much for her but she has no other choice but to attack.

“They’re coming!” Kamandag shouted.

“I know!” Poison is confused how she will attack the enemies while evading the arrows. Poison lacks experience in battle and that is her flaw in her current situation.

“Disperse them with a spell,” Kamandag gave Poison a clue on how to deal with them. “A wide range spell,” she added. That gave Poison an idea and she use her miracle stored up and put his hands up to store energy in her hands. A ball of light was formed that grew bigger and bigger; it is a spell where she absorbed the aura essence of nearby mystics in the area including her enemies. She is absorbing their own energy to beat them. It’s the best situation for her since there are thousands of them and that means the spell will be more powerful.

“Aura Bomb,” she threw the big energy ball towards the enemies and those who collided with its midair was reduced to dust. When it hits the ground, it created a big explosion that has a wide radius, fortunately for Arthur and Amaterasu, the cliff can withstand the explosion and they are completely safe. Poison flew higher to avoid being caught with her own spell. The whole area became so bright that it blinded those who saw the energy ball, temporary blinding.

“That’s too powerful I don’t know that I had that kind of energy inside me,” Kamandag remarked.

“That’s why I told you to trust me,” she bragged.

-The Phoenix’s Maiden-