The Phoenix's Maiden

A New Journey (Part Five)

After sending the Kapre away from his punch, he quickly dashes through the tree branches to keep up with them and save whoever she is pertaining to. When he caught up with them, he saw a bare conscious giant kapre lying on the ground and Kamandag totally knocked out from the impact. Arthur sheathes his sword and release burning flames from its steel and the creature was terrified as he is about to witness his last moments in his life, and with his small amount of strength left within him, he tried his best to raise his hands to guard himself from the flaming sword of the knight and to show that he surrenders and will not try to fight back.

“Y- you g- g- got it w- wrong,” he explained his actions as brief as possible and Arthur did not continue his attempt to strike his head but he did not let his guard down.

“Talk,” he said as scary as possible and it sends shiver from the kapre’s whole body.

“She,” his hands are shaking tremendously but he manages to point his fingers to the unconscious Kamandag. “W- we h- have b- bad history… w- with each other,” he is breathing heavily and he pointed his gaze towards the snake. As soon as he let his sight away from the terrified creature it attempted to grab his swords but was eventually burned down to crisps.

“Just as I thought, a prankster even in death,” he whispered to himself and he observed the whole place to find the “she” Amber is talking about that the kapre, who just recently burned down, abducted earlier. After minutes of searching, he did not find any mystics in the area but to his no luck there are no anyone there unconscious except for the snake. He just can’t trust the words of those fools, but he thought of a much more efficient idea and he grabbed the snake and dashed through the branches to go back to their camp.

He thought that he will take Amber with him to help him with the search and as foolish he may seem if show this snake to Amber, if this is the one this will just save him a huge amount of time to rest as the battle earlier even not hard-fought drains some of his aura. It didn’t take him long to reach their camp and Amber quickly ran towards him.

“Where is she?” she asked desperately but he still doubt that this snake is the one. He knows that this world is full of many creatures far from what they can imagine but in front of her his confidence quickly sinks rock bottom as he doesn’t want to feel that pain again. His pride was crushed into pieces. “Hey!” she shouted and Arthur was taken aback to reality.

Even he is very nervous, he slowly reveals Kamandag to Amber and Arthur closes his eyes to prepare himself from yet another barrage of insults that will be thrown at him. He felt electricity all over his body when he felt two hands carefully reaching for the snake in his hands and waited patiently for Amber to say something bad to him, but minutes had passes he didn’t hear any and he slowly opens his eyes and witnessed how the maiden is silently crying while she is hugging the snake.

“I am very sorry,” she whispered. “I am very sorry,” she repeated it again.

“Wait,” he was shocked seeing how Amber acts towards the snake and he felt sadness and happiness at the same time. This feeling right now is pretty self-explanatory. He felt the hands of Mang Tonyo in his shoulders and he looks at him but the geezer just shake his head, saying that he must gave her space to mourn her sadness.

The two backs off and watches the bon fire burn the woods that he gathered earlier and let Amber cry in the corner.

“I didn’t expect it to be a snake,” he said and Mang Tonyo is raising his hand near the flames to warm himself.

“Expect the unexpected,” he said. “That is our old motto in this world,” he added.

“Why?” Arthur asked,

“Life is full of surprises,” he said briefly and he pinned his attention to the dancing flames to avoid burning his hands.

“Back when the mystic world is unified, despite seeing monsters, dragons, and other creatures beyond from our imagination, we are still scared of the unknown and it gets more dangerously as time passes by,” he started a story and Arthur was caught with the information he shared.

“Wait,” he cuts off. “Unified?” he asked.

“Yes, I am one of the living witnesses how dangerous yet harmonic lives back then, it was ended when multiple wars against nations rose and puts border to every single kingdom and I am sent to human realm as an exile but when I came back it was here in Fernis,” he told him.

“Hey,” they hear Amber called them. They can hear the sadness in her voice but it was lighter than it was before, it was full of regrets. “I want to talk to you, especially you Arthur,” she added and their story telling session ended. Their heads turned towards her while she is slowly walking while they see the snake conscious and hissing.

They watch her slowly reach them and also sit in front of them while they notice her eyes are red and swollen, because of her cries earlier. Time is running in between the three of them and sun will soon rise which means that they will continue their journey again towards their mission and they can’t get enough rest and from what happened it seems like their spirits are completely awake. The two waited for Amber to initiate the conversation because she said that she wants to talk with them and they are not planning to take this chance away from her.

“I just want to tell you, about her,” she pointed to Kamandag.

-The Phoenix’s Maiden-