From The Ashes

Human

What makes something a person?

Was it the physical anatomy of a specimen?

Perhaps it was the capability for complex thought.

Or even the presence of a soul.

Maybe it was the ability to reflect on questions such as these.

But Dechen knew none of these could be the answer, because she had all of them.

She looked like a person, questioned her existence quite profusely, and (according to the creator of the universe) she had a soul.

And yet she was not a person by any sense of the word.

Maybe it was because she wasn’t created as a person, but rather as a weapon. A means to an end.

And by the end, she meant an actual end.

She was created to bring the war between imposters and Spirits to a halt.

Her very soul crafted to perfectly fit the powers that were immediately thrust on her shoulders upon her birth.

She was made for this.

And yet Dechen didn’t think she was capable of handling the weight of the world, quite literally. She was Spirit of the World, after all.

What were you supposed to do when you can’t do the one thing you’ve been made to do?

Dechen idly wondered what would happen if she failed at her purpose.

She supposed there would likely be another soul crafted over the course of two thousand years because she couldn’t handle it.

And all of the Champions would come reborn without knowing what had happened this iteration of their souls, but she would be noticeably missing from their company. Or, she supposed, unnoticeably. Perhaps never to be reborn again.

Dechen supposed that this might have already happened once before. Maybe it didn’t take more than a day to create a new soul.

Maybe The Soul Spirit had tried this a thousand times over with a thousand different souls in her place.

Maybe she was just the first to make it this far.

The thought should have been chilling, terrifying even, but all it brought her was... emptiness.

She found she didn’t really care what had happened in the past.

What mattered was...

Well, that was a good question.

What did matter?

Right now, as Dechen walked back down the hill and saw The Devoted bowing before her as if she was some messiah, she could not think of one single thing in the world that mattered.

She was supposed to be The Spirit of the World, no?

Then why could she find nothing that mattered within the entire planet that was meant to be her realm?

Dechen knew she was being rather dramatic, but that sort of thing seemed to happen after you were told that your whole life had been a lie.

A hand set itself on her shoulder and she glanced to the side, seeing Choden Chi standing there beside her with a playful grin.

Dechen didn’t mean to, but she found herself copying that smile.

Choden’s smiles had always been contagious.

Dechen supposed there was one thing that mattered.

She heard the gentle padding of canine footsteps. She didn’t have to look at her side to know it was Ka’akoa.

Perhaps two things mattered.

Dechen tore her eyes away from Choden, finding that the world seemed just a bit brighter now. And she supposed that it actually was, since the world was somehow reflecting her.

Her gaze landed on Duke as he spoke to a nearby Devoted.

“The Phoenix?” Dechen asked, her voice low and emotionless.

Choden tightened her grip on her shoulder.

Duke turned and his smile slipped as he looked her up and down.

“I think you should get some rest before we discuss that,” he said.

“I’m getting sick of people telling me that.”

Duke patted his pockets for a moment before pulling a piece of paper from one of them and handing it to Dechen.

She unfolded it carefully, but the words on the parchment made her grip it much too tight.

The Prophecy of the Phoenix

Born twice, but never to live

Champion, but not

Born for salvation and doom

Darkness shall fall upon the land, and they shall howl for the world

The ground will quake and bones will break

One shall stand between man and its destruction

Hard as stone, soft as wool, and all between

Fire at their side, ice in their soul

They are the Phoenix, made to rise from the ashes of destruction

Let the world pray

Pray for its rebirth

Master of War shall proclaim their coming

Savior of saviors, guardian of guardians, shall save them a dozen times over

Death shall be their gift and their curse

The world rejoices at their undoing

Their end is the beginning

Dechen let the paper slip through her fingers, but it was snatched up by Choden before it could touch the ground.

Choden’s eyes flashed over the pages.

“Well, this is all insane. Prophecies are a bunch of baloney!” she snapped.

Dechen’s lips twitched upwards.

“Didn’t you say that this clearly meant that whoever it was would die just a few days ago?” Dechen asked.

Choden glared at her.

“Don’t hold my own words against me!” she snapped.

“This is clearly all fake, so you’re going to be fine. And even if it was real, that doesn’t mean you’d have to die!” Choden continued.

Dechen smiled, if thinly, as Choden tried to find a way to justify herself.

“It’s alright, Cho. We both knew it would come to this.”

Choden whipped her head around so fast that Dechen was quite sure that she heard a pop come from her neck.

“No, it is not alright and it is not going to happen!” she snapped, eyes already filling with tears.

Dechen’s demeanor changed instantly.

She reached forward and set a hand on Choden’s shoulder.

“Cho, really, I’m okay. I always, somehow, knew this was coming. I’ve accepted it. I’m alright.”

Choden shook her head, slapping Dechen’s arm off of her while tears flew from her face.

“But... but I’m not!” Choden hissed, glaring at her friend with nothing less than complete disgust.

“I can’t lose you.”

Dechen captured one of Choden’s flailing hands.

“Cho, I-”

Dechen didn’t get to finish her sentence.

There was a loud BANG and the ground shook underfoot, causing Dechen to pull Choden closer.

“What’s going on?” Dechen asked, trying to construct her walls.

It wasn’t working, not when Choden was so close, so upset with her.

She was distracting Dechen, just like she always ended up doing.

Dechen glanced up at Choden, tightening her grip around the other girl.

“Cho, I... I’m sorry.”

Before Choden had the chance to speak, Dechen pulled her down and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Choden was so distracted that she couldn’t find any objection as Dechen took off at a sprint.

Choden spent half a minute regaining her senses. When she had, she chased after her friend.

“Dechen Gwyneth Tofallis, you get back here this instant!” she cried angrily.

Dechen ignored her and skidded to a stop in the middle of the camp, watching as all of the Devoted raced around, looking for the disturbance.

Another boom shook the camp, but this time Dechen saw what had caused it.

Lightning flashed, crashing against the ground two feet ahead of her, throwing her asunder with its force.

Dechen flew through the air, waiting for the inevitable slam of her body against the hard rocks and dust that coated the ground all through the camp.

But it didn’t come.

Everything was... stopped.

No, that wasn’t quite right.

Dechen could see the rocks as they hurtled through the air, but they moved at one hundredth the normal speed. She turned her head and could see Choden moving toward her, mouth open in silent screams.

Dechen had no idea what was happening, nor why her walls couldn’t rebuild at the moment.

Slowly, or instantaneously depending on how you observed time, she felt herself disappearing.

The world felt was away, yet somehow unfathomably closer at the same time.

She remembered this feeling, but it didn’t seem to matter.

Devoted flew through the air, and she could see another lightning strike slowly etching itself across the sky.

She shifted her attention to Choden, making sure the girl was out of the way.

Suddenly, a voice filled Dechen’s very being and distracted her.

This is who They created? One to rival me? ’Tis merely a child.

Dechen’s lack of a head spun.

She felt invaded, like someone was seeing into her very thoughts.

This is your “Choden,” is it not?

Her focus shifted to Choden and she saw that the strike was aimed right toward her head.

Dechen’s walls crumbled and she panicked.

Time suddenly returned to normal, and Dechen did the only thing she could think of.

The ground grew around Choden, expanding upward and covering the young woman completely in a dome of soil.

Lightning struck, but the circle of protection around Choden stayed strong.

Pathetic.

Sadly, Dechen couldn’t get her walls to as well.

The world was shaking, and Dechen realized that if she was in her physical form she would be too.

Her mind was suddenly flooded with images and screams that clouded everything else.

Dechen howled in pain.

The ground shrunk away from Choden, even as Dechen tried to rebuild it around her.

Her hold on her celestial form wavered and Dechen found herself suddenly falling, appearing where she had been moments ago and yet eons before, her back absorbing her fall.

Her wall built itself up and then fell.

The process repeated itself over and over, causing Dechen to clutch her head in agony.

Nothing made sense.

She could hear screams, but she wasn’t sure which came from her. Which came from the Devoted. Which came from times unknown, places unseen.

Hands grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

She knew Choden was trying to calm her down.

But all she could feel was the cold hands of the dead, could only hear the shrieks of those she’d failed.