The three humans sat on the ground, resting their weapons and tired bodies. The trio had set off for the Forest of Beasts after Zoryn, the archer of the group, claimed to have spotted a phoenix. Leilani and Malak, a knight and mage respectively, were doubtful. According to most history textbooks, phoenixes had gone extinct for at least a century. The only reason they agreed to go look for the phoenix was because they would be able to complete a quest to hunt some of the steel-furred bears that lived in the forest at the same time.
After trekking through the forest for hours every day for a week, with Malak casting Sneak on all of them to hide their presence whenever they traveled, they were exhausted. Thanks to the Sneak spell, they didn't have to fight any of the monsters that inhabited the forest, but they still were walking with most of their gear. Nobles and the richer adventurers had spacial rings that allowed them to store items without needing to worry about the weight. The trio were not that rich, and as such, couldn't afford to buy spacial items.
Zoryn sighed as he flipped down in the shade of the larger tree at the edge of the clearing they were resting in. Neither of his two friends believed him when he said he saw a phoenix, because he often tended to exaggerate things in the tales he told. But he knew that what he saw was a phoenix.
Occasionally, if he had a day or two free, he would visit the nearest forest just to take in the scenery and watch the wildlife. On one such trip, he saw a bird species that he had never seen before. It had bright red feathers that seemed to reflect a non-existent flame. It's tail was long, with a spot of gold at the end of each tail feather. The only creature that fit the description was a phoenix, unless a hawk or falcon had somehow been fused with an ifrit, a type of fire spirit.
"I promise I did not exaggerate anything! Malak, my love, my dearest, the light in my life, why don't you believe me?" Zoryn threw himself across Malak's lap, wrapping his arms around the taller man. Malak sighed but didn't push him away. "Zoryn, I love you, but phoenixes haven't been seen for a century. It's highly unlikely that a phoenix would show up now." Leilani nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, the leaves of the tree they were resting under rustled loudly and a dark feathered bird seemed to appear. It was upside down and was clutching a branch in its talons. Its wings flapped frantically as it tried to right itself.
The trio jumped back, hands on their weapons as they were startled by the bird. "Awww poor thing." Leilani quickly moved to help the bird back up on its perch before stepping back to give it some space. "What the..? How did we not notice it?" Zoryn spoke up. None of the group had noticed the presence of the bird until it had fallen off the branch and revealed itself.
The bird, of course, was in fact Tora. Xey had been watching the trio ever since the first day they had entered the forest. For some reason, the group couldn't detect xeir presence. Xey were interested in the group for a few reasons. The main ones though, were the fact that the archer had seen xem in xeir phoenix form and the fact that they were the first few humans xey had seen since reincarnating to this new world.
After being righted by the knight, Tora turned away to preen xeir feathers, embarrassed. Xey had fallen off the perch after the wizard said that phoenixes hadn't been seen for a long while. That explained why the archer was making such a big deal about accidentally seeing xem when they hadn't used Polymorph.
Ever since the party of humans had entered the forest, Tora had been practicing using Polymorph as much as possible in the hopes of gaining a human form. Xey wanted to be able to talk to people. It was lonely in the forest. And besides, gaining a human form would allow xem to go into the town. Then, xey might be able to sell the loot dropped by the monsters to be able to buy new things for xeir nest. After several days of using Polymorph nonstop, xey were finally able to transform into a humanoid form.
After watching the humans for the better part of a week, xey felt that they were not bad people. That was why xey felt like xey wanted to talk with them.
Tora jumped down from the branch, transforming as xey landed on the ground near the trio.
The trio was extremely surprised. The bird, after it had finished preening its feathers, had jumped down from its perch and transformed.
Where the bird had just landed was a young child, probably no older than twelve or thirteen. The kid had golden brown skin with blood red eyes, black colored hair that reached past their waist, and was wrapped in a cloak of metallic fur. What was most surprising about the child though, was the giant pair of wings extending through two ragged slits on the back of the cloak, with feathers the color of ink.
"Hi..?"
The child spoke hesitatingly as Leilani instantly jumped at the poor thing, wrapping her arms around them in a tight hug. Zoryn pulled the overenthusiastic knight from the startled child, quickly apologizing for his teammate's antics. "Ah, sorry about her, she loves kids."
"An avian..?" Malak stepped forward and crouched beside the winged kid.
"So what are you doing out here all alone? Where's the rest of your flock? Wouldn't they be worried if you flew off on your own? Or did something happen to your flock?"
When the child hesitatingly nodded to his last question, he immediately turned to Zoryn. As if reading his mind, the archer nodded before turning towards the child. "Do you want to come with us? We are adventurers from the Crystal City."
Leilani managed to escape his grasp and scooped up the child when they nodded slightly.
(AN: Kids, don't go with someone just because they say they are an adventurer. Tora agrees to go with them because a) xey want to hear more about the world xey were reincarnated into, b) adventurers would be able to get xem into the city, and c) if they tried to kidnap xem or do anything bad, xey could just cast fireball and burn everything to the ground.)