Woosh
A wave of energy passed over Asher, and he felt his body begin to heat up. He watched the witch leave as the heat continued to rise. Hotter and hotter.
Cold sweat began to pool on his forehead, before long becoming steamy sweat and pooling everywhere. The head was heavy, and foreboding. And the worst of it was that it was coming from his very own heart.
Every beat of his heart fueled the warmth inside him like the fan to a furnace, stoking the flames to unbearable temperatures. It felt as if he was a piece of raw iron, and a forgeman was about to begin hammering on him.
And the hammering began shortly indeed. The feeling, of course, started in his heart. A burning higher than before, making the previous heat feel like a sunny breeze.
It felt as if molten lava was swimming through his veins, burning his flesh black and turning his very essence fo ash. The worst part? He was forced to stay conscious.
Whatever had been injected into him kept his mind aware as something tore it apart, ripping it to the side to allow something greater to form in its place.
Asher could feel his eyes melting in their sockets, his vision going blurry, to spotty, them finally to black as he felt a vicious liquid flow down his cheeks.
Eventually, his heart couldn't take it any longer and it stopped beating, causing him to lurch forward instinctively. He thrashed at his restraints, trying desperately to pound on his chest in an attempt to make it start again, only to fail against his restraints.
Asher continued to thrash as his body feel apart, trying and failing to break from his restraints until his body eventually gave out. Unable to bear the pain any longer, his mind put him into a catatonic state. Such a state to where he was still 'awake,' yet he was nearly dreaming.
Because of this, Asher wouldn't be able to remember anything more, his mind taking the traumatic experience and locking it deep away in a fargone corner of his mind.
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It was quiet, almost...too much.
Asher didn't know when he became aware, but suddendly he found himself standing at the top of a grand mountain. It was a strange sight to him, having never seen it himself, like the finger of a long dead god reaching for the skies.
Looking around, Asher recognized bits of thr ground, some unique rock formations that he had seen yesterday. "This is...Mount Wraith? Where's the castle?"
While looking at the ground, he keenly noticed that the pebbles on the ground were shaking. Soon that shake grew into a rumble that he could clearly feel beneath his feet.
CRACK
The mountain split, the center of the ground crumbling into itself to reveal a gaping, molten hole. It led deep into the ground, where a hot, liquid surface sat that just gazing at it, singed Asher's brows.
"What the hell is happening right now?"
"A lot, young one." An eldritch voice resonated from within the molten reservoir, causing Asher to stumble backwards.
"W-who, what are you?"
"Good question. Most go for 'Please don't kill me!' It is incredibly vexing..." The voice said as the lava began to stir. "While I do enjoy my share of fear, I won't terrorize you any longer."
Bursting up from the magma, an equally burning figure stretched wide, revealing itself as the liquid stone rolled off of it. Shaking the magma off, the figure was revealed to be a massive bird.
It was hawk-like, with a sharp beak and majestic wings, but that was where the similarities stopped. First of all it was a behemoth of a bird, towering far above Asher's crouched figure.
It's feathers were vibrant and multicolored, starting as a deep black at their base before ending in a bright crimson glow. It's eyes were the same, a pair of bright burning rings that singed the very edges of your soul. And as a final regal piece, it had three majestic feathers that formed into a long, flowing crown atop it's head.
"I am Solenia, a very old Phoenix, and I have a proposition for you, young one."
Asher stared, dazed, at the regal figure in front of him, not really believing it to be happening. "...Uhhm."
Solenia chirped out a lighthearted laugh. "It isn't happening, child, and you are very much dead at the moment."
Hearing this stoked a fire that Asher didn't know he had in him, giving him the spine to stand up once again. "What?! What do you mean I'm dead? I'm right here in front of you!"
"Exactly. No mortal can be conscious in this realm without being dead, or with the help of a being such as myself." She let that sink in for a moment before continuing. "That being said, I have the ability to bring you back."
"You do? Th-...At what cost?"
Solenia smiled, or at least it looked like a smile to Asher. He couldn't truly tell because she wasn't a human, so he had trouble discerning her expressions. "I told you before that I am old, so I'll tell you a bit more."
"Phoenixes, contrary to most mortal's belief, are not immortal. Rather, we posses multiple lives, a random number of them that we could never know...untill we have one left. I am at that point. Because of our extended longevity, we as a race have low fertility to compensate, meaning that it is very hard to have offspring."
"If I go through my final rebirth, then my child will be at risk of being left to fend for themselves if I perish. So, I will invest...in you."
Asher recoiled, coming to a realization of what was happening. "You think I'm good enough to raise a phoenix?!"
Solaria shook her massive head. "No, not yet. But you will be. You will gain her blessing alongside mine, and your soul will give her the nurtering she needs to thrive. With those two things, along with you becoming a witcher, you will beckme the perfect being to protect my child."
Asher tildes his head at the strange word. "Witcher? Is that another name for a griever?"
"Yes. It's an old name, in a very old language among us beasts."
Asher accepted that explanation at face front, focusing on the 'raise my child' part. "All I have to do is take care of her?"
Solaria nodded as her chest feathers shook, revealing a small, glowing egg that slowly floated towards Asher. "There will be dangers, but yes. Just make sure my child lives."
The pheonix said nothing more, pressing the egg into Asher's chest in a fasion that confused him, it was like his body was liquid, the egg sinking down and finding a confortable spot next to his heart.
Solaria's claw also glowed a bright crimson, her pure energy flowing into his soul and breathing life into it again. "Good luck, young Asher, for I fear you will be in need of it."
With that being the last thing he heard, Asher's world went dark, the last image in his mjnd being the glow of the majestic phoenix fading, like a molten metal that has lost its fuel.