Phoenix

 

The temple stood tall and forgotten, rubble guarding the entrance against any who had once dared to plunder its depths. Firelight danced on the stone surface only to cast frightening shadows in a place that had once been sacred. The moon hung low as dawn dared to approach, the sun not yet cresting the horizon but brilliant pinks and light blues began to swallow the twilight sky.

Despite the garden being long dead, the air smelled of promise and roses. I set the torch in the aged holster and turned to face the rubble. My booted foot pushed against it to test the strength of the stone and wood’s entrenchment. It shifted. Enough that with time and effort I could clear a path within. 

Time was one of the few resources I didn’t have. My hands worked quickly, pulling up the stone that was loose and pushing aside that which couldn’t be lifted. Dust covered my hair and face, coated my clothing, and rose in the early morning air. Eventually, I was able to open a passage into the temple, enough for me to pass through… or something just slightly larger than myself.

I grabbed the torch and stepped inside. The weight of history and memory hung in the air as I wandered forward, tilting the torch into basins full of oil. They lit up immediately, illuminating the great temple in dancing orange hues. Low relief sculpt lined the walls, telling the same story a hundred ways with by the hands of different artists each time.

In the center of the temple, a great altar sat. Upon its surface lay ash and dust from years of abandonment. I touched the ash, rubbing it between my fingers, and raising a brow at the intense floral scent that still sat upon them. Even when burning flowers, the ash didn’t tend to stay scented. 

Pausing for a moment, I tucked some of the ash into a small satchel and then pushed the rest off of the altar. The last time something had been burned on it was a thousand years ago. That much time had caused the mortals near to forgot and leave this sacred place to rot. I blew dust off of the sacred carvings on the altar and lit the final braziers just as the light in the sky promised the arrival of the sun.

A great cry filled the air over the woods and nearby city. People awake looked to the sky, brows furrowed, as the sun began to crest over the horizon, spilling golden light into the city’s streets. A shimmering golden creature hung in the air, gliding through the dawn’s luminescence towards the narrow opening of the temple I stood in.

I watched, transfixed by the crimsons and ember hues that shone off of the great bird. She glittered in the sunlight, each feather seeming to be on fire from the way the colors danced within the sun’s rays. The world stopped, transfixed by her beauty, as the sun broke over the horizon and began its ascension into the sky.

What seemed like a small eternity passed as I stared at her, mesmerized, lost to her spell. Until I realized she was headed for where I stood. My eyes blinked as my mind caught up with the present moment and I turned, dousing the torch in a puddle that a caved-in ceiling had created. Smoke billowed upwards and then vanished just as the creature descended.

It was a rush of feathers and small whispering calls from outside the temple. I turned, seeing her standing there, larger than any land bird I had seen before. She stood taller than I was, great eyes peering at me from the side as her head tilted, investigating the opening she could fit through but would be trapped if danger lurked within.

“Wow,” I breathed, stunned at the sight of her. Up close she was all colors of fire, from the bright yellows to the deep crimsons of flame. Oranges and golds lined every feather, making her appear as a living embodiment of fire. In certain movements, she gleamed a bright yellow gold, the color of the sun, and caught my breath.

“Hail and welcome,” I finally murmured to her, gesturing in old ways that I could barely remember. I had never truly been in attendance at this ceremony, but I knew it from stories more than anything else. 

She blinked, eyes piercing mine for truth before she ruffled her wings and took one great step forward, crowding the opening I had made. Instinctively I moved back, leaving more space for her as she came inside. Feathers sprouted from the top of her head, giving her more height than was truly there, and crowning her with golden glory. 

I took a step to the side, gesturing to the grand altar that stood before us both. “Welcome to the temple of the sun. May the flames bring you from this life to the next.”

A strange trill rose from her and all of her feathers ruffled, standing on end to make her round and large. I paused, raising a brow at her form. The head tilted, from my face to my body, then back again. 

I blinked. “Well, no. I’m not a sun priest. But I thought it best someone met you here. No one should be alone when they die.”

The phoenix moved her head, touching my cheek with her soft face, long beak pressing against my shoulder. Her beak opened, gently gripping my shoulder as her tongue played along the fabric, testing and tasting who I was in her own way. The bird sneezed at the dust that covered me and released my shoulder but moved closer, lean body huddling against mine.

“Are you ready?” I asked her, raising a hand to caress the feathers of her shoulder. My nails gently moved on her neck, causing her to puff out where my hand was to meet my caress. The eyes slid shut, gentle and loving trust showing on her features.

One eye opened at the question. An elegant whistle came from the beak and she clicked, then ground her beak before stepping forward towards the altar. She moved faster than I did, long legs covering ground fast. Unlike most birds, she did hop or walk awkwardly. Everything she did was in beauty and grace.

Heat rose off of her body, like the kind from smoldering embers. It was comforting. The kind of heat that came from a home hearth in the early morning. I caressed her back and the heat intensified. Small bits of smoke began to billow off of her body, rising through the feathers to drift into the air. 

My brows furrowed while I caught up to her, seeing the skin beneath her feathers begin to flicker into flame itself, as though she were immolating from within. A reddish-gold light caught in her eyes when she turned her head back to me, waiting for me at her own altar. 

I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped and glanced around the scenes that played across the entirety of the temple. She watched me as I finally realized what they pictured each time. It had happened only a handful of times in humanity’s wake, but there was always someone here, someone to greet her… and someone to perish with her. 

She titled her head and touched her forehead to mine. Heat rolled off of her and began to caress my face and body. I shivered, breathing in the scent of roses and ash that emanated from her body. My hand rose, touching her cheek, trying not to grimace at the burning heat that rose from her skin and licked at my fingertips. 

“Of course,” I whispered against her feathers and then turned, facing the altar. I pulled myself up onto the large stone platform and stood, glancing down at the phoenix below. 

The phoenix shifted and rose. A great whooshing sound filled the temple as the tiny flames that had been moving beneath her skin erupted outward. Feathers burst into flame, bits of ash flew off of her, and she shimmered beside me, liquid heat that ate away at her while giving new life in its wake.

She stood beside me, fire and rebirth ignited into gently wafting feathers of flame. I shivered and felt the heat pour over me as she leaned down, touching my forehead with her beak. Her eyes stared into mine, just as alight as the rest of her body. The wings stretched outward, large and consuming before she flapped them, blowing wind and smoke through the temple. 

Sunlight poured inward, landing atop her through the opening. The phoenix cried out and flame exploded out of her. It engulfed me, swimming over my skin and burning away my clothing in one fateful burst. Heat seared my skin, penetrating beneath the flesh to the being within. I felt fire in my heart and gut, igniting my soul, and pouring through me as it reshaped the world around us.

The phoenix sang as her body became nothing but flame. I tilted my head, joining her song, moments of my life moving through my mind with each note that we sang. My arms rose as her wings did, liquid flame pouring out from the bones and skin as great fiery feathers. The scars on my body fell away, ash and dust in the wind. The pain of a thousand lives gave way to hundreds of lessons and memories of who I was and who I would become. The hate and anguish I held dulled, becoming hardened pieces of resilience and gentle spaces for new life and love. I fell to my knees before the phoenix, tears sliding from my eyes while my essence was burned and reborn.

My body quaked, the fire penetrating deep and thorough. It heated my core, sending shivering sensations through my body as waves of undulating pain and pleasure rose from within. As many memories of pain came every memory of pleasure, of moments of bliss and joy and ecstasy. The phoenix’s song changed, evolving into the rhythmical sounds of passion yet in beautiful bird song.

She bent to me, wrapping me within the fiery feathers of her wings, and pulled me against her ignited form. My voice changed, moving from singing to crying to screaming in exultation. I wrapped my arms around her, welcoming the bliss and ecstasy of transformation, of a body changing from what it was to what it was meant to me. Though my skin didn’t crack or blister, my hair did not ignite, within me everything was aflame.

A shuddering pressure pulsed through my core and outward, sending trembling bliss through me that made me collapse against the phoenix. Her body shuddered in response, giving one last fateful cry before the fire exploded, filling the temple and blinding me to what was happening. 

I opened my eyes when the licking flames died and a warm air remained behind. I felt the ashes before I saw them, coating my body and the altar. A rich smell of roses and birth, earthy and bloody, filled the air. Slowly I rose, careful not to disturb the fresh ashes that lay in a pile on the altar’s top.

Gently I moved some of the thick ash until the great egg was found, cracked as a small chirping sound came from within. The phoenix chick within paused, great amber eye staring at me through the small hole. We watched each other, new life to new life, reborn in our death.