Fire and Ice (Competition Entry)
Posted: July 24th, 2009, 1:54:24 pm
Involved creatures: Phoenix, Ice Phoenix
Locations: Desert, Stream
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The desert sands sat quietly beneath the sun's cruel light; over the burning grains, two birds struggled to cross through a sky no cooler for their height. They were both things of beauty; one clad in feathers of black so deep to glimmer blue beneath the light, the other bearing feathers such a rich brown to glow as gold.
The desert was taxing on this beauty, however. Feathers hung ragged, shed with each weakening flap of the wings as these creatures sought to escape the landscape below them. Every stroke of the wing saw them a touch lower until at last, they could soar no longer. They saw an oddity upon the sands below, a raised surface not born of heated rock or desert illusion. As their wings gave way to drop them to the heat below, a figure emerged from this 'surface', then proven to be a pavilion. He hurried toward the two creatures he saw descend...but by the time he reached them, their struggles had ceased.
He knelt down to gently gather up the two magnificent beasts into his arms and brought them into his pavilion. Here, the mage began weaving a spell to open a gateway to a hidden place. He took with him the two birds, still warm within from the life the desert had stolen away, and knelt before the waters of the MagiStream.
A small fire he built for each, surrounded by the markings of a spell. One he burned beneath the warm sun's light, the other beneath the chilly moon's. The ashes of the one he burned beneath the sun he placed within the water's caress. Before his very eyes, the stream swirled the ashes about and flame lept up from its touch. The flame grew larger before the image of the golden bird, now clad in fire, spread its wings before him. Then it faded away as the egg sank into the water entirely to await its proper time of rebirth with new siblings the stream would provide.
When he threw the ashes of the bird he had burned beneath the moonlight, they did not gather into the stream as the golden one's had. Rather, a sudden wind allowed them only a moment's kiss before whisking the dampened ashes up to the mage's dismay. A flash of blue in the distance was the only consolation he had that perhaps the stream had still claimed this one...but wait as he might, only eggs born of sunfire would rise from the stream.
Gently, he gathered the first phoenix egg the stream set afloat before him and withdrew to raise it in honor of both fallen birds, mourning the one he thought lost forever.
Locations: Desert, Stream
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The desert sands sat quietly beneath the sun's cruel light; over the burning grains, two birds struggled to cross through a sky no cooler for their height. They were both things of beauty; one clad in feathers of black so deep to glimmer blue beneath the light, the other bearing feathers such a rich brown to glow as gold.
The desert was taxing on this beauty, however. Feathers hung ragged, shed with each weakening flap of the wings as these creatures sought to escape the landscape below them. Every stroke of the wing saw them a touch lower until at last, they could soar no longer. They saw an oddity upon the sands below, a raised surface not born of heated rock or desert illusion. As their wings gave way to drop them to the heat below, a figure emerged from this 'surface', then proven to be a pavilion. He hurried toward the two creatures he saw descend...but by the time he reached them, their struggles had ceased.
He knelt down to gently gather up the two magnificent beasts into his arms and brought them into his pavilion. Here, the mage began weaving a spell to open a gateway to a hidden place. He took with him the two birds, still warm within from the life the desert had stolen away, and knelt before the waters of the MagiStream.
A small fire he built for each, surrounded by the markings of a spell. One he burned beneath the warm sun's light, the other beneath the chilly moon's. The ashes of the one he burned beneath the sun he placed within the water's caress. Before his very eyes, the stream swirled the ashes about and flame lept up from its touch. The flame grew larger before the image of the golden bird, now clad in fire, spread its wings before him. Then it faded away as the egg sank into the water entirely to await its proper time of rebirth with new siblings the stream would provide.
When he threw the ashes of the bird he had burned beneath the moonlight, they did not gather into the stream as the golden one's had. Rather, a sudden wind allowed them only a moment's kiss before whisking the dampened ashes up to the mage's dismay. A flash of blue in the distance was the only consolation he had that perhaps the stream had still claimed this one...but wait as he might, only eggs born of sunfire would rise from the stream.
Gently, he gathered the first phoenix egg the stream set afloat before him and withdrew to raise it in honor of both fallen birds, mourning the one he thought lost forever.