The Whisperer
Tears of a PhoenixBut a problem as simply as that won’t stop you from moving forward; you fearlessly step through more rubble and leaves, expecting Jongup to loom out of the darkness. This time, you don’t really care if the rest of the group follow you or not. It’s not like they would help you kill Jongup of anything.
After a while of walking, the rows of trees grow taller, blocking the moonlight and throwing you into complete darkness. Each crackle of leaves under your feet seems to be a hundred times louder than usual. Your heart pounds in fear but you try to compose your face into a neutral expression, even though there wouldn’t be anyone around.
You keep wandering alone, looking for signs of people coming, or an exit from the darkness. Luckily, as you squint your eyes, you see a light in the distance. It wasn’t the light of a torch or anything, but more of a fiery red, flickering light; a bit like the fiery wings of your phoenix.
You hurry forward as fast as your heavy, tired legs would carry you. It isn’t an illusion, it is real. The shape of the flickering flame gets more and more defined as you get closer. You can’t help but smile even though you are trapped in darkness with only the crunching of leaves and a light in front of you.
Finally, as you reach far into the forest close enough to see the phoenix clearly, you take deep breaths, tired from the running. ‘Look, my dear phoenix,’ whispers a very familiar voice. ‘We have a guest here tonight.’
You quickly look up, but no one is there; only the phoenix that simply flaps its wings in front of you. Doesn’t it recognise you? You slowly take small steps towards it, reaching out to it with your arm. ‘That’s as far you can get,’ whispers the voice again from behind you. You whip around but no one is there again.
Utterly confused, you still reach for the phoenix anyway, but you realise you can’t move your fingers any closer to the phoenix. It’s like invisible, rock-solid barrier that cages the phoenix in. So that’s the reason why the phoenix didn’t bother moving.
‘So you finally come here?’ whispers the voice again from behind you. ‘I’m not falling for your trick again,’ you reply out loud, not turning around. You hear a soft chuckle and a breath of cold air down your neck. ‘I wouldn’t say something as careless as that if I were you. Go on, turn around and face me.’
Do you turn around? Or do you keep looking forward?
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