The morning air was a bit chilly, with dew still clinging to the grass as Noah followed Professor Cecilia across the academy grounds.
The rising sun cast long, golden rays that stretched over the cobblestone paths, touching the rooftops of the distant dormitories.
As they walked, the sound of their boots was the only thing breaking the silence. It made it feel as if they were the only beings that existed in the world.
As if they were truly alone.
Cecilia walked ahead of him in silence, her cloak fluttering faintly with each step.
She didn’t look back, and she didn’t speak. Her pace was steady, confident, and unyielding.
Noah trailed behind, his mind quietly racing.
They were heading towards the training halls, or at least that’s what he assud.
The private training halls stood at the far edge of the campus, a complex of reinforced dos surrounded by enchantnts that kept mana discharge from spilling out.
But when they reached the path branching towards the silver doors of the training halls, Cecilia didn’t stop. She simply continued walking.
Noah frowned.
If they weren’t going there, then where?
"Professor?" he finally asked.
Cecilia didn’t answer. She didn’t even glance at him.
Her silence said more than words ever could. He understood then that whatever this was, it wasn’t a discussion.
So he followed.
They walked past the dos, past the last paved path, until the carefully trimd grounds gave way to wild grass and tall trees.
The canopy of the academy woods swallowed them whole, the sunlight thinning into soft gold beams that dappled the forest floor. Birds scattered at their approach, and the rhythmic crunch of leaves underfoot filled the space between them.
Noah’s instincts prickled.
The further they went, the more the anticipation built.
After several minutes of weaving through thick trunks and narrow paths, they stepped into a clearing.
The clearing was an open circle surrounded by what looked like oak trees.
Cecilia stopped at the center of the clearing.
Noah stopped a few paces behind her, watching as she turned around slowly. Her expression was blank, but her golden eyes t his directly.
He waited for her to speak.
When she finally did, her voice was calm and clear, though it carried a faint tinge of disappointnt.
"If you wanted to fight monsters, Noah," she said, "you should’ve told ."
Noah blinked, caught off guard.
She crossed her arms. "There was no need for you to go sneaking into a royal protected monolith. You could have simply asked."
He stiffened.
Before he could think of what to say, Cecilia raised a hand, cutting him off. "You crave battle. I can see it in you. That hunger... you’ve been holding it back for far too long."
Her tone softened slightly. "So today, I’ll fulfill that wish."
Noah’s brows furrowed. "What?"
"I’ll give you monsters."
She raised her hand to the air.
The mont her palm turned upward, the entire clearing seed to breathe. Golden light began spilling across the ground in veins of energy.
A low hum filled the air, deep and resonant, vibrating through Noah’s bones.
Then, with a sound like the sky itself tearing, a soft whoosh spread outward.
Fire.
Not wild or chaotic, but graceful, controlled, and alive.
It poured from Cecilia’s hand like liquid sunlight, swirling upward in a spiral.
The flas gathered above her, compressing, shaping, until they coalesced into a magnificent creature. A phoenix made entirely of fire.
Noah instinctively stepped back, eyes wide.
The sheer presence of the creature pressed against his senses like a physical weight.
Its feathers shimred like glass, shifting from crimson to gold with each flicker of movent. Its long tail trailed embers that drifted upward like stars returning to the sky.
Was Cecilia sohow expecting him to fight her phoenix?! Was this what she ant when she said she’d give him monsters to fight?
As if hearing his thoughts, the phoenix opened its beak and let out a cry.
It was a sound so pure and sharp it seed to split the clouds above.
The cry echoed through the forest, rolling like thunder, and the ground trembled in answer.
The air grew warr, not uncomfortably, but invigoratingly so. The faint chill of morning was gone, replaced by a wave of power that seeped into Noah’s veins, making his heart race.
He felt no physical change, but a lift in his willpower. Like even if he ran out of energy, he could force himself to keep going for longer.
Cecilia stepped forward, her eyes glowing faintly with orange light reflected from her creation. With ease, she climbed onto the phoenix’s back.
Her boots didn’t sink through the flas. Instead, the fire shifted beneath her weight, solidifying where she stood.
She turned her head slightly toward Noah, a faint smirk appearing on her lips.
"Well?" she said. "Get on."
Noah blinked at her, still half-stunned. "You’re serious."
"Completely."
For a heartbeat, he hesitated. Every instinct scread at him that stepping onto a bird made of fire was a bad idea. But then again, so was most of his life.
He took a breath and stepped forward.
The heat radiating from the phoenix brushed against his skin, but it didn’t burn. In fact, it wasn’t even warm. Instead, it felt... alive. Like standing beside a bonfire that sohow recognized him.
He lifted one foot and pressed it against the creature’s back. The fire rippled beneath him, reshaping itself into a smooth surface.
It was solid.
"Unbelievable," he muttered under his breath, stepping fully onto the phoenix’s back.
He stood beside Cecilia, the two of them balanced easily despite the constant shimr of heat and motion around them.
Up close, the phoenix was even more stunning. Each feather seed to shine with its own inner light, its eyes twin spheres of white fla.
Then, without warning, the phoenix moved.
Its wings stretched wide, so wide the shadow they cast seed to swallow the clearing. The sound that followed was a deep whump, the kind that rattled your chest more than your ears.
"Hold steady," Cecilia said lightly.
Before Noah could ask what she ant, the phoenix launched.
The world dropped out from beneath them.
A rush of wind scread past his ears as they shot upward, the trees shrinking to tiny dots below.
The cold bite of altitude t the warm aura of the phoenix, creating a perfect balance, neither freezing nor stifling.
They soared higher, until the academy was a miniature patchwork of white stone and green lawns far below.
Noah couldn’t help it. He looked down.
From this height, the world stretched endlessly in every direction.
The academy, the training grounds, even the road beyond leading towards Calot’s capital, all of it lay spread beneath them like a map.
It was beautiful.
Cecilia stood perfectly still beside him, her hair whipping behind her like a banner.
"Enjoying the view?" she asked, voice raised only slightly over the rushing wind.
Noah chuckled faintly. "Not what I expected when you said you’d give monsters."
She smirked. "Patience."
The phoenix let out another cry, banking gracefully to the left.
Below them, the dense forests stretched on like a sea of green. Sunlight reflected off distant rivers, and faint columns of smoke rose from villages far to the east.
Then, after several minutes, the phoenix began to descend.
It spiraled down slowly, wings outstretched, the trees rushing closer until Noah could make out the actual ground.
When they landed, the impact was gentle, and he couldn’t even feel it.
Noah’s boots touched the grass, and he looked around, his breath catching slightly.
The clearing they’d landed in wasn’t just any clearing.
The air was thick with magic, humming with that sa old, familiar, and ancient energy he’d felt before.
And at the center of the clearing, stood a monolith.
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