Plume of a Phoenix

Epione felt cleansed from the healing lake as she exited the lake, squeezing out the water from her hair. Her mother extended her hands toward Epione as she cast some magic to dry her clothes and hair while the High Fairy went to dry Casimir and baby chimera. Her father approached them and he kissed her forehead before engulfing her in a gentle embrace, "I will see you in a couple of years." This confused Epione as he spoke those words of farewell, "Your mother will take you to the magic realm so that you can reconstruct your wings and learn magic yourself." This immediately struck a chord within Epione who could only nod as she walked toward the high fairy who was petting his pet tortoise. So, she sat on the edge of the lake. Her parents soon embraced each other sharing words of affection before giving each other a kiss.

Casimir approached Epione where he sat behind her with his back against her own, "Everyone will be waiting for your return so once you come back we can have a reunion party." His warm back was comfortable but it couldn't ease the emptiness in her heart as she quietly swung her feet back and forth in the water, "That I will guarantee but in exchange you have to tell us everything that happened in the magic realm." He gave her his oath to fulfill the promise once she returned back from the magic realm. Epione released out a heavy sigh as she leaned back against Casimir's back. It gave some glimmer of ease to her consciousness.

The high fairy felt that this human was a good fit for Epione who needed a sense of stability in her life "It's about time we started." He turned to Epione's mother who nodded as she took her daughter's hand into her own before guiding her towards an area where a humongous jacaranda tree reaching in the top of the forest canopy blooming well into its flowering season. Many blossoms of the tree had freshly fallen to the ground where there were more than replaced the missing flowers on the branch, "We will start open a small gateway to the magic realm so that we can reconstruct your wings." The high fairy began conjuring a ball of magic before Epione's mother added her own magic to the ball of magic.

Epione was fascinated by the ever-growing magic ball increasing in size, "Will we return after we finish reconstructing my magic?" But she was confused as to why they were setting up a portable so that they would be able to traverse to the magical realm, "Why were we going to the magic realm anyway?" Epione quizzically watch them continue the spell before it ripped through a seam through an invisible wall that was unseen to her before. The two high fairies finished conjuring enough magic to rip a seam through the two realms; the mortal and the magic. Today was the full moon so their magic powers were amplified to a higher level so it would be easier to open a small portal.

The high fairy elder placed the baby chimera in front of the portal before softly speaking to it before it roared but it was more like a cat's meow. It sat in front of the portal like a small guardian before the high fairy entered through the portal which was akin to the water where they could peer into the magical realm which was unreal to Epione, "Since we are of the magical race we need to return to the magic realm eventually." Epione's mother was about to enter through the portal but she offered her hand to Epione who stared back in the direction where they left her father and Casimir behind, "We will return back here since it's much easier to open a portal in the magical realm then it is from the mortal realm since there is a lack of mana." Epione took her mother's hand before she held her breath to enter through the portal thinking it was like water.

Her mother chuckled as watched her child hold her breath until she entered the magical realm where she instantly was hit by the sudden influx of mana flowing all around them. Epione felt a rush of euphoria hit her as her skin absorb the abundant mana into her body as if it being deprived for so long but it soon began to be too overwhelming for her as she began to feel nausea. Her mother placed her hand on Epione's head before mumbling some words which were accompanied by a bright blue light, "Is this better?" Her nausea instantly subsided but her body was weary from the abundant mana so her mother was supporting her, "Your body is experiencing mana overload sickness so you can become nausea from being in the magical realm for the first time." Her body had never been acclimated to a mana-rich environment before like in the magic realm so she would feel negative symptoms of the mana.

Epione's mother transformed into her high fairy form where the only difference was that her wings almost akin to dragonflies. The high fairy took out his whistle and two griffins came this time as both Epione and he wasn't able to fly. They mounted the griffin who immediately went launched into the air where they were accompanied by flying fantastical creatures that Epione could only see in folklore and mythology books that she read. Sylphs of wind spun around like acrobats giving off their blessings into the wind for a pleasant day as smaller sylphs of wind rested on top of the griffins scruff. Epione was jittery with excitement as she was so close to sylphs of wind who jumped onto her and weaved themselves into her hair. This moment made her feel like an actual child.

Even the mania that was nagging at the back of her head was overwhelming by the child-like joy Epione was experiencing as she played with the wind sylphs. The wind sylphs even gave her a small blessing that allowed her to fly into the air without the aid of wings. She was able to fly. For once she was flying freely. Not out of fear for her life. Just for fun. The high fairy whistled at the wind sylphs for them to return Epione back onto the griffin which they let out an angry jingle before mopingly placing her back on the griffin. They soon arrived at a stadium-like structure where there were many magical races that were congregating surrounding a single member of each race representing their clans.

They landed right at the edge of the stadium, "Clotilde!" The leader flew toward Epione's mother and embraced her like they hadn't seen each other in many years. They flew into the air spinning like flowers and many others gathered in the spinning dance as they greeted her affectionately. Epione and the High Fairy could only watch from the ground as they could only feel a pang of bitterness enter their hearts. However, they weren't in the air for too long before Epione's mother came back down to Epione, "Sir Oskar! Who is this?" The leader stared at Epione with great curiosity and she approached her nonchalantly as her eyes glowed a violet colour as she stared at Epione. But, as she continued to stare at Epione who nervously stood under the dominating stare before she backed off as her eyes dimmed their violet colour.

However, the other high fairies took this as a threat and began casting offensive magic in her direction, "No! Stop!" The leader shouted as Epione's mother flew towards her however the speed of the magic that was cast at Epione was much faster than her. Epione stood terrified as she watched the magic that she deemed so beautiful, so frightening.

Her legs took off to scramble out of the pathway the magic that was thrown at her but she could only clumsy dodge them as she fell to the ground before a shield was thrown up by Sir Oskar, "Are High Fairies so weak to treat an untrained child as a threat to their safety!" He flicked off the dust from the debris as he helped Epione up to her feet hiding her from the rest of the High Faries. Epione clung to the old man as she trembled with fear, "Child, let's us go to my friend's adobe." He guided her to the griffin which instantly took them to another place away from the congregating magic folk. Epione could only silently peer into the distance refusing to look behind her.

They soon arrived at a floating island where there were bridges of light which has indescribable writing where there were birds come to and from the interconnected islands. As they landed on the main island which was a dazzling abode where they were a massive nest. There were two Phoenixes, one blue and the other red, which were nestling three eggs that had a variety of colours. The bigger blue Phoenix of the pair came out of the nest and its body burst into pale blue flames, "Oskar, long time no see." The pale blue flames began to shrink to the size of Sir Oskar revealing a handsome looking woman, "You finally managed to return to the magic realm, huh?" She had a domineering navy blue aura around her which meant that this person was a serious but honest person with strong values for knowledge and power.

Sir Oskar chuckled as he waved at the other Phoenix who nodded their head to acknowledge his presence before returning to the task at hand, nesting upon the three eggs. The blue Phoenix noticed Epione's presence, "The mortal realm's mana veins have been drying up since the magic war so it took me quite a while to gather the strength to rip a seam between the realms." The two began to reminisce together with their younger time when they were much more reckless with their lives before the Magic War, "I bought my godchild and her daughter, Epione, with me." Sir Oskar motioned for Epione to meet with his old-time friend who was curious about the child that had accompanied him this entire time.

Epione gave a polite nod with her head as the Phoenix stared at her figure, "She is quite the pretty one, ain't she?" The Phoenix circled around her as she stared at every detail of Epione who was frozen to where she was standing, "I bet all the fae folk loves her." She picked up a strand of Epione's hair before playing with it. The softness was unbelievable to the Phoenix who began to play with it which amused Sir Oskar greatly as this Phoenix specifically loved anything soft. High fairies naturally have a beautiful appearance along with lusciously supple hair but people outside their loved ones can touch their hair. However, Epione never grew up with those traditions so she didn't know how important hair was to High Fairies.

Though it was an enjoyable experience for the Phoenix to play with Epione beautiful soft hair, "Hel, I need a favour from you." Sir Oskar soon turned serious which made the Phoenix, Hel, see what the favour was. It was rare for any High Fairy to ask for any favours since they were a prideful race. But, this man was the exception to this, "Epione, unfortunately, was extorted from her magic all her life and later a magician soon took her wings as well." This was a serious matter among the magic race since such an occurrence was almost unheard of since the end of the magic era.

Hel then turned to Epione before she gave off a gentle aura to accommodate Epione who had never experienced a safe and happy childhood and was very much like a newly hatched chick in this entirely new world, "Would it be alright if I check on your back?" Hel offered her hand. Epione nodded as she cautiously placed her hand into Hel's before being escorted to a private area of the abode where there was foliage acting as curtains. The two were in a forest construction that seemly resembled a gazebo that was encased with strange foliage that was thick enough to provide shelter from the elements, however, sunlight was still able to penetrate through the leaves providing them natural light. There was wooden furniture that decorated the minimalist home. Hel placed two wooden stools for both Epione and herself who sat on them waiting for Epione to show her the wounds.

Epione sat on the empty wooden stool which was surprisingly comfortable against her bottom but soon as to unbutton herself o that she could slip off her dress until her waist where the room was silent until she felt a warm hand touch her back. The sensation of Hel's fingers was very apparent to Epione who sat there frozen as she sat at the chair half-naked. Soon, the chair behind her which Hel was sitting on moved as she went to rummage through a shelf where there were clay pots filled with miscellaneous substances, "What is it like living in this realm?" Epione wanted to know what it was like to live in this realm where normal human logic would never pass through here. Hel plopped herself on the chair before opening the small clay pot which was filled with whitish salve with some yellow undertones but it had a herbal scent emitted from it.

Hel began to scoop some of the salves into her fingers, "This world is free of the human presence so we live in a world of happiness now." She gave an overall answer knowing that Epione had been deprived of all the magical aspects of her heritage and would never completely be part of the magical world or the mortal world, "But, the magic races have a deeply ingrained hatred for humans so your presence of being half a human will only cause trouble." Hel was worried for the girl who would have to reintegrate into this world that ostracised half-bloods regardless if they are human or not. The mixing of bloodlines was considered a dirty act against their race so any child from those unions are immediately cast away from the community.