For the Birds

The River, as he could see it, stretched out past the desert. Grasslands were likely downstream toward the mountains in the distance. A great wave of them stood in his field of vision, unchanging for three more days. He had expected to continue to the East, but was driven down to the southwest, further away from his perceived destination.

"Hot." Errit pushed the sweat from his brow and wore his shirt like a hat.

The desert wouldn't forgive him for laying down during the daytime, and the night was still hours away. He ate some of the fruit and vegetables he had left over from the Masked Village, stuck within the storage ring, none of them seemed to had even aged. 'This is a much better thing than I first thought.' Errit rubbed the ring, it really was a good thing for him. If he had been forced to carry everything inside, he would have ditched it all long ago or made different plans.

'How did they do this shit before cars.. yuk.' Eight Days. By the Eighth day, he finally saw plantlife again. There were many species that he didn't understand, their auras were mixed in color and many of them gave off bitter smells, held barbs or were surrounded by dead bodies. His instincts told him to avoid poisonous plants. There were uses for poisons, but he didn't know how to make any.

From a mountaintop several kilometers away, Errit was seen. Birdcalls filled the valley below the mountainside. Flocks of birds flew from the lower depths of the Valley and gathered in the trees to observe the intruder.

"huh?" Errit saw the gathering birds, they were all strange, some looked like they were made of fire, some looked like they were made of stone. All of them could fly. A dark shadow covered the field he had just stepped into. Errit looked up, he saw sharp claws descending on his position.

He rolled out of the way and pulled the hard spear out of storage. The large bird's wing was stabbed, it rolled away in the opposite direction. The inertia pulled the spear from the wound and sent it flying out of the area of combat, into the sand.

'Shit' Errit pulled out the Broken sword, it was pointless. "Fuck, wrong one." he threw it into the sand. It started to sink. 'Oh?'

Errit walked back a little bit and pulled out a Dagger and the Heat Spear. He threw the dagger at the eyes of the big black bird. It hit the large black bird in the face, clinging to its maw and charged in his direction.

He kicked and pushed back a little further, it worked. The big black bird had stepped forward and tried lunging in his direction. Its foot sank, sending its footing into chaos. It rolled to free its foot, but its wing was damaged and didn't react the way it had expected. flinching as it rolled, it sank further into the sand.

The screaming caw of the birds in the trees wrecked Errit's senses, he tried to regain his calm, but the noise was intense. The big black bird was drowning in sand, several feathers and drops of its blood laid were all that remained on the surface of the sand.

'Was that luck?' Errit wasn't sure, his heart was pounding. He had overlooked the river's location during the fight, the end result could have easily been his own death. "Would you SHUT THE HELL UP!" Errit yelled at the birds, the noise stopped instantly. 'okay, that's fucking weird.' He searched the sands and found the Heavy Spear. He had lost the broken sword and a dagger, but it was worth his life.

The Birds hadn't left, they stood in the trees, quiet, eerily silent. A caw came from the mountains in the distance. It pierced everything, sounding for hundreds of miles. A flame. That flame.

It rose and fell, rose and fell. A cloud, a flock of Phoenix rose into the sky. Led at the front, a blue and violet burning flame. burning hotter and larger than the others, it looked like the rest of them in every other respect.

The Birds in the trees, raised their wings in unison. Their heads raised to the sky as the Cloud of fire approached.

'This doesn't look good.' Errit readied the Ice Spear. He was sure that battle was coming and looked around. He couldn't see an escape route, he was surrounded by birds and the cloud of fire was intimidating. Running was out of the question, he stood tall like a Tower, unchanged by the coming winds.

"""CAAAAWWWWW""" Burning winds flew overhead, circling like a great tornado.

The Blue one landed. It had a marking on its face, it looked like a tattoo, but that would have been impossible to do on feathers or a beak. "I AM THE GREAT PHOENIX. You slayed a hunter from my rivals, the crows have their own fiery deity, the three legged crow. we share not the skies, our nests or the hunt. You stopped it from killing my children." The Great Phoenix pulled a feather from its body, and laid it on the ground.

"Take this, It is a symbol of my approval. Wear it on you always in my domain, you will not be bothered by my kin." A heat, one that could melt the sand started to build. Errit backed away, the feather landed in his hands, blown by the searing wings in his direction.'

'huh?' Errit held the feather, it was as long as his arm. Although it was on fire, it did not burn. He placed it on his back, exposed.

"Good. Child. Travel well, may the wind be at your backs and the light sear your enemies." The Phoenix Lord turned and left, his piercing caws called the rest of his kin. They swarmed and gathered into the great fiery tornado, rose higher into the sky and disappeared like it was all a lie.

"What the actual fuck just happened?" Errit couldn't feel the heat of the Desert any longer, the feather seemed to remove the feeling of heat from his body. 'This is fucking awesome.' Errit started sprinting through the sand. Without the heat pounding on his body, he felt lighter, faster than ever before. The grasslands were not too much further, sprinting at that pace would only take a few hours.