Yes.
It was a phoenix.
But it was not like any Phoenix he had ever seen; it was a colossal, Ancient Phoenix.
Ian stood on top of the highest piece of the broken clock tower.
The morning wind brushed against his slightly tousled hair.
The breeze carried the salty scent of the sea.
With his legendary eyesight, he pierced the veil of early-morning mist and caught a faint anomaly on the horizon, a glimmer of unusual light. At first, it was just a tiny speck above the water.
However, that speck expanded rapidly within just a few breaths, allowing Ian to see it more clearly. It was a creature so massive that common sense simply could not apply.
Its wingspan was several times larger than the biggest airplanes in the modern world. Its entire body seemed wrapped in eternal golden-red flames, but the fire emitted no heat. Instead, it radiated a gentle, warm glow.
Its tail feathers trailed a flowing stream of fire that painted brilliant arcs of light across the sky.
With every beat of its wings, circular ripples spread through the air. It was as though space itself trembled before this creature.
Each flap of its wing raised towering waves tens of meters high across the ocean's surface.
It was as if the phoenix commanded the rhythm of the wind.
Even more astonishing was that the path it flew across became lined with falling starlight streaming from its feathers like glittering dust. A radiant road shimmered across the sea; each wave crest glowed like a pearl.
"That's…" Ian's pupils constricted.
As the gigantic phoenix drew closer, he was not the only one who sensed the shift.
The first to react were the Flash Sparrows scavenging among the ruins. They abruptly shot into the air, chirping in panic. At the same moment, several medicinal plants in the apothecary's backyard burst into a dazzling light.
They swayed wildly in the breeze and it was as if they were responding to something.
Meanwhile, the townspeople began to look up, too.
"Look! What's that on the horizon?!"
The blacksmith's booming voice jolted half the town awake. People poured into the streets like a rising tide, their sleepy faces lighting up with astonishment when they saw the scene in the sky.
"There's no way...is that the Phoenix God?!"
"It really is her! My grandmother told me that every fifty years, the Phoenix God descends upon the island to bestow her blessings."
"Look at the sacred fire on her feathers! My grandpa said it can cure all diseases!"
"Hurry! Go tell everyone! The Phoenix God has descended!"
An elderly woman with completely white hair leaned on her cane on her doorstep, with tears glimmering in her eyes.
"I'm eighty-nine years old, and I finally get to see her again. The Phoenix God has returned."
Even the normally composed mayor trembled with excitement, his white beard shaking uncontrollably. He clasped the phoenix-feather talisman hanging around his neck.
"Bless our ancestors... She's come two years early this time."
The streets erupted into commotion.
Adults repairing houses froze mid-motion. Children stopped playing or woke from sleep. Elders halted their morning strolls. All of them lifted their gaze toward the approaching divine silhouette.
"Mama, that bird is so pretty!" A child tugged at his mother's hand and pointed upward.
"Shh..." She immediately knelt down and whispered, "That is the Phoenix God. You must not speak loudly. Pray with reverence."
"Phoenix God, please bless us!" A fisherman dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead to the ground, clasping his hands together.
"May your radiance forever shine upon our homeland," another elder whispered reverently.
People put down whatever they were doing.
They knelt.
Their faces were filled with awe and gratitude. Even the proud and wild battle-type magical creatures formed neat and orderly rows, placing their forelimbs or arms together in an ancient gesture of prayer.
Bud pulled Odin forward and made him kneel in the front row.
The little boy's eyes widened, and his mouth formed a perfect "O."
"That's a wizard, too! I know it!" Odin tugged on his older sister's sleeve as he spoke.
"That is the Phoenix God," Bud corrected him patiently.
"No! That's a wizard! I can see it!" Odin insisted stubbornly.
He followed his sister's prayer gestures clumsily, but his eyes remained wide open, locked firmly on the second figure in the sky that had shocked him to the core.
Unlike other magical creatures, the partners of the residents indeed possessed magic.
However, to Odin, the difference was huge.
Wizard magic and magical creature magic felt utterly distinct because wizards alone possessed a shimmering quality that only he could see and perceive.
"Infinite possibility."
Bud, who had no such perception, could only sigh helplessly. She truly did not understand what her younger brother was talking about.
She knelt devoutly with the rest of the townspeople, bowing deeply to the enormous Phoenix above.
This was understandable. This town had always been told of a mythical, powerful creature that guarded the island. In front of the island's guardian, it was only natural for them to show their faith.
Even if this object of faith was "just" a magical creature.
The entire town fell silent, save for the whisper of the wind through the trees and the faint tremor of the phoenix's wings cutting through the air.
The phoenix glided slowly above the town. Its massive body shadowed half the sky. Sunlight passed through its semi-transparent feathers, scattering shimmering patterns across the ground like a flowing, living painting.
"What an overwhelming surge of magical power..." Ian could feel the phoenix's aura, a legendary-level magic far surpassing the Rayquaza-like entity he had encountered in the storm.
It was ancient and Sacred magic.
It was a level of power that the miniature phoenix kept by the Dumbledore could never hope to compare with. How could he even describe such a difference?
It was like the difference between a modern domesticated chicken and its ancient ancestor, the dinosaur.
Perhaps the difference was even greater than that.
After all...
This was a magical creature, not just an animal.
The Phoenix circled gracefully above the town, its wingbeats stirring a breeze as gentle as a mother's caress. Then, with a clear and resonant cry, countless points of light drifted down like spring rain.
Wherever those lights touched, miracles began to unfold.
Its power carried an unimaginable healing force. It not only mended hidden wounds in magical creatures and humans, but it even restored lifeless things.
This was clearly no ordinary magic. It resembled a law of the world.
The first to recover were the buildings destroyed by the storm. Tiles lifted from the rubble and returned to their places on rooftops. Broken beams reattached themselves. Cracks in the walls vanished like droplets dissolving into water.
The once-ruined church tower now gleamed with renewed brilliance beneath the morning sun.
Even structures burned to charcoal were being repaired. Beams that had been reduced to ash suddenly emitted the crisp sound of wood regrowing.
Vibrant vines sprouted from the piles of debris and wove themselves into new window frames at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Across blackened walls, powdered bricks rose and reassembled themselves. Golden resin seeped into the seams, seamlessly sealing every fracture.
Even the shattered remains drifting in the harbor were lifted by an unseen force and reassembled into sturdy fishing boats, piece by piece, as if rearranged by an invisible giant's hand.
"This truly is a miracle of magic."
The clock tower, melted by dragonfire, reformed in reverse, like a film rewinding.
Even the bronze bell beneath Ian's feet, which had become a puddle of molten sludge, re-solidified quickly.
It looked even newer than before.
Its rust vanished. Finally...
Clang!
The bell struck itself, releasing a golden ripple of sound through the air. The wave brushed against Ian's face, allowing him to sense the intricate magic within it clearly.
"A Repairing Charm?"
Ian was shocked, truly shocked. He sensed a familiar magical pattern, yet it wasn't quite the same. This "restoration magic" could heal living beings.
Yes!
The trees damaged during the battle began to grow wildly. Branches instantly bore clusters of ripe fruit.
The street-side trees burst into vivid green, shedding their withered leaves. Flowers bloomed one after another, their fragrance thick and intoxicating. Even the ancient well in the town center, dry for many years and recently destroyed by the battle, began pouring out clear, fresh water.
"Ah! My flowerbed, it's alive again!" An elderly gardener touched the newly blossomed roses with trembling hands as she spoke while tears streamed down her face.
"A blessing from the Phoenix God!" The old apothecary wept openly and kissed the ground.
"Look at my herb garden! Look at it!"
In the fields of herbs that hadn't been destroyed by the battle, astonishing changes were occurring. The Moonshade Grass had grown as thick as an arm.
The veins on its leaves formed ancient runes.
The Starvein Grass, which normally required music to grow, began singing an ethereal melody on its own. Even the Nightmare Mandrake, locked in an iron cage, fell quiet and bloomed a pure white flower.
Clearly, this was a type of evolution for the plants.
Ian was completely stunned; it went far beyond his understanding of potion ingredients. At the same time, he finally understood why the potion ingredients from this place were so extraordinary.
According to some of the residents, this colossal phoenix appeared once every few decades.
If each time it caused the region's magically charged plants to undergo evolution then it was easy to imagine.
As long as enough time passed.
Even ordinary weeds could eventually evolve into advanced potion ingredients that would make Ian green with envy.
This phoenix's abilities were truly bizarre. No wizard in later eras would ever have dared to imagine that such a magical creature existed.
To be fair...
In the wizarding world, some high-grade potion ingredients require magical creatures to produce them, but those are merely specialized symbiotic relationships.
Magic that directly grants evolution to plants? Even among wizards, no one had ever researched such a thing. It was considered utterly impossible.
Even Ian had never entertained such an idea before.
Yet now, the ancient phoenix seemed to reveal to him a forgotten branch of potion cultivation from antiquity. Of course, the magical energy and structure of this phenomenon were completely different from wizard magic.
This power belonged to magical creatures...
And perhaps only to this singular, enormous Phoenix.
Ian did not yet understand the full answer, but that was no reason not to research it. Even if there were risks, one can only learn the truth by trying.
"I can turn into a bird, too. What if I can recreate this effect?" Ian quietly memorized the magical structure, planning to study it thoroughly in the future.
"Is this... is this truly the Phoenix God's blessing?" Young people who had never seen this creature before widened their eyes in disbelief.
The phoenix let out a beautiful cry. Tiny light motes continued to drift from between its feathers, falling onto the ground, the sea, and people's shoulders. Everyone touched by the motes felt warmth flow into their bodies. Their fatigue melted away, and their hearts became calm and peaceful.
The most breathtaking sight was in the central plaza.
The charred, uneven ground had transformed into a crystalline field. Each crystal contained a small, flickering flame sealed inside.
Ian flew to the plaza, crouched down, and touched one of the crystals. Instantly, a warm current surged through his body, sweeping away all the exhaustion from last night's battle.
This was clearly a blessing from a world wonder, wasn't it?
A legendary magical creature had used its power to create a natural alchemical artifact in the plaza. Its structure was so intricate that Ian couldn't help but admire it.
"This is completely different from the alchemy I know." Ever eager for new knowledge, Ian immediately copied and studied its structure, fascinated by the ancient wisdom.
No one stopped him.
Nor did anyone criticize him for not kneeling before the Phoenix God, an act of disrespect. The people here had little understanding of what "magic" truly was. For an outsider like Ian to remain unbowed before the Phoenix God was perfectly understandable.
As the colossal Phoenix restored the town, renewing, healing, and upgrading everything it touched. The hearts of the townsfolk swelled with indescribable emotion.
"Thank you, Phoenix God!"
Cheers and cries erupted from the crowd. Their tears were tears of gratitude.
Children jumped excitedly, chasing the drifting motes of light. Elders knelt with their hands clasped together, tears streaming down their faces as they bowed toward the sky. The entire town was wrapped in a sacred joy that words could never fully capture.
"Hmm? Looking for me?" Ian stood in the plaza,
He raised his head toward the massive phoenix that was now staring directly at him.
There was no hostility in its gaze, only a profound, ancient depth.
With a gentle beat of its wings, a golden feather detached and drifted down from above. It landed softly on the steps in front of Ian, glowing warmly in the sunlight. The air grew thick with a holy, comforting aura.
It felt as though time itself had paused.
Every gaze in town turned toward him.
"What do you want with me?"
Ian frowned slightly. The moment his eyes met those molten gold pupils, a warm mental ripple gently brushed against his consciousness barrier.
It wasn't a forceful intrusion. Rather, it was like a polite knock on a door, a friendly request to "communicate," and an invitation to mental contact.
"Interesting..."
Ian relaxed his normally well-guarded mind slightly. In that instant, a soft, ethereal voice echoed within his thoughts:
"Catch me, Raven."
There was no further explanation. Just a firm, unmistakable intent.
Ian was confused, but he hesitated no more. He reached out and grabbed the phoenix's leg.
"... "
The phoenix froze for a split second.
Then, it activated the ability possessed by all phoenixes. While the townspeople were still celebrating the miracle, a swirling vortex of crimson fire suddenly erupted.
With a rush of warm wind and a deep, resonant hum, the phoenix and the boy vanished.
"What just happened?!"
"Where's Ian?!"
The crowd fell into chaos.
People ran toward the plaza where the two had stood moments earlier, only to find nothing but a faint trail of red embers glimmering weakly under the evening sun.
The heroic boy, along with the legendary Phoenix, had disappeared without a trace.
(End of chapter)
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