Rebirth of the Phoenix God

"I knew I could find you here."

Raising his head from above the lonely drink he was sipping, Fen saw nobody else but Kaisha standing right next to him. With a troubled look on her face, she glanced at the spare seat opposite to Fen's in a mute question.

"Come, be my guest."

Pointing his hand at the chair, Fen straightened back in his seat. Once again noticing how unkept this place was, he could only shake his head in disappointment. Even though this pantry-serving place was hidden in the remote alley, it used the nearby buildings to shield itself from the commotion on the main street. And now, after said street turned to the final defence line of Akhazian citizens, one's attempts at uncovering the luxury this place was once known from would be entirely futile.

"Did you know that the original owner died in the invasion? I was told she was ravaged by a group of monsters that got through the line of defence and swarmed all the buildings nearby…"

Still contemplating over the half-empty cup of the poor drink, the only one that remained in this place's cellar, Fen raised his sight at Kaisha.

"I heard. This was my favourite place in the entire city."

Not bothering to hide how anxious and stressed out she was, Kaisha took a sip of the drink that she brought with her in advance. Something that would be considered a great insult to the establishment just a few months ago currently sparked the fires of jealousy in Fen's silly mind. After all, thanks to her prior knowledge of the situation in here, she could prepare something that could be drunk with pleasure instead of repulsion.

For a moment, only silence remained between the two of them. As if moving back with their memories where they were still clueless about the shit that was about to hit the entire continent, the two of them simply enjoyed the tranquil moment. 

But it could last for long, given how Fen's memories were now dipped in the knowledge of what Kaisha's actions were warranted with. No longer did Kaisha's happy face as they talked over a cake and drink in the exact same place bring just happiness and calmness to Fen's mind. Now, he would be questioning her real motives instead, putting him even deeper in the depressed state he was in.

"You see… I came here to apologise. As little as I cared for the mission back then, it's still a fact that I reported on anything that you said or did. With the exception of that one time…"

With a blush appearing on Kaisha'a face, Fen could tell that the moment between the two of them in the past was still an important one in her memory. Maybe she even abstained from this kind of pleasure ever since that day, making her still easily embarrassed by the topic of intimacy. Or maybe it was all an act aimed at getting a certain reaction from him?

Given all the doubts ringing in his head, Fen was unable to tell which one was the case. 

"Can we stop that topic? What's in the past is in the past. We can't change it no matter how much we would want to. Attempts at doing so are akin to spitting at everything we did and everything that happened in the past."

Refusing to bulge with his cold attitude towards the girl, Fen actually had to hide his sight away. After the way in which he said his farewells to the man, he owed his own life, keeping up this inhumane and emotionless facade was becoming harder and harder.

"Can you at least forgive him for what he did then? Even though we are not a thing…I still believe you were a bit too harsh."

Striking the wood of the table with her delicate fingers, Kaisha could as well just outright tell how anxious she was bringing that topic up.

"I know. This was the very intention behind everything that I said."

Instead of arguing on the point with the girl, Fen closed his eyes before forcing himself to down the rest of his awful drink. Slamming the cup back at the table, the young mercenary stood up from his chair.

"Wait… If you didn't mean those words…"

Attempting to somehow stop Fen from leaving just like that, Kaisha uttered the first words that appeared on her tongue.

"Oh, I do mean every single and last word that I said. While it's true that I could wrap them in a nicer way, that would be aking to giving Mark a way out from facing his problems directly. And what you failed to realise, is that I know that he doesn't hold the monopoly over Old Kingdom restoration movement. It just so happens that the girl that was the very spark for the entire uprising, was even closer to me than you were."

Revealing the existence of Firo's relationship with him, Fen looked coldly in Kaisha's eyes.

"He doesn't have the absolute authority over the people he was supposed to represent. That can only mean that there are others who do not agree with the way he does things. While by itself its nothing to be surprised about, it's the leader's responsibility to band everyone under a single banner. And not only did Mark failed to do so, but I can also guess he pushed them away for reasons far too unimportant to be even considered in a serious talk."

With every word spouted by Fen's mouth, Kaisha's expression worsened. While it was only a guess, Fen could somehow tell from the way she reacted that she was perfectly aware of the problem he brought up, but never in the hell did she expect for this motive to surface.

"Did you… Did you talk with her? What's going on with Firo? It's been a while since I last saw her…"

Noticing that any attempts at changing Fen's mind would ultimately end up futile, Kaisha seemed to just give up and change the topic. While at first, it seemed like yet another attempt at keeping Fen busy with the conversation, noticing the strange interest that this girl had in someone that was clearly outside of the circle of her allies, Fen suddenly realised that revealing any form of information about Firo could be potentially dangerous to the girl!

"No, I did not talk with her. I just learned about her circumstances by accident. Or maybe ancient ordinance that aimed to enlighten me about Mark's drawbacks?"

Shaking his head, Fen finally shook the feeling of guilt caused by Kaisha's teary eyes. Taking a step back from the table, he looked at her once again.

"I'm not going to involve myself in the matters of this city any longer. With the fall of the archarity, there is nothing else that keeps me here. While my offer to you still stands, its ultimately up to you to decide who to follow. With that said, I will be on my way."

Decisively turning around on his feet, Fen left the place before the girl would even as much as gather her thoughts before even an idea of following him would appear in her mind. But instead of leaving this city altogether on foot and allowing the girl to catch up to him, as soon as he took the corner, Fen resurfaced his wings without a care in the world for the people that might see him before using it to jump up towards the nearest building's roof.

Only there did the young mercenary dare to relax. Taking a few shortcuts that his elevated position granted to him, Fen quickly distanced himself away from the proximity of the tavern before jumping down to the street. Only by some miracle avoiding crashing into one of the innocent pedestrians, the young man was about to head for the new border of the city, when someone suddenly put something in his hand.

"What?"

Using all his strength to turn around as quickly as he could, Fen still missed the person that interfered with him. Taking a look at what was in his hand, Fen saw a small note on a rugged piece of paper. But as he deciphered the meaning of the few words scribbled on it… His face remained exactly the same as before instead of showing the immense surprise that raged in his soul.

Hiding the note to one of his pockets, Fen picked up his pace before finally approaching the construction site of the new, city wall. Finally surrounded with just enough empty space to take off without accidentally hurting anyone, the young mercenary didn't hesitate before entering the refreshing embrace of the skies.

But instead of travelling back to Kinar to take over his duties once again, as soon as he got too far from the city for anyone to keep tracking him, his wings angled drastically, instantly making him plummet to the ground. Right before his face would have a chance of learning the texture of the ground, his wings changed position once again, putting him into a gentle glide back in the direction he just flew away from.

Landing nearly half of the distance away from the city that he initially made, Fen ran a few steps to dampen his momentum before finally stopping in the very middle of the burn-out remains of the forest once teeming with monster's life.

"Took you a while, dumbass."

Falling right into Fen's arms without any reservation for anything, Firo hid her face in Fen's chest. Just as the note described, she was waiting for him in this place, clearly on the verge of emotional collapse.

"You did it… You poor son of bitch, you did it!"