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The sorceress doesn't care much about what the carpenter does. She put up a barrier for him, so he couldn't leave the inner circle of the room. He tries to get to her twice, when she gave an obvious opening to him. Both times, she just laughed and beat him back. Both times, she was prepared. Payback for him beating her before near the village. She enjoyed that very much.

At least, she got food and water for him, without Zaiyas aura, he has to eat normally again.

"Cant you remove the stupid things in her wings? " Kin asks again, as he did so often the last days. And gets ignored as always.

"Zaiya, it feels like you are slipping away. I .. think .. I am loosing your strings."

She stares at him horrified. "What do you mean? I don't feel any change. Do you mean she... found a way to replace them?"

"I don't know, but ..." He reaches out for one of the bright, red specks below the collar and pulls back immediately "Hot... it burns. Your.. blood burns me now."

He looks at the sorceress, but if she noticed anything yet, she doesn't show.

"What do we do? Can you.. remake the bond or so?"

Zaiya stares at him for a few moments, then shakes her head "No, it is still there. And the collar only suppresses my aura, it doesn't weaken me. If she found a way to replace it, I still wont be able to replace it unless she lets go of all the tethers."

He looks up, scanning the walls. If they really are on the bottom of a lava lake, he could try to open holes in the wall to let it in. IF he manages to get to the wall.

"You said, phoenixes bathe in volcanoes some times, right?"

"Look at me, Kin Woodsmith." She sounds angry and she never uses his full name. He turns his head at her and stares at her surprised.

There is no smile on his face for once, when he feels the familiar paralysis as she stares into his mind.

"You will not.. even consider this. Never. You would not survive and I have no way of helping you."

She sounds sad and angry for him to even consider this.

"But at least..." He tries explaining, still unable to move.

"Imagine our roles reversed. What would you say, if I would want to kill myself, just to spite the Kerrin?"

The carpenter goes quiet and rips his gaze from her towards the ground for a few moments, before he gets pulled back to her eyes again.

"I ... am sorry. For thinking about that."

Satisfied, she lets go of him and rubs her beak against his side affectionately. "Good."

The sorceress starts the ritual again. For the who-knows-the-how-often-th time in the last days? Weeks? It is hard to keep track without day and night.

Kin started destroying the circle a few times, but Rikka easily redraw it without even stepping into the middle of the room. Then simply locked him into a barrier until her ritual was done.

So he quickly stopped interfering that way.

She did the same, when he started messing with the candles. He even tried to get rid of the stake-stones, but they didn't even wobble, when he ran against them shoulder first.

It seems hopeless. Whatever idea the phoenix and her carpenter have, the sorceress is prepared to counter it. And worst of all: She enjoyed beating them at that game. Every. Single. Time. Visibly.

Every ritual takes several hours to complete, usually, Zaiya laughs triumphantly afterwards, when she feels her carpenter still bonded to her. Not this time. She barely breathes and looks at him in despair, staring into his eyes desperately for several minutes before closing her eyes and lying her head on the ground. "It.. is gone. And I cannot do anything about it." She starts sobbing as he holds her head up, carefully avoiding her tears of liquid fire.

"We.. will find a way. Somehow. We will. Don't give up, Zaiya, we are both still here. And "

Rikka interrupts them "FINALLY. It took far too long, but finally, it is done. One more step, then I am done with you both." She stares at them for a few moments. "I might.. just let you go. Afterwards. But first, you two, I need an egg."

Both, Zaiyas and Kins head turn to her and say at the same time: "What?"

Silence afterwards. From all three. For several minutes.

At some point, Rikka sighs "That's what my master ordered me to do. And now, its time to finish that task. I will make sure it will work. " She points at the book she is holding, bound in very old leather. It is the same book from the vision earlier.

Zaiya starts struggling now, really hard. Ripping at her wings, trying to get free.

"Please, don't, I don't want that again. " She keeps begging, completely ignoring Kin beside her, who tries to comfort her.

Then she screeches in pain, when Rikka uses the strings to pin the sobbing phoenix's wings to the ground. Unable to move anymore, the bird turns to her carpenter for comfort.

"Please don't, please don't let her do this. It was horrible when I was young. I don't want to lay another of these eggs."

Kin comforts her silently, but his head works frantically, scanning the building again and again for ANY idea how to get out. The weapons.... cant reach them. The cages? Also out of reach. The mirror? What would that help. Attack Rikka? He cant get to her.

Then Zaiya freezes, as he looks at her, full of determination and grabs for the collar.

Before he can start searching for the opening mechanism, she jerks her head away. "NO!" Then knocks him away from her.

He stumbles backwards out of the circle and falls over, staring at her, slightly hurt.

"You will not... do this. No."

"Zaiya... but.. what else can we do? We are stuck for days, may be weeks. She... " He stares angrily at the sorceress, who smiles sweetly at him. “...can just outlast us. If I am gone, her plan is... “

"You know, farmer, you really think, breaking the collar would do anything? My orders state clearly, that my master wants you both. The barrier will hold her aura back. The ground is made of obsidian. How else would the bricks withstand the lake outside? And... even you, are immune to fire in here, I made sure of that. As I said, you are needed. So stop making this more difficult then it has to be."

To emphasize her point, she pulls both phoenix legs up by the strings, making her scream in pain once more.

Kin returns to the phoenix head, to comfort her.

"Please, Kin, don't. I don't.. " She screeches again as the sorceress tugs at her again. She is enjoying the fight, that is happening in the carpenters face.

"Zaiya, how long do you think I can watch her torturing you?" It is actually the first time, he raises his voice at the phoenix. She doesn't answer and closes her eyes.

"I don't know. I..."

The sorceress picks another book "You two, you know, I have all the time in the world, right? How about this: Every page I read, I will tug once! Reading never gets boring, and may be I figure something else out I can use you both for afterwards. "

"What if I just stop eating? Or I could try using your ..."

Now its Zaiyas turn to get louder – in his head "Stop that! I don't want you to die. And .. I... " She pauses and starts sobbing again.

The helplessness of their situation makes the carpenter furious, but as he saw already, screaming at the sorceress only makes her laugh. Again, he looks around for ANY way to do something. But no idea comes to his mind.

Then he gives up. He hugs her neck. "I am sorry, Zaiya, I don't see any way. No matter what happens. It doesn't matter. Even if I manage to kill myself, she can just bring in anyone else like that other guy in the vision." He ignores the deathly stare of the bird until she interrupts him "You. Will. Not. Kill. Yourself."

He sighs, then tries hard to set up a kind and playful expression as he reaches for her head feathers.

"So.. the pet commands her master now?" She stares at him, dumbfounded then coos.

She can see the tear at the corner of his eye as he says that, though. He is giving in to the evil scheme of the sorceress. Her carpenter finally is at the end of his wits. The phoenix was at he end of hers for a while already, but she was hoping, that he would come up with some idea to ... to...do what? They are still at the bottom of a lava lake, with no way out. Locked in a force field and the only thing they can do is resist, which would mean more torture for her with him only able to watch. She realizes, that the pain for her is one thing that will be over quickly, but he actually has to watch without helping her, even though he could stop it.

She closes her eyes and rubs her head against his chest, then lays her head back, thankful, that Rikka listened to them and doesn't hurt her anymore.

"Ok, Rikka, but you have to get rid of those stupid stake stones. Seriously, that is so messed up. Everything here is." One last weak show of resistance, but his voice alone shows, that he is broken.

She weaves a few runes into the air, satisfied, and the obsidian stakes disappear with a quiet 'plop' like sound and the liquid fire quickly starts repairing Zaiya's wings.

"And afterwards, you let us go, right?"

The sorceress shrugs. "Sure, I have no more use for either of you then. And your dumb village is no longer interesting either, now that you both are here." Kin doesn't believe her, but what choice do they have? He starts caressing her head. At least, he can try and make it as enjoyable as possible for his phoenix. "I wish, I could use your tails." She coos and keeps her eyes closed, just trying to imagine other circumstances – and not think of the consequences that would come.

He keeps stroking and bending her head feathers, and slowly works his way down her body through all the spots she likes. And it seems to work for her. She doesn't cry anymore, now in her own world, while he forces himself to ..

"Can you turn around please? A little privacy? "

Zaiyas head shots up in surprised and she shudders, as he accidentally pushes on one of her tails. This felt good? She is confused, unsure why she isn't tempted to bite him for that. Even with the curse on him now, it should not feel 'good'. Her head sinks back down, as she tries to think about it, but thoughts might bring the vision of the result and she wants to avoid that.

At his request, Rikka lowers the book and rolls her eyes hard enough for him to think they would drop and roll to the ground, then turns around with her book.

She gives them over an hour, the second and third part of that, Kin just rests on the phoenix belly, stroking her neck, while she grooms his hair.

"Alright, lovebirds. I will remove the barriers, but don't try anything. I got what I wanted, if you annoy me one more time, I will just put you outside the tower for a swim. or... remove the collar, and let your phoenix's aura do its job. Oh right... my strings... cant have them in your hands when I lower the barriers. We are finished. Soon both of you will be free again." She smiles happily. Finally.. she is done with those two. She eyes them suspiciously for a few moments, then decides that she had finally broken them.

Kin stares at Rikka, horrified “Why didn't I notice your strings? You could have just remade the bond and she would have to start over, right?”

Zaiya sighs “Yes, but what for? Another few weeks which will end with you outside in the lake. Just, hold me and hope we will be free when she got what she wanted.”

Kin doesnt look convinced.

Rikka smiles sweetly at his gaze of horrified hatred as she weaves a few runes into the air, then steps closer, while Kin takes his spot at Zaiyas head.

The phoenix concentrates on the carpenter and keeps her eyes closed even when Rikkas magic works on her body to grow the egg quickly and get it out.

Kin cant help but look as the egg slowly and visibly grows, then makes its way out of Zaiyas body. He holds her head against her chest, as she doesn't want to look.

He wonders what magic could instantly grow and pull the egg out, but he doesn't feel like asking about it, and even less asking the only person here that could explain it.

It appears and his eyes grow wide, while Rikka lets out a surprised, horrified scream.

"What is this? No no no no, this cant be. That's not what it is supposed to be."

Kin nudges Zaiya up, then lifts her head as she refuses to look.

"Zaiya... look. What is that?"

She finally opens her eyes, staring at a stunned Rikka and a pure white, gleaming egg.

She slowly aspirates to her carpenter, that isn't actually hers right now. "That.. is not possible. It.. should be .. black. The curse.. and.. I don't understand"

Then the egg starts shaking, cracking, similar to the black one, like a normal bird egg.

Instead of a dark bird, the one that falls out is bright white. Illuminating the room greatly without blinding any of them, not even when staring directly into it. Considering everything around the bird stays as is, it isn't hot either.

"Emissary of the sun." Zaiya quietly whispers over and over to him.

The hatchling is completely oblivious of the collective confusion in the room, and starts nomming on the egg shell.

Kin pokes Zaiyas beak. "Female, right?" She takes a few more moments before nudging his nose. "Yes, you remembered. But.. why? I never heard of this happening before. I don't understand. And what is an 'Emissary of the sun'? Why do I know that, but not what it means?"

Kin stares at the hatchling and Rikka, who still stands next to the hatchling, stunned. When she tries grabbing for it carefully, the hatchling evades her, while crying her dismay at the interruption with the eggshell.

Kin lets go of Zaiyas head and sneaks up the stairs to grab one of the swords. He treads very carefully, trying to stay behind the sorceress as he makes his way back to her.

This cant be true. She failed her master again. But WHY? Everything went as planned. All the rituals. One by one she replaced the strings. It was TEDIOUS beyond anything she did so far in her four hundred twenty one years, and still.. it didn't work. She was looking forward to a reward, but now... she would have to explain herself. Again. And this time she has no excuse, no explanation and no idea how to make up for her new failure. Rikka tries to grab the little bird again, but as before, the hatchling evades her. All she can do is watch the hatchling consume the rest of the eggshell.

The little phoenix nudges the sorceress, by now, on her knees to inspect the creature. She thought, her master wanted a dark phoenix. And she couldn't even blame the carpenter this time. She had failed grand master Balthasar again. She did everything as he asked, even the tiny corrections to the rituals.

Her carpenter disappears from Zaiyas vision, a grim expression on his face. She blinks, as he returns to the middle of the room, something shiny in hand. The bird struggles to move, but she quickly gives up and looks at the ceiling, still pinned to the ground. Soon they will be free. “Rikka. You said you would let us go!”. She doesn't get any reaction from the sorceress, though.

Meanwhile, Kin walks to the wall with the weapons. He doesn't believe Rikka one word, about letting them go. Why would she? Zaiya is very powerful by now and Rikka is surely able to use that for her own benefit. No, he is sure, the sorceress will betray them. But not this time. She will not come back this time. He will make sure of it.

The carpenter carefully picks up one of the swords and takes just a moment to admire the craftsmanship. It is a beautiful weapon. A green dragon stretches from a single dark blue gem on the hilt about half way along the blade. He tests the sharpness and cuts his finger without even realizing it. Good... then he walks down.

Rikka doesn't hear or notices the carpenter, until Zaiya gives a horrified cry the second after the sword comes down at the sorceress's neck. She gasps, but the second swing neatly separates her head from her neck and it rolls towards the mirror. Still in the middle of the room.

The little phoenix doesn't seem to be affected and just waddles around the center, inspecting everything from the candles to the furniture and completely ignores the growing pool of red in the middle of the room.

A rumbling above them makes him look up. A few drops of red, hot liquid drops down beside him to the ground. "Uh oh.... "

"Zaiya? The tower.... "

"Get here human, NOW!" A loud commanding voice in his head, definitely Zaiya, but she never talked like that to him. He looks back at her, surprised and is instantly staring into her eyes.

It is too late. Her human killed the sorceress, and now her magic - the magic that was protecting the tower and him - is gone. The building will not last long. She can draw in heat and light, but if they get surrounded by lava, there is nothing she can do to save him now. The little phoenix should be fine, but Kin.....

First things first. She doesn't see satisfaction or happiness about the sorceress death on his face – and no fear either. YET. He doesn't realize that he just sealed his death sentence.

May be... if she is fast enough to drag him up through the lake and her aura can heal the burns... may be he can survive. But she knows already, there is no way for a human to make it even half his height through molten rocks and she has no idea how deep this particular lake is.

She could cry later, but not before she took that little, tiny straw and did her best to save him.

Zaiya quickly weaves their bond again, now that the cursed tethers are no longer held tight, while he is frozen by her gaze.

"Release me, quick!"

He thought the strings would be released once Rikka is gone, but seemingly, she is still tied to the ground. After she redid their bond, he quickly frees her. She flips around and drapes her wing over him for possible lava drops.

"You silly, silly human. Didn't you listen! The lake outside will soon spill inside here. And I cannot save you from that!" Her voice is full of despair and gets louder and more desperate with each word, as he stares at her until he understands what she said.

"I... didn't know.. why did you remake our bond! If I am to die anyway...." He removes the collar finally, and his cloths burn away quickly as usual before she suppresses her aura. She lifts him up to the first cage with her beak.

"Try to get up as high as possible, may be... just may be..."

The little phoenix tilts her head at them, until Zaiya screeches something at her and she flies upwards. She is much too small to help the human and Zaiya herself has a hard time to fly inside due to the confined space or climb thanks to the clipped talons.

But still she fights upwards, climbing the cage like a parrot, mostly with her beak once Kin jumped or climbed to the next cage. She lifts him up with her beak, whenever he cant reach the next cage. More then one of the cages cant hold her weight and breaks. Some of the beams holding the cage even break or get pulled out of the wall. This adds more small streams of liquid, hot stone that is filling the tower slowly.

The heat is getting troublesome for him, but whenever it seems, like a drop of red or a brick would fall on him, the little white phoenix is there to deflect it. He has seen her, he smiles at the thought: His daughter, up there to deflect falling hazards and without danger to herself. The carpenter has no time to think further on the subject, though.

Zaiya stares at him, as he isn't moving. He stands on one of the beams, about two thirds up the tower, when he cant see any more cages.

"Zaiya... no more cages... the beams will be harder to reach now" His body is complaining about the exercise for a while now, it isn't as bad as when he was running to the tower, though.

He walks along the beam towards the wall. Keeping his balance is a bit troublesome by now, due to heat and smoke. He starts climbing the wall, but there aren't any good grips around, so it takes far longer.

The phoenix reaches up with her beak to pull herself onto the last cage he was on.

She knows it is hopeless, but she doesn't want to give up on her carpenter. He climbs sideways now, towards another beam without a cage and above it are more beams.

They are getting closer to the ceiling and the little phoenix sits above him, looking down.

Kin concentrates on keeping his balance as the little phoenix spreads her left wing, to block a stream of lava, that just started from above.

She didn't see the black brick, that got loose and opened the hole, though.

It drops down next to Kins foot. He takes a surprised step to the side and into empty air.

“Oh.. shit... “. The carpenter stares at Zaiya as he falls past her. The whole world goes into slow motion for him. She screeches and jumps, trying to reach him with her beak and misses. Then grabs for him with her talons, as she already starts falling herself, but misses again.

Kin takes a deep breath and prepares himself for the landing.

He smiles at her, lovingly... apologetically, as she folds her wings in to dive after him. But his head start is far too much for her to reach and catch him now it seems.

She knows it too, as she stares at him, tears in her eyes but still diving after him desperately.

He reaches out with his arm, still smiling at her sadly. He can feel the heat getting painful on his back, but he doesn't turn his head. Just looking at her, trying to caress her beak one more time as she now flaps her wings to increase her speed. She hits at least three cages, slamming them against the wall. Two of the beams get pulled out by the force and drop down with their cages, while the new holes in the wall create two more streams of lava.

He wonders what kind of wood was used for the beams for one moment, before he focuses on his phoenix again, stretching his arm more, then he finally reaches her beak, stroking it lovingly. His back feels like he is sleeping on a campfire by now.

Zaiya's neck stretches a tiny bit more, then her beak closes around his body painfully. With great force, she brutally swings her head to the left and upwards, then lets go.

He can hear a strange snapping sound from her head as he soars upwards again and finally can see below. He has been probably only two arms lengths away from the lava surface. The ground is gone, Rikkas body is gone. Even the furniture on the side of the walls is bellow the surface by now and most likely gone too. The first few cages, like the one he was locked in and that Zaiya used to get airborne is submerged too.

With a loud cry and giant splash, the phoenix falls into the lava, that must be at least twice her height deep by now.

He is worrying for what the snapping sound was, it sounded like something broke, but he doesn't have much time as he nears the maximum height of his flight with nothing to hold on in range.

He can hear wings beating, then screams in surprise from talons grabbing his left arm and shoulder painfully as they pierce in deeply bellow the collarbone.

His weight pulls the little phoenix down, but she can move them enough for him to grab the bars of another cage with his right hand and hold on for his life.

The little phoenix lets go and flies up on the cage, looking at him concerned. The first emotion he actively noticed on her.

“I.. am fi...”

He looks past her and she reacts quickly enough to block another stream of lava, coming down from above them with her wing.

He smiles at her thankfully before looking down, worried. “Zaiya.... “ He tugs her wings, up as far as possible.

The first feathers show from below the hot surface but she actually fights against his tugging this time, so he lets go.

She is fine. That's all he needs to know.

Zaiya doesn't get above the surface and it keeps rising. He groans, as blood is running down his shoulder over his burned back and he tries to get into the cage, but is too drained to pull himself to a standing position to work on the door.

“Zaiya... I don't think I can hold on much longer. “ He looks up at the hatchling and she looks down, still holding her wing out to guide the stream of lava above him away. No help from her this time.

He manages to get one leg between the bars, but the grip of his arm is getting weaker and weaker, when suddenly splashing from below appears.

Zaiya has appeared, something in her beak, as she fights desperately to get airborne.

At least, its not water. And from what he sees, the molten rock doesn't stick to her. She stops for a few moments, wings spread, just floating on the hot surface of rising lava.

The fire bird steers towards one of the cages, that nearly disappeared. Then the phoenix works hard to get her talons on it to climb up.

Since her beak still holds the strange black thing VERY carefully, she can only use her wings and still clipped talons. It is a long battle, but she finally gets on top of the beam, that holds the cage, then takes wing and flies upwards awkwardly in the confined space of the tower.

She stares at him “Touch the mirror. And do it fast... “ More and more rocks are falling now, every one opening up more holes to let the red, hot death in that fills the tower.

He reaches out to the mirror, as she said. A few drops of blood fall onto it, but nothing happens with them. What could happen if he touches it, if blood doesn't cause any reaction?

Kin still waits for her to get up high enough for him to touch it, no matter if it works or not. At least, they have to try.

Then the mirror slams against his hand. He was waiting for an impact, something to probably break his hand again, but instead, it feels like he is pulled into the mirror. The last thing he sees or hears, is a cry of triumph from his beloved phoenix and the mirror falling from her beak.

The hatchling folds her wing in again, no more need to deflect the stream. Then she takes a step sideways, when another stream drops right on her head and she shakes herself.

Zaiya lands on the lower beam, panting.

“He got out. We got him out alive. Thank you, Kayda.”

The little one just chirps happily then tilts her head. What now?

Zaiya looks down where she dropped the mirror. Without that, she might not be able to find her human again. The fire bird hopes desperately that he wont try to return through it right now. It would probably work the same way and it would be fatal... She is also worried about her little daughter, though.

Zaiya has no problem swimming through the lake above them, but she doesn't know how long the hatchling can keep that up. She may not be able to find out what 'up' is, and her air is limited. While she is pondering what to do, half of the ceiling must have finally broken down. A rain of bricks comes down on them, and she quickly hops up to the other beam to shield the little bird. Zaiya is confident, that herself will be fine, no matter how many bricks hit her, but when the tower fills up, she would definitely have to help the hatchling to reach the surface.

The phoenix waits for the bricks to stop, while watching the surface rising rapidly now. When it is close to their feet, she grabs the hatchling gently with her beak and waits until the tower is filled, before swimming upward. It is slow, with her wings and would never work in water, but here it works. How? She doesn't know and doesn't care. It takes her several minutes to reach the surface. Kin would have had no chance to survive that. The mirror was … a gamble from what she saw Balthasar do one time only, when she was in his tower and luckily it worked.

Once at the surface, she only has to swim a few moments to reach what looks like an island of black rocks full of ash. She lets go of the small phoenix and slumps down to rest. That was exhausting. But it worked. She closes her eyes happily for a few minutes before she has to go back to search for the mirror.

The little one nudges her, then immediately waddles away to explore the area they landed on. It isn't too large, but it gives her something to do, before she starts swimming for a while.

Zaiya meanwhile gives herself a few minutes of rest. She coos, when she feels something tug the feathers on her head gently and smiles. His signal. He is fine. She closes her eyes and enjoys the sensation. Her eyes shoot open, when he gives one last, playful tug to one of her tails.

“I will get you for that, human.”

She takes a few more moments when her carpenter stops for now, before she screeches something at the little phoenix on the island. She perks her head and waddles over, then sits down.

The large phoenix dives into the lake again on her quest for the mirror now. Blindly.

At least, she knows where up and where down is. It will take a while to find the tower, remove the bricks and find the mirror.

Its... tedious and near hopeless. But the only chance she has.

If he does not step out of the mirror again, it may just work out. She keeps checking their bond constantly. But it stays intact. The relief never lasts longer then a few seconds, though, then she checks again. Sometimes, her wing twitches, when Kin pulls at it. Or her tail.

She searches for hours, rarely returning up for some air and rest. The little phoenix leaves her spot as soon as her mother is gone, floating around in the lava, but at least she stays near the island.

That's not a normal behavior for a young phoenix, Zaiya muses, during one of her resting phases.

And considering the amount of energy she should have absorbed from the heat, she should grow, but she is still as small as she was when hatched. And most of all: Her first instinct should be to fly above the clouds, but Kayda doesn't even look up.

Zaiya is far too busy to notice the yellow eyes watching from the small and dark cave entrance on a hill beside their fiery lake. Just watching – for now.