Her True Form

Yvette groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Everything hurt. It felt as if she’d been split in half and then put back together. No. It didn’t hurt at all. It was like the echoes of pain. The memory of the pain was there, but it didn’t actually hurt. It just felt like it could start to hurt at any moment if she wasn’t careful.

Either way, she slowly lifted her head and glanced around. “Hello?” she called out. “Gervas?”

“Here,” Gervas said, in front of her now. He held his hand out to her. “Come on, let’s go.”

Yvette nodded and took his hand, letting him help her up. She then paused. “Wait. Where are Nautia and Bayla?”

“They already went through the portal,” Gervas said. “We need to go, now. While we have a chance.”

“Portal?” Yvette asked. It took her a moment to realize that there was, in fact, a portal. Through the treeline she could see it, a strange tear in reality that seemed to open into another forest. She didn’t see Nautia or Bayla, though. “I don’t see them.”

“They’re on the other side, come on,” Gervas said, tugging her along.

“Wait,” Yvette said, shaking her head. “We… why are we… we’re…”

“Come on, bef--”

“ENOUGH!” Yvette yelled, yanking her hand back from his. “Why are you so--”

She was human. She was the mage. That was what was missing. The phoenix side of her was gone. She stared down at her hands, her mouth falling open for a moment. “That doesn’t… I don’t… this is… what?”

“Yvette, we need to go,” Gervas said. “There’s no time, we--”

“Why am I a human?” Yvette asked. “I’m a phoenix now. Where--” She stared at him and then, slowly, took a step back. “Who… are you?”

“What?” Gervas asked.

“You’re not Gervas,” Yvette said softly. “I know Gervas. You’re not him. He’s kind, warm, a bit rude at times, kind of a jerk, but he always keeps an eye out for me. He’s forceful, yes. But he wouldn’t have sent the others off through an unknown portal without waking me. He wouldn’t be this… like this. He wouldn’t… what happened? What’s in that portal?”

“Yvette,” Gervas said. “You need to--”

“Fine then, Gervas. May I have your story?” Yvette asked. She wasn’t sure it would work, but it was all she could think to do.

Gervas went still. Slowly, a wide grin formed on his lips and he began to chuckle. The grin only seemed to grow wider and wider, splitting his face in half while the laugh got louder and louder.

Yvette flung out her right hand, trying to gather the phoenix fire to her hand, but it wouldn’t form. Instead, only a few sparks appeared. But she could feel her magic, only it felt far off, as if she was feeling it from another room. She then looked down at herself, then up at him. “Something… split me, didn’t it? YOU split me, didn’t you?” Had she said the wrong thing? Agreed to the wrong thing? She couldn’t remember answering any questions in her sleep.

The grin kept growing until it was wider than Gervas was tall, then it collapsed and swallowed him whole. Yvette yelped and jumped back, a hand moving over her heart.

She screamed when she bumped into somebody. She whipped around and punched them as hard as she could in the chin. The man’s eyes went wide and he stumbled back, though she doubted it was from pain so much as shock. Her hand hurt so much now she was worried she broke a bone, but she tried to hide that. “Who are you?”

He towered over her, his purple eyes seeming to sparkle in the light. His hair was so long it could almost touch the ground, perfectly white like snow. His skin, however, was tinted a strange mix between green and pink that made her stomach twist in knots. The more she stared at him, the less sure she was that what she was staring at was truly there. “I have many names, my dear. You would know me as the Collector.”

Yvette tried to take a step back, but she found her way blocked by a tree that she was certain hadn’t been there before. “A-ah. So. Err, this is, well, your realm? Then?”

“Indeed,” he said, the smile never leaving his lips. “I collect many things. Names. Animals. Memories. Stories.”

Yvette’s eyes went wide when she realized what he was saying. “You… you took Bayla’s story.”

“Indeed,” the Collector said before, finally, pulling back from her. “It is quite rare to have one willingly come into my realm. But when I found out why? That she was meeting with a phoenix of all things? Oh, how could I let such a chance slip by? I do hope you didn’t mind my… invitation.”

Yvette gulped and looked around. Her magic wasn’t working and she wasn’t exactly armed. “You made me human again, didn’t you? How?”

“A phoenix would be a rare trophy. But you, my dear, as something else entirely. A phoenix-born, I suppose? Both mage and phoenix. Unique, special,” the Collector said. “Truly a prize worth waiting for. It took time to properly… separate the two, however.”

“Separate the two?” Yvette asked. The collector merely motioned to the right.

Yvette couldn’t stop herself. She ran towards it the moment she saw it. A seemingly glass bottle, larger even than her. Within it lightning and storm clouds twisted and swirled. A phoenix. Not just any phoenix, however. HER phoenix. No. HER. The moment she touched the glass she could feel it. A part of her, trapped inside the bottle. A prisoner. He’d separated her into two halves and bound one in a jar, the other…

Her…

“Why… didn’t you bind me?” Yvette asked.

“I have plenty of mages,” the Collector said. “In the end, you’re far less interesting. Your friends as well. I already sent them through the portal out from my realm. You may join them as you please.”

“You’re… letting me go?” Yvette asked, turning back towards him. She then glanced down at herself. “Why? I mean, don’t you… I thought you said I was unique?”

“The part of you I want I already have. The phoenix,” the Collector said. “The rest of you is… less interesting.”

“So you’ll just let us go? Wait, where did you send them? What… world?” Yvette asked.

“Exactly where you wanted to go,” the Collector said. “Away from that positively dreadful empire.” He turned and started to walk away, his body fading away a moment before slowly reappearing, walking towards her. “You really should be more grateful, I’ve already done you a favor. You wished to be human again, did you not? I even returned you to the form you took when you were here.”

“My magic isn’t working,” Yvette said softly.

“A minor side effect,” the Collector said with a shrug. “If you’d like to ignore my generosity, then I suppose I could be… less hospitable.”

Yvette stared into the bottle. A storm trapped in a magic bottle. HER storm. “NO!” Yvette yelled before shoving the bottle as hard as she could, slamming it against the nearest tree. It hit the tree and bounced off, rolling on the ground a few feet before coming to a stop. “O-oh. That… that went differently in my head.” She turned to look at the Collector.

He was no longer smiling. “Such an ungrateful little mage, aren’t you? Here I was planning to let you go and this is how you repay me?”

“Y-you took a part of me,” Yvette said softly, taking a step back from him. He wasn’t actually moving, but she swore she could almost feel him getting closer. “I want it back. It’s mine. It’s half of me!”

“You died once,” the Collector said. “Do you truly wish to die a second time?”

“N-no,” Yvette said. “But I almost die all the time. So I’m kind of used to it. That sounded a lot tougher in my head.”

The Collector shook his head. “Very well. Then I suppose I’ll merely keep both of you.”

“W-what?” Yvette asked. Then, before she could object she found herself inside the bottle. She shrieked, feeling the electricity of the storm wash over her.

It didn’t hurt, though. In fact, the electricity felt oddly soothing. She felt it flowing over her body, the chill of the swirling clouds enveloping her. She held out her hands and it began to take form, a bird only slightly larger than a chicken, yet made of the storm. Its feathers shimmered like crystal and electricity cracked from its body.

She could feel its power. THEIR power. Even if the phoenix was now so much smaller than it had once been, the power of a phoenix was still there. The power in the bird, the focus in the mage. She hugged her other self tighter and the two gathered the storm around themselves before she unleashed it, crackling lightning echoing out in all directions, striking against the glass of their prison again and again. The bottle shuddered, but didn’t break. But she didn’t stop. The lightning wasn’t enough, but she gathered the rain and cloud, hardening it into a flurry of icy spikes before sending them flying out in all directions. They shattered against the bottle, only for lightning to erupt out from the pair again.

A crack formed in the bottle and they both felt the rush of satisfaction. The storm raged, swirling, writhing and then exploding out again and again.

Then it shattered around them. Ice and snow flew in all directions, the Collector turning in time to deflect a shard of ice flying at him.

Yvette, still clutching the phoenix side of herself, ran. She could see the portal, it wasn’t very far. She didn’t even look back, she just ran. She couldn’t believe it. They were going to do it! They were going to escape, everything went perfectly. She stepped through the portal.

Only to step back into the same area she just walked out from.

“Ummm…” Yvette said before stepping back through it again, only to come out the other side. “What?”

“This is my realm, phoenix,” the Collector said with an almost exhausted sigh. “You didn’t actually think you could just leave like that, did you? Still, impressive that you managed to break your prison. Phoenixes truly are fascinating creatures.”

“L-let me go,” Yvette said softly, unable to keep the fear out of her voice. The portal disappeared and the Collector started to walk towards her. “Both of me.”

“Now why would I do that?” the Collector asked.

“Because… because I’ll keep exploding,” Yvette said, taking another small step back, holding her phoenix side tighter. “We’ll… we’ll break things.”

“So your plan is break things in my realm until I decide to let you go rather than doing something… unpleasant to you?” the Collector asked.

Yvette took another step back and cringed when suddenly there was a tree blocking her way again. This time she was sure of it, the tree had not been there before. “Ummm… y-yes. I never said it was a good plan but please?”

The Collector chuckled before shaking his head. “I think not. I suppose bottling a storm was a bit extreme. Much more interesting to watch it rampage. You will come to appreciate your time here, phoenix. Both of you. After all, even if you were a normal mage once, you are hardly that now.”

“But… but… Gervas… he’s waiting for us…” Yvette said softly.

“He will forget about you before long,” the Collector said before once again he began to fade away, soon all that remained was his smile before even that disappeared. “Make yourself at home, my newest acquisition. Let us see how beautiful your storm can be.”

Yvette gulped and looked down at her phoenix self. Still hugging the bird to herself, they were able to use their magic, at least. But even they could both tell they were so, so far outside their league. How did you fight a fae in his own realm?

Neither of them knew how. But they’d find a way. They had to find a way. She just hoped Gervas, Nautia and Bayla were safe, where ever they were.