13 February 2024 part 2

I am actually pretty proud of this one. It’s not a sonnet or anything like that (no rhyming and the stanzas aren’t long enough), but I did play with iambic pentameter; it seemed to fit the subject material. Basically, this is my Valentine’s post. Happy Valentine’s day! (Even if we’re two and a half months past by the time I post this.)

The inspirations might surprise you, though. I was listening to music at work, and “Phoenix” by Belle Sisoski and “Legends Never Die” by Against The Current played back to back, and got me thinking about phoenixes and things. There’s also the line about the “scars collected all their lives”. So I wondered; if there were a phoenix who could and did take human form, and they got married, how would that work? Hence this.

The Phoenix’ Husband

Howe’er can one describe a goddess’ grace?

With hair like sunset o’er the mountain pass

And eyes and smile more bright than evening star

Nor these alone; her form with blade in hand

More glorious and deadly than the lion

Yet gentle laughter always at her lips

Once met, five years spent I in courting her

Together walked through rain and snow and shine

I knew this hope but folly, yet kept on

At last she answered; joy forevermore!

We wed within the town we next arrived

And seemed to me eternity ahead

Alas, ‘twas not to be. How cruel is fate!

Before three years had passed, a bandit’s shaft

Near pierced my heart, and may as well have done,

For she did bear it in my place and died

The fight, though won, my heart did turn to ash

And darkness clouded soul and sight a time.

But then, within the ashes of my love,

A child, a girl, her hair alike aflame

Her smile did soothe my soul. I took her in

And raised her with me on the road abroad

Some say a child should not like this be raised

But who am I to clip the phoenix’ wings?

1 October 2022

And here is part 2 of my Iphigenia story! Mostly just setting up pieces. Not that I know yet how it’ll go from here. I do feel sorry for that priestess…

I think I need to read/watch more zombie movies to get an idea of where to go next.

At the meeting of the Senate, nearly everyone present wore smiles that oozed with greed.

“How long before they submit?” asked the Minister of Finance, a tall, spindly man with a meticulous mustache.

“It won’t be much longer,” the Minister of the Esteemed answered. He was a fat, balding man, and even within the Senate few took his opinion seriously.

“I’ve heard they’re actually considering war.” The Minister of the Commonwealth was the youngest man in the room; he hadn’t yet reached 40, but had still been able to afford to buy a seat on the council.

The Minister of Defense, a robust woman with a few scars from her time in the military, scoffed. “More the fools that makes them, then. Even without considering the Children of Iphigenia, our force is so much greater than theirs, any battle would be like a stroll in a park.”

“Speaking of which,” the Minister of the Commonwealth asked. “Where is Horenza?”

“No doubt gorging herself on foreign delicacies,” the Minister of the Esteemed snorted. “You know how she is.”

“Well, you’re here, so someone has to keep them in business,” the Minister of Finance retorted. The Minister of the Esteemed shot him a glare.

At that point, the door to the council chambers opened, and a young woman stepped inside, dressed in the robes of Iphigenia’s clergy. “My apologies. High Priestess Horenza is currently indisposed; I have been sent to represent the Lady in her stead.”

The senators all looked amongst each other, until finally the Minister of Defense urged her, “Very well, child. What does Iphigenia have to say about the current situation?”

The priestess bowed her head, but when she opened her eyes, they’d gone entirely white. The lights in the council room dimmed, and when the priestess spoke, the voice that came out was not the same as the one she’d used before.

“Be wary, fools of the Senate, for I am not deceived. Long have you glutted yourselves on the sufferings of your neighbors, and how easily do you condemn those beyond your sight to starvation and slavery!

“No more will I watch silently. If you do not repent, retract your sanctions and your desires for conquest, war will not wreck some distant land while you cower here, safe in your capital. No; my Children shall rise from these graves, and deliver it to your very doorsteps. So repent, O fools, and hunger no more for power.”

She closed her eyes, and for several seconds no one spoke. Then the priestess bowed, the lights returned to normal, and she left. For the next several minutes, not one one of the Senators could muster up the courage to speak.

And yet, within the week, that priestess was executed for treason.

<- Iphigenia Previous

21 September 2022

As I mentioned in the previous post, thinking about what made the god-kings tyrants messed with my headspace. The Phoenix, which this short was about, was one of the most fascinating and sympathetic to me, but still very twisted in her own way.

I think one of the problems I had was I was both unwilling to let her and the others be anything other than tyrants, but I wasn’t fully willing to commit to how terrible they could be, either. And a lot of that was I didn’t want to have to imagine what they might do and the reasons behind it. There are certain lines I won’t cross because of my personal beliefs; however, there’s still plenty I could do within those limits.

I do plan on coming back to this story; I want find something to help balance the scales in my head, though, so I don’t get so focused on the negative I lose the point of the story or have it start impacting the rest of my life. I think it’s important to acknowledge evil exists, bad things happen, and even good people do things they regret, but it’s also important not to dwell so much on those things we can’t see the beauty in life.

Also, random fun fact for the day, in the “language of flowers”, dahlias represent commitment. Or so the Internet says.

This was part of my series inspired by a song called Godhunter by Aviators (link here). It’s also on Spotify.

Finally, WARNING! As you may have gathered from context, this post has scenes with implications of torture and abuse. Please DO NOT CONTINUE if you cannot, or do not want to, read such things. Thank you.

They were lovers, once, the Phoenix and the Conqueror, back when they were still human. Mortal. Back before everything around her burned, back when he was still capable of feeling. When they’d dared to dream of robbing death.

And then they did it. And everything went wrong.

No one, perhaps not even the man himself, know whether the Conqueror’s feelings for her were ever sincere, or if he’d just been playing her from the beginning for her skills. Whichever the case, only a few scant years passed after their transformation, he rejected her and ordered her to leave.

At first, she couldn’t believe it. She plead. She begged. She wheedled, and wailed, and bargained, until in rage he cut off her head and shoved her body into the moat before it could smoke up his castle when it burned.

Once she revived and crawled out, wet and pathetic, the Phoenix finally believed him, and she wept. Her tears turned to steam trailing from the corners of her eyes. Then, her sorrow turned to fury, and hell rained down on the lands. And thus the first of the God Wars began.

By the time the wars had ended, the Phoenix had claimed a kingdom of her own. Hers was a court of decadence; exotic foods, fine wines, and anything else one could desire. Every so often, some young man would catch her eye, and she would have him brought to her chambers. She couldn’t touch him, but she would order him to entertain her, leaving the question of what would happen if he couldn’t unanswered.

Some of her “partners” resented their forced servitude, and several managed to kill her once. One even made it outside the city before she revived and turned him to ash. Still, she tried to be kind to them, when she wasn’t in one of her fits; these men offered the closest thing to companionship she could get.

The women of her city were less lucky, however. And the more beautiful, the greater the danger. While most times the Phoenix maintained enough rationality to avoid harming her subjects, sometimes she would fly into a rage and attack. “Is it you?” she would scream, “Are the one who seduced him from me!?”

At other times, instead of rage, panic would cause the Phoenix to shake. She would slowly walk up to the woman while muttering, over and over, “No… no, can’t let him see you. You’ll take him away, like all the others. Mustn’t let him see you…”

Either way, she would grab the girl’s face, ignore her screams, and hold it long enough to leave a scar.

One day, however, a young man bowed before her and actually asked to be her servant. Shocked, she asked why. He said, “Because I want to see for myself who you truly are.”

The Phoenix eyed him appraisingly. “And what is your name?”

“Terrence, your Majesty.”

Despite feeling unsettled by the request, the Phoenix gave her permission.

And so he served her. He quickly learned her likes and dislikes, and when to prod for more information about a request or to leave her alone for a while. He painted her pictures and wove her stories, all while trying to glean what lay behind her mask of flames. In time, he came to see the hurt, lonely girl she’d hidden away.

“Who was he?” he asked one day.

The Phoenix froze. “Who?”

“The one the rest of us are meant to replace.”

For a long moment the Phoenix offered no reply. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He didn’t push the issue, but he didn’t fail to notice the glass in her hand begin to melt and mold to her fingers.

Several days passed, and again he asked, “Who was he?”

This time, she didn’t bother to lie. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Still, he noticed the steam streaming from the corners of her eyes, and for the first time, he recognized them as tears.

Two weeks passed before he was willing to try again. This time, they were strolling through a garden, the Phoenix carefully avoiding everything, but admiring its beauty all the same.

“Who was he?” he dared to ask.

For almost a minute, she didn’t move, didn’t speak. “He was a man, once. We decided to challenge fate itself together, along with our friends.” She scoffed, then let her finger rest on a dahlia. The flower immediately burned to ash. “Unfortunately, we succeeded. And I… I guess I didn’t matter anymore.”

Once more, whisps of steam rose from her face up towards the sky.