The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Ninety Five

When winter came after so many years of being absent, the whole kingdom of Aure celebrated. Everyone went outside of their houses and celebrated as snow and hail started falling from the sky. The rivers, the lakes, and even the ocean got frozen, but people loved it. The cold came biting but everyone welcomed it with warm hands. 

I then did what I had to do. I had to search for Volo. Now that he already came back, I am sure that we can now defeat the evil deity that has been giving all of us trouble ever since he showed up here at Aure. I went to Plumba and searched for him there in the frozen bay, but he was not there. I even went to the hills and the forest near the coastal town, but I could not find him there. It did not dampen my spirit though. I just went on searching for him in places that I think he will go now that he is back. 

That is when I went back to the Palace of Aure. The Royal guards did not welcome me with greetings when I landed on one of the balconies of this castle sitting on top of the hill. They were pointing their spears and bows to me as I walked into the corridors. "I did not come here to fight you," I told them as a warning. "But come near me and I will burn you."

"Somebody inform the King that the traitor deity is here!"

I laughed with sarcasm when I heard that from one of them. "Is that my status now? Am I a traitor now?"

"Yes, you are! You have ruined the execution of that murderer together with your followers! All of you are enemies of the kingdom now, didn't you know that?"

That wiped out the smile on your face. "That is not a funny joke," I told them and I started walking towards them while they backed away but still pointing their weapons at me. "My followers did not do anything wrong," I cleared them. "If you are going to punish someone for what happened, punish me instead. My followers are just like you, Royal Guards of this Palace. They are just following all my orders." I was already glaring at them because I did not like what I heard. My followers had just been welcomed back into the kingdom. As citizens of Aure, they are entitled to all the basic rights that the people of Aure enjoy and they have benefited from that over the years. Their membership at the Council also established them as one of the most respected citizens here. But if they are going to be punished with me for the thing that Colette and I did during the execution, then my followers might return to being just ordinary nomads. And that is bad for them. They might never be able to return to Aure if that happens.

"The KIng is here!" said one of the Royal Guards and indeed, I saw the King walking towards me as the Royal Guards gave way to let him through. He looked happier than the last time that I saw him. He stopped a few steps in front of me and looked at me as if I was the most boring person that he ever met. 

"So it was you who came," he said and he did not even hide his disappointment there. "When my Royal Guards told me that a deity was here I immediately thought that it was already the great deity of winter. But it is just you. What do you want?" he asked. Clearly, there was a trace of hatred in his voice and I was still expecting that--- but it made me a little angry still.

I calmed myself though because the King might know where Volo could go. "I just came here to check if Volo is here but it seems that even you don't know where he is right now."

"The great deity of winter does not live here, so why are you searching for him here? It looks like you are already losing your touch, Alfiora. No wonder you created stories to make you feel better."

"What are you trying to say?" I could not help but raise my voice a little because I did not like the tone the King was using at me. Plus, he talks confidently and with the arrogance that only those who do not know that I am a deity have. Then the horror in their face will materialize as soon as they realize who they were talking to, but that is not happening right now with the King. It seems that he is no longer afraid of me. He even addressed me with just my name!

'Nothing much Alfiora, I am just stating the fact that you made up stories so that you can save that Nievo. And when you realized that you could not save him anymore, thanks to the strong evidence that his mother gave us, you just killed him for your own."

"What in the world are you talking about? Are you out of your mind?"

The King did not react to that. Instead, he went on talking his big talk. "Are all deities like you? Arrogant and selfish and conceited? You come here as if you did not ruin the execution, Alfiora. When you did that, I lost all my respect for you. And it is not only that. You also have the nerve to spread stories that the murderer is the great winter of deity when he is not. What is your agenda? Why are you so absorbed into these things, anyway? If I am not mistaken, you liked your solitary life. So why are you even here and making things up? Is it so that the people will think that I made a huge blunder by trying to kill a deity?"

"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!" 

I transformed into my fiery bird form and flames engulfed me like a shield. Then without hesitations, I attacked the KIng as I could take it no more. There is a limit to my patience, and he just broke it. Talking to me like that as if he was on the same level as me, how stupid is this man can get? So I slapped him with my flaming hands, but there was a catch. I could not touch him!

"What the----?"

"Were you surprised?" he asked me as he smiled triumphantly as something like an invisible barrier appeared between the two of us. "You can no longer hurt me, Alfiora. I am safe from any attack that you will try to use on me."

I glared at him with disbelief. "How is this even possible? You are just a mortal! How did you get that power?"

"You are not the only one who knows something," he told me. "With this discovery, soon we will no longer need deities like you for protection. We will be able to fend for ourselves and we can even fight you, Alfiora. This is the future of Aure, and you cannot do anything to stop this."

This was going out of hand. "Is Kentan involved with this?"

The King frowned. "Kentan? Who is that?"

"Do not play dumb with me. I know that you have someone by your side, giving you instructions and telling you what to do next. Is this the doing of Kentan, the deity that is with you?"

When I said that, that was the first time that I saw the King falter. I think he did not expect that I knew that someone was behind him, even though it was obvious from the get-go that he could not do all of this on his own. "I see..." he almost murmured. "So you know that I am in contact with another deity."

"That deity that you are cozying up with is no other than Kentan, the one who wanted to kill us all! You should have not let him in. He is trouble!"

But the King was no longer listening to me. It seemed like the fact that I knew something about the deity that was with him had woke him up from a trance. He was looking beside him as if someone was there. "She knows that you exist, my dear deity...." the King said in the air beside him. "What are we going to do?"

"So I was right," I said to him as I watched him talk to an invisible person. "Kentan, that evil deity who became a human is with you. He is making you do all of these things and you are just following him! You don't know what you are getting yourself into! He is an evil being! What did you do---?"

But I was not able to finish my question because I heard the voice that I overheard before. It was the voice that gave me chills for the first time. It was that voice that sounded so otherworldly that even I got scared for a moment.

"Alfiora... the ever righteous deity of the volcanoes," said the voice. "As expected from a smart deity like you," he added while the King watches my reaction to this. The Royal Guards stood there too, behind the King, but they were also puzzled as to who and where the voice was coming from. Some of them were shaking from fear upon hearing a disembodied voice. "You have discovered my existence. Good job."

"Is it you? Are you Kentan?"

"Indeed, it is I," said the voice.

I could not understand why I could not see him. "Why are you invisible? Where are you?" I was looking around because if I will base where the voice was coming from, it confuses me as it sounds like it is reverberating from everywhere--- from the walls, from the ceiling, and even from the floor.

"I am nowhere," he replied. "As you can see, I am still in the process of returning to my body as a deity. The process is not yet complete, that is why I am seeking the help of the King."

"Process? What process?"

"It is the law of nature, Alfiora. Nature can't just simply return you back into your body when it has already disappeared. You have to wait for it to materialize again. That is what is happening to me right now."

"I don't get it," I said. "But you were a human too... You were that Rain Phantom, right? So you died as well and ended up like that?" 

"That's right. As the Rain Phantom, I met my death without gaining the ability that I needed. Some pirates went to where I was hiding when I suffered from those wounds the last time I battled, and they were able to kill me. They had weapons made from gold. They managed to kill me..."

I gasped. So the Rain Phantom died too the way Nievo died? What a surprise! Does this mean that Nievo will become like him too? Will he become a disembodied voice too? Is that why I could not find him anywhere?

"My dear deity, you don't have to talk to her and tell her what you are up to..." the King suddenly butted in our conversation. "She hates you. She thinks that you want her and the great deity of winter dead."

"Because that is right! Kentan wants to kill us! That is why he became a human in the first place too! He wanted to gain a new ability so that he can defeat us!"

"It looks like we have a misunderstanding here, Alfiora," said Kentan's voice. "I do not want to kill you. Killing you will just turn you into humans, right? So why would I kill you when that just means that you will gain new powers? I know that you are not that stupid to not think of that."

Kentan was right. But still, I am sure that he is lying. I am sure that he wanted to get rids of me and Volo. That is why he is doing all these crazy things. That is why he let himself die and turn into a human. Or did we read him wrong? Right now, I don't even know what to believe in anymore. "You are a liar... You wanted to get rid of us..." I accused him, looking at the space beside the King as I just assumed that if he had a body, he might be there just like what the King is assuming. "You wanted Aure all for yourself."

"That's right, but I did not want to kill you. I just want to subdue you. There is a huge difference between those two concepts."

"Trying to kill us in a trap that you set up does not sound like just wanting to subdue us," I replied. "It was clear that you wanted us to die when you trapped us in that golden ship. Do not try and twist what you did, Kentan! I know that you are trying to manipulate the King in exchange for his wife's life!"

I saw the King fidget when I mentioned that, but Kentasn only laughed. "My dear deity... she knows..."

"Do not worry, there is no problem with her knowing that," Kentan replied to the King. "But Alfiora, when I wanted to kill the two of you that time, I only wanted you to turn into humans so that you can no longer fight me when I try to reclaim Aure for myself again. All I wanted was for the two of you to get out of the picture, as I had learned that you became quite friendly with each other. I had no other choice! Volo befriended you! If you just remained tucked in your volcano home then I would have not taken those steps."

"You fool! You should have not come back here, in the first place! You were already banished from here a long time ago! You killed a deity long ago, which is against the law of nature! And you tried to kill us too! I was now more than just mad for I cannot comprehend how this deity is thinking. If he did not just come back, then all of those things would have never happened. Then Volo would have not done what he did for Aure.

"That is the problem with us deities," he replied. "One mistake and the punishment is forever. I roamed the places abroad, but I always ended up fighting a war. Be it with mortals or foreign deities who live in those places, all of them did not want someone like me. The rumors had spread over there too, you know. They know that I killed another deity, so they did not even want me to take a step into their kingdom's shores. Such hypocrites, when those deities themselves were also engaged in violence. Participating in mortal wars, egging on the kings and queens to colonize another kingdom... Everyone is a murderer! So why am I the only one who was banished? Why would I even follow that rule when everyone else is doing what I did?"

"We did not hurt another deity though," I responded. "We did not kill someone---"

"Does it matter who you kill?" he questioned me, and to be honest, he had a fair point. A valid point, to be exact. "Does it matter if you are directly involved or you are just whispering at a King's ears? Everyone does that! Even your friend, Volo who has decided to take care of this kingdom's Royal Family! So why is it that I am the only one who was punished with a punishment that would last for eternity? Where would I go then, if everywhere else is not in favor of me being there? Shouldn't I just return home?"

I shook my head. "If you had these issues then you should have just talked to us instead of trying to kill us and turn us into humans. Your methods were the problem, Kentan..."

"Because no one wanted to talk to me! That's why I did what I did!" His voice was now full of rage and contempt too that the Royal Guards behind the King all cowered in fright. 

"I am now talking to you!" I said to him in an effort to calm him down. Now that I know where his actions are coming from, I think it's just fair enough to listen to him and try to come up with an agreement with Kentan. "I will listen to you if that is what you want!"

I heard Kentan's voice laugh dryly. "But it is already too late, Alfiora. The things that I have done could no longer be undone. And I am not backing down too! I have come this far and I will do what I want! So once I gain my new body as a deity, you better watch out for I will bring you a war that you will have no hope of winning!"

"I am not interested in going to war against you," I said. "Now that I know the reasons behind your actions, I think I will prefer if we just talk it out, Kentan!"

"NO!" I was shocked when I heard the King said that. "My dear deity, you can't talk to that deity! She is against us! She did not let me execute the murderer on my own terms! She even took the murderer's body somewhere!"

"Because he was Volo, you fool!" I hissed at the King. "And Nievo was innocent! He would never attempt to kill anyone!" But the King was not listening to reason. He was looking like he could not hear me properly, which made me feel like I was visited by the urge to hit him with my flaming hands. But before I could even move a muscle, a strong gust of wind blew into us from the balcony behind me, and then I heard another familiar voice. 

"I am back," said Volo's enigmatic voice.