Chapter 13: The Phoenix Vision
"Chirppppp..."
The furious cry of a massive blood-red phoenix rang out, causing the whole planet to tremble. A single flap of its wings blew all the clouds in the planet's atmosphere away, revealing the dark vacuum of space.
Then it landed on the highest mountain—but its massive weight and talons crushed the mountain peak into dust on contact. Even the planet itself was shifted out of it's orbit by the creature's weight.
With the dust settled and sunlight illuminating the massive bird, all creatures looking at it were traumatized, awe and terrified it's beauty and the danger and pressure radiating from it's massive body.
Many of them went blind instantly.
Radiating from this bird was an ethereal aura—fire and Primordial force that caused all living beings to want to bow down and even offer their lives as offerings.
With blood-red wings shining and almost illuminating the entire planet, scales that seemed capable of withstanding even the explosion of multiple universes combined, and blood-red eyes that seemed to have seen ages—that seemed to have experienced all unnatural phenomena of the universe.
Its eyes carried an ethereal order that seemed to want to bend the will of the universe to itself.
Opening its massive beak that was almost the size of a city, a cold, mature masculine voice rang out from it:
"You peasants, what have you come here for again? I warned your ancestors not to look at this planet. Or have you all come here to die?"
In front of this bird stood races of the universe, all in different shapes and sizes. But one thing they all shared—they all looked like ants in front of the bird.
Without giving the different races of the universe any time to react, the bird opened its mouth and—
"Chirppppp..."
A massive amount of soundwaves came out in the form of the bird's cry. But after spreading out to every inch of the planet, it came back as a red mist of energy that swept over all the races.
Anyone that the red mist of energy touched was wiped out of existence. Their DNA, their souls—everything was completely erased.
Within the blink of an eye, there was no one standing in front of the bird—only the empty planet, its atmosphere now turned red because of the lingering mist of energy.
As if it had not yet vented its anger, the bird flew up and out of the planet's atmosphere. It continued flying higher until the planet's system now looked like a marble.
Opening its beak, it gave a terrifying cry that shook the entire galaxy and beyond.
Just this single cry caused all celestials, gods, and demons to sit at the edge of their chairs as they looked toward the direction of the legendary Phoenix Galaxy, wondering who might have provoked it.
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Meanwhile, Apolo was like an NPC in an empty space, watching as all this transpired. He couldn't move, couldn't speak. All he could do was think.
"What is this?"
That was the first question that came to his mind as he watched in horror as this bird used its powers to go against and rewrite physics.
"What height of power is this? Is it possible to be this powerful? Able to transmit your voice across galaxies? Causing a planet thousands of times the size of Earth to tremble because of your weight?"
The thoughts kept rolling as Apolo watched, making him realize just how insignificant he was.
"That is the same power I used on Sky City when I awakened. I remember doing this, but those hybrids and chaos beasts only froze when the mist touched them. They weren't disintegrated or erased from existence."
Apolo thought as images of Sky City resurfaced again. He tried to clench his fist, only to realize he couldn't even feel his hands. He gave a nonexistent sigh.
"This is what it means to be powerful.
Having all the races in the universe anxious because of your voice. Can I achieve something like this one day?"
He paused.
"Oh, I forgot—I'm probably dead, which is why I'm seeing something like this. But in my next life, would I be capable of such terrifying might? I don't think so. I'd probably just use it to keep killing people because of a slight misunderstanding. The universe definitely won't allow it."
Apolo thought as his past actions flooded his memory again. Not feeling his body made him believe he was already dead.
"This should be the road to hell, I guess. That waterfall fall was really epic. I thank the gods for making my death that long and boring so I could reflect on myself."
Thinking about the feeling of peace he'd been trying to reach out for, his bearing changed. Without a heart or even eyes to cry with, nor fists to clench, Apolo was just looking with his soul—a swirling bath of emotions. Dying so soon, no time to see his parents to ask them why—his emotions kept surging until he started feeling something crawling down his face. From his eyes to his cheeks.
It tasted salty.
But how?
He shook whatever head he had and
thought:
"Even in death, I still can't find that peace I want. Not that I deserve it after what I've done."
Clearing his head, he looked ahead, waiting for the scorching fire to come.
But instead of fire, he heard laughter. Light. Playful. Alive.
"Sleeping and crying? Who does that?"
A feminine voice cried out—but it was an echo to Apolo.
The voice was kind of playful but also full of sarcasm.
Just when Apolo thought he might have heard wrong, he felt himself violently shaken, then a loud slap to the face.
But before he opened his eyes, that same masculine voice of the phoenix sounded again—but this time, it sounded as if it was coming straight from Apolo's soul:
"You can become even more powerful than that. Your potential is limitless. Your destiny is unbound. Your fate is mysterious—not even the universe can predict or stop your rise."
"Limitless?"
He thought
After everything I've done? But why does this voice sound so certain... could it be true?"
Then he opened his eyes, only to be stunned by the sight in front of him.