Chapter III
New Life
Phoenix arrived at The Tree of Life, stunned by the sheer size of it. Its upper branches where scrapping along the stone sky as the Underworld slowly rotated causing small shards of rock to shower among the blazing branches like ask.
flying amongst the blazing branches she looked for the knothole, the exit of the Underworld. Close to the bottom of the tree, near a large blazing branch, a small pillar of flames shot from a knothole that wasn't much bigger then her. Phoenix watched as the flames shot from the hole with each and every pulse of life in the tree.
She had started to have second thoughts on what would come of her after she passed through the knothole, a light breeze had brushed past her nose, gently pushing across her face, into her ears, the wind sounded of a familiar voice she had heard several times before which had easily been recognized as Coma Zotz, "no need of hesitation, your new life is safe." with this thought of comfort she dived towards the knothole without any worries or second thoughts; she trusted her god, his words where all the protection and reassurance she needed.
Before she reached the knothole several columns of flames leaped out from the knothole grabbing her wings and torso pulling her into the knothole. Phoenix's fur had brushed against the blazing bark of the tree as she passed: She had expected it to burn the fur off her shoulders and wings leaving an intense and painful scar, but it hadn't, her fur was intact and she hadn't felt any form of fire touch her.
Once inside, the flames were glowing blue rather than red and were chilled to the touch. The flames that held her moved her up the gigantic tree trunk; the blue flames passing her off into a large branch than pulled her to the right leading her up another thick branch. Pinning her ears flat against her head and snapping her eyes tightly closed she was completely blind, the only thing she could feel was the cold fuzzy feeling of the blue flames that gripped her body. The flames did not move slow or waste time getting her out, they moved her through the tree at an accelerating speed, swiftly passing her through.
Suddenly she felt the fire throw her towards a wall at a dead end; she felt as if she had ran into a tree at full speed, which she ironically she did. She felt the cold embers release her body in mid-motion after passing through the thick bark of the tree flinging her out into an unknown space, she quickly began to fall so she opened her eyes and her ears, unfurled her wings in an attempt to fly but it was to late. She smacked her head off something solid causing her entire body to go numb as she slowly lost consciousness.
When Phoenix awoke from her sleep she had felt as if she had just ran into a tree at full speed. She slowly tilted her head to the side to make sure her neck and back where alright then she briefly checked both her wings, both her legs, her chest and then her tail to make sure everything was alright. "Good nothings broken, only bruised" she sighed in relief.
She looked up seeing the jungle canopy above her, she skimmed her surroundings unable to see anything through the eerie fog that clouded around her, she took to the air. Carefully she flew through the trees working her way out of the fog then up above the canopy. Almost immediately she recognized the constellations, but she hadn't known which way to search for Goth so she started south, south-east with hopes she was heading in the right direction.
She whispered into the humid air, "Am I going the right way Zotz?" Almost immediately after finishing her sentence a short gust of wind breathed against her ears and whispered back, "yes."
She knew it was Zotz and if he had the strength to speak to her that meant Goth had been doing well since his return to the world of the living.
She flew mostly at night noticing that the other Vampyrums of this new time didn't fly during the day. She saw a young Vampyrum streak throw the thick branches of the upper canopy, he had solid black fur his eyes were a dark brown almost black, his wings were different though, they were a dark gray color and he had burn marks across his upper back and over the backside of his wings.
She saw that he was chasing a smaller bat which made her stomach churn, the small bat was solid black its eyes were a dark shade but she couldn't see its eyes or even tell if it was male or female, the edges of its wings were a bright silver color. She watched the younger vampyrum sink his sharpened claws into its lower back. Hungrily the young vampyrum closed his twin mountain ranges of teeth on the small bats neck, the small northern bat whimpered in pain and in fear as its neck released several loud noises, the vampyrum didn't pull back but continued to bite down on it causing the small round head of the northern bat fell off.
The vampyrum watched the head fall, diving down just after it broke the dense jungle canopy, he caught the head in one claw then yelled some names into the surrounding trees still holding the headless body, he ripped a chunk of meat off and landed in a nearby tree that stuck out into the clearing just as two other young vampyrums came in to the small clearing from the shadows of the surrounding trees.
Phoenix swiftly dived into the canopy landing in a thick cluster of branches just behind the wall of shadows on the edge of the clearing. She watched the young bats carefully hoping she could get a meal out of this little ordeal.
He looked up letting a chunk of meat fall from his mouth with a small smile on his face, Phoenix flinched hoping that he hadn't spotted her. Still holding the head in his claws he tossed it into the small clearing between the other two bats. Both the bats dived for it at the same time trying to get it before the other got it.
"I got it!" a female voice yelled as the smaller vampyrum sank her claws into the bottom of the head.
"Toss it here!" yelled the other bat, his voice sounded deeper then the first vampyrum.
She watched as the young female flew back up, with the head in her claws, its blood dripped from her claws.
"Over here Serona!" said the Vampyrum which had caught the northern bat.
"Here you go, Neo." Serona said flinging the dead bats head through the air at the smaller male vampyrum.
Suddenly the other male bat shot past grabbing the head in his claws sinking two large claws into one of its ears and another into the other ear.
"What are you doing!" Neo yelled as he flew towards the other male bat.
"What, I'm hungry." The male bat said in a deep voice, for such a young bat he was rather big.
"Common Scoul, give it here your ruining our game." Neo said calmly sticking his claws out for the head.
Scoul released the head from his claws allowing it to free fall towards the earth, "There, go get it." he spat out with obvious sarcasm in his voice.
Serona dived towards the head, unable to go any closer to the earth she drew back letting it come to an abrupt stop on the ground.
Neo simply grunted looking at Scoul with burning rage in his eyes, "great now you have to eat it."
Neo said landing in the tree next to the bones of his last meal.
Scoul preformed a mid-air somersault driving himself into a hovering dive, plotting his coarse then letting himself free fall towards the abandoned head. He unfurled his wings mere feet above the grounds surface digging his claws into the eye sockets of the skull he pulled them out and devoured them both, with a large grin pointed at Neo, "oh, so good, haven't had a bat eye in some time." Scoul grunted with the pleasure of eating the soft delegate eyes of a northern bat.
"You show off!" Serona said in a distasteful tone of voice, landing next to Neo in the tree.
Phoenix shifted her wings uncomfortably, accidentally bumping into a twig which snapped on impact causing the vampyrum known as Neo to look directly at her, "who's there!" Noe asked in an alarmed voice.
Phoenix knew she was caught so she decided to drop from her roost, after she cleared the branches she unfurled her elegant wings causing all three newborn Vampyrums to go silent for a split second until Serona broke the silence, "Who are you?"
"I'm Phoenix Vampyrum." she said already knowing that none of them have ever heard of her.
"Why are you following us?" Neo asked hesitantly.
"I wasn't following you, I was flying by and saw you chasing the bat so I watched." she admitted trying not to seem rude.
"So what's the biggest thing you have ever killed and eaten?" Scoul asked not even caring that she had been spying on them. "I've killed an owl on my own" he said proudly.
"I've killed and eaten an eagle on my own." Phoenix said landing on a branch a few feet above Neo and Serona smiling proudly knowing that they didn't know what an eagle was.
All three of the young bats went silent trying to think of how big an eagle would be or what it would even look like.
"How big are those?" Scoul asked silently landing next to Neo folding his wings around his massive body.
"Fairly large, the one I killed had a wing span of about six feet." she said proud of her kill. "Now let me ask you something, Do any of you now a male bat named Goth?"
"Well, no I don't." Serona said fast looking down at Phoenix as Scoul and Neo talked quietly amongst themselves then they agreed, "we haven't either." they said in unison
"Neo was the only one to ever now his parents, Scoul and I never met ours, we where to young to remember-" Serona spatted quickly not even stopping to breath.
"Quiet your tongue Serona!" Neo snapped at her to stop her from telling there whole history, "ah, to late now, might as well finish." he said releasing a loud sigh.
"We where banished from our colonies because we had no caretakers and Neo was banished because hes a-" she stopped as soon as Neo interrupted her sentence, but she was still grinning from ear to ear.
"A runt, If you cant tell by now." He said in an uncaring voice, "My parents actually requested my banishment from the colony because they didn't think I'd survive vary long, they gave me a single month to learn how to hunt then they kicked me out." Neo said looking up at the ground, "Scoul here is overgrown but he doesn't think straight so he's a bit slower then everyone else, and Serona." Neo said quickly not wanting to go into detail about there pasts.
"I'm sorry to hear that, be happy you had family, believe me it could be worse, You three may have never found each other." Shifting her wings against the chill of the wind.
Phoenix noticed the jungle begin to come alive with the dawn chorus of the birds, she looked down to see that the sun had already started to brighten the sky leaving the stars to fade away.
"Well I'm really sorry but I have to go, I hope to see you three agian soon, maybe next time we can talk a bit longer. She said looking back at the young bats.
"Hay, why are you calling us kids you don't look much older then us, just bigger!" Scoul blurted out in raged by being called a child.
"Yea, how old are you three?" Phoenix asked folding her wings to her sides once more.
"I'm eight months old." Neo said quickly as if he didn't care what was going on.
"I'm five months" said Serona with a large grin painted on her face.
"I'm six in a half months old." Scoul said quietly looking away.
"How old are you Phoenix?" Neo asked intent for an answer.
"You wouldn't believer me-" she said sarcastically as Neo cut her off.
"Try us." Neo taunted.
"Alright, I've been around for 153 years."
"No you haven't, No bat can live that long except Coma Zotz himself!" Scoul blurted out enrages by her answer.
"I never said I was alive, I had died 150 years ago just after turning two years old, and I've met Coma Zotz and he's the reason I'm alive once more." she said not wanting to explain everything to these little ones. "I need to go now, I really am sorry." she whispered before releasing the branch above her and free falling just past the young vampyrums, digging her claws into the wood bringing herself to a stop between Serona and Neo.
"Nice trick, how long it take you to get that good at it?" Neo asked stunned by her answer and on her performance.
"Quite a long time, maybe I could teach you sometime." she said turning towards Neo with a wink, with that she dropped from the branch and kept her wings closed until she cleared the younger bats and some small moss covered branches, she unfurled her wings mere feet from the jungle floor and quickly pulling up into the canopy yelling, "Bye, for now!" as she broke the surface of the trees and started south-east into the sunrise.
She continued flying as the sun rose into the sky so did the song of the birds in the land, She scanned the surface of the earth for the pyramid.
When she saw the pyramid come into view there was a large black ring above the pyramid but she was at such a distance she couldn't see what it was made of, only that it was several smaller forms moving together at the same speed in one direction.
She instinctively knew it was destined to be her home and Goth was destined to be her mate, she picked up speed as she flapped harder completely unaware of the animals had flocked in all directions as she flew above the canopy of the jungle, she muttered, "home" with a sigh of relief when she saw the black moving ring take form into a glorious ring of Vampyrum.
As she approached four Vampyrum Guards flew up from beneath her stopping her before she could reach the royal palace. "Who are you?" one of the guards demanded.
"I am Phoenix" She blurted out in pride, "I am looking for Goth"
"Ah yes we have been awaiting your arrival for many years, King Goth would like to speak with you immediately" another guard said flying up behind her.
"Really he became the king!?" she exclaimed thinking of how she had tormented him inside the mines so long ago.
"Come, hurry know we must not waste time" the guard said pointing his nose at the top of the palace.
In Tree Haven the females were getting larger and larger with each passing day and it looked as if they were going to explode any minute, most of the pregnant females couldn't fly, so the females that weren't blessed with a child were the caretakers of the others.
Marina was tending to Luna's water leaf, "what do you think she will look like?" Luna asked rubbing her bulging belly.
Marina drifted her gaze along Luna's bulging underbelly and said, "probably like her father" then Marina stopped briefly as a smirk was drawn on her face, "what makes you think it will be a
female?"
Luna smiled back at her grandmother and said, "I really don't know. I didn't mean to say 'her'" she felt the fur on her face start to worm up "I hope its female though!" she exclaimed with a weary smile on her face.
Marina just smiled softly at her granddaughter, "it will be alright" she finally said tenderly
Luna glanced down at her belly and ran her claw over it softly "hay, Marina…" she paused as
Marina turned her head in attention "Will it hurt?" Luna had finally said after she had stopped playing with the fur on her belly.
Marina looked at Luna and spoke in a firm voice, "Yes..." she said with no signs of sarcasm she continued, "It will hurt but only for a short time."
Luna was quickly fear stricken at that thought then almost immediately thought of the fire that had ones killed her, and felt a small spark of hatred for Griffin who had been the cause of her painful death the first time.
As soon as that thought arrived she pushed it away feeling ashamed of herself to even allow such a horrific thought enter her head for Griffin had been the one to bring her back to life, save her from the underworld, and bless her with a child. Luna felt proud that she was to bare Griffins child, "good," was all she could say to answer her grandmother.
Almost a week after their talk some of the females had already given birth to their newborns and were nursing them still resting on there roosts. The newborns where strange looking, but healthy, some had already started to grow their fur but their teeth still hadn't come in, and wouldn't for several weeks.
Just after mid-night Luna had been stricken with a pain she hadn't felt since her death, winsing in pain she called out for Marina who had been in the elders roost at the top of the tree.
Several bats moved out of the way of there flying elder, who quickly made her way through the tree. As Marina landed beside Luna she glanced around at the medical bats on both sides of Luna and they had already propped her head up on a roll of leaves for some support, her wings were spread across her families roost.
Shade had finally awoken after several weeks of being in a deep sleep without any dreams, he could not see nor could he hear, he couldn't remember anything from his own past, the only thing in his head was, "find food!" which was ringing in his mind as soon as he awoke.
Soon after awakening from his sleep he started to panic. He couldn't breath in this small cave, he started to struggle, kicking at the walls which had started to move around him, they began pushing him to one side as if trying to banish him from his dwelling in which he resided, he started moving in the direction he was being pushed as the walls started to push harder at him.
Within a few pushes from the walls which he noticed had started to open into a clearing, Shade had felt himself fall onto a hard cold surface and almost immediately he started to shiver.
Marina picked up the hairless pink newborn and held it in one wing as she walked on her legs and left hand, "What a beautiful little..." Luna interrupter her by taking possession of the newborn then quietly she finished her grandmothers sentence, "…girl."
"What's her name?" Marina quietly asked, already knowing the name she and Griffin had already chosen for there first born female.
"Flow" Luna answered as she started nursing the newborn.