The street that led you here stops abruptly - and from here you can see a square below, the buildings surrounding it ablaze, and in the center of the square... a giant firebird. It looks injured, a wing hanging limply - but even as you watch, a glow surrounds the creature, mending the wing.
But it's a pointless endeavor. As soon as it's healed, the bird gives a screech, rising up into the air... and almost immediately throwing itself at the surrounding buildings, not caring about the injuries to itself. Again the glow, the healing, again the mindless thrashing; repeat, repeat, repeat.
It does not seem to notice Lark yet, consumed by its grief. It raises its head to the sky, screams, then takes off again to throw itself against the surrounding buildings again. A spire pierces a wing and the bird thrashes, trying to free itself.
The bird catches sight of Lark in the middle of its thrashing and gives another scream - no, a wail, mourning rather than fury. It finally manages to free itself, the injured wing hanging limply as the bird hobbles over to Lark, collapsing near him. The healing glow envelopes its wing, but the creature still gives another mournful wail.
The bird tries to flap its wings, still keening, and in the heat of the wind there is a feeling of... apology, deep sorrow, grief, guilt. For a moment, Lark will feel himself to be someone else, the weight of a small body in his arms - dead, you know in that instant. Dead, and you'd failed to save them.
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I cannot say I would know exactly how or why, except that it would be extremely messy.
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"Correct. And what would you judge to be the reason for such an act?"
Sorry Lark, he's. Not a very helpful NPC.
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[ Please he has no context for any of this, ]
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"Close."
He turns around, pointing towards the fire.
"There you will find it. How to deal with it is up to you. But a readiness to understand and think should serve you well."
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... All right. Thank you.
[ He's going to take a deep breath before he heads on to the fire. ]
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But it's a pointless endeavor. As soon as it's healed, the bird gives a screech, rising up into the air... and almost immediately throwing itself at the surrounding buildings, not caring about the injuries to itself. Again the glow, the healing, again the mindless thrashing; repeat, repeat, repeat.
A sad and gruesome sight.
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So that's why there was all this talk about phoenixes. Fuck.
How does one talk to a giant flaming bird that is also symbolism, that is also wrecking itself, ]
Excuse me! Hello?
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It does not seem to notice Lark yet, consumed by its grief. It raises its head to the sky, screams, then takes off again to throw itself against the surrounding buildings again. A spire pierces a wing and the bird thrashes, trying to free itself.
There is a lot of grief here.
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There has to be some way to get its attention, because it's honestly painful watching it go through this. ]
Hey! HEY!
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Levity? What happened?
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Well.
He sure didn't need to be reminded of his own experience with someone dying in his arms. ]
...Levity, that's ...
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There is more grief, more sorrow in the air. A duty, he had a duty, but he failed - helpless, useless, unable to protect even one person.