"All right then!! If this will lead us to eventually taking out the refinery then we're in favor of it!" Stated Orian.
"Trust me! If the humans are responsible then they will burn for this!!" Stated Eternus.
"I don't mean to be insensitive, but haven't there been more disappearances than just your sister? What about them?" Asked Chrome.
The Prince glared at Chrome.
"Don't presume that the plight of my people isn't on my mind!! We have been investigating their disappearance for months!!"
"What do you mean!? Our father says they're being held in the refinery?" Stated Chrome.
The prince shook his head.
"Your father's information is incorrect! It was literally the first place we checked! The refinery is indeed using the remains of my kind to produce their weapons of war. But the refinery is receiving the remains AFTER it's already been processed. "
"So they're being held elsewhere?" Stated Orian.
"Exactly!! Which is why I'm skeptical about the information this survivor provided!! She was supposed to meet with a Djinn that supposedly had information about the missing phoenixes.
Now she has dissappeared as well? Something is going on and I intend to find out what." Stated the Prince.
Orian and Storm followed him to a small field outside the settlement where a small squad of Phoenix Guard were waiting.
They stood off to the side while the Prince briefed his men and informed them of the mission.
Afterwards they all transformed into their true forms as they prepared to fly off to the ambush site.
The prince became a large phoenix with deep purple feathers and gold eyes. Bright orange flames radiated from his body and the area around him became noticeably hotter.
The strangest feature was the massive star shaped scar in the center of his chest. Fire continued to blaze within the scar.
Despite this serious scar, the prince didn't seem to be crippled in any way and seemed as strong as anyone of his brighter kin.
They all took to the air and the prince led the way towards the ambush site, Orian and Chrome flew beside him while the rest of the guards flew further back in their natural forms.
While they flew, Orian kept trying to discreetly stare at the prince out of the corner of his eye, but despite his best efforts the prince must have caught him out.
"You clearly have questions, Dragon!!? So ask it before your staring causes offense!!" Said Eternus.
"I'm sorry!! It's just... you don't look like how I expected a phoenix prince to look!?"
"You were expecting an 'peacock' without a scar on his body instead of a ' old warbird' like me?" Asked Eternus in amusement.
"Petty much, yes?" Stated Orian.
"Seems like a strange profession for a prince to find himself in?" Stated Chrome.
"You and your brother does the same thing?" Stated Eternus.
"That's different!! We're not guaranteed to inherit our father's position upon his death!! He's not a monarch like your mother!!" Exclaimed Orian.
"Neither will I! I'm far enough down the Phoenix right of succession that my death wouldn't even affect it!" Besides... it's not like my mother rules over a nation of thousands... even if my entire family were to die out.
It would cause no harm to our larger nation. " Explained the Prince.
Orian hesitated before changing the topic.
"Forgive me for asking, but I couldn't help but notice that you have purple feathers..? Doesn't that mean that you...?" Started Orian.
"Died once before? Not my proudest moment, but yes!" Stated Eternus.
"Doesn't that makes this even more dangerous for you? If you died again then you're gone for good?" Stated Chrome.
"You also live only one life? And yet it hasn't caused you to live in fear of death?" Stated Eternus.
He sighed.
" I suppose I am fortunate in a way... my kind tends to be a little reckless in their youth... why should they be cautious if they literally just revive upon death?
But I lost my first life while I was a chick... with me only having one more life left to live, it has been a great motivation for me to improve my combat skills and to be careful in battle. " Explained Eternus.
"I'm sorry!! I shouldn't have asked!!" Stated Orian.
"It's all right... I'm not offended... besides, there are worse fates for my kind than dying young." Said Eternus.
"The twilight?" Asked Orian.
The Phoenix nodded his head.
"I know everyone looks down on my kind, thinking were puffed up braggards and risk takers, but what choice do we have when faced with such a terrible end.
'Burn bright like a star, so that others can remember you when your light dims...'
It's how we choose to fight the Twilight. I'd rather die in battle, than the slow lonely death the Twilight forces on us. Many other phoenixes thinks the same way." Explained Eternus.
"Where does the Twilight come from?" Asked Orian.
"Who knows!? Some Phoenixes thinks it's some kind of curse, others believe it's the price we pay for our immortality.
Whatever it is, it consumes us completely... both body... and soul..." Explained Eternus.
"What do you mean!!? Don't Phoenixes have an afterlife!!?" Asked Orian.
The Phoenix shook his head.
"We burn out completely! Both body and soul! It's why there has never been an phoenix ghost or undead. No afterlife awaits my kind after we die. We simply cease to exist..." Explained Eternus.
A lot suddenly made sense now about phoenix behavior. By constructing monuments to their own glory, they seek to avoid oblivion by ensuring they will at least be remembered after death.
"Seems like a sad fate... the idea that we will continue to live on after our bodies die is often a source of strength for us.
The idea that we'll see our loved ones again... it makes death less scary for us..." stated Orian.
"We Phoenixes are not that lucky... only afterlife we have is being remembered by those who remain... a Phoenixes greatest fear is to be forgotten..." stated the Prince.
"Is that why you do what you do? Safeguarding your family and clan and risking your life for them?" Asked Chrome.
The prince gave no reply.