Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

Chapter 359: Success

The two soon came to a place on the rocky plateau that was not like the others.

Massive boulders, up to two meters high, were piled in circles and partially fused together, appearing to have once had a molten outside layer.

Gerald quickly ran to check it up close, and his teammate followed.

It was already evening by the time they arrived at the possible nest, and the sun rays became increasingly less energetic and sparse.

The rocks that made the bowl-shaped structure on the ground radiated significantly more heat than the surrounding bedrock. In fact, the red rock underneath already started to slightly cool down by the cold wind that came with the approaching night, however, the nest was still painfully hot to the touch even though it had a bigger surface area and should thus be cooling faster.

"Say, you didn't see any creature flying around the sky when you first found this, did you?" Gerald asked the warrior beside him.

"I didn't," the man immediately answered. "As soon as I saw it, I went back to get you."

"Then, is it possible that a fiery creature might have been resting here not long ago? Just before we came here, perhaps?" Gerald thought out loud.

He was fairly certain that this was the nest of the Phoenix, but he couldn't be 100%. He climbed over the hot boulders and went to see what was inside.

It was empty for the most part, with the exception of a few pieces of whatever sat there not long ago.

"We need to leave, now!" Gerald suddenly said and pulled the guy towards the lizards.

"Why, what's happening?"

In response, Gerald showed him a tiny feather, fully red and orange, that was producing a small amount of heat.

He then pointed at the sky, "Don't you think that star is a bit early?"

Up there, a bright dot was the first one to appear, announcing a stary night. Some might even say it was right above them, a good sign of things to come.

"Is it just me or is it moving?" the warrior said while frowning.

"You got it," Gerald confirmed his suspicion. "Now let's go, come, we need to get away from this place.

As the two jumped in the saddle, the bright star in the sky suddenly accelerated, leaving a short streak of light after itself. Then it made a U-turn and dove down somewhere behind the horizon.

"Holy shit was that the Phoenix?!"

"Most likely," Gerald answered. He then beckoned, "Call Dug and tell him what we found. Tell him to get his ass over here as quickly as possible. This beast might not be here for long."

The man nodded and took the Sound Transmission Rune out of his pocket. After fumbling about for a bit, he got it to work. The stone produced a mist-like distortion above it and connected to the other Rune on the other side of the plateau.

The countless micro-portals that were created were just good enough to let some low-quality sound through, allowing for instant communication across long distances.

It might have been an impressive piece of magitech, but Gerald was not impressed. The quality of the sound was the worst he has ever heard, distorting it so much that it was barely recognizable anymore.

And yet, after a few minutes of shouting back and forth, the news of the possible Phoenix's nest was received in its entirety.

Now they just had to wait a bit longer for the sky to darken some more and use the spell scroll Dug gave them.

Leaving small marks on the ground, Gerald and his companion let the nest so as to not scare the mighty beast away. They had to wait for the entire gang to come to have any chances of taking it down.

After a while when they were far enough away from the nest, they stopped and fed the Earth Dragons and at the same time set up some simple tents.

As darkness came over the land, the spell scroll was finally activated, and the paper was disintegrated in a flash of light, replaced by a shining pillar that reached high into the sky.

It was probably visible from hundreds of kilometers away and remained shining for a good few minutes.

Now, the only thing they had to do was to wait for the rest of the gang to reach them and they could begin.

But since it was going to take quite a bit of time, Gerald and the other guy decided to take a nap and rest through the night.

***

In the early morning hours, when it was still dark outside, the Runestone buzzed with energy, Dug's voice reached them and woke them up.

Now they activated their scroll, and based on its position, Gerald was able to give them the direction they had to take to reach them.

A few hours later they saw a group of beasts running across the plateau, and a while later, the entire gang was back together.

"Where is the nest," was the first thing the excited Dug asked as he jumped off his mount. Despite not sleeping for an entire day and night, he didn't look at all tired.

"It's about ten minutes that way," Gerald pointed. "It seemed the bird was on a night hunt, not sure if it came back already. Oh, and here, I found this feather inside ."

He handed the fluffy feather over to Dug.

"Yes, yes! That definitely belongs to the Phoenix! Just feel the heat coming off of it, amazing!" Dug was excited.

The most expensive part of the mythical creature was its blood, but even simple feathers were worth a fortune.

They automatically siphoned Mana from the air and produced a tiny bit of heat for years! They were perfect for making a comfortable bed, or clothes for harsh winters.

It was extremely valuable material for those that lived in the cold north.

"Oh, man! We are going to be rich!"