Chapter Text
Somewhere far far away, not in our world, there lived a girl. The phoenix, a magnificent bird that not even everyone in their life could see. It's said its fierce bird could blind you with its fire, or even kill you. It can't be killed, no matter how strong you are, it will revive from the ashes, and live again.
And believe it or not, there was an entire Phoenix dynasty or more like one family of phoenixes. Our heroine was the youngest daughter, and her name was Takanashi Kiara.
She was none other than Lord Commander, one of the greatest armies that existed in their small world.
All thanks to her, of course. Not a single defeat was on her account, an absolute victory in any battle she took. The number of medals in her collection was beyond counting. More than thousands of the best warriors were under her supervision. But this is not all her merits.
Even though she wasn't a queen, she was still the king's main advisor. Or rather, her old father phoenix, Dietrich The First, Dietrich The Founder.
He ruled their kingdom, and he built it from scratch by himself, a kingdom named Phoenixton, hidden somewhere among the mountains, from anyone to see.
It all started with one house. There was still a young phoenix family, they decided to reject their heritage, the usual way of living of every phoenix. They wanted to make a family, and their big plan started with a small house, that father was building by day and night while his pregnant wife was looking after their garden.
And later, as the years passed, one house turned into two, then into three, and then into an entire village, which was now the great kingdom of Phoenixston.
Their kingdom was distinguished not only by a powerful army but also by a strong faith in God. Their god was naturally the sun. And phoenixes that were in control were the personification of their faith, they were messengers of God who were called to their land to destroy all the evil that invaded their world.
Kiara's mother, Louise The Kind, the queen, or rather a past king's adviser, honestly carried out her service as a mother and wife.
But soon she got tired of it all. Phoenix is a free bird, she does what she wants. All these obligations bound her, and unable to go through it, she left.
Without saying goodbye, without even leaving a note, she left her once home, her loving husband, and of course her two children. Two then still small phoenixes that still barely reached the table.
The Father of the family experienced terrible loss, he still loves his wife despite the betrayal, even in our days.
But at that time, all his sorrows resulted in the fact that he forced his children to be tougher. Kiara and her brother did not even know what childhood was, as they were immediately given swords and shields in their hands, with which they soon attacked enemies that were attacking their kingdom.
The faith that was explained to them through punishment was firmly ingrained in the fragile minds of young phoenixes. And even if they could not be called fanatics, they still believed with all their hearts that they were bringing light into their world, and their main task was to eradicate all the demons from this world.
The loss of their mother and the strict supervision of their father hardened them and they became the most loyal and faithful members of their divine order.
It also brought them together, no matter how difficult the training was, or the punishment of their father for not understanding something, they were always here for each other.
Her brother, Conrad The Brave. The only one Kiara thought of as family.
Knowing that his sister did not want to be a leader, stepped forward and took the title of Lord Commander when everything went to the fact that it was Kiara who had to take on this role.
Kiara has never been a fan of stepping forward and being the center of attention. Was it coyness or self-doubt? No one knew, maybe the young phoenix was just shy.
She also refused to accept the crown from her father when he wanted to retire, and she did not accept the title of Lord Commander when she was going to be awarded for all her special merits.
For her brother, who now commanded the army, and for her father, she became the main adviser, preferring to be in the shadows.
Faithfully she served her kingdom, on the battlefield, she hacked and killed many creatures of darkness, but returning home, she occupied the place where her mother once stood and helped her father in making decisions.
Only one unsuccessful battle started a new line in her life.
It seemed that this was just another crusade in which they were going to clean up another demon's camp, dark creatures opened their gates and broke up in our world once again, in the hope of attacking the nearest villages.
In that battle... her brother whom she loved so much, her only relative whom she valued. He died from a demon's hand.
How can a phoenix die, you ask? It's impossible. Everyone thought so, including these very phoenixes.
It turned out to be easy, you just need to eat it.
It's not enough to say that everyone around was terrified at that moment, the demon pierced the young Lord Commander's chest and tore out his heart. The demon didn't though for long before opening its mouth and swallowing the poor guy who was still clinging to his life. His crippled body and soul ended up in the demon's stomach and no one ever saw him anymore.
Kiara herself and her brother never went through a resurrection, they simply never died. But that moment came, and no matter how much Kiara prayed to God, or no matter how much she shredded the body of the demon that killed her brother. He just didn't resurrect.
Faith surged in her, the creatures of darkness that she so hated with all her heart now became something even more vile for her.
Anger was a dark feeling. But if it was directed at the creatures from hell, then the anger became righteous. That's what the church told her, that's what her father told her, that's what she told herself.
Overwhelmed with grief and hatred, she accepted her brother's title. With her sword, she was ready to punish anyone who tried to attack her kingdom.
Perhaps not only sorrow and hatred filled her heart but also fear... fear that her immortality was not so immortal. She could die at any moment. Even if she had less chance of doing so than an ordinary mortal, she was still terrified.
Fear, hate, and grief became her best friends. She had to become better so as not to die, just like her brother, she had to become stronger so that no one dear to her would ever die again.
Since that day, even her battle comrades have noticed how she has changed in a more violent way. She no longer attended holidays or celebrations after defeating another enemy. All the time she was studying tomes about demons, trying to find the best way to exterminate them. Long workouts even after lights out. Planning their next attack plan. And just a few hours of sleep before dawn, after which her laborious day began again.
People saw her as a savior, the church considered her a messenger of God, and the father was proud that his daughter was so fiercely rooting out enemies and what prudent advice she gave him while managing the kingdom from the shadows with an iron grip.
What can I say, she was a phoenix. And their outbursts of rage were not uncommon.
What a pity that in a fit of rage, continuing her quest to exterminate all evil creatures, someone who did not even want to harm anyone fell under her punishment.
Kiara tried to be always strong, what a pity that ordinary diseases did not want to bow to her persistence. And what a pity that Kiara herself did not want to take care of herself.
Which led to how Kiara died for the first time. She died not in the battle, but in her bed. Never underestimate mortal diseases if you are immortal, Kiara understood that day. So she died of tuberculosis.
And then, as by order, a reaper appeared next to her, who arrived to fulfill its task, to help the phoenix return to life.
The young reaper, who only a couple of centuries ago took up her duties, did not expect that instead of gratitude from the phoenix to which she was assigned, she would decide to pierce her with a sword.
Of course, she avoided the attack and tried to explain everything to the newly resurrected phoenix, she did not want to fight and injure the living that still had a whole life ahead.
But in Kiara's eyes, the reaper was a creature of darkness, a vile creature dressed in a black cloak that came to steal her soul.
Even if she looked like a pink-haired young and innocent maiden, Kiara could see evil in her bloody eyes. In her fit of anger, the thought even flashed that it was the reaper who was guilty that her brother did not rise after death.
Why did she come for me when I died from some stupid disease but did not come to my brother when he needed it so much? Kiara asked the reaper.
But she just shrugged her shoulders saying that she didn't know anything, she wasn't responsible for his soul.
This angered Kiara even more, she was going to kill the reaper and send her dark soul back to hell. It became her only need at the moment.
She wasn't even shy about being naked, all that was in her head at the moment was blind rage, she waved her sword from side to side driving the reaper into a corner. And the reaper didn't even try to attack in response, only dodging and beating off Phoenix's sword with her scythe. Soon, apparently realizing that the phoenix was not going to stop, the reaper, not understanding what she had done wrong, quickly retreated back to the underworld through the portal. Leaving Kiara alone in her room.
At the same moment, Kiara realized that even after death, she would be haunted by demons, she needed to get rid of the reaper.
What if next time reaper decides to take her soul and use it for evil purposes? What if the reaper was just trying to deceive her by showing that she was an innocent lamb so that at one moment she could insidiously attack her from behind?
Yes, it was indeed what would happen, dark creatures have no other thoughts, and couldn't be trusted.
So what if she helped her resurrect? She only did it to mislead her. She touched her very soul, maybe she already put a seed of darkness in her. But her fire wasn't so weak to just fall for evil spirits, she would burn even brighter and incinerate anything that tried to tarnish her sacred soul.
Kiara has a new enemy. The one who will appear next to her when her body is at its weakest. So of course she needed to get stronger.
She became obsessed with this idea. She became so paranoid that every night she could not fall asleep, reacting to every rustle, to every breath of wind. Kiara abruptly stood up and grabbed her sword, thinking that the same reaper had decided to visit her again.
But no, their meeting took place only at the next phoenix's death, this time she died in battle, like a true warrior. The reaper did not take long to wait, and as Kiara intended she immediately attacked her again, returning to their battle that ended so unexpectedly last time.
The reaper retreated like last time, but this time she really tried to reason with the phoenix that she didn't want to harm her.
Obviously, Kiara didn't believe it, gritting her teeth, she furiously attacked the reaper again and again, one blow after another. Until, unfortunately, the reaper retreated to her world again.
It's not enough to say that this greatly disappointed Kiara. It was the end, her patience came to an end, and she could no longer tolerate these catch-ups.
If the reaper wasn't going to take her seriously, she would find a way to keep her here so that she could no longer run away like a coward back to her world.
This led her to meet perhaps one of the most talented magicians in the whole world. An outstanding student, who graduated from the Academy. She was able to use dark elements, even if her heart did not succumb to darkness, and she skillfully used her magic to study more aspects of our world than she already knew.
Kiara knew that this was exactly the person she needed, during their meeting, they talked for at least 5 hours, arguing mostly, but these arguments did not turn into an aggressive conflict, they were just interested in seeing each other's point of view.
The magician tried to prove that using dark elements to their advantage was effective, while the phoenix proved that there is nothing worse than even touching the dark arts.
So in the end Kiara told about her intentions to tame death. And the magician, seeing a new opportunity to show her strength, immediately agreed. Only with a small condition. She said that her wife will go with them.
That is how Kiara got a talented magician and doctor at her disposal. These two would later become her court servants and would faithfully serve the phoenix, even though both very often went into their studies and experiments for days without even knowing how many days they were missing.
They developed a plan that took the phoenix at least several years to prepare for, and a plan that unfortunately for the reaper worked perfectly.
Kiara died, not on purpose of course. She died in battle, and at her own request, her magician friend had to quickly teleport her body somewhere away from prying eyes.
This place was the ruins of a castle that was not so far from their kingdom. They say there are ghosts there, but this was clearly the last thing that worried bloodthirsty phoenix.
The reaper appeared as usual, now she was alert and kept her weapon ready in case the phoenix attacked her again, after which she began to do her job.
As soon as the phoenix woke up, the reaper was ready to leave so as not to start fighting with her again.
Suddenly, something thin wrapped around her neck. She couldn't break the noose no matter how hard she tried, and it burned her flesh badly.
When she was pulled back, she realized that this garrote was a chain that the phoenix was holding. As if some kind of magic was settled in this chain, not allowing the reaper to escape from these fetters in any way. For the first time in her life, fear and panic surged in the reaper.
She fell on her back, gasping for air, trying to break the chain that held her. Kiara looked at her with some malicious intent, there was no consciousness in her eyes, only an obsession with something that was beyond the reaper's understanding.
And she was right, Kiara was at the peak of happiness, The reaper she so wanted to catch was now lying at her feet. Finally, she will be able to destroy the creature that could control her life.
But she wasn't going to let her go so easily. Her new friend clearly affected her original plan to kill the reaper. Now she wanted more.
The reaper was still trying to break the chain around her neck that was holding her back, but she couldn't, she only burned her hands.
She didn't want all this, it was just her job. Why does the phoenix hate her so much? She never tried to attack her, she never even said any mean word to her.
Despite the pain and suffocation that was now beginning to become noticeable to her body, she decided to get up.
She was a reaper, and she wasn't going to give up on some phoenix that placed herself above all.
Even when the phoenix pulled the chain again, she did not fall, instead, taking out her scythe, she tried to cut the noose, but in her current state, it was not difficult for Kiara to simply kick the scythe out of the reaper's weakened hands.
Panting, reaper asked, what was this chain made of? The reaper looked in anger at the terrible weapon that continued to strangle her.
And her question was immediately answered. Phoenix laughed maniacally seeing her futile attempts to free herself. Chain was made of magical metal that was extracted from the star, and was blessed and reforged many times until it reached its current form.
Against humans, maybe this weapon was nothing, but against demons, it worked just perfectly. And the way the reaper couldn't get out of the shackles only added weight to the phoenix's confidence that her plan was going just as planned.
It was time to move on to the next stage of her plan. Submission of the reaper to her will.
Yes, you heard it right. Kiara was no longer satisfied with simply killing the reaper, she wanted to subdue the reaper to herself, put her on her knees, and force her to serve her. She was going to break her pride and will.
But before she could do that, reaper quickly raised her scythe and decided to attack her. Which didn't scare Kiara at all. Deftly dodging the reaper's attacks, she kept pulling on the chain, slandering the reaper and interfering with her attacks.
The phoenix looked at her as a cornered animal, she was clearly exhausted and attacked her more slowly with each attack. Kiara let go of the chain, giving the reaper a chance to win, so that she would at least have a chance for a fair fight before she subdued her soul to herself completely.
Without thinking for a second, reaper grabbed the chain and broke the noose, taking a deep breath, trying to inhale as much air as possible, but she was not allowed to relax for a long time, Kiara had already taken out her trusty two-handed sword and immediately reaper had to dodge a new attack that the phoenix decided to inflict at the most inappropriate moment.
A battle ignited, between life and death, a fierce struggle between two immortals, one fought trying to fulfill her revenge, and the second fought for her life.
Kiara continued to laugh seeing how desperately the reaper was fighting for her life, phoenix knew for sure that she would not win, not this time, not in any other.
No creature of darkness deserved to live, they would all fall by her sword. And this particular creature, she was going to make reaper serve her so that she would continue to resurrect her at her will.
And the fact that the reaper did not immediately run away, but was too absorbed in the desire to put the phoenix in its place, was clearly the wrong decision that would change her life forever.
Their dance went on and on until the phoenix decided it was time to end this pretense. The reaper was clearly young and did not possess any battle skills, fighting very clumsily.
She was no match for the phoenix, who had been trained as an ideal soldier since childhood. In her eyes, the reaper was no better at fighting than a child, or a rookie who had just started serving in the army.
One second and it was all over.
Chopping off the reaper's right hand in which she held her scythe, and piercing her left eye with a second blow, the phoenix quickly knocked the reaper off balance. The reaper screamed in agony, clutching at her crippled limb.
The reaper herself did not notice how soon she was on her knees, and the chains strangling her were again around her neck, now binding her hands as well.
With a kick to the shoulder, Kiara sent the poor creature to the ground. Now the games are over, it's time to put her plan into action.
Taking out a dagger that was also forged from a fallen star, she once again looked at the reaper who was furiously trying to break the chains around her body.
She sat on top of her and when the reaper stopped her attempts to get out, with horror she now looked at Kiara, waiting for her next step.
The words stuck in her throat as the phoenix raised the dagger above her head and plunged it straight into her chest with one clear blow.
The reaper didn't even know that she could experience even more pain than she already felt. With horror, through the tears that came out, she watched as the phoenix took out a bottle and began to lubricate her hands with this liquid.
Exhausted, on the verge of losing consciousness, reaper began kicking trying to throw the phoenix off. This led to Kiara trying to restrain her by putting one palm on her face, and the reaper immediately screamed from a new pulse of pain that burned her face.
She didn't know what kind of liquid was in that bottle, but it burned her like fire, Calliope closed her eyes losing consciousness for a second. And while she was arriving in a dream.
Kiara didn't waste a second. She shoved her other hand deep into the open wound on the reaper's chest, groped for what she needed, and pulled it out with a sharp jerk.
The reaper's heart was slowly beating on her palm, while its owner was choking with tears and continued to lose consciousness, her voice had already broken and, although she was wheezing something, it already sounded faintly like screams.
Looking curiously at the living heart in her hand, Kiara did not waste a second. Releasing the reaper's face from her grip, she began digging through her bag, eventually pulling out a small piece of animal skin on which some runes were painted.
Taking the dagger again, Kiara cut off the arteries that connected the reaper's heart to her body. At the same moment, Calliope, who was in agony a second ago, immediately froze, her gaze went out and her head fell weakly to her side.
The reaper was dead. An immortal being that was called to accompany the souls of the dead to their afterlife, she herself had now lost her life, and now lay motionless on the ground.
Applying the leather to her heart, Kiara watched as runes began to burn out in the place where it lay.
Magical runes were supposed to bind the reaper's soul to her heart and allow it to live outside the reaper's body. Let Kiara hold it in her hands and control the reaper as she wishes. The reaper won't be able to get away from Kiara, she won't be able to hurt anyone, and she won't be able to die if Kiara doesn't want it.
An ideal servant, which she will clearly find a use for.
Her path of blind rage ended that day.
Leading the reaper, covered in blood, she held the heart tightly in her hand, squeezing it hard every time the reaper tried to run or talk back to her.
She returned to the castle as a hero. No one even understood what this victory meant, everyone just saw that the phoenix had once again accomplished a feat, she subdued death to her will.
The death that gritted her teeth tried to break the chain around her neck that squeezed her so tightly while the phoenix walked ahead and proudly showed her heart to everyone who came to watch her return.
The reaper didn't even know how she could still move, her whole body was in agony, and her arm that had recently been missing up to the elbow had now grown anew, but there was no flesh on it. She didn't even want to know what happened to the other parts of her body.
Most recently, she was doing her duty, helping souls find their rest, but now, all wounded by holy magic, she had to bow her head to the phoenix that punished her for no reason.
Kiara was being cruel to her new servant, still trying to take out her anger on her. And the fact that the reaper wanted to escape and didn't want to give up her will to her, gave her even more reasons to do so.
But she only had to squeeze her heart in her palm with all her strength, as the reaper who had been rude to her a second ago was already kneeling in front of her, gasping and clutching her chest.
So began the long days of the reaper's upbringing. And with each such day full of pain and humiliation, reaper gradually began to calm her temper. Until the fire in her eyes was completely extinguished.
The reaper, who knows nothing about feelings, has lost the opportunity to experience them at all. The fear, the hatred that she felt during the battle with the phoenix. All this has also gone out of her mind.
Nothing was important to her anymore. She was supposed to serve the phoenix, obey all her orders, and be her secret weapon on the battlefield.
Their battle was included in history textbooks, and sung in songs, like a brave phoenix that descended from heaven, came to save them all, and even death will not be able to hold her.
Kiara was given the title of Immortal. While the reaper was called by all possible ugly names that anyone could even imagine.
But her real name was Calliope Mori. And only Kiara called her that. While she orders the reaper herself to call her a phoenix, as a reminder of how she called her when they first met.
But no matter how cruel and sad this story sounds…
Over time… Kiara began to become softer, maybe it was age, maybe she was just tired of the oppressive lifestyle that she led while constantly being stressed and angry.
Now she no longer rushed into every fight just to vent her hatred. She came to terms with the death of her brother and began to appreciate the friends that she had made on her path.
And Calliope, who suffered most at her hands, now became just a shell of the reaper she once met, for phoenix she became someone with whom she could talk about everything... even about what she was embarrassed to talk to herself about.
Kiara began to treat her more nicely. She no longer tormented her unnecessarily, she did not even need to threaten her with punishment, the reaper already bowed her head every time and obeyed all her orders.
Kiara even ordered a cloak with a hood for her, so that she could hide her crippled face and hand. And with each of their outings outside the castle, or when they just walked around the castle, everyone stopped whispering nasty words about her servant.
The reaper was never able to restore the flesh on her body, where Kiara burned her. Her arm was only able to repair the bone, and even though the arm was working, it still looked terrifying. A deep mark from the chain that Kiara once strangled her decorated her neck.
And of course, her face, Kiara in her heart always envied the beauty of the reaper and believed that she was trying to seduce her like that, even if Calliope had never made any attempts to do so.
Her face has such alluring and hypnotizing red eyes, her soft pink hair falling below her shoulders, Kiara could admire her servant for hours, forgetting about her work, while the reaper did her job without noticing her.
Even the terrible wound left by the phoenix itself could not spoil her face. A wound that was burned with holy oil showed a part of the skull and an empty eye socket. Calliope always tried to hide her face, even from the phoenix, not wanting to show her terrible face, perhaps embarrassed by how terrifying it looked.
Or the numerous scars all over her body, some deeper than others, reminders of the many battles that she went through serving the phoenix, being her faithful servant, she always acted as a human shield, not letting anyone touch the phoenix.
Even if most of them were hidden by the leather armor that the reaper wore. Kiara had seen her naked once, during one very serious injury the reaper had to be sewn up, and if Kiara had not seen the death of her soldiers so often, she would have been horrified because of the condition of Calliope's body.
All in all, Kiara really became softer... and perhaps even saw in the reaper the one to whom she was ready to entrust her life. Although remembering that she was a creature of darkness, she immediately threw out all dirty thoughts.
Magician that she met and who was now their court magician, called herself Ninomae Ina'nis, and her wife Amelia Watson.
Both researchers often tried to lure her servant to their office, for study. They looked at the reaper with interest, trying to understand how dark creatures functioned.
And at first, Kiara really didn't see anything wrong with it, the magician's mind was great, and she was just trying to learn something new.
But over time, Kiara forbade it, much to the disappointment of the magician and doctor.
Why did she do it? She didn't know herself. It began to seem to her that it could be unpleasant for Calliope that she was being studied as a rat.
Although the reaper, as usual, silently accepted any decree from her and was ready to go even to such humiliating procedures.
Kiara even gave the reaper a separate room that was close to hers, or rather right in her room.
Initially, it was a storage room where Kiara put away unnecessary things, then the entrance was sealed from the outside and a passage was made directly into the phoenix's bedroom so that she could use this room as a dressing room, so now no matter at night or during the day, Calliope could appear if she only called her.
But the main reason why she gave a room to the reaper, of course, was not that she just wanted to keep her closer to herself, but that she could sleep not on a chair in her room but in her own bed, even though reaper, who was not used to this, continued to sit in her room for a long time, falling asleep at some point on a chair.
Or when Kiara pushed her out the door, she hoped that the reaper would take a hint and go to sleep in her bed, but she apparently misunderstood her and slept right under the door, after that phoenix had to order her to sleep in her bed. And Calliope, of course, only obediently bowed her head, retreating to her room.
Heart that she loved to squeeze so much, and force the reaper to do anything against her will.
Now it was under another attack, Kiara just liked to touch Calliope's slowly beating heart, stroke it through the cloth bag in which it was placed, and watch as the reaper clutched her chest in misunderstanding.
The reaper's heart turned from an instrument of torture into the phoenix's favorite toy, which she carefully held in her hands every time. And of course, now the heart moved from her hip bag to her chest bag that she hid under her armor.
Kiara definitely became softer towards her servant, although she did not want to admit it.
Will she cross her own pride and stubbornness to surrender to the new feelings that the reaper has awakened in her young heart, or will she lock them all up? This she will have to find out on her own.