Eldritch Guidance-Chapter 138 – Like A Phoenix

The battlefield lay in ruins—charred earth, molten stone, and the acrid scent of ozone thick in the air. As the last of the dust settled, a lone figure emerged from the haze, untouched by the devastation.

Scarlett stood there, her crimson clothing pristine, not a single hair out of place. Her lips curled into a smirk as she brought her hands together in slow, deliberate applause. The sound echoed unnaturally in the hollow silence.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Alan's breath caught in his throat. Mitra stiffened beside him. Even Yaren, still kneeling beside Dakka's unconscious form, froze in disbelief.

They had been so focused on survival, so certain that no one—not even Scarlett—could have withstood that blast. Yet there she was, standing in the heart of the destruction as if she had merely stepped through a summer breeze.

Behind her, the truth became horrifyingly clear. The explosion had carved a perfect, conical void in the landscape—everything within a 45-degree angle behind Scarlett remained untouched. A handful of trees still stood, unburnt grass still swayed, as if an invisible hand had shielded them from the destruction. The contrast was surreal: on one side, a smoldering wasteland; on the other, a slice of the world preserved in eerie perfection.

Scarlett's laughter cut through the silence, sharp and mocking. "Oh, don't look so shocked," she purred, tilting her head. "You really think I'd let myself get caught in my own fireworks?"

The university mages had known Scarlett was a prodigy back in the day—her mastery over fire was legendary. But this? This defied all reason. To manipulate an explosion of that magnitude, to shape its fury with such precision that it bent around her like a river parting around a stone—it shouldn't have been possible.

Yet the evidence was undeniable.

Mitra was the first to find her voice.

Mitra: "How?" The word came out hoarse, barely more than a whisper.

Scarlett smiled as she took another deliberate step forward, the glassed earth crunching like broken bones beneath her boots. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Scarlett: "Fire obeys me, dear," she purred, her voice dripping with venomous amusement. "Always has." Her fingers flexed, and tiny blue flames danced between them before vanishing into wisps of smoke. "And I've not been resting on my laurels since you cast me out."

Her crimson gaze slid to Dakka's unconscious form, then back to the battered survivors.

Scarlett: "Now," she mused, tilting her head like a cat considering wounded prey, "any more tricks you'd like to show me? Or shall we conclude this... educational demonstration?"

The air grew thick with impending doom, pressing down on them. Yaren's fingers twitched to call the last of her aether reserves - a useless gesture, they all knew. Mitra stared at the ground trying to think of a way to get out of this situation. Alan simply stared, his mind blank with shock.

They had barely survived her opening gambit. And Scarlett looked as fresh as if she'd just woken from a pleasant nap, her breathing even, her posture relaxed. The realization settled over them like a shroud: this wasn't a battle. It had never been a battle. Just an execution delayed by sheer stubbornness.

As the silence stretched, thick with despair, Scarlett opened her mouth to deliver what would surely be their final epitaph.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

The cheerful chime cut through the tension like a razor through paper. Scarlett blinked, then reached into her pocket with an almost comical look of irritation. She produced an ornate silver pocket watch, its surface engraved with dancing flames. Flipping it open, she examined the face, pressed the stem to silence it, and heaved a dramatic sigh.

Scarlett: "Ah," she said, her tone shifting from murderous to mildly inconvenienced, "it's tea time." She snapped the watch shut with a click. "I suppose we'll call it here. I think I've made my point, sufficiently."

Her gaze swept over the devastation - the unconscious forms of Dakka, Henry's charred remains, and the other shell-shocked survivors. A dismissive wave of her hand.

Scarlett: "And as I've said, none of you rank particularly high on my list." Her eyes darkened momentarily. "No, my full wrath is reserved for those archmages who were there to cast me out... and those traitorous former disciples who cheered as they did it."

Turning abruptly, Scarlett called over her shoulder.

Scarlett: "Fenny! We're leaving! Pick up Cid and let's go!"

From the smoldering ruins, the hooded figure groaned.

Fenny: "Yeah, yeah," came the grumbled reply as he hoisted the injured Cid up with surprising ease.

Fenny slung Cid over one shoulder, his boots kicking up small puffs of ash from the glassed earth. After a few paces, he paused, reached into his weathered leather jacket, and produced what appeared to be a white bone spike about the length of a dagger. With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed it to the ground.

The moment the bone made contact with the scorched earth, it sank like a stone into water. For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then—

CRACK.

The ground erupted as a massive, curved pillar of ivory shot upward, stopping about fifteen feet high. Its surface gleamed with an unnatural sheen, too smooth to be natural. Alan squinted, his mind struggling to process the shape—the curvature was all wrong for a normal pillar. Before he could voice his confusion, the earth split again as a second identical pillar burst forth, curving toward the first like two great tusks meeting at their tips.

A strangled gasp escaped Alan's throat.

Alan: "Are those... rib bones?" he whispered.

Indeed, the structure now forming was unmistakably a giant ribcage—or at least an archway fashioned in its image. The university mages exchanged bewildered glances. None of them had ever seen or heard of such magic.

Their confusion turned to outright shock as the space between the ribs began to shimmer. The air warped like heat haze over a desert, then suddenly tore open with a sound like ripping parchment. Where there had been empty space, a portal now yawned, its edges crackling with unstable energy. Through the opening, they could clearly see a dimly-lit laboratory—shelves of bubbling potions, strange mechanical devices, and walls covered in complex anatomical diagrams.

Mitra gasped.

Mitra: "That's... impossible," she breathed.

Yaren, usually so composed, looked like she might be sick.

Yaren: "Teleportation requires circles... anchors... months to years of preparation..." Her voice trembled. "This shouldn't exist."

Yet there it was—a stable spatial rift created with nothing more than a thrown bone and what appeared to be casual effort. The implications were staggering. If portal magic could be wielded so effortlessly...

Without word, Fenny stepped through the portal, his form briefly distorting at the threshold before crossing into the lab beyond.

Scarlett paused at the threshold, casting one last look at her battered former colleagues.

Scarlett: "Do give my regards to the others," she said sweetly. Then, with a swirl of her crimson hair, she too was gone.

The portal snapped shut behind them with a sound like a thunderclap in reverse, leaving only the giant rib archway—which promptly crumbled to dust, carried away in the wind as if it had never been.

♦♦♦♦♦

Scarlett and Fenny stepped through the portal just before it fizzled out behind them with a quiet pop. The bone archway, its energy spent, crumbled into a pile of gray dust, leaving no trace of their escape route.

Fenny glanced around, taking in the familiar surroundings of Scarlett’s secret lab—a sprawling, high-tech facility hidden far from the Union’s reach. The air smelled faintly of antiseptic and ozone, the usual hum of machinery filling the silence.

With a tired sigh, Fenny shifted Cid’s unconscious form in his arms and walked over to the nearest medical bed. He laid the boy down carefully, adjusting the pillow before turning back to Scarlett.

She was leaning against a worktable, gripping the edge like it was the only thing keeping her upright. Sweat dotted her forehead, and her breathing was uneven.

Fenny: "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft as he watched Scarlett's trembling hands.

Scarlett didn't answer. Instead, she lunged toward the workbench where a simple metal kettle sat. With a flick of her wrist, she channeled fire magic so intensely that the water inside reached boiling point in seconds, sending plumes of steam curling toward the ceiling. Her movements were frantic as she produced two precious items from her dimensional space–the Soul Sipping Teapot and a small satchel of dried Yggdrasil leaves, both gifts from John that she guarded more carefully than any of her spellbooks.

Fenny was surprised as she dumped the entire handful of dried leaves into the teapot without measuring.

Fenny: "Scarlett, that's enough for three-"

She drowned out his words by pouring the scalding water directly into the ornate teapot. Not waiting for proper brewing, she immediately tipped the vessel over a chipped ceramic cup. Without hesitation, she threw back the entire contents in one searing gulp.

Fenny: "Holy fuck!" he cursed as he saw the skin of her throat redden from the heat. But Scarlett barely flinched - the metaphysical pain of her unraveling soul had long eclipsed mere physical burns. She collapsed into a nearby chair, her fingers digging into the armrests as the mystic tea worked its magic. Gradually, the terrifying sensation of her soul peeling away from her physical form began to recede.

After several shuddering breaths, she finally spoke, her voice rough:

Scarlett: "I delayed my tea ritual... to search for Cid." A muscle in her jaw twitched. "Eight hours past my regular forty-eight hour cycle. My soul was beginning to... separate."

Fenny: "Ohhh," he breathed, realization dawning. "That explains why you looked like death walking back there. I thought those university mages actually gave you more trouble than you led on."

Scarlett barked a laugh, some color returning to her face as the Yggdrasil infusion took full effect.

Scarlett: "Please," she sneered, flexing her fingers as magical energy crackled between them. "I could have reduced them to ash before they finished their first incantation. But I wanted to send a message."

Fenny tilted his head.

Fenny: "And what message would that be, oh terrifying one?"

Scarlett's eyes burned with something far more dangerous than magic as she met his gaze.

Scarlett: "That I'm still very much alive," she said, slowly rising to her feet, her power now thrumming visibly around her. "And that anyone who touches my disciples will learn why even nation fear my name."

The air in the lab grew heavy with the weight of her promise, the scent of ozone and Yggdrasil leaves mixing strangely. Fenny found himself unconsciously taking half a step back before catching himself.

Fenny: "You really are a monster, aren't ya?" His voice carried a strange mix of admiration and unease.

Scarlett: "Of all people," she scoffed, "I don't want to hear that from you."

Fenny adjusted his black leather jacket and pulled his hood lower over his face in a practiced motion.

Fenny: "Ah, fair enough," he conceded with a shrug that was too casual to be genuine.

A guttural moan of pain from the medical bed cut through their exchange. Cid's back arched violently, his fingers clawing at the sheets as veins of gray stone pulsed beneath his skin.

Fenny: "Oh crap." he said as he lunged forward, Scarlett just half a step behind him. With urgency, Fenny tore away Cid's shirt, revealing the horrifying progress of the petrification. The stone patterns weren't spreading evenly like typical basilisk venom - they formed intricate, almost ritualistic patterns across his torso, pulsing in time with some unseen rhythm.

Fenny: "He's still turning to stone!" his voice cracked as he frantically checked the empty potion vials scattered nearby. "I gave him all the potions you prepared! This should've stopped regular basilisk poison!"

Scarlett's hands hovered inches above Cid's chest, her crimson eyes tracking the unnatural progression.

Scarlett: "This isn't basilisk venom," she hissed. "This is what happens when you try to alter a Prime Order."

Fenny's breath caught.

Fenny: "How can you possibly know that?"

Scarlett: "My EYES!" she whirled on him, jabbing a finger towards her red irises. "How many times must I explain? My eyes let me see things others cannot! Now go get ice from the cryo-unit before we lose him completely!"

Fenny moved before she finished speaking, his boots skidding on the polished floor as he pivoted toward the humming refrigeration unit. The "fridge" in question was a massive arcane cooling apparatus, its surface etched with runes that kept temperatures far below normal freezing. He wrenched open the frost-coated door, grabbed the first cryo-pack he saw, and was back at Scarlett's side in three heartbeats.

What happened next made his blood run colder than the ice pack. Scarlett snatched it from him, tore it open with her teeth, and dumped the contents into a glass beaker. Then - before Fenny could process what was happening - she grabbed the still-steaming Soul Sipping Teapot and poured its contents directly over the ice, cooling it.

Fenny: "Wait!" He grabbed her wrist, genuine panic in his voice. "You're going to give him THAT?”

Scarlett: "If he tampered with a Prime Order like I suspect," her voice low and dangerous, "then no worldly remedy could save him. But these..." She held up the bag of dried Yggdrasil leaves. "These grow where reality frays at the edges. This might be the only thing left to pull him back."

Before Fenny could protest further, Scarlett wrenched her arm free from his grip with surprising strength. Her crimson eyes burned with determination as she turned back to Cid's petrifying form. With careful precision, she straightened the young man's head, her fingers brushing against stone-cold skin that was rapidly losing its warmth.

Fenny watched as Scarlett administered the concoction with surprising tenderness, tilting the beaker just enough to let the liquid trickle into Cid's mouth without choking him. The substance seemed to move with purpose, as if drawn to the petrification rather than simply flowing downward.

A tense silence fell over the laboratory as the last drops disappeared down Cid's throat. The only sounds were the steady hum of arcane equipment and the occasional crackle of stone spreading - or was it stopping? Scarlett's hand remained under Cid's chin, her red eyes tracking every minute change in his condition.

Then, miraculously, the creeping gray tendrils of petrification halted their advance. The stone patterns froze mid-spread, their jagged edges stopping just shy of Cid's heart. His breathing, which had been shallow and erratic, gradually steadied into something resembling normal rhythm.

Fenny let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

Fenny: "I-I think that worked," he said. He leaned closer, examining the petrified patches with a trained eye. "The transformation's stopped, but... the stone that's already there isn't receding. These patches might be permanent."

Scarlett's mouth set into a grim line as she began a more thorough examination, her fingers probing along Cid's neck and chest.

Scarlett: "I'll need to scan him properly," she said, her voice all business now. "We have to confirm no vital organs were affected. The heart can survive partial petrification, but if his lungs or brain..." She let the implication hang in the air.

Without looking up from her patient, she issued her next orders:

Scarlett: "Fenny, go tell that fox bitch Yin we need an emergency meeting. All the major players of Unseen Hand roster."

Fenny blinked.

Fenny: "When—"

Scarlett: "Yesterday would be preferable," the former archmage snapped, finally looking up with irritation. "But since that is not possible, 'immediately' will have to suffice. And make sure our personal saint is there." Her emphasis on the last word carried layers of meaning Fenny understood all too well. "If Cid was stupid enough to meddle with a Prime Order, we'll need every resource we can muster."

As Fenny turned to leave, a weak cough from the medical bed stopped both of them cold. Cid's eyelids fluttered, and when they opened, his pupils were dilated with an unnatural silver sheen. His lips moved soundlessly for a moment before he managed an ominous phrase:

Cid: "Saw…me…Rattle…Bone…and The Pale M…" was all he mumbled before falling back unconscious.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. Scarlett and Fenny exchanged a glance that spoke volumes. Whatever Cid had stumbled into, it was far worse than they'd imagined.