Chapter Text
Slowly opening his eyes, the man fully expected to see the afterlife. Perhaps he could even see his family again! He couldn’t say he was prepared to be conscious after he died, though, as he thought death would be like a warm blanket of darkness slowly crushing him.
What greeted the Phoenix, though, was an empty dark blue void surrounding him on all sides. As he turned, not sure what to make of his situation, his eyes landed on a huge, glowing pillar of what appeared to be pure light in front of him.
The light was like a tree trunk, branches extending into the indigo void and slowly fading out the farther along they went. The sky was filled with beautiful, bright specks of light. Maybe they were distant stars.
His world was dark and bland now, yet the scene was still breathtaking and filled the sorrowful man with awe.
Below his feet were grains of gray sand shaped into little, short dunes, stretching farther than the eye could see.
A pull was beckoning the Phoenix towards the center of this sandy field towards the light. With nothing left to lose, he gave in and slowly drifted towards the pillar of light. As he went towards the light, he started to hear faint voices surrounding him.
He could not understand them. They were overlapping with each other, and spoken in a language he does not know.
But somehow, against all odds, the pirate found himself understanding parts and comprehending the general meaning. It filled him with a desire for freedom, to be able to do what he wants. The Phoenix wants to be with his family again.
“You’ve been waiting all this time, for 2000 years…..
Was that directed towards him, or was it a whisper of the past? It has been 2000 years, hasn’t it, since that war when everything fell apart?
….for someone…”
The tired Phoenix was waiting to be with his family again. Yes, he will be free with them, and that is when he will regain his true self. Is he free though, right now? Does death free him, or is he still burdened and chained down by his tragic past filled with loss?
Slowly, he approached the light and gently rested his hand on it.
Darkness swallowed his vision whole, and the Phoenix was falling, falling into the endless black void.
Somehow, buried deep inside his subconscious, the Phoenix had a feeling this was his chance.
To meet his family again.
To make peace with the past.
To be unchained by his failures.
To be free.