"Do you trust me?" Nora held onto Azura's shoulders while staring into her bright blue eyes. "Do you trust me!" Azura flinched as she asked that question. Of course she did! And Nora knew it, so why ask her?

"Yes! I do! I trust you, I always have and you know it!" Azura blurted it out, frustrated at herself and Nora and this whole situation. She was not a fighter and now she was being forced to by a force nobody really understood.

"Good. We'll get through this. You and me, we have to do this and we'll get through it. We're a team and this is what we're meant to do. The reason we have this bond. I need your back on this, Azu."

Nora grabbed her even tighter and drew her in for a tight hug. The girls stood there hugging for a few minutes until Floyd came in. He glanced at the two of them and Azura quickly let go of Nora. She still felt awkward around Floyd knowing he didn’t have much love for her.

Being a werewolf, Nora was better trained in fighting and battle tactics. Even though the Greenwood pack was peaceful and things like pack wars were ancient history, werewolves still had to fight at times. She was raised with it, unlike the snow leopard shifter who’d been raised as a human most of her life. Sure, Azura had been training to fight ever since, but it was not something she enjoyed.

"We have to move. The Phoenix is about to rise." Floyd spoke with his arms crossed and without much enthusiasm. Nora gave him a kiss and placed her forehead against his.

"I love you." She whispered softly to him. Nora let him go and headed to the door. Floyd followed, but not after giving Azura a cold glare. He would never accept her, she would always be a threat to him and his mate bond with Nora. Azura followed a moment later, following the pair to the rest of the pack.

Everybody was here, not just the werewolves and Professor Sloan. Other students from the college, druids, casters, and even some vampires. They were all willing to risk their lives to help them be able to fight something most of them had never even heard of. Something that had last been seen over three hundred years ago in another part of the world. But in the end, Azura knew she and Nora were the ones who would have to end it. It was in their blood, the reason they were brought together. The rest would just try to keep the Phoenix fanatics at bay. A tough fight as well, as that group had many followers and really good fighting skills.

"There has to be another way." Andreas turned to Azura as she spoke up.

"I'm afraid not. The only way to protect our land and country, perhaps even the world, is to kill it." Azura sighed and looked up at the Alpha of the Greenwood pack who gave her a reassuring squeeze to the shoulder before moving off. He climbed onto a big rock so he was overlooking everyone that was there.

"We will attack as soon as it emerges. The first few groups are already in place. Our main goal is to keep those bloody fanatics away from here. The Phoenix itself... It's probably too fast and too tough to attack. There will be a small group, including me and Floyd, trying to get the Phoenix's attention to lead it straight here to Nora and Azura who have to take it down before the Phoenix reaches any of the cities. If we fail to stop it here, I don't know what will happen." Andreas continued on speaking, giving out orders to what everyone was to do, and slowly the area became empty with all the groups heading out. It wasn't long until the earth started to rumble.

The girls looked at each other in shock and stared into the direction it came from. Nora stood next to her and grabbed her hand giving it a small squeeze. In the distance, they could see big ash clouds forming. They started to cover the sky, blocking the light. The clouds moved forward at an alarming rate, telling them this was no ordinary eruption. It did not take long for the ash to reach them. Azura gazed up as the first clouds drifted in, covering the sun and bathing them in darkness. She held up her hand and watched as black snowflakes landed on it. Nora gripped her hand even tighter showing she was scared to death. Azura shared that feeling, she felt a tightness in her chest, making it harder to breathe and making her heart work twice as fast.

Andreas stood behind them, all three staring into the darkness. They hadn’t noticed how everything had gone deadly quiet. There was not a single bird singing, no wind rustling through the foliage. There was nothing but their breathing. As if on cue, a bright red and yellow light erupted on the horizon. It was like lava spewing out from the earth. Andreas just muttered a single word to them.

"Go."

Nora was the first to react, she let go of Azura and ran down the hill. Azura soon followed and the two girls made their way to the open space beneath them. It didn’t take long for the first sounds of fighting and screams to reach their ears. Azura climbed into a tree, taking up a position as high as possible. For a long time, she couldn’t see anything.

They waited. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to what felt like an eternity. As she peered off into the distance there was nothing that could be seen beside the orange-red glow on the horizon. She narrowed her eyes when she saw movement. Unclear at first, but it became bigger quickly as the large Phoenix revealed itself and started coming straight at them.

It was gigantic, with flames whipping all around it. There were several tailfeathers which were just as long as its body. The wings were shaped like that of a massive eagle, it's beak as well. It looked like a big bird of prey, only sometimes it would not fly forward but come in an upright position and hover, overlooking and analyzing the situation. It would swipe its tail from left to right, igniting everything it touched.

The flaming bird screeched loudly and swooped up to avoid the energy blasts and other attacks, even if they weren't intended for it. Azura stared in shock as the Phoenix flew up and sometimes swooped down, burning everything in its path. What remained was black, charred, and dead.

"What do you see?!" Nora yelled from down the tree. She wasn’t a good climber as Azura was and preferred to stay on the ground.

"It's...actually strangely beautiful. If it weren’t for the fact that it's setting everything on fire!" Azura gasped as the Phoenix opened its beak and a long stream of fire erupted from it, scorching everything beneath it, including all the people who had started fighting. Friend and foe alike. Azura jumped down, all the color had drained from her face. "There's no way... No way we can beat this thing, it just killed hundreds without even trying! Everyone is dying and that... That thing didn't even try! How can just the two of us kill it?!"

Nora placed her forehead against hers. "We will. We were meant to do this. We will find a way." She had always been the calm and sensible one. Azura felt herself calm down as she gazed in the dark brown eyes of her friend. They let go of each other and it didn’t take long before the Phoenix appeared before them. It shrieked loudly and stopped flying as it gazed down at them. It had covered an incredible distance in such a short time that the girls were not prepared. They looked at each other and with a single nod, they both shifted. The Phoenix just watched, observed as the change took place, patiently waiting for them. A big brown werewolf and a slender blue-eyed snow leopard stood side by side. The wolf let out a loud howl and bared its teeth.

The Phoenix roared and flicked it's tail to where they were standing. The girls lept out of the way and the only thing that remained in their place was a long scorched area. The falling ash became heavier, clouding their sight. The Phoenix flew up again and carefully assessed the situation. It was big, and because of that, once it moved, it couldn’t change direction fast.

Something they had hoped was the case. The Phoenix looked down upon the wolf and leopard and swooped down again, right where they had wanted it to go. Azura lept onto a few rocks and made her way up to the top of the cliff on one side of the valley, Nora did the same on the other side as they had discussed earlier.

The plan was to try and get the Phoenix to fly down in between the cliffs so they could get on top of it. It was exactly what they had hoped for. It flew down, the belly touching the earth and burning everything. If the wings were high enough, it would cover the top of the hills, killing them if it were to touch them. The girls exchanged one last look as the Phoenix passed in between them and took the jump.

It burned her paws, her skin, her whiskers, and her hair but it didn’t hurt. The stench was there, the same stench when she got burned by the lightning strike. Azura clawed at the wing, Nora next to her also trying to get a grip on the flaming body. Nora bit down hard, her mouth filling with flames. Azura could feel her pain in her own mouth as the flames wrapped around Nora.

The Phoenix shrieked again, trying to shake them off. It flapped its wings furiously, causing it to roll to the side and crash down against the ground. Nora had let go and had fallen back on the body of the Phoenix towards the tail. Azura yelped as she felt herself almost slip off, but she clawed into it's back, barely hanging on. The flames burned her paws but it wasn’t killing her.

Slowly Azura crawled forward onto its back, safe from the wings. The Phoenix suddenly turned its head around and looked straight at Azura. For less than a second they connected, for less than a second Azura stared into her own eyes.

She heard a loud howl and drew herself away from the intense gaze, looking for Nora. She was barely hanging on, dangling right at the end of the body where it met the tail, her body burning and bleeding. Nora bit down one last time. As the Phoenix got distracted by Nora, Azura saw one glistening area not covered in flames; it was on the neck. If she could make the leap...

Azura jumped and with all her might she bit down. Her teeth sank into something she could not describe as skin. There was no blood as she dug her canines in, but she could feel the heartbeat. She bit down and crunched her jaws together as tight as she was able to manage. The bird roared upwards in pain and Azura felt the flames around her becoming more intense. They were growing, surrounding and covering her, but for some reason, it wasn’t burning her. As the bird shrieked again and reared upwards one more time, Azura felt her grip loosen and she had to let go. She was falling through the fire.

They would die. There was no other way. Azura came to that conclusion as she tumbled down the body of the Phoenix. In the corner of her eye, she saw Nora being thrown off and the tail coming straight for her. It would be a clean strike. Azura closed her eyes in terror as the tail hit her best friend, flames engulfing her. A howl that was cut short was the last thing Azura remembered.

Her eyes fluttered open. Azura lay on her back, naked and in human form. She stared up at the sky gasping for air. It was blue. The sky was blue. She slowly turned her head to see if she could find Nora. Her body was killing her, and she could still feel the flames burning away her skin. She groaned as she saw nothing and turned her head the other way.

There... Azura blinked and rolled over to her side, ignoring the pain that came with it. Against the rocks lay a motionless body of a brown wolf, or what was left of it. Azura started crawling to it, her legs not willing to cooperate. She dragged herself, forced herself to move. Eventually, she was able to reach the wolf and she touched the back legs. The skin was cold, black, and blistered. Blood trickled out of the muzzle of the wolf, eyes charred close. She was maimed by the fire, broken by the force she had hit the rocks with.

"Nora...please. Please wake up. You can't do this to me." Azura started sobbing as she buried her face into the soft neck of the wolf.

"You promised we would stay together...dead or alive. Wake up now. Just wake up..." Tears ran down her face before she collapsed and everything turned black.

Floyd was the first to arrive, Andreas following not far behind. Floyd let out a massive pained scream as he saw the two lifeless bodies. He ran towards them and fell next to Nora where grabbed her head and cradled it in his lap as he wept. Andreas slowly approached and took off his coat. His eyes filled with tears as he knew this had been a complete massacre. He carefully placed his coat over the naked body of Azura as she partly laid on top of the still body of Nora. She wasn’t as badly burned as Nora, it was mostly black ash covering her body, but her hands, feet, arms, and legs had some slightly burned areas. Nonetheless, she was as still as Nora, not breathing.

Andreas knelt down next to them, remaining silent as the heartbroken cries of Floyd filled the air. He felt defeated. The Phoenix had left only death in its wake and now it was gone, not a single trace left of it, but at what cost? He moved his hand to Azura's face and wiped some hair out of her eyes. She took a breath, a small one, followed by another. Her eyelids started to twitch.

"She's alive... She's still alive!"