Infamous Goose
patreon
3:36 Rebirth
🕑 Added 2025-11-23 10:16:41 +0000 UTCI couldn’t say I wasn’t nervous, as I watched Solana shriek skyward on burning wings. Fear and panic filled her heart, while Morgan watched from behind the veil, lurking in a hidden entrance to its Hidden Realm. This entire situation could go any number of ways, Morgan having manipulated Solana’s arrival only up to this point and no further. It didn’t want to make sure Solana succeeded. It only wanted to see if she was worthy of my forgiveness, and to take her place in my pantheon.
It was an arrogant thought. Who was Morgan to judge whether my forgiveness was misplaced? But Solana followed Morgan’s voice regardless, leading herself and the Rival right here, into the trap it had set like the foolish, prideful bird she was. It was a stupid decision, especially now surrounded by eleven immortals empowered by Morgan itself, however…I could see the light in her. The little voice that urged her skyward, the defiance that needed to face Morgan, some echo of a memory in her soul reminding her of her previous fall.
My fingers played with Sol’s memories as Solana’s fires surged forth, the eleven immortals scattering beneath her terrified fury. She shot across the skies like a comet, away from the city below, leading the eleven immortals away…or, at least, the seven strongest. The remaining four remained hovering over the capital building’s open roof, staring down at the Rival wordlessly as he moved the unconscious mortals bodies about, to safety.
“Only four of you stayed for little ol’ me? That hurts. Really. Wounds my pride.” He sighed dramatically, winking at a particularly powerful devil cultivator still awake – a blonde Avian at the Heart Center of cultivation, who trembled beneath the might all around her. “Oh well, what’s done is done. Do you suppose we could settle this over a glass of wine and a game of chess? Or go, or whatever other game you all play? Winner gets to walk away.”
“You entered our domain, brat,” one of the devil immortals spat, and I turned my attention away from that fight to watch what really held my attention. Those four really had no idea what they were getting themselves into with the Rival; in experience alone he would trump them, though I figured he would tone things back a bit and genuinely try to negotiate. As much as he liked to fight, he also didn’t like to fight. Weirdly paradoxical, that man.
“Stay still you stupid bird!” Terra roared, bolts of fiery green energy launching from her hands as she chased after Solana. The fiery bird dodged and weaved, wings folding against her body as she fell into a steep dive only to pull up at the last second as she shot through a forest – not bothering to weave between the dense trees, cutting straight through the trunks on wings of fire. Smoke and embers trailed after her, the golden flames searing the trees in a way they usually didn’t.
Solana’s flames were fire, true, but they burned away only what she despised, not everything.
Here, in this region that was truly not as bad as she believed, it burned the qi of the universe itself. Trees smoked, the foul pollution that clogged their sap burning away from the inside, the spirits that inhabited them screeching at the uncomfortable purity of her fires – not because they were holy, or good, but simply because they were pure and clean. That alone was enough to drive the spirits of this region into a frenzy, fleeing the immortal bird.
“DIE!” Solana shrieked, wheeling about, qi pumping through her as she narrowly avoided a glowing red and black chain, thrown by an opponent. It slithered through the air like a snake, chasing after her as she fled, narrowly avoiding the giant, grasping hands of another Fae who tried to snatch her out of the air. Her fires flared outward, her qi-laden voice shrieking out her technique names – solar flares, roaring maelstroms of fire, the tornadoes of ripping wind that rent the land and tore up trees – but all of it was in vain. Against seven immortals? Who was she to believe even her prodigious talents could hold up to that?
Pure flames scorched the skies, burning qi while the seven immortals pressed techniques against her. The very qi of the land itself fought against Solana, the pollution diluting her technique while empowering the devil cultivators. Great bands of green and black, ribbons, joined the snake-like chain in chasing Solana; but she was faster in the air than any Fae or other race that did not belong there, darting between the seeking treasures with natural grace.
“Foolish bird,” Terra spat, the very trees beneath her surging upward upon command of her qi, branches rising, sharp shards of wood firing like artillery shells, exploding and sending shrapnel everywhere. A frown tugged on my lips – she had advanced far, far faster than she should have in melding with the Life-Giving Tree, faster than any other so far, but I supposed that was to be expected with Morgan at the helm.
If only Morgan saw what I saw...
Solana shrieked again and shot skyward, golden flames roiling off of her as she ascended into the sky, higher and higher, shooting up toward the canopy of the Life-Giving Tree above. Terra cursed, giving chase – explosions of qi launched from the pursuing cultivators, exploding around Solana like anti-aircraft shells, buffeting her flight as she continued to ascend. Feathers fell from her wings as she flapped, bursting out of the bombardment and into the canopy of the Tree, dodging between the massive, nearly continent-sized leaves; a testament to how young the Tree truly was, and weaving around the branches. Up there, the qi was thicker, denser, but also not as corrupted; Solana spread her wings wide, soaking in the suns rays, golden fire pouring off of her form.
But she still fought against seven, to her one. It was only a matter of time.
Solana put up a hell of a fight. She burned the immortals, seared flesh, poked out eyes, her qi and soul roaring in defiance of everything they were, lashing out at the fear that pervaded her entire form. But in the end, she was captured.
It was a simple mistake, tired from the fight as she was, burning through her immortal qi like a candle burning from both ends. The immortal that captured her distracted her with his chain, snaking her into the perfect position before spitting out a thread of spider webbing – Morgan’s Binding, he called it – that wrapped around one delicate foot.
And then she was bound, all seven converging upon her, knocking her down onto one of the leaves of the Tree, where she stilled.
Her little chest rose and fell in ragged huffs, her eyes gleaming with defiance even as her fires were suppressed within her. Terra landed before her, eyes narrowed and arms crossed, her husband beside her, the karae man standing beside her protectively.
“What was your plan, here? Did you really think you could walk in through the front door and get everything you wanted?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “I have over twenty immortals under my command. This is only part of my forces, and now your immortal qi will be consumed by us. Your friend will die, too. But only after you tell me where you came from, and what – “
A fell wind blew through the canopy of the Tree, sending a shiver down Terra’s spine. I stood, readying myself as I read the strings of karma and fate, that which even I had not been able to sever, when I stripped Sol of his divinity and had yet been too young to see them. The time was fast approaching. My heart thundered in my chest vision sharpening as I watched the events Sol had written with his own hands unfold; even Morgan dancing to this tune yet unheard, unwitting but perfectly willing if it advanced my goals.
“This one is mine.” Morgan said, emerging from its little hidey hole. The seven immortals froze in place upon its emergence, reality splitting as its spidery limbs opened the entrance to the Hidden Realm.
“But-“ Terra began, but a sharp look from Morgan silenced her. It curled its lips in a satisfied snarl, padding forward on open air to land upon the leaf of the Tree. The Shadow stared down at Solana, the little bird’s chest pumping rapidly as fear and adrenaline raced through her system.
“Here you are again, fool.” Morgan taunted, sitting down on its haunches, licking its lips. Its eight spidery limbs tapped rapidly upon her small form, the tips probing, but not piercing. Morgan was enjoying this, the power it had over Solana, dark pleasure weaving through its soul. I frowned at it, disapproving. Just because Morgan was allowed to do its own thing, didn’t mean I had to like it. “After all this, after clawing your way back up from the bottom of the dung pile, where do you find yourself once more? At my feet, begging for my power.” It snarled.
That was a boldfaced lie. Hadn’t Morgan said earlier that it doesn’t lie, it reveals? Sol had approached Morgan for collaboration, not straight power.
But I had to admit, the effect upon Solana was profound. Her heart thundered in her chest. Her qi destabilized, the doubt that crept into her soul with every step towards power and divinity writhing like a demon, reaching out, grabbing for something. She misunderstood it; I could see it in her eyes, glowing from qi as they were. To her, it felt like her soul was grasping for Morgan, for the promises of power it offered, when in actuality she was grasping for divinity, for the Realm Sun, for the addictive power she had once wielded.
She had to choose neither. Morgan was not a path to true power, and her path to the Realm Sun was severed from her completely, no matter how she yearned for it.
“I am not…that,” Solana hissed, barely managing to get the words out through her destabilized qi.
“Aren’t you? You’re just another little bird flailing in the wind, and once again you will fall to the end because you couldn’t hack it. You want to see what you were before? No? Too bad,” Morgan taunted, tapping Solana’s forehead. I took a single step forward, watching everything fall into place. Morgan’s own memories flowed into her, filling her mind with every single memory of what they had done together, from Morgan’s own perspective. The brilliant, shining golden warrior, falling to the Shadow’s schemes.
I reared back, ready to throw the memories at Solana – and paused, as another shadow added itself to the mix. It was brief. It was quiet. And even Morgan did not notice as a tiny little thread of memory from someone else was slipped into Morgan’s machinations.
A shadow, fighting against Shadow.
No, more than that. I smiled and settled back down, no longer needing to intervene myself. It was a brother, caring for his sibling despite everything he had done to him.
***
Solana saw it all. The darkness. The pain she had caused. The fires that had scorched the land, the disappointment of her parent. Falling for schemes, and pride, and a thousand other things that made up everything she had been.
She hadn’t changed. Her pride still warred within her, driving her to foolishly attempt to take on more than she could handle. And because of that pride, she was going to get herself and her best friend, the one she called student, killed. All because she couldn’t turn away from what had once been hers, and was no longer.
If she could cry, she would be shedding tears as Morgan’s laughter echoed in her brain, darkness consuming her, sapping her will to fight, to live.
She had not changed. Those voices in her head were right. The Shadow, all consuming, all oppressive as it was, scoffed, removing its limb and turning away from her.
“Once again, you fail to comprehend even the most basic of lessons. Welcome back to the fold, Fool…is what I would say, but I no longer have need of you. Kill her, pawn, do what you wish.” It rumbled, stepping back toward its hole. The immortals, the ones Solana had been chasing, stepped forward, weapons raised. Terra met her eyes, a dagger of pure hatred forming in her grip as she prepared to plunge it into Solana’s heart.
She couldn’t move. Wouldn’t move. What would be the point? She was a failure…
Then, something happened.
A little shimmer of light slipped into her memories, a flash of what had been, stripped away from the darkness that threatened to consume her. Memories of standing in the sunlight, of a pale man in dark clothes walking beside him. Laughter and joy in finding simple things, touching her light. Love for someone close to her, brotherly and kind; a promise, to not make something unless it was together. The memories darkened, slipping slowly into more stern emotions, disappointment, stress, her light slipping away, becoming harsher…
Terra’s dagger plunged into her, the blade itself nearly as wide as her tiny body. Golden, immortal blood poured from her wound, but she felt no pain. Her soul remained still, as she listened to what that little strip of memories was trying to tell her.
She had fallen, but…
Hope remained. Not from herself, but someone else.
It was…
Her soul tore away from her body, golden light filling the air around her. The immortals did not see her, did not notice. Spirits shied away from her light as her soul slowly began to ascend, body crumbling to ash as Terra’s dagger of pure, solidified hatred was wrenched free, ending the tale of Solana the bird. Was this it, then? Was this the end of everything she had worked for, now made to start all over again?
Pride swelled within her, but it felt…different this time. It felt like sunshine and warmth; pride at herself for all the good things, for everything she represented, for her own stubbornness. No. She would not go gently into this good night.
Her body’s eyes snapped open, head twitching once, twice, then bursting into pure, holy flames. Power surged up, up, up into the sky, divinity descending upon Solana’s soul like a familiar cloak, the devil cultivators leaping backward, away from the purifying, holy flames with yelps of shock and pain. A horrible shriek filled the air as her body turned to ash and dust, swirling upward in a vortex to hover about her soul; she screamed, and wings of fire filled the skies.
Solana’s new body burned with all the might of everything she had been, everything she had done, divinity surging through her veins as she ascended, filling the skies of the region with the essence of everything she had done.
She had been reborn, not once, but a thousand times over to get here, each time growing stronger and stronger. Memories flooded into her of every past life, her body taking shape, gaze cold as she stared down at her aggressors. At those who had slain her, had freed her of her chains of fear…and most importantly, at Morgan, who had turned back to her with eyebrows raised.
“Unexpected,” it allowed, voice no longer so overpowering. Solana responded the only way she knew how. With newly flexing fingers – and odd feeling, those new limbs – she reached back, grabbed a ball of fire from her wings of fire, and threw it directly into its face.
This was its fault. And she would exact her revenge.
***
All through the region, mortals paused to look up at the sky. Most didn’t know why. Most couldn’t even understand why.
Priests looked skyward and wept at the golden light, their sins and virtues laid bare in their souls.
Children giggled and pointed at clouds, finding a bit of solace in their innocence.
Office workers, day-to-day employees, the downtrodden mostly kept their heads down, but even they felt it. The burning fire. The holy golden flames of rebirth; a promise, written into the fabric of reality and proven by one whose crimes had stripped him of all power he had once wielded.
No matter how down you may have been or are, no matter how low you sink, you can find redemption. Struggle is real. Pain and fear, too. But it is never too late.
And in this little stretch of corrupted reality, pollution making qi sticky and hard to cultivate, many souls wept openly, even if they didn’t understand why, or truly heard the lesson. All the sight left was a little kernel in their souls, knowledge, a spark that may one day grown into a wildfire and inspire those souls.
Even the Rival found himself smiling, and it had nothing to do with the situation he was in. Three immortals lay defeated around him, their faces puffy and bleeding from where he punched them. The fourth was currently in his grip, head held by the hair in one hand, the immortal’s fist in the other.
“Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself,” the Rival chanted with a little giggle, making the immortal punch himself in the face. Then he felt it, and he paused, looking skyward with a little, knowing smile. Gods above, he was sappy. More proof even the most lost of souls could be brought back to the light. “That’s my girl,” he told Solana, though she could not hear even as he basked in the light of her flames.
Just as one other did.
A man who dwelt in shadows, beaming at his long-lost brother-turned-sister.
“Welcome back,” he whispered, eyes wet with unshed tears. “Took you long enough.”
***
Statera Luotian: Deity of Balance. Openly weeping at what Gilles did. There will be snot-tears in the future, and lots of hugs.
Solana: The reincarnation of Sol. Yes, she's an immortal Phoenix. The very first.
Terra: Elemental woman corrupted by Morgan. Has been a tool this entire time, in more ways than one.
Morgan: The Shadow of the Four Realms. This was unexpected. The fireball should have been expected. For once, will take that one at face value. Probably did deserve the fireball.
The Rival: Serial Reincarnator. OP. Clowned on those guys, was genuinely insulted more immortals didn't come after him.
Gilles: Deity of Shadows and Sol's one-time brother. Is a pillar. Snuck in some help for Solana, at the last moment, because he just couldn't watch her fall again.
Comments
Infamous.Goose
Sorry, I really thought I already replied to this. So, I do go into this more in depth next chapter, but here it is. Solana has become an existence more like Kei than a traditional god. Up until Kei became a Pillar, she was simply a divine being, not a true god. Once she became a pillar, she came to represent the aspects of Freedom, Growth, ect, ect. Solana will end up doing the same, coming to symbolize Rebirth, Regrowth, Reincarnation, just as an immortal phoenix does. This is because they are both existences like Alexander. He is the Spirit Dragon, essentially a Dragon God - not a defined domain, but still holy and divine in nature. In essence, there are three different kinds of gods in the four realms. 1) "natural" gods. These are basically spirits who achieved divinity, coming to represent aspects of creation (fire, water, ect.) They can build Dao Stars and add to their domains the "unnatural" aspects. (Music, law, ect.) These are gods like Gilles, Argent, Aeriel, ect. 2) "Mortal" gods - which I need to come up with a better name for. These are mortals who have ascended to Godhood through their Dao Star. Their main domain tend to be abstract, such as Law or, in Xing Wu's case, the Path itself. Their main domains can be added to through natural aspects, just as fire. 3) Divine Beasts. This is Alexander, Kei, and now Solana. Spirit Beasts, which are different than spirits and mortal races like Fae, who ascend to godhood. They have no natural domain, but can wield the elements. They do not walk the path of the Dao stars, either. Spirit beasts are a middle ground between the Mortals and Spirits, and thus, when they ascend to divinity, become both. In many ways they are the most pure of all the divinities; their divine domains are their truest selves, that is why it's not quite right to say that Kei is the Goddess of Freedom, but rather represents that because that's who she is. And why Alexander became more powerful by swallowing his divinity; he accepted it into himself, and became what he always was. The Big Four actually do represent this, too. Reika is technically the only Elemental or Natural goddess. Elvira represents ideals, and therefore technically counts as a Mortal goddess. Alexander is a divine beast, and Keilan is a a mortal god too, technically speaking. This isn't quite right, because they're more than all that as part of the Big Four, but it's just to give an example. Does that help?
Nicholas Gracia
So if the Pillars are ment to represent Statera’s past lives was one of those lives St Dismas or a similar figure? I’m a bit confused as to the immortal Phenix and what type of God Solana has become. I thought Godhood in this context ( Statera’s Universe) ment authority over aspects of the universe where as dao ment paths of power/understanding to immortality. That’s how Alexander can consume his Godhood, by claiming ownership over his own power, independent of the universe. That is roughly what I think. Where am I going wrong? Or has Solana become the god of Phenix Arazona as well as a general God of Redemption?
Infamous.Goose
Fixed!
Infamous.Goose
Whoops!
Chaoticgoose
‘That was a boldfaced lie. Hadn’t Morgan said earlier that it doesn’t like, it reveals?’ like -> lie ?
Xijah'a77Yifa
You misspelled Phoenix in Solana's description at the end 😇
K
First Phoenix... I wonder if Solana will create phoenixes as mortal or immortal People. Maybe as Divine Beasts. Since Statera first created Fae, than Big Four their races, maybe now Pillars will create new Peoples.
