The flight was chaotic and furious. Riser, blinded by his rediscovered confidence and boiling hatred for me, flew forward, dragging me along in his fiery grip. He wasn't watching where he was going; his only goal was to get me far away, to a place where he thought he could fight me on equal terms, with no witnesses or interruptions. I didn't resist. I let him drag me through the crimson Underworld sky. Curiosity overpowered the desire to immediately put him in his place. Where was he taking me?
...
The landing was harsh. We crashed onto soft, springy moss in the middle of an unfamiliar forest. The trees here were even taller and more ancient than in the Phoenix clan's woods. Their trunks were covered in glowing runes, and the leaves shimmered with every shade of emerald and sapphire. The air was thick, damp, filled with the fragrance of unknown flowers and ozone, like after a storm. The silence was almost absolute, broken only by our heavy breathing and a distant, melodic chiming from an unclear source.
Riser instantly leaped to his feet, his body still wreathed in flame, eyes burning with rage.
"Here! We'll fight here!" he shouted, dropping into a combat stance. "You have no demon buddies here, no Satan to cover for you! It's just you and me! And I will show you the meaning of a Phoenix's wrath!"
He lunged at me, unleashing a torrent of fire. I dodged easily.
"Calm down, little bird," I said, watching his furious but still predictable attacks. "Your anger is understandable, but it won't help you. The difference in our power hasn't gone anywhere."
"I'll kill you!" he roared, creating lances of fire and hurling them at me.
I batted them away with casual movements. The spears shattered into sparks, doing me no harm. I saw his confidence begin to waver again, replaced by confusion. He was putting all his power, all his rage into it, but his attacks simply… weren't working.
"Why?! Why won't you burn?! Why won't you die?!" his voice cracked with despair.
"Because I'm stronger, Riser," I answered calmly. "Much stronger. It's time you accepted that."
I decided to end this pointless demonstration. With one sharp movement, I closed the distance, ignoring his fire barrier, which simply dissipated as I approached. I grabbed him by the hands, squeezing so tightly he couldn't move or use magic. My grip was steel.
"Let go! Don't touch me!" he started to panic again, his eyes filling with that familiar terror.
"I'm not going to hurt you," I said firmly, looking him right in the eyes. "If you stop throwing a fit. Just understand. I could have killed you in the arena. I could have killed you in the forest. I can kill you right now. But I'm not. Not because I can't. But because I don't want to. Your life doesn't interest me."
I loosened my grip slightly but continued to hold him. He stopped struggling, panting heavily, his gaze darting between my face and his hands, trapped in my grasp. He could feel my power, overwhelming, absolute. And he knew I was telling the truth.
"Calmed down?" I asked.
He gave a convulsive nod, still trembling. I let his hands go. He stumbled back, rubbing his wrists, and looked around as if noticing his surroundings for the first time.
"Where… where are we?" he muttered, bewildered. "This… this isn't our forest…"
"That's what I'd like to know," I said, also looking around. "You just flew, blinded by rage. Where did you bring us?"
Riser scanned the tall trees with their glowing runes, listening to the strange chiming. His face went slack with surprise, and then with irritation.
"Curse it… The Forest of Familiars!" he exhaled. "How did we end up here?!"
"Forest of Familiars?" I repeated. "What's that?"
Riser shot me a venomous look. "Do you know nothing about our world?! The Forest of Familiars is a special dimension, a place where magical creatures live, beings capable of becoming familiars to demons, mages, and other creatures! People come here to find a loyal companion and helper!"
"Familiars…" I recalled Rias and her team planning a trip for them. "So you can find a pet with magical abilities here? Interesting."
"Interesting?!" Riser started to boil again. "We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, possibly during the worst season, and you find it interesting?! We have to get out of here!"
"And how?" I asked calmly.
"You need… you need a special ritual or a guide! The Familiar Master usually leads groups here! And we… we just fell out of the sky!" He grabbed his head in despair. "Curse it! This is all your fault!"
"I didn't drag you here," I reminded him. "You were the one flying, blinded by rage. So blame yourself."
While we were bickering, something began to happen around us. From behind the trees, from under the roots, as if from thin air, creatures began to appear. Small, lizard-like, but made entirely of fire—salamanders. Flame spirits, swirling in the air like golden butterflies. Small fire-foxes with cunning faces. All were clearly of a fiery nature, and… they were drawn to Riser.
They surrounded him, not attacking, but rather with curiosity and… adoration? Some rubbed against his legs; others circled over his head, making soft, crackling sounds.
"What… what is this?" Riser stared in astonishment at the fiery wildlife gathering around him.
"Looks like your Phoenix aura is attracting them," I guessed, observing the scene. "You're like a big, warm bonfire to them."
Riser was flustered at first, but then that shadow of arrogance returned to his face.
"Ha! Of course! I am a Phoenix! My element is fire! Naturally, these lesser spirits sense my power! They want to serve me! To become my familiars!" He drew himself up proudly, and the fire-creatures around him flickered even more excitedly. "See? Even here, I am the center of attention! My power is magnetic!"
He shot me a mocking look.
"But no one is coming to you, upstart!" he noted venomously. "Maybe your weird power scares them off? Or maybe they just sense you're an outsider, a nobody, unworthy of having a familiar? Ha-ha!"
I ignored his jab. I didn't care if these fire lizards came to me or not. But his words made me look around more closely. And that's when I noticed it.
A couple of meters away, hiding behind a thick tree root… was a rabbit. A small, coal-black rabbit with long ears, the tips of which were an unnatural, bright crimson. It sat pressed against the root, staring at me with its large, ruby-red eyes. The gaze was… curious? Wary? Cowardly? It was hard to say. It was clearly different from the fire spirits gathered around Riser. A completely different aura emanated from it—not fiery, but… strange. A mix of something soft, fluffy, and at the same time… ancient? And very concentrated.
Riser, noticing my gaze, looked over too.
"And what's this little thing?" he snorted. "A black rabbit? Ha! How absurd! Even your familiars suit you—pathetic and cowardly!"
The rabbit, hearing Riser's words (or sensing his contemptuous tone), flinched. Its long ears twitched nervously. It shot Riser a quick, angry glance (yes, angry, which was strange for a rabbit), and then looked back at me. It seemed to be fighting with itself. Approach? Or stay hidden?
And then it decided. It took a hesitant step forward, then another. It moved… awkwardly. As if its paws were too long or it just wasn't used to walking on the ground. It got within a meter of me… and then promptly tripped over a small rock I hadn't even seen. The rabbit's ears windmilled, it lost its balance, and with a comical squeak, it face-planted onto the moss, tumbling head over heels.
It leaped up instantly, shaking itself off with an incredibly dignified air. Its ears turned red (or did I imagine it?), and it quickly looked around, hoping no one had seen its disgraceful fall. Its ruby eyes met mine. They held a mix of embarrassment, stubbornness, and… defiance? As if to say, "Nothing happened! I meant to do that!"
I stared at this ridiculous black rabbit. Something about it was… unusual. Not just a familiar. That aura, that gaze… And that comical clumsiness, mixed with some kind of hidden pride…
I tensed up. Not from a threat. But from… interest. This rabbit was definitely more interesting than all the fire spirits fawning over Riser. What did it want? Why was it looking at me like that? And why did its fall make me feel not laughter, but a strange sense of… recognition? As if I'd seen something like it before.
The rabbit, realizing I had seen it and wasn't laughing, took another step toward me. More carefully this time. It stopped half a meter away, tilted its head back, and looked up at me with its huge red eyes. There was no more fear in them. Just tense expectation and… a question?
The Forest of Familiars had presented its first surprise. And it was black, long-eared, and impossibly cute.