In the morning light, the surface of the sea shimmered as if the entire ocean had been edged with a faint band of gold. Sunlight slowly poured in from the east, illuminating the island's outline.
The enormous phoenix, with a wingspan of nearly ten feet, flew in once again. Its golden feathers burned like flames beneath the sunlight.
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes as he watched this magnificent sight. Each beat of the phoenix's wings scattered tiny sparks into the air, and those sparks did not fade away.
Instead, they hovered like fireflies, forming a resplendent ribbon of light.
"The Phoenix God is back!" Bud cried out, immediately pulling her younger brother down to their knees. The two children pressed their palms together and touched their foreheads to the ground. They chanted some kind of prayer in their childish voices.
It was the etiquette they had been taught by the adults on the island. The children were merely imitating what they had learned. They had no idea why the Phoenix God had returned.
"What are you doing?" Dumbledore asked gently.
The children looked up at him, their faces filled with reverence and devotion.
"We're worshipping the Phoenix God," Bud replied softly. "It is a messenger of the gods. In the legends, only the greatest heroes are taken away by it."
"Taken away?" Dumbledore paused slightly, his gaze growing deep.
"Yes," Odin nodded. "Elder Brother Ian was taken away by it. We all saw it that day. He stood in the air, reached out his hand to the Phoenix God, and then...he disappeared."
Dumbledore fell silent for a moment, slowly lifting his gaze to the distant sky.
The gigantic phoenix drew ever closer. Its wings were spread wide, blotting out the heavens. Every feather burned like a living flame, leaving faint golden trails in the air.
"Magical creature worship, hm."
Dumbledore noticed how practiced their movements were.
Clearly, they had done this many times before.
Throughout much of history, he knew that humans had held a similar reverence for magical creatures, especially those without magic who inevitably encountered creatures with magical powers.
After all, they all lived on the same planet. The worlds of wizards and Muggles were never completely separate, especially in ancient times.
Back then, there were no Secrecy Laws to prevent Muggles from encountering the extraordinary. Nor were there Ministry officials tasked with erasing the memories of Muggles who had come into contact with magic.
The further back in time one went, the more frequent the interactions between humans and magical creatures became.
In fact...
In the world of Harry Potter, magic and mystery are always intertwined. Many ancient legends and beliefs may well have originated from the worship of magical creatures that truly existed.
Of course,
With history long buried beneath the relentless wheels of time, wizards today can only make reasonable conjectures. Nevertheless, many similar cases can be found in historical records.
For instance, in ancient Egyptian mythology, the Bennu bird was a symbol of the sun and rebirth. It was believed to be a type of phoenix with the power to be reborn after death.
And in the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the phoenix is described as an extremely rare and sacred creature, capable of being reborn through fire, its tears possessing powerful healing properties.
The similarities are striking, inevitably raising the question of whether the Bennu bird was in fact a record left behind by ancient people who had witnessed a phoenix, later deified as part of the sun god itself.
Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god worshiped by the Aztecs of the Americas, was described as a giant serpent covered in feathers that could summon wind and rain.
In essence, was this not a creature similar to an Occamy? Magical creatures of this kind were intelligent and could communicate with humans and form mutually beneficial relationships with them.
These examples suggest that, in the magical world, ancient civilizations' worship of gods most likely stemmed from encounters with powerful magical creatures.
Because of their extraordinary abilities and mysterious nature, humans endowed such beings with divinity, making them central symbols of culture and religion.
Of course...
Mythological legends are also rife with magical creatures.
To wizards, these myths belong to the past.
Yet, they provide Dumbledore and Ian with compelling evidence when pondering the origins of the gods. They suggest that, before becoming gods, such beings may have interacted closely with magical creatures.
Otherwise, how could magical creatures fit so seamlessly into so many mythologies?
India's Nāga and Europe's Jörmungandr are examples of magical creatures. Likewise, Scotland's kelpies and Ireland's water horses likely emerged from wizardkind's fear of horse-shaped kelpies. In Greek mythology, Poseidon's chariot was drawn by sea horses. To this day, the Department of Mysteries within the Ministry of Magic keeps similar creatures.
Indeed, mythology is never lacking in magical creatures.
For this very reason...
For primitive tribes, it was only natural to worship gods, and it was likewise reasonable for them to worship magical creatures. After all, ancient Muggles witnessed these creatures and regarded them as gods, thus developing many forms of reverence toward non-human beings. From Dumbledore's perspective, this was an idea he readily accepted.
Because of this, when he saw the two children kneeling in worship before the mysterious, gigantic phoenix, he felt nothing strange at all. Like Ian, he simply maintained his own stance.
Standing.
He treated it as an equal.
After the children finished worshiping and raised their heads, standing again with no excessive awe reserved for the "ancient god," Dumbledore immediately posed a question.
"Do you often worship the phoenix like this?" Dumbledore asked softly, his gaze fixed on the approaching divine bird. He wanted to learn more about the enormous phoenix.
"We don't really know. Anyway, the Phoenix God is our patron," Odin replied, still kneeling. "The adults say the Phoenix God protects the island from being swallowed by the storm."
Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully.
In ancient Celtic legends, the phoenix was indeed regarded as an incarnation of the sun and its guardian. Suddenly, Fawkes let out a low cry and puffed up his golden-red feathers slightly.
With a mix of reverence and excitement.
The enormous phoenix finally arrived above the beach.
The scorching air currents stirred up by its wings caused the surrounding sand to melt, forming tiny, glass-like crystals.
"Is this a show of force? Or a warning?" Dumbledore raised an arm to shield himself from the heat; a thin layer of mist formed over his half-moon spectacles.
When the phoenix descended...
A startling scene unfolded. The phoenix slowly came to rest, folding its wings and swaying its tail feathers gently. With each movement, a soft breeze stirred, carrying a faint scent of incense. It showed no signs of hostility or aggression, standing there silently like a living statue.
The land beneath its feet began to change. Upon its approach, ordinary trees gradually took on the luster of pure gold, light flowing through their branches and leaves—an otherworldly radiance. This was not a simple transmutation spell but a deeper transformation, a process that elevated matter into energy.
The bark of the surrounding trees rapidly turned brilliant gold, and their leaves became emerald-like gemstones. The trees shimmered under the setting sun with a dazzling, almost blinding brilliance.
"Advanced alchemy..."
Dumbledore was visibly surprised. He had encountered similar creatures before, but never one whose mere presence exerted such a powerful influence on its surroundings.
Not even the mighty, ancient dragons possessed such an innate level of magical ability.
After all...
Transformations of this magnitude, even for Nicolas, required complex magical arrays and long periods of preparation. Yet this phoenix had accomplished it through nothing more than contact during its landing.
That was anything but ordinary.
Fawkes lifted off from Dumbledore's shoulder, circled once in the air, and bowed his head to the gigantic phoenix like a courtier paying homage to a king.
The sight caused Dumbledore's blue eyes to widen slightly. In the magical world, phoenixes were already exceedingly rare and proud creatures. For one to show submission was truly uncommon.
"Perhaps I've found the origin of phoenixes," Dumbledore murmured to himself, becoming aware of something as his fingers unconsciously rubbed his wand.
The enormous phoenix tilted its head and stared straight at Dumbledore with its amber eyes. The old man tried to communicate with it the way he did with Fawkes, creating a mental connection.
However... his consciousness met an impenetrable wall. It was not rejection, but rather a fundamental difference in nature, and it was like a human attempting to speak with the stars.
Dumbledore could not find a frequency with which to communicate with the giant phoenix.
"Have you come for me?"
He switched to a form of magical language and asked aloud, believing its intelligence surpassed Fawkes's and that it might understand more primitive magical tongues.
But...
There was no response.
The gigantic phoenix gave no indication as to whether or not it understood his words. It simply continued to watch him with its deep gaze, or perhaps it was looking at Fawkes perched on his shoulder.
There was a hint of curiosity in the great phoenix's eyes, as though it were examining a lost child. Fawkes shrank back slightly and let out a somewhat aggrieved cry.
For a moment, the atmosphere grew awkward.
"Have you come for me?" Dumbledore asked softly again, his tone carrying both caution and respect.
The phoenix did not respond, merely gazing at him in silence.
Countless thoughts ran through Dumbledore's mind.
Was this phoenix truly just a magical creature?
Or was it the remnant of a much older civilization? Or perhaps a guardian left behind by a lost age?
Because he had once been curious about the past of the Dumbledore family, he had conducted his own research. In ancient tomes, he had read various records about phoenixes, especially in very ancient texts, where they were often regarded as embodiments of time and witnesses of fate. Many ancient peoples shared such beliefs.
They all shared a core trait: immortality, rebirth, and transcendence beyond the mundane.
And this phoenix was clearly more real and tangible, and far more powerful than the legendary images.
At that delicate moment of stalemate, a deafening explosion thundered from the sky. Dumbledore snapped his head up and saw a massive figure plummeting downward at astonishing speed.
"BOOM!"
The beach shook violently. Silver-white sand erupted like a fountain, dust billowed, and debris flew in all directions. When the dust finally settled, Dumbledore saw a deep crater, nearly ten meters in diameter, carved into the beach.
He tightened his grip on his wand.
He walked forward.
There, lay a three-meter-tall, silver-haired "giant." It was none other than Claire, the titan woman Ian had encountered before. The manner in which she descended into the mortal world was, quite frankly, not something history could easily record.
She had changed outfits. Her silver-white hair was tied into a high ponytail, and she wore a shimmering metallic battle suit. Rune-inlaid guards adorned her wrists and ankles.
She carried an air of majesty.
At the moment, however, that majesty had been utterly obliterated.
"So tall!"
"Is she a magical creature, too?"
The two siblings who had rushed over cried out in surprise.
Bud, as fearless as ever, threw the stone ball in her hand at Claire to determine whether she was a "humanoid magical creature." The stone struck the Titan woman squarely on the head, but she didn't react at all.
"Oh... no, she's not a magical creature; she's just really tall!" Bud exclaimed in alarm, realizing her rudeness. She hurriedly jumped down into the crater, trying to help the three-meter-tall giant up.
However...
The Titan, who had failed to land in perfect form, had absolutely no desire to get up.
"She...she's not hurt, is she?" Odin also ran over, frowning at the scene. Claire gave no response, burying her face deeper into the sand.
As if doing so might let her disappear from this world entirely.
Seeing Bud about to attempt first aid…
"Don't take off my shoes. I'm fine. I just want to lie down for a bit and bask in the sun." The Titan woman Claire spoke as she lay there awkwardly in the center of the huge crater.
The air still carried the lingering aftermath of the explosive impact. Her long hair was messily draped over her shoulders, her face smeared with dirt and gravel, the once awe-inspiring presence completely gone.
"She's still conscious."
Dumbledore slowly approached, a hint of curiosity and a gentle smile in his eyes.
Standing at the edge of the crater, he looked down at the "giant" who refused to lift her head and spoke calmly, yet with unmistakable insight:
"If I'm not mistaken, you are an ancient Titan goddess."
The moment those words were spoken, the body at the bottom of the crater trembled slightly.
"Albus Dumbledore, right?"
Claire's voice came muffled from the sand. She still did not raise her head, yet her words made Dumbledore freeze.
He was a wizard from the future. He had never revealed his name to anyone in this world.
How did she know it?
"A seer? Or did Ian tell you?" In an instant, Dumbledore arrived at the two most likely possibilities, his eyebrows lifting slightly.
His expression didn't look particularly tense.
Of course…
That calm lasted only a few seconds. Because what the Titan woman Claire said next was utterly earth-shattering, causing Dumbledore's pupils to dilate sharply. Even the elder-wood wand in his hand nearly slipped from his grasp, his emotions visibly surging.
"No. This information was told to me by Ariana."
That was her answer. Her voice was not loud. Yet it made Dumbledore's mind ring violently.
(End of chapter)
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