PHOENIX stood tall on the patio, her slender arms resting against the carved stone rail as her eyes swept across the vastness of the land before her. The sun was beginning to descend slowly into the horizon, casting golden hues across the houses and stretching shadows across the mountains that sloped deeply into the dense woods. She wore a flowing crimson gown that shimmered under the golden light like fire. Its bodice was adorned with black feathers at the shoulder, stitched with fine obsidian ...