A Glimpse Into A Future Chapter of Phoenix Falling
I hesitated briefly outside the wooden door, Apollo Anderfell engraved into the golden plaque that had been hung over the mahogany. I'd hardly spoken to him in the past year, only the gods knew what he had been up to.
I knocked four times, a secret code we shared with each other, a way to know who was knocking, and I heard his smooth, deep voice call from within. "Come in!"
His study was the same as it always was, in a sate of absolute chaos. How he ever found anything would forever be beyond me, but I knew if I were to organize things he wouldn't know where anything was for the next year. Books and scrolls scattered the shelves and tables, and the orange light of the outside illuminated the room through the two windows along the walls.
Apollo stood from behind his desk. He was still impossibly tall, and as lean built as he had been the last time I saw him. His deep brown eyes, the same color as his skin, were filled with warmth upon seeing me and he came to pull me into an embrace which I accepted.
"Leoseth! Good to see you, my friend, good to see you." He pulled away slightly to look me over, attempting to gauge any changes I had undergone since we had last seen each other.
He was exactly the same as the last time I had seen him. Except for one thing.
"Apollo, what did you do to your hair...again?" The fact that it was an almost obnoxious shade of violet was normal, he'd done that to himself in my first year at the academy, messing up some spell in transmutation, but normally his long hair that fell over one eye was curly. Now it was straight and tied back in a bun.
He raised an eyebrow and smirked, adjusting the hair that sat over his eye. "I straightened it, finally figured out that aesthetic modification spell that turned my hair purple. Thought it would be a fun test, and it's made it so much easier to manage." He smirked at me as he adjusted his glasses. "I don't know, I quite like it."
I sighed and leaned back against his desk. "It looks good on you, really."
Suddenly he was standing over me, one hand on the desk, the other gently holding my chin. "I've quite missed you, scales. It's a shame you haven't visited me lately."
I laughed a bit. "It's a shame you haven't been here to visit lately." I moved his hand away and he raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh, don't give me that look, we don't have time for this."
He sighed, visibly disappointed. "You brought people with you, didn't you?"
"And curious ones at that. If I'm gone too long and one comes looking for us, then what kind of position are we in? Besides, it's been a year, Apollo. Don't tell me you're still a bachelor?" I teased.
He backed off with a huff, blowing slightly at his hair as he crossed his arms. "And you aren't?"
My mind flashed briefly to Ryker, but I shook my head with a laugh. "I am, I am."
He narrowed his eyes at me. He always could read me like a book. "You're interested in someone, aren't you?"
I looked away, crossing my arms now. He simply laughed.
"You're going to make me guess, hm?"
"You'll know the moment you see them."
He chuckled and messed with my hair, going to the door. "Then I suppose I ought to go meet them."
