Work Text:
It’s an odd-looking ring. A bent copper band corroded to a blue-green hue with age. He’s drawn to it like a moth to a flame. It’s hypnotic, the pull he feels to pick up the ring and place it on his finger.
Blinking he sees darkness chased away by flames, a brilliant blue, and gold, in the split second that his eyes close and open.
Magic , he thinks.
He plucks the ring out of the mud and feels a zing of electricity run through his veins when he slips it onto his middle finger.
He feels powerful and weak. Hot and cold. More alive than he’s ever been before.
The sky darkens. Lightning sizzles in the air. Thunder booms. And he’s suddenly airborne. A phoenix soaring high above the earth, wings ablaze in an inferno of copper and gold.
Freedom.
He sings. His voice, a trill of musical notes of pure happiness.
A loud roar shakes the earth, causing lesser birds to plummet to their deaths. The phoenix rushes onward and meets the fearsome water dragon head-on. They crash into an embrace, moving in an erotic dance that sends rain to the thirsty ground below, hearts beating together as one.