A Town Called Phoenix Drop (MCD Rewrite)

☾Little Phoenix Drop☽

𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚊 𝚊𝚐𝚘, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙 𝚘𝚏 𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚖, 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚢 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎.
𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚗.
𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚝, 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐, 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜, 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍, 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚖 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛, 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜.
𝙴𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚞𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎, 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝, 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍, 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜.
𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚢
𝙰 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜, 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚜. 𝙱𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍, 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍.

☘︎︎

A young woman stepped and jumped over the cracks of an old stone path. The woman almost danced over the cracks, jumping over fallen sticks and remnants of an old cart that at one point must've carried something to a nearby village. Something surely. But even then, the cracks that she jumped and hopped over in an attempt to not trip over were about the size to fit a child's leg in them. The woman's wool could almost slip into the cracks along the path with ease, slipping into the soft earth beneath. Each little bit of stone crumbled as she put her weight onto them.
At certain points, she almost became confident that if she looked down, she'd see someone staring up at her from the cracks. That led to the young woman not looking down into the deep cracks. She stepped onto a wooden plank leading over a river, a once magnificent bridge now hole-filled and covered in vines and moss, weathered down to its last splinter.

Aphmau jumped from the centre of the bridge to the other side, looking at the rushing water of the small river beneath the bridge. It was almost like something was holding the water back farther up the river, that's what she could tell from the markings along the rivers edge, erosion where a river had once run along the sides.
Aphmau watched for a second. She had come to travel, go on her first journey around the region to explore the natural wonders of Ru'aun. Her mother had always done nothing but talk about the most beautiful places that her and her father always used to travel before Aphmau was born, their focus shifting to their daughter. But, now Aphmau could travel around, she had gotten that from both of her parents.