The Chronicles of Narnia: The Children of New

Chapter 8: Training and Traveling

Anna's POV

"Welcome to Narnia, General Kesler," Ariana said as she walked out of the conference tent. Smiling, I followed her out. Ariana beckoned me to follow her once I got outside. Together we walked out of the tent's vicinity and towards the back of the base camp. As I followed her, I looked around me. The camp was as you would expect, there were lots of tents and tons of people around. There were humans, fanus, centaurs, and other creatures I would have never thought I'd ever see. Some bigger tents and areas that were for things like eating and training. We walked past the mess hall and the medical centre. What surprised me, was that the camp had a mix of medieval items, like swords and armour, but also modern technology. From the glimpse I got of the med bay, I saw that inside were modern medicine machines. It's interesting how there are modern things mixed with medieval things. But then again I really shouldn't be surprised at anything at this point. Just go with the flow Anna, go with the flow, I thought as we walked out of the camp towards a field. There was an open clearing that was just past the camp. It was basically a flat open field and no one was there.

"You're not planning on killing me now, right?" I joked to Ariana, who had walked forward to stand in front of me.

Laughing she said, "No, no. If I was going to do that, I would have done it way earlier and in the trees. I plan to unlock the rest of your powers,"

"Wait what? I thought I already had them,"

"You do. But you don't know how to fully activate them or control them. So, Aslan gave me a little bit more magic. He said to use it to unlock your powers to their full potential and to train you. Oh don't ask how it happened, it just did in a dream one night. He's a mysterious lion. Also, you obviously have a ton more power than I do,"

"Ok. So what are you--"

Then there was a light glowing between her fingers, it looked like a small blue ball. I stopped talking. "By the power given to me by Aslan, I release you, Phoenix. Use this to show us your true flame," she said and touched the middle of my forehead.

Nothing happened, except for the blue ball disappearing into my head. I raised an eyebrow at her and she just shrugged. But then a jolt of hot fiery pain shot through my entire body. I screamed out in pain and I fell to my knees. I started to scratch at my skin to try and get it off because my skin was now hot and felt like it was blocking something. My entire body then lit on fire. Everything turned to fire; my arms, my legs, my hair, my skin, every part of my body was on fire.

After a minute or two, the pain subsided and I felt ten times better. Even though I was still on fire, I felt at peace and happy. It was only then that I noticed I no longer looked like me. I was now a bird with beautiful black feathers. I had giant wings that had red, orange, and gold tips on the feathers and a golden beck. For some reason, I didn't need to be taught how to fly, I just knew how to. I flew up towards the sky and then came back down. It was the best and most surreal feeling in the world. As I came back down, Ariana said, "Well damn. You have more power than I thought. Don't worry the pain you felt when you transformed will stop and shouldn't happen again. You looked great though. But now it's time to teach you to control all this power. Shall we begin?"

(Play song 4) Two weeks had passed since I arrived at the base camp. I had been training with Ariana every day since we unlocked all my powers. She was right that the pain I felt when I first transformed would go away. By now, I was able to switch from my human form and the phoenix form in less than a second. Ariana taught me how to use the fire magic in both forms. I also learned how to fight with swords and bow n' arrows. But my best and favourite weapon was the crossbow. That is if you don't count the fire. I had chosen two hand crossbows that almost acted like guns. I also started commanding units and acting as a real military general. It was a lot to learn in such a short time, but Ariana said that I'm the best General she's ever seen. Duralgias didn't take that well at first. But he got over it eventually. We work well together and are good friends now. "Anna," called Ariana as she came over to where I was sharpening my sword.