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Only the most foolish of creatures make a deal with Endine, but I am desperate. I’ve thought long and hard about how to get what I want. I’ve sought out every other god and goddess, pleading with them, but they all refused to grant me my wish. So what choice do I really have left?

I stand before him, where he sits on a throne of bones. The ground beneath my feet shifts slightly, and I think I see screaming faces. I look away, feeling sick.

“Tell me, Phoenix,” Endine says. “What is it you want?”

I draw in a breath. “I wish to become human.”

He is silent. His dark eyes consider me, and after a moment he stands up, casting his shadow over my body. I stand my ground, although every thing inside of me tells me to run. Endine is insane, but apparently only an insane god will even think about making me human.

He steps towards me, and my legs tremble. He reaches a hand out, shimmering claws trailing over my cheek and the flickering flames of my hair. His smile is chilling -- insanity coating every inch.

“Lovely,” he says. “I’ve never been given such a request.”

He pulls his hand back, one claw nicking my skin. I ignore the blood sliding down my cheek and focus on composing myself.

“So you’ll do it?” I ask.

His lips draw back in a grin. “No.”

My mouth opens, but I can’t speak. Despair fills me, and I drop to my hands and knees, bowing my head. “Please,” I say. “I’ll do anything. I’ll give you anything. Whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want?”

“Yes!”

He doesn’t speak for a while, but I can sense his presence above me, cold and stoic, as his shadow blankets me. “There is something I want,” he finally says.

I raise my head, smiling, but when I see his face my smile falls away. In his eyes I see myself, but not as I am -- one of my past lives. And he his smiling that cold, cruel smile again.

Only the most foolish of creatures make a deal with Endine.

I swallow hard.

Endine kneels in front of me. “I want your memories, your knowledge.”

Knowledge-eater.

I lower my head to stare at the floor. I want to be human, but am I prepared to give up everything I know, all of my memories from my countless lives, the feeling of soaring through the sky, my fire burning warm around my body? Can I allow myself to forget about it?

I feel his hand on my face, and I want to pull away, but I’m frozen. He lifts my head up, and I find that his face is directly in front of mine, so that if he were to lean forward a little bit more, he could kiss me.

“If you truly wish to be human,” he says. “you must give up your memories. You cannot be human if you remember being the phoenix.”

He’s right, of course. It makes sense now.

“Okay,” I say.

He grins. “We have a deal?”

“Yes.” Why does it feel like I’m damning myself?

He leans forward suddenly, turning my face to the side at the same time. He presses his lips against my cheek -- they’re cold, like ice, and a convulsion shudders through my body. He pulls back, turning my head around to look at him once again. He cups my face in his hands. A dark smile is on his lips, and fear fills me.

Only the most foolish of creatures make a deal with Endine.

His claws sink into my skull, and I scream. The pain is overwhelming, but I can’t escape. It fills my mind, my body, every inch of me, until I’m choking on sobs and crying outright. I’m shaking, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t still myself.

I can feel something on either side of my head -- the source of the pain -- but it’s gone a moment later. I blink. For a second I see something leaning over me, and I open my mouth to scream, but another blink and it’s gone.

The pain leaves me, and I close my eyes, feeling unbelievably tired, but I can’t sleep. Something feels wrong, but I can’t place my finger on it, and the more I try to think about it, the farther away it seems to get. There is only one thing I am sure of, though I don’t know why it seem so important: I am human.