My eyes slowly opened to take in the intense light above me and I took a deep breath before exhaling. I could hear the murmur of the room as they all discussed subjects relating to me or of things such as Zachary's degrading health as my ears began to function normally.

"Damn it's bright in here..." I said as I sat up in bed and gazed in surprise at all of the individuals before me. As soon as I spoke it was as if time itself had frozen. Everyone just stared at me as if I had just come back from the dead though under the circumstances I'd say that's actually pretty accurate.

The first thing I heard was a small whisper from someone to my side. "I thought I lost you..." In an instant I felt Zachary pull me into a hug and hot tears burned into my shoulder. As soon as he let go the entire room erupted in a symphony of cheers and cries of joy.

As people rushed up to talk to me I looked down at the lone feather on my chest and held it in one hand.

So it wasn't just a dream...but who was he?

"Orion! You're alive! It's incredible, a phoenix just flew in and dropped a feather on you and left! A couple minutes later you woke up!" Lucem said excitedly. Next up was Violet, Lucem backed up a couple paces so she could approach. As she stood by me she kept a calm demeanor but it was clear that she had been crying before.

She quietly gave me a gentle hug and smiled. "It's good to have you back."

After she backed away countless others lined up and left after saying a few things or simply giving me a hug. After what felt like an age all but a handful cleared out. It was just Zachary, Violet and Lucem.

"Um...hey guys...sorry about, you know, dying and all." I said with a half-hearted laugh.

It was silent for a long moment until Violet spoke up. "You scared us..."

"I knew you'd wake up. I knew you would..." Lucem smiled weakly.

"You're not allowed to die, that's an order. Understand." He smiled as tears rolled around his cheeks.

"You guys mean the world to me, thank you so much. Hey, uh Zachary...after the battle, how bad was it..."

"85% survived, surprisingly enough, though it's estimated that at least 40% of those were wounded but thankfully most of them are expected to make a full recovery in due time. Apparently the enemy surrendered not too long after you killed Tirek. It's not nearly as bad as was expected."

"What happened while I was out?"

Violet answered my question. "The news spread through both worlds like wildfire, though that might also be in part because of the lightning storm you used to kill Tirek. Some civilians saw it and captured it on video from a distance. You got popular in a hurry. You have a small mountain of gifts to open, the ones in back are from us and the others that were in here. The ones in front are all from people that saw you online and heard what happened." She paused for a moment before adding one more thing. "Oh and I call dibs on any anime you find in there." She grinned. When she was done I finally noticed the presents stacked beside my bed and honestly I'm not sure how I missed them considering a couple touched the ceiling and the resulting mountain stretched further than the bed.

Holy shit! It probably weighs more that me and the bed put together at least!

I adjusted myself and tried to not gaze at the distracting mountain of colorful gifts and I looked back at my friends.

"After the battle...I remember tasting blood in my mouth and suddenly I collapsed...does anyone know why?"

"I'm certain it was because of the amount of energy you used against Tirek coupled with the exhaustion from the battle overall and the injuries. The doctors say you shouldn't have even woken up that morning." Zachary stated briskly.

After he finished a doctor pushed the doors open and walked in with a surprised look on his face.

"It's incredible that you woke up, but you're still gonna have to stay here for a while. I'm sorry to tell the rest of you but he's going to need some rest."

"He's been sleeping for over a week!" Lucem argued.

"Yes and he's going to need some more sleep so his body can repair itself. Even with healing magic he's going to be in here at least another week, maybe less if he eats well and gets plenty of sleep."

"I agree." Zachary said quietly. "Come on, we can come back tomorrow." He gestured to the others. As Violet left she poked her head back in for a moment.

"One more thing! There's some cards in the chest to your left! Have fun reading all 589 of them! " She smiled before disappearing into the hall with Lucem. I gulped when I heard her.

Okay it's just simply too much! Of course I like presents but it's not like I saved an entire race!

Once they were all gone I heard a peck at the window. I glanced over and noticed the same Phoenix there once more. I noticed that he was even smiling while he gestured for me to open the window for him. I very carefully stood up out of bed and walked over with a pace that would make old men look like speed demons. Once the window was open he flew in and perched himself at the food of the bed and waited for me to return to where I laid before talking.

"Mornin' sleeping beauty." He said with the closest thing to a grin a phoenix could manage.

"So you weren't just some crazy bird in my dreams."

"Well you got the crazy part right and I was in your dreams after all."

"Okay, well can you tell me your name? What's your original form? Do you know what my future will be like? Who will I marry?"

"Slow down there, I know I like to ask questions but relax." He laughed to himself a little, careful to keep his voice low. "One, I can't tell you for various reasons about my name and original form. Two, somewhat but if I told you it could change."

"What about the last one?"

"Oh now that's a surprise I can't spoil. All I can say is that you'll think she's cute when you meet her...or have you met her already..." He grinned mischievously and raised his eyebrows, or where he would have eyebrows at least.

"You're just plain evil!" I shot him an accusatory glare.

"I know you are, oh but you must promise to tell no one but I can tell you that humanity it going to be seeing a lot of portals really soon, there's going to be a lot going on. Anyway I must go soon. I heard it's not healthy to talk to myself" He laughed to himself.

Wait a minute...what does he mean by that...

My eyes opened wide in realization as to who it might be and I stared at him as he began moving towards the window, he must have seen my reaction.

"Ahhh, someone's finally catching on! I'd love to stay and playing twenty questions but I gotta go! We'll meet again soon. Farewell!" He gave a wave with one of his wings before flying out the window, leaving me with more questions than answers.

"What a pain in the ass."

Author's Note

Hope you guys enjoyed! If you notice any holes in the story please let me know or just comment about anything, seriously I love getting feedback. Also I will be continuing writing in this universe whether you like it or not :p. I haven't updated often lately because I am actually doing a lot of writing but it's some for each of my stories and I have some I'm just about ready to publish. Also when I don't update it's more of me thinking of more ideas than not having time to write it, like how I want some of them to tie in together.