The Gi'ira - Ayla

"Tell you people what, though--I can offer you something. A kind of power you won't find on this world."

Marle then said the wisest thing I'd heard all day. "Then why would we want it...?" Exactly. You can't trust people offering power.

"It might help you get to Ramezia. Trust me, this is unique. It's a type of magic--summoning magic, but it calls on the beast within you. We call it the Gi'ira. I can teach it to all of you."

"Ayla not need magic!" she finally chipped in. "No can learn, anyway."

"That doesn't matter. If you're human and have a soul, you've got the beast talent. It just needs to be awakened," Mishu assured her.

How gullible did she think we were? "Oh, please!" I scoffed. "How do we know you won't just put a real curse on us?"

Incredibly, it was Masa who backed her up. "She's talking about the Gi'ira sec l'On. It's a blessing neiphiti spirit mages can grant to humans."
"Phbt, 'blessing.' If you can call it that."

"You're a spirit mage?" Marle wondered, while I had to ask, "What does it do?"

"That giant butter knife can try to explain it to you all day, or I could just show you." She beckoned Ayla with one clawed hand. "Com'ere. Since you're such a knuckle-headed skeptic, you can go first."

Ayla barely gave it a thought, marching forward to accept Mishu's invitation. Frog issued a warning ribbit and tried to bar her path, but Ayla brazenly pushed his arm aside. "Okay. Try anything! Ayla not scared." I had to admire her confidence, I supposed.

"Oh boy. This is going to get interesting," was Masa's last comment.

Ayla stood before the neiphiti with her hands braced on her hips, ready for anything, and Mishu gripped her shoulders with an unpromising sneer. "Good. Hold still and relax. This won't hurt a bit."

It looked just like an ordinary magic spell, at first. Mishu closed her eyes and began murmuring some unintelligible chant beneath the climbing howl of an intangible, ethereal wind. I can't believe we all stood back and watched Mishu perform her strange voodoo beast curse on one of our friends, but something fascinating about the unknown prospect (and Masa and Mune's lack of objections, which differed from their usual attitude towards Mishu) grounded us to the spot. Curiosity killed the cat, they say.

I'm not sure how to describe it--it was like watching a grass fire catch, spreading from Mishu's hands and enveloping Ayla in a blazing golden aura. Ayla jumped back as if scalded by the touch, but by then she was almost too bright to look at, her entire form blending into a solid, dancing orange flame. Her shape twisted and bent, the winds of magic roaring about her, and I vaguely heard Marle cry Ayla's name over the din. It seemed as if Ayla phased out of the third dimension for a moment, becoming a white silhouette over the grimy, scorched floor, but then the light began to fade and assume a new form, like cooling lava poured into a mould.

The winds died down, and the result--the thing that appeared in Ayla's place was... uncanny. It was covered in short, dusty blonde fur and hunched over the ground on four powerful legs. It had broad shoulders, a stout neck, and a pair of round nubs set behind its sloping skull for ears. Its long, slender tail swished and arched over its lean, muscular back as the creature panted in a rough, throaty, bestial snarl.

It was a big, living, breathing, sabre-toothed cat. It was huge, too--the rest of us could probably ride on its back together with little effort (well, maybe not Magus. We'd have to push him off.) "Oh my God..." Marle said numbly, and I only wished I was that articulate at the moment.

I looked at Mishu, who was wearing an altogether smug expression. Eventually, I found the words I needed. "Did you just... turn Ayla... into a smilodon?"

The creature was disoriented, swaying on its padded toes and panning a feral set of violet eyes around its company--not angry or frightened, just... bedazzled. "T-That's a big cat..." Frog stammered as he pedaled backwards, away from its snooping muzzle with the wickedly long incisors.

Marle crouched before the cat, gazing into its feline visage with a mix of awe and unchecked wonder. Geez, it looked big enough to swallow her in one gulp. "Ayla?? Is that really you?"

We jerked back in alarm as the cat nuzzled Marle hard enough to knock her onto her rump. I got over my mild heart attack once I heard the princess squeal and giggle in delight while Ayla smothered her with a giant cat's tongue. "Eeeee! Ehehe, oh my gosh, cut it out!! That tickles!"

Magus harrumphed his disapproval. "This is the power? To turn into animals? Useless."

Mishu sniffed back, "Hey, I said it was a unique power, not a great one. Everyone's beast is different."

---

More Phoenix concept stuffs, this time from Dr. LEA's Diary. And yep, I plan to do the others.

(Man, I'm lovin' my new jorb; it's like I'm getting paid to sit on my butt and draw.)

Marle
Crono
Lucca
Magus
Glenn

Chrono Trigger (c) Square