In all the city Thebes, there was no couple quite as extraordinary as Phile and Anastasius. They had been together since their youth and had never once been apart for longer than one sunrise to sunset. Even the Gods acknowledged their divine love for one another, for it was one that had never before been seen. The two lived together in a small house on the edge of the city where they spent most of their days doing nothing more than enjoying each others company. Until one fateful day that would change their lives forever when a band of robbers who had come through to plunder the city called upon their humble place. The robbers threw Anastasius to the ground. They collected all of the household’s most prized possessions. Everything from gold coins to family crests was stashed into bags. And as their one final move, the robbers took Anastasius’s most valued treasure, Phile. They bound and gagged her and dragged her away crying out in a muffled voice, but Anastasius was not conscious. When he awoke to find his house plundered and his lover gone, Anastasius sat in the center of the now naked and barren room where he had fallen. Phile, his beautiful wife, his soul mate, was taken from him. And Anastasius wept. Nearly half a century had passed since he had seen her when he was called upon by the Gods. He knew not what they wanted of him or where he was headed but he knew that they wished for him to travel. Taking nothing with him but the clothing on his back, Anastasius left the city and carried on to the countryside. Anastasius wandered into the wood. He felt that the Gods were leading him on his path, though he was still unsure of where he was headed. He had faith, but still he felt his steps falter as he wandered deeper and deeper still into the forest. The sun was now almost set in the Western sky and Anastasius grew weary. Still he trudged on, knowing in his heart that his journey was of great importance. Just as he reached a state of near-unconsciousness, Anastasius reached a small clearing surrounded by a circle of great Oaks. In the center of the clearing lay Phile, either asleep or dead he dare not say. With what energy he could muster he came to her, he fell on his knees and cried out to the heavens for she was not alive. Through his cries one long note sustained. This note floated to the sky and struck the ears of the Gods. Anastasius’s lament was met with tears from the heavenly beings. One tear traveled all the way down to the ground below and as it landed upon them, both Phile and Anastasius’s caught fire. As the wind whipped through the trees the two flames danced together in a blazing inferno. The ground was charred under them and out of the ashes of the scarred earth rose two magnificent birds; their feathers every color of the smoldering embers below. The phoenixes flew together around the smoking remains of the great twin flames. Reborn from the ashes of a long-lost love, they took flight into the abyss of the crystalline sky, singing, to live for all eternity together as one. A myth for my Creative Writing class. =] Feedback and criticism appreciated always!