- Classification
- Delta, Eta, Upsilon, Omega
The Shard of the Phoenix is an extremely rare item, they can only be created by a person who is inhabited by the spirit of life itself (Vitae). They are essentially a pure sample of the quintessential energy of life. This goes beyond magical or psionic energy and is formed out of the very essence of creation. The energy takes the form of a pure fire solidified into a stone with a similar look to fire opal. However, this artifact is always giving off some amount of radiant heat.
Properties
The stone continuously gives off radiant heat and never runs out of said heat. It is powered by life itself in a cyclical way where it in turn powers life itself. Since it is itself a sample of the pure flame of the phoenix, it has the ability to heal any wound and even reverse death itself given the correct catalyst. The most potent ability the shard has is to actually be absorbed into the core of a person, at that point the physical form of the stone dissolves away and the fire binds itself to the very soul and essence of the person in question, this is its intended function.
Purpose
A shard is a kind of gift from the host which has been chosen to embody Vitae and become the phoenix incarnate. It is intended to give someone they love the ability to regenerate after death the way the phoenix does and bind the two together. In most cases this is exactly what it does, there is one recorded case where the shard does not do so. According to legend when a person of Extraordinary Fate is allowed to absorb the phoenix flame of life from the shard, it will create an incredibly intense binding between the two souls which will usually end up rending them apart and making it impossible to be together in a meaningful way. The particular legend also indicates the possibility of creating a kind of closed loop in time where some form of deep and painful tragedy will befall both parties so long as the bonding exists, over and over again and this forces the souls apart in each incarnation.
A related legend to the above also implies, though doesn't explicitly state, such a person with both Extraordinary Fate and the Shard of the Phoenix could, in times of extreme duress, rise into a new form, as some form of guardian. Though this particular legend is only a partial record and no original text can be located. There are also some contextual information which is missing, which might have caused errors in the translation.
Normally, the shard would allow for the soul to be reborn along with the host of the phoenix with knowledge of its past, throughout each lifetime being brought together at the right time to fulfill the nature of the bond. There are cases where, through some extreme external force, legend says the pair are forced apart in one or more cycles of life and neither ever find the other - being doomed to sorrow and unhappiness.
The mechanics of this are unclear, as legends dictate these complicates are rare to ever occur.