This tale is an odyssey. It is about a demigod named Phoenix who went to find his purpose and his meaning. He goes to the desert of death to find the meaning of life and then finally, he finds his own personal deific purpose. The landscape and landscape itself plays a major role in this piece as well as the story itself.
Before the story begins however, let us look back at Phoenix and his life as he relates it himself, in his own words
'My life has been quite a doozy, in fact I can say that it was the life of a demigod. Born to Apollo, a well known god in Greece, I was given the traits of a hero. I had a natural strength and speed that made me become an athlete. I could see every strand of each muscle in my body as if I was looking at a skeleton. I became a natural athlete and got many titles and awards. My mother was in fact Hera, the queen of the gods. My father hated to see me suffer because of his wife did not really care for me, so he trained me with the help of my training chaperon, Hermes. I became educated in private tutors and teachers due to my father's fear that Hera would do something to me. I could read and write at the age of four. I had the skills of a natural artist and was a natural athlete and with all of these amazing traits and skills, I did not feel any loneliness about my life, because I always had someone around me. I was always in control of myself and never stepped into her (name withheld) ways and when I was my father's age of twenty five. I was the best athlete in Greece and was given a chance to go to Rome for a month for the Olympics. I had this great chance, to be in the Olympics with the best of Greece, but because of Hera's requests, I was sent back to Greece. One day, I was walking to school in the middle of the town with a beautiful roses on my way, I saw a girl by the name of Sophronia, who had a huge crush on me. I remembered laughing about how she would chase after me for two whole mornings. When we finally made eye contact, I asked her why she chased after me like that, she said 'You know why I do, I had a crush on you and when I made you laugh, I almost cried.' However, I did not think about this crush on me; I just saw her as just another girl, but what she did not know, I never laughed at her since the first day I met her.
After going to school and putting up a happy face at Sophronia, I wanted to build more memories of my stay in Rome for a month. I began thinking about how much I had learn from my father in the year I spent in Rome. One day, I was asked to come to the house of Apollo. I thought it was another one of the goddess' wishes, like Hera, but after going there, I found myself in the presence of my father. I was surprised that he had asked me to come to his house to meet him, because I felt like I was nobody to him, but my father clearly spoke up, 'Son, come, let's sit in my small office.