"Phoenix?"
I mutter under my breath, rummaging my brain as I search for where I saw the image of this bird before.
Ah! Yes! On the crest of my guide and the uniform of the guards, and also on the red robe of the Patriarch. There was a specific drawing of a bird coated with flames, I thought it was just their symbol, does that mean this phoenix is?
[Your family revere me because I was the one who delivered to your founding father, the first king of the Flameworth's– The flame of eternity, he wielded it, and the world knew his name. They believe I was the one who gave him those flames, meanwhile, I was not, I am only a messenger, a channel and the source is above me.]
"Then who is the source?"
[THEY.]
"Who are they?"
[Their names cannot be mentioned, for the weight of it on a mortal is too much to bear.]
"..."
What is this? What is it saying? What does it mean?
"You said you are a messenger, what.. message did you bring to me?"
[THEY have seen your resolve, you are the first one of the Flameworths to ever survive in this pool for this long without breathing or passing out or...Dying.]
"Wait. How long have I been here?"
[Two weeks. They all think you're dead.]
Two weeks? That's... that's long.
[You are to go to Ludia, the city of beginnings, there, you will align with your Destiny, to slowly fulfill your purpose.]
My purpose? Does it mean the reason I was brought to this world? I'm all shades of confused right now.
"Why should I do as you and your "THEY" say?"
The being let out a small, dry laugh.
[Don't you want to see your wife Edward? You have no other choice.]
My heart freezes at the mention of my wife and my real name. I narrow my eyes and shoot a suspicious glare at the Phoenix as I clench my fists tightly.
It knows I was reincarnated.
[Don't look at me like that, I don't know anything, I only said what THEY told me to say. THEY know everything.]
My brows furrow as I hear the words it utters.
Are they... gods? What the hell.
"I don't trust you... Or them."
[It's not a matter of trust Edward, it's a matter of destiny. You were chosen not by THEM or by me, but by fate, and THEY only serve as a guide to steer you in the right direction, towards your Destiny, to fulfill your purpose.]
I scoff at the being's words.
"Screw all that shit, I don't care about all that. How did THEY say I can see my wife?"
[It's simple, all you have to do is follow your path, power awaits you on your journey, and with that power, you can do all things.]
I muse about what the Phoenix said, I lower my head, thinking about my wife and my two kids.
Isn't it the same thing? The same thing I said I would search for? It's right in my face. If there's a way to go back then I'll gladly follow that way...
Even if I have to make a deal with the devil.
[Then..]
The Phoenix moves its wings towards my bubble and bursts it.
I'm in the water now, but it's not hot, and I'm not sinking.
I stand there, not afraid or shaken. I know it can't hurt me, because it– no, the ones who sent it need me.
It stretches its wing towards my forehead, tapping it lightly.
[Along with my message. A gift from them.]
I close my eyes.
"Arrgggggggggg!!"
I feel a scorching pain, like a bomb went off inside my body.
I grit my teeth and clench my fists tightly.
I endure the pain and open my eyes.
I see a bright red light from its wings flowing into my body through my forehead.
And then another pain followed.
It feels like my entire being is being rewritten, a burning pain courses through my body, burning my soul itself.
My peeled skin starts regrowing, all my torn flesh starts regrowing.
With a crunching sound, my bones feel like they're breaking and they're being refixed as they break.
I can no longer take the pain.
I pass out.
_____________
The Phoenix stared at the body of the young boy.
Finally, after many years, the flame of eternity has a new wielder...
The Phoenix took its wing off the boy's forehead and tapped his chest.
[Don't forget boy, your destiny is greater than any other's.]
And suddenly, the boy who was passed out disappeared from the waters.
A smile transformed the face of the Phoenix as its beak parted slowly.
"It is done."
The Phoenix disappeared, like it was never there, as if all that happened was a dream.
_____________
It was a normal day in the main mansion of the Flameworths, Alexander, the Patriarch sat down on his chair, facing the documents and other books on his table.
He wore glasses with golden rims, he always wore them while he wrote, not because his eyesight was bad, but because he deemed it 'Regal'.
He dropped the quill he was holding on his table and rubbed his forehead as he sighed.
That kid– Charles, he had potential, it was a pity he died, he could have been something. But It's unlikely he'd still be alive, it's been two weeks. Everybody spent a maximum of five days in the mana pool. During my time, I spent five days before passing out and waking up outside. But him? He's probably dead.
"I really need to eat cake and take a break from the heap of work Faleso gave me this morning."
He stretched the gloves on his hands to fit them well and kept writing.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu~
Alexander's eyes snapped and his heart tightened as he felt an eery chill– No- heat, tingling his skin and a wave of that same heat washed over the entire mansion.
He clutched the shirt on his chest.
"What the hell was that?!"
He immediately stood up from his chair and ran towards the door with great speed, running towards the source of the hot wave of mana he felt.
____________
Everybody in the entirety of the Flameworths mansion felt it. The maids, the gardeners, the workers, the trainees, the mages, the family members, they all felt that intense wave of hot mana that reverberated In the air.
And the cause of the commotion– Charles, stood at the Entrance of the metal door that led to the cavern, unconscious but somehow still standing, his eyes flickered with sperm-shaped Flames and flames of intense heat radiated from his body. His clothes were torn and he was naked.