《Elemental Pheonix》 Prologue: the union Darkness simple unending darkness. This was what greeted the boy when his first thought appeared. "What is this?" It was a thought that was yet to take a shape or form of any kind. Just a small plea that the mind cried out in order to take hold of what was around it. It did not expect an answer nor did it think it would get one. However, against all odds, it did. "This is the world." Said another voice. Another entitiy, something that wasn''t in the boy''s head, but still close enough to feel and get a sensation from other then the darkness. This made the boy jolt in surprise, moving and feeling uncertain. "Calm down young one, you are not in any danger, you are going to be alright. just let yourself calm down and relax. All im going to do is inpart some knowledge unto you to speed up the growing process a bit." Then all of a sudden the boy could feel something flowing into him. And things started to dawn on him. Definitions he could understand. He knew now he was an unborn child, barely even considered alive yet. in his mother''s womb. He could see almost outside himself, a vision of a woman in a chair with a large belly. She looked warm and happy. With light blue hair and eyes that sparkle in a silver light. All of these feelings and sensations he felt he knew and had known forever were in him. But that was impossible, he thought to himself. There isn''t any way for him to have known these things, After all he didn''t have any memories other then a second ago. When he got his answer to what this is. And the only one who he could ask was that person. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "Who are you?" He asked, Now back in this darkness that he percieved now as his mothers womb. Even with these knew definitions and concepts of reality between himself and others. There was still confusion and most of all he had no idea what this presence was. "Ah good it worked, it appears you''ve stabilized little one. Much easier to talk to you now rather then a newborn infant. Ah as for your question I go by many names, but you should call me talnax, and i am your contracted spirit. But do not worry about such matters right now. Just know that i will always be here with you." This revelation calmed the boy he now had full control of his emotions and this being seemed to be very strong and kind. He had nothing to guage this with but it was more of an instinct then any kind of logic. "Thank you." The boy said almost a whisper in his own mind. "Oh, my. Aren''t you a gracious one. You''re welcome child. But i believe that''s enough chit-chat for now you shoud go to sleep now and rest. I will seal most of you knowledge until you have grown a little, Don''t wan''t you becoming too different from a normal child. We''ll just give a higher learning capacity than others." All of a sudden things became abstract again to the boy but it wasn''t bad, he just drifted away back into the darkness. Chapter 1- Strangeness The large mansion was far from any civilization. Surrounded by thick spruce trees with only one road as an exit being covered in a light veil of snow. It was obvious that someone had tried to shovel it, but it proved a futile effort. The mansion itself had two stories with a large double door on the front, lavishly decorated with the motif of two cranes with their necks lovingly encircled around each other. The room on the top right floor was the only lit room, flickering in the night whilst the snow gently fell around the house. "Aaaah, aah, aaah, aaaah!" The woman screamed out, contractions worsening with each breath. Threatening to tear open at any moment. Her Blue hair was matted with sweat and her whole face looked pale. Her great beauty suddenly incarcerated by a foul expression. She tried to grasp the bed with unsteady hands and breath she seemed like she would suddenly stop at any time. "That''s it Seles just keep pushing. Listen to the sound of my voice and keep trying!" The man said. He had silver hair with a tint of red usually combed backward in respectable fashion but now an ungodly mess since he was like to pull it out any time soon. With a slightly darker colored Short trimmed beard and dark red eyes that looked purple in a different light. He was ecstatic, terrified, and lost all at the same time. His sweaty palms gripping his wife''s feeble hands. Not knowing what to do anymore all he could do was hope. They couldn''t get to a healer in time due to the snow, Seles was not to be due for another month so they were caught off guard when the contractions hit early. Luckily the housemaid had picked up a small amount of healing magic. Wren was her name, an older lady with black hair and blue eyes who had been recommended by a friend. Although, her magic was pitiful, Barely enough to stave off a headache let alone the pain of childbirth. He was beginning to regret not learning any kind of healing magic. Instead opting for the destructive fire magic instead. "Don''t worry Morcose everything¡¯s going to be fine.....ugh!!" Seles had saw her husband panicking and tried to comfort him but before she could the pain skyrocketed. "That''s it Ms. Kanda I can see the head." Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of unending worry, In the last push the baby was brought out into the world screaming as loud as it could. Desperately grasping for breath. But all Morcose could hear was white noise, as soon as the baby was out he had felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. There was his child, in all his glory, screaming his presence to the world. He looked at his wife still well, the color returning to her face, he smiled at her and said "Myrddin"........... Then fainted. ".........honey?" Seles looked at her husband on the ground almost bewildered by this. "Oh, don''t worry about this silly man Ms. Seles. Honestly he boasts so much about being a strong military man and can''t even handle a little bit of labor pains. I hope his son doesn''t turn out to be such a wimp." The Maid mercilessly chided the unconscious man now strewn across the floor with drool hanging from his mouth. This made Seles giggle. "Hehe, thank you for helping us miss Wren, we couldn''t have done it without you." She thanked the made as she handed over the child now bathed and wrapped in a cloth still making noises and stretching his arms around excited to greet the world. "And thank you my little bundle of joy for finally coming to see us. I''ve been waiting you, you know. Myrddin." She then gently kissed his forehead calming him and sending him into a deep sleep -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a month later when the boy first exhibited signs of his abilities. The small family had been living peacefully in their mansion waking up all cuddled together on the bed. Then reading stories from their bookshelf to Myrddin always making sure to try and get the baby to listen and understand what they were saying while he was looking up at them, curiosity fresh in his mind. Surprisingly the boy never showed much in the way of discontent. He would cry when hungry or when he had soiled himself but other than that it was all smiles and curiosity. Of course they couldn''t ask for anything more as parents who had heard horror stories of never having any peace and quiet, or being unable to sleep. Curious himself Marcose had pinched Myrddin trying to get a reaction out of him, it did the trick making the infant whimper loudly, earning the idiot a resounding slap across the face. During this time Seles had been in the living room painting with Myrddin in his cradle a few feet away fiddling with a small wooden toy, his favorite bird. There were many candles and paintings around the mansion, as another of her hobbies was candle making. Many candles with different colors, they were mostly flower designs and the odd animal, fox or deer carved into the wax. Making the inside of the log mansion look like spring had just arrived. Marcos was down on the ground floor in his study writing letters or exercising when Seles had heard the wooden toy drop from the cradle. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. "Oh, did your birdy drop Myrddin. Hear let mommy get it for you sweat pea." She saw him reaching for the bird trying to move onto his stomach and put his arms through the bars of the cradle. She went to put down her paints and stand from the stool she was painting on when she heard an astonishing sound. "ung... ug... B-bu... bur..dy." It was muffled and somewhat confused but there it was, his first word. ''That''s not possible'' she thought to herself. She hadn''t expected any words from him in nearly 8 months. It couldn''t have come from a month old that couldn''t even toddle. "M, Ma, MARCOSE!!! Come quick!" At that Marcos barreled up the stairs almost ramming himself into the doorframe in panic. Fearing the absolute worst he questioned her continuously. "What! What is it! What happened?" He couldn''t see any danger, his eyes now darting around the room, searching for threats. "It''s Myrddin he said his first word!" She told him clenching her hands to her chest looking at Myrddin almost in wonder. Hearing this he visibly relaxed and tried to correct her. "Come now honey he''s barely a month and you think he talked? It''s only baby babble you must have heard something that sounded like a word." He said to her with a smug grin on his face. "What''s that smirk you dummy! He said a word, I''m not stupid." She said now angry at her husband for ruining the moment "Yes, yes dear. Whatever you say." He knew he had made a mistake there. "And what''s that supposed to mean." She said. Now even more irritated. "B.... Birdy." Myrddin said with tears visibly welling up in his eyes. This snapped the two out of their small argument and back to attention. "He, he said it." Marcose said now shocked at his son. Seles then smirked at him herself and stuck her tongue at him playfully before quickly running over and grabbing the toy. Then putting it back into his hands which made him show a very relieved smile. From then on the boy continued to show his little bits of genius learning different words and even solving some simple shape puzzles on the first try. His parents were overjoyed at the child growth but he had more to show them still. On another day in the dining room Seles was holding Myrddin while carving one of her candles, Wren was off to the side of the room. With most of the house chores done she just had to sit by and wait for Seles to be done making her mess. Now two months had passed and Myrddin had learned many words and would babble happily while he watched his mother do different hobbies she was a great artist who loved to dabble in arts and crafts. ¡°There It¡¯s done.¡± She said happily giving the finishing touches on the candle. It was a bouquet of small tulips arranged around the wick of the candle. ¡°Oh finished is it? Then let¡¯s give it a light then shall we.¡± Said Marcose who had been quietly sitting across the table sipping his Tea, enjoying watching the two having fun. Then with a snap of his fingers without so much as spark the candle was lit aflame. This stirred something in the boy. He had actually seen his father do this many times but he hadn¡¯t been this close to a flame before. And so before his mother could notice being driven by curiosity he reached out and touched the flame. ¡°Ahh!¡± Not surprisingly it hurt. ¡°Haah. NOOO!!¡± Once she had noticed Seles reeled back hugging him close and checking his hand. Luckily Wren had a jug of water on standby and quickly poured water on the hand. Myrddin had tears in his eyes. ¡°Oh no! Honey is he ok? Does he have a burn?¡± Marcose rushed over as well, showing great concern. ¡°No I think he¡¯s alright¡­. Ummm honey what color are his eyes?¡± Seles said it after wiping the tears from Myrddin¡¯s eyes. She then just suddenly stopped and stared at him with a strange confused expression. ¡°Of course I know. I¡¯m not that ignorant of a husband sheesh. They¡¯re brown, dark brown are the color of his eyes.¡± He replied thinking it was a test that Seles gave to make sure he was paying attention to his son. ¡°Yeah, I thought so too but they seem to be¡­.red.¡± She said that seemingly dumbfounded by her own statement. ¡°......Huh?¡± chapter 2- Experiments ¡°That can¡¯t be right Seles, his eyes are brown. They always have been.¡± Said Marcose ¡°I¡¯m not wrong, look.¡± Seles then turned Myrddin from her face showing Marcose his face. For a moment Marcose stared at him analyzing his face, making sure to get a good look at him and there plain as day were his eyes a light red-orange color. The same as the flame which he touched, evidently his few strands of hair that he had grown were also the shade. But this was too strange too believe, Myrddin¡¯s eyes had always been a dark brown along with his hair. It was impossible to suddenly change your eye color. Marcose pondered this for a moment searching in his mind for an answer to this occurrence. In this world eye color was like a finger print which told what element of magic one had an affinity for. His eyes were dark reddish-purple making his affinities Fire, and possibly poison. Maybe even death magic since his eyes were really dark, but he had only ever trained in fire and didn¡¯t have the knowledge to do the other two. His wife Seles had light blue eyes that seemed to sparkle with a bit of silver. He had always loved those eyes. They obviously showed water magic but also a slight affinity for hard minerals such as steal, iron, or silver and gold. She could control water to some extent, making it stop and flow to some extent but she had never trained seriously in it so she couldn¡¯t conjure the water herself never mind metal she couldn¡¯t do anything with it. It was possible to learn a magic that you didn¡¯t have an affinity for but it was extremely difficult and if you didn¡¯t study it for years you might not be able to do anything. Sort of like their maid Wren. She had studied healing magic for a couple years even though she had no affinity with brown eyes. And the fruit of her research was the same as headache medication. However his son didn¡¯t have either of these eye colors since birth. They were just a dark shade of brown. It could have meant earth magic, but more often than not it meant that a person had no talent for magic whatsoever. This was a normal occurrence actually, even in families with great magicians and magic swordsmen, some children just didn¡¯t have any of the affinities their parents had. Sometimes in extreme cases like in royal families children would lose their right to inheritance because of it. Marcose though, didn¡¯t care about this, they were just a lower class noble family with not much land anyway. He was going to teach Myrddin everything he knew about sword combat, archery, and all the military secrets he knew. His son was already considered a genius now that he could speak some words so he may be a brilliant tactician someday in the future. But For his eyes to change color to red, the color of fire, was unheard of. He was secretly happy in the back of his mind that his son might have inherited his eyes however odd it had been. Then after wracking his brain some more he turned to the candle. ¡°Seles? This happened when he touched the candle right?¡± There had been no other cause that he could think of so he looked at the candle curiously whilst asking the question. ¡°Well, yes honey.¡± She said, still looking at Myrddin who had started sucking on the thumb that had touched the flame. Calmer now but still a little shaken. ¡°But if that caused his eyes to change color through some strange inborn magic trait than why aren¡¯t his eyes¡­.blue?¡± He asked now looking at the water jug Wren carried which had doused the child¡¯s hands in water. ¡°I don¡¯t know maybe this is all he can do. But I¡¯ve never heard of anything like this. Do you think something might be wrong with him?¡± Seles now had just a little bit of anxiety maybe he had some kind of disease or health defect. Her motherly instincts were terrified that something could be wrong. ¡°Stop that Seles nothing¡¯s wrong with him he¡¯s just a little special is all.¡± He puta hand on her shoulder and kissed her to try and take her mind off it. ¡°Just calm down and think. Has Myrddin ever touched anything magical or maybe an element that has to do with magic?¡± ¡°No. Has he?¡± So far Seles had never been away from Myrddin. She left the room only once so that Marcose had to change him alone as punishment for pinching him. Even then she was just outside the door. And to her memory the only things that he had ever touched were herself, food items, wooden utensils like a spoon, some bed sheets and some toys also made of wood or cloth and water. Everything in the house was man made. But fire is just a natural phenomenon. Not so much created as discovered and used. Seles could only think of its place in nature as a forest fire created by lightning. The wood was from trees but it was dead and hand carved into something not really resembling nature. ¡°Has the water been purified from the well?¡± Seles asked Wren ¡°Umm, yes milady it was boiled and put through a strainer to get rid of parasites.¡± Wren replied a bit confused at the sudden question. Then a lightbulb hit Seles. ¡°That¡¯s it! It¡¯s not like it originally was. It¡¯s been tampered with!¡± She was now excited at her discovery and quickly stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s go outside.¡± She immediately went to the door and found her coat. She then wrapped Myrddin in a thick blanket and went outside with Marcose following closely still not understanding Seles¡¯s idea. Once they got outside Myrddin smiled happily at the new surroundings. The snow was still piled high since they lived further up north I the continent still another month or too until spring would greet them. This was the first time he had been taken outside. What greeted him was a small path leading away from the house to a snow covered fountain with the depictions of a nondescript bird standing proudly with its wings folded. Looking into the distance where the road parted the circle of spruce trees that surrounded the log mansion. It both welcomed and warned guests coming into the house to be respectful of its masters. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Come on Myrddin, touch the snow for mommy okay?¡± Seles was now crouching down showing the untouched snow that was off to the side of the path. He looked at her curiously not fully understanding what she wanted from him. He then just smiled and touched her giddy face that was still excited. ¡°Ah! Haha, that tickles. No Myrddin the snow, look sweaty.¡± She then touched the snow with her own hand hoping he would parrot her. Now understanding what she wanted he leaned over and touched it too. It wasn¡¯t very cold since he was still warm and it melted a bit on contact but it was still fun to touch something new for the first time. ¡°There it is. Yes! Look honey look at his eyes and hair.¡± Then with a happy expression Seles stood up and showed Marcose and Wren who had been standing by curiously. And when they looked they saw that indeed his eyes had changed to blue. After that Revelation they ran around frantically only stopping to change and feed Myrddin. They made him touch the earth that they dug out of the snow and his eyes turned brown again. The trees made his eyes turn green. Then when they asked Wren to perform some healing magic on him it turned his eyes a cute cotton candy pink. Past that they couldn¡¯t get any more colors. Seles refused to put him into the cold winds and the sun didn¡¯t make his eyes yellow and putting him in the dark didn¡¯t turn his eyes black. This made them a bit more puzzled but not unperturbed. At the end of the day they had given up on other colors and luckily since they could turn his eyes back to brown, his little gift could remain a secret for now. Seles had wanted to keep the pink color but Marcose had insistently rejected it so she eventually caved in. After the day was over they were all pretty tired. Once they how the boy¡¯s eyes worked they decided to leave it at that and continue thinking about it later. So Seles and Marcose snuggled back up in bed with Myrddin in between them and fell asleep. The next morning Marcose thought for a bit and decided this was a bit of a problem, as far as he knew, no one had this kind of ability and maybe no one even knew it what to do with it. He was sure Myrddin would be a great mage but as far as to what kind of mage and how to raise him as such, was beyond him. So he sent a letter to one of his colleagues from the military. A mage named Darth that was assigned to his squad during the last war that boasted three elements of master Fire, Earth and Nature magic. He was a good person generally and Marcose had become great friends with him over the course of the war. He had told Marcose many things about magic and the ways to use it and had been told that he was now a professor at Phalnor Academy the best magic institute in the country. Surely if anyone could discern what was going on it would be him. The contents of the letter was described as such. Dear: Darth, I¡¯m sorry I haven¡¯t kept in touch as of late. I know you are a busy man and I didn¡¯t want to bother you too much but I have great news that I would like to share. My wife Seles and I have been blessed with a wonderful child that we named Myrddin. He is only 3 months old, but amazingly, can speak some simple words. But that is not the worrying thing that has forced me to write this letter. He has also exhibit a very peculiar trait. His eyes, being originally brown, can change color when he comes into contact with certain materials. I know it may sound odd and strange but please believe me and understand that we are very worried about his well-being and we do not know what¡¯s going on or what might be happening to him. We now urgently seek your council in this matter and would appreciate any sort of knowledge you can provide. PS: Secrecy would be very much obliged thank you. Sincerely: Your Friend and Comrade Marcose Kanda. One week later the family got a reply. Happy at the swift response Marcose quickly opened the letter. But all it had was the return address and two words written on it. ¡°I¡¯m coming¡± it said. Then there was a knock on the door. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ AN- Next time i''ll definately have a better picture of the country and maps so sorry if i didn''t say any any names of countries in this this chapter. Look forward to more world building in the next.