Chapter 115 - The Phoenix Gains More Powers

Nathan Evenhart:

"Chloe! Stop pinching me!" I was being tortured by the little monster.

"I thought you wanted to see me for other reasons, but it was just to show off with the elements!" she said, while tickling and pinching me.

"Sorry! Stop, hahaha!" I couldn’t hold back the laughter as she poked me rapidly with her fingers.

"No."

I was at the mercy of the little monster.

"Alright, I admit it. I missed you too. I wanted to see everyone..."

Chloe stopped her tickling assault.

"I-I... was worried. My mom didn’t tell me anything about how your mission went, and she was acting strange. I even saw Kinue crying when she found out soldiers were sent to look for you because you had gone missing. I had to take care of Cylla to stop her from flying off, you know?"

The phoenix looked at me angrily, flapping her wings as if giving me a scolding.

I sighed internally.

"And now she’s changed size again, but she’s small now."

I looked at my cousin, who had a worried expression on her face but didn’t want to show it. I pulled her into a hug. Chloe hugged me back, holding on tightly.

"Don’t abandon me, Nate. I’d be really sad if that happened..." she told me.

"I’m sorry for worrying you all. I promise I will never abandon my family. I love all of you."

"Y-you... love me?" Chloe asked, suddenly blushing and turning her face to the side.

"Of course, you’re my family. I love my family equally."

She looked down.

"That’s not what I meant..." she murmured and then let go of me.

Suddenly, she pointed her hand at me and splashed water on my face.

"Why? Why did you do that?"

"Nothing... idiot..." she said, preparing another water ball.

"Then it’s time for you to taste your own medicine!" I pointed my fingers and started shooting water at her.

Chloe was surprised.

"Now you’re in trouble!" she said, forming more water balls.

I created a ball of earth and mixed it with water.

"Time to get your hair dirty."

"Y-you wouldn’t dare!" She backed up a bit, alarmed.

"I think I can finally play power wars without worrying about hurting you... I’ll just make you dirty."

She started running out of the room.

I laughed a bit and let her get some distance.

"You better run!" I shouted.

I started to step out of the room.

'Tsk,' I heard a tongue click.

"Nathan’s going to abandon me again..." a voice complained.

I stopped and went back into the room.

"Athena?" I asked, looking around. "Did you say something?"

I searched for the Goddess, but I didn’t find her.

"Go ahead and play with Chloe and leave me here, you idiot..." a pouty voice said.

I looked at my bed, incredulous, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.

"Cy-Cylla? Did you speak?"

The phoenix jumped off the bed and looked at me, eyes wide.

"Y-you can understand me?" Cylla asked, surprised.

"I think I can now," I responded, equally shocked, staring at her.

Katherine Evenhart:

We were all still in disbelief about what had happened with Nathan. I won’t lie; I always wondered what would happen when he awakened the power of those eyes, but this definitely exceeded my expectations... it went beyond. My son became the first mage in history to possess all the elements, and a part of me... was scared for him. Nathan’s future was bright and unique, but still... dangerous.

"What’s going on? Why did you call us? I was preparing seedlings to take to the village," Yusuf asked Margaery.

The legacies began entering the hall, and the last to arrive was Lionel.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"I dismissed the guards from the door. I don’t want anyone overhearing us," Margaery said seriously.

Samantha was adjusting her clothes, and Hugo already seemed to know what would be discussed.

"A prodigy has been born, a mage with extraordinary talent who could shake the three kingdoms," declared the queen.

Everyone looked at each other.

"We don’t understand," said Samantha, confused.

"I’m talking about our next Duke, Nathan. He has completed the awakening process of the Special Eyes and is now a user of them."

"So it’s true! The young master is one of the rare mages in history!" Yusuf exclaimed.

Rare doesn’t even begin to cover it...

"Did we notify the capital?" Bonnie asked.

Margaery remained silent, her gaze distant.

"We will not notify the capital. I’ve gathered you here because of this. Our situation is becoming increasingly... surprising. My nephew, upon completing the awakening process of his eyes, gained more elements through them."

"He’s already bypassed the elemental restriction. What other element does he have?" Lionel asked, intrigued.

Margaery smiled slightly.

"All of them!" she said, and silence fell over the room.

"I don’t understand. That doesn’t sound like a joke... or was it a joke?" Samantha asked, bewildered.

"He has all the elements of nature; I saw it with my own eyes. I saw the greatest prodigy in the world..." Hugo said, impressed.

"Is this serious, Katherine?" Bonnie asked, still incredulous.

"Nathan possesses all the elements, including the exclusive ones of his other race, the elves," I replied.

They exchanged glances, disbelief clear on their faces.

"That doesn’t exist, it’s impossible," someone murmured.

Hearing the discussion, Margaery clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention.

"Soon, you’ll see him using the elements, and you will immediately start training my nephew to refine his use of them. What we need to discuss now is the future of this family."

Nathan Evenhart:

"You heard me complaining!?" the phoenix said, hiding behind her wings.

"Cylla, you just talked, and that’s what you’re worried about?" I was perplexed, watching her speak to me.

"Why would I be worried about anything else? I’ve always spoken normally, the difference is that you couldn’t understand me."

How did this happen? Could it have something to do with her gaining more powers through the Inheritance ability?

I quickly ran to close the door and locked it.

Throwing myself onto the bed, I sat beside the phoenix, but she ran away from me.

"What’s wrong?" I asked.

"Now I’m embarrassed about what I said..." she replied, hiding behind a pillow.

I looked at her in disbelief.

"You’re talking! Why would I care about being called idiot?"

"But I care..."

I sighed.

"I need to tell my mom, Aunt Margie, and Sifu!"

"No!" she flew in front of me on the bed. "They can’t know I talk, it has to be just you."

"But why?"

She turned her face to the side.

"That’s just... how... our relationship works..."

"What do you mean by relationship?"

She jumped onto the bed and hid behind her wings.

"Even if you tell them, they won’t be able to understand me. Only you can hear my voice. I’m not actually speaking aloud; we’re sharing a mental space."

"What? But you’re moving your jaw a little."

"It’s a reflex, but now I’m speaking without opening my mouth. The reflex is happening because of the incubation period."

I needed to pause and analyze what she was telling me.

"What do you mean by 'incubation period'?"

"I don’t know either... I mean, I do. Somehow, I have the information, but I don’t know how I have it. What I do know is that I’m in an incubation period where my body oscillates between the three progenitors. I managed to stabilize a bit with the Body Aspect."

"Wait! You know how to use the Celestial Aspects!?"

She nodded.

"Every time you get hurt and I heal you, it’s with the power of my eyes. I can use the Life Aspect, and mine allows me to have the healing ability."

"So, that day on the ship..."

"I used it on you, and probably my adult version did too."

Don’t tell me she can see...

"NO! DON’T YOU DARE!" Athena shouted, appearing in front of me. "Don’t ask her."

I ignored the goddess.

"Can you see this woman who’s here with us?"

"Brat! Shut up!" Athena yelled.

"I’m sorry, Nathan. I can’t see the person you’ve been talking to for years..."

I felt embarrassed for all the times I talked to myself, and she must have seen or heard it. I knew Cylla was smart, but I never imagined it was at this level. Suddenly, many embarrassing moments flooded my mind, and I remembered a particularly shameful one.

"So, you were conscious the whole time? Even that time when I tried to peek and found out you were a girl?"

"Why did you remember that, idiot? I had forgotten!" she said, hiding inside her wings.

I scratched my head.

"Sorry about that day..."

She laughed, "It’s fine, but that day you really startled me."

Now it was my turn to laugh.

"If you can’t see the woman I see, how do you know I’m not crazy?"

"I wouldn’t care if you were crazy, I’d stay with you just the same."

I didn’t know how to respond to that.

"But I can feel there’s something here with us. If you want, I can tell you a secret about her."

"Brat! Shut your mouth!" Athena shouted.

"You know Cylla can’t hear you, right?" I said to Athena.

She seemed to realize it.

"She doesn’t want me to tell you?"

"No."

"If she leaves and lets me be alone with you, I’ll stay quiet."

"Hey!" I exclaimed to Cylla.

"Deal!" Athena said, disappearing.

She and Sisika really are the same person...

I could have asked to know Athena’s secret, but the truth is, I didn’t want to. A part of me was afraid to discover the answer, because it might be related to the terrible secret I uncovered in my previous life.

"I felt that she left," Cylla said.

"Nathan!" Chloe shouted from the door.

"I’m not feeling well. I won’t be able to play."

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

Why would she ask me that?

"I’m just going to rest a bit and sleep."

"Alright... but afterward, you need to talk to Kinue. She was worried about you," Chloe’s voice called from outside.

I stayed silent for a while, waiting until I was sure Chloe had left. Then, I started recalling all the moments Cylla had been by my side, but now, trying to see things from her perspective.

I discovered that she doesn’t remember much from her life as a young phoenix. As she grew, her baby memories faded. All she remembers is that she was in a forest and was captured. With anger, she told me about the chains and the painful periods she endured with them on her body, until the day a storm arrived. She said that, in the middle of the storm, she heard a deep roar and felt something push the boat off course.

The soldiers panicked, but they saw nothing. Cylla told me that whatever hit the boat flew up into the sky, and she knew this because she could feel it somehow. In the months that followed, everyone was disoriented from being off course. One stormy night, she finally managed to break free and attacked the soldiers, and at that same moment, the accident occurred that led to the shipwreck, throwing her onto the beach. When she woke up, they restrained her again with chains, until I appeared and freed her.

"I think I summed it up pretty well. After that day, I’ve been by your side and never left," she told me.

She doesn’t remember much from before being captured. But why would Sisika let her Inheritance body be captured? It’s something valuable that wouldn’t be left unprotected like that; why allow simple humans to take it?

I kept thinking about a few possibilities.

Maybe that was her plan all along. If she was being hunted because of these Celestial Eyes, then hiding her second body would be difficult, and that could have been the perfect opportunity.

But how did those men from the Human Empire find her? If they had those chains, meeting Cylla wasn’t a coincidence...

"Good thing you’re smart and didn’t hold a grudge against all humans just because some of them chained you."

Upon hearing that, she let out a laugh.

"It’s because I’m smart that I held more of a grudge. I swore I’d kill every last human when I got free. I wouldn’t stop until I burned and devoured them all. But in the end, it worked out, and I found you," she said, happily moving closer to me.

Now you’ve scared me a little... but I’m also glad we found each other. We’re both the same, people who were reborn to have a new life.

"Can you read my thoughts?" I asked her.