Chapter Eleven

Memories of a Phoenix– Part Two.

Aelius Kanaria was the first born son of and heir to the Kanarian Archduchy, one of the two only Archduchies in the entire Kingdom of Farrien.

Behind the elevated status of the Royal Family, the privilege of being second-in-line in all of Farrien were only the Archduchies. They were the target of envy for all Nobles of any standing– both average and exceptional. No matter how the others competed, they historically have forever been behind both the Archduchies and the Royal Family.

Naturally, the authority of the Royal Family was never to be questioned. But as for the Archduchies themselves, not only did they have a consistent and long-standing historical lineage of powerful Archdukes, inspiring fear, awe and respect in the people of the Kingdom, they always kept the Nobles beneath them with their outstanding feats.

Farrien was a Kingdom located on a peninsula on the Southernmost Coast of Sacrescha and as such, had no neighbouring Nations to be of threat either in the East or the West.

The Kanarian Archduchy lay in the Southernmost territory of Farrien on the coastline and is akin to its own miniature Kingdom, with an abundance of cities, expansive nature, resources, and its own customary laws; there, the members of Kanaria were akin to Royalty.

The Aerianne Archduchy lay to the Northernmost territory of Farrien, where the land connects Farrien to potentially invasive Kingdoms, but the Aerianne Archduchy has always honoured its timeless duty to defend Farrien from invaders. And just like Kanaria, the members of Aerianne were akin to Royalty there.

As such, the descendents of the two Archduchies were the subject of scrutiny and much criticism– it was all a product of envious and covetous Nobles.

The firstborn and only Aerianne daughter, Aria Aerianne, proved to be esteemed enough. She was a natural graceful beauty of light blue, with an icy demeanour. She hailed from prestigious ancestry on both parents’ sides– her father, the Archduke of Aerianne, and her mother, the third Princess of the Royal Family of Balaur. Not to mention, Aria was the first Aerianne descendant in four generations to inherit the ‘Eyes of Truth’– a legendary genetic skill that would only surface occasionally in Aerianne descendants. But most significantly of all, Aria was a Magic genius. Her Ice Magic was unparalleled at Excel Academy, and in all of the Kingdom.

To the rest of the Nobles, she was the perfect package. Beautiful, graceful, dignified, capable, with a boundless future.

It was only natural that their eyes would turn in curiosity and judgement to who her fiancé was.

Here comes Aelius. Timid, shy, weak. No competence in Magic, and a mere nerd obsessed with books. The only thing he had going for him was his pretty face and his parents– his father, the War Hero of a War decade-past, the Archduke of Kanaria, and his mother, an infamous Healer-type Aberrant who revolutionised Healing methods.

And yet, he enjoys a status second to only the Royal Family in the Kingdom. By virtue of his birth, he enjoys Aria as his contracted spouse, an agreement their parents reached when they were still children.

And foolishly, everyday he attends Excel Magic Academy, which he only gained admittance thanks to connections with the Headmaster. She openly favourites him, on top of it all.

What consoled everybody was that Aria at least kept her distance from him– if they saw her hanging around, the students would undoubtedly bully Aelius even harder.

Though, that all changed when he awakened his talent for the sword. It only took him a year to reach the Fifth Star in swordsmanship. That rapid rate of improvement puts him as one of the best in the entire continent.

Half way through his second year, Aelius left Excel Academy to become a mercenary. His activities could still be traced for the year he worked as a mercenary, but on the month he turned 18 years old, he disappeared.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The last news the world had ever heard of him was that he was coming home from the North. But before he reached Farrien, he went off the deep end.

His family never saw him again.

*

It was snowing furiously outside. Aelius knew it hadn’t been when he had fallen unconscious. But if he had been left out there in the state he was in, he knew he’d be dead by now. So… who in this Goddess-forsaken no man’s land saved him?

He looked down, spotting bandage-like flax leaves covering the gaping hole in his right waist. Glistening with cold sweat were his developed and chiselled abs and chest.

His distinct brown hair was quite long as far as a man’s hair goes– it was reaching his shoulders in a messy curtain.

Still looking down, he opened the palm of his hand to see skin torn from swinging his sword and calluses from years of hard work. Right, his sword!

He looked around frantically and gave a sigh relief to find the gleaming metal rested against the nearby wall.

Only now he realised that the entire time, there had been a repetitive scraping sound, like rock on rock. It was coming from behind him, so with lots of harsh breathing and panting, he inched himself around to face deeper into the cave.

At the sight, he raised a brow and tilted his head curiously.

Sitting on a rock, was a girl with purple hair and a dirty, tattered dress. She was hugging her knees, with her pale bare feet resting on the rock, as she worked away, focused on her task.

In her hands was a makeshift wooden small and with a piece of stone, she was shaving away at some random plant.

For some time, Aelius watched in silence, until he decided to clear his throat.

“A-ahem…” he coughed and she jumped, almost dropping the bowl from the startle.

“Goodness…” Her voice was soft, but upbeat. Steadying the bowl in her arms, she tentatively glanced over her shoulder, and Aelius felt his heart skip a beat.

The beauty of purple hair and fiery orange eyes met his gaze, her skin pale like a bird in snow. “So you’ve woken,” she greeted him.

“Uhh, yeah.”

Her eyes dropped and then he saw them narrow in dissatisfaction. “Oh come on. You must be one of those warrior brutes– did you think it was a good idea to move around so intensely, with that bad of a wound you had?” She came scuttling over and with surprising assertiveness, pushed him by the shoulders back down to a lying position.

“For goodness’ sake. You’ve only been recovering for two days. Half your bottom right torso was missing– I don’t even know what does that to a man. Point is, you opened your wound up again! And now, I have to rebandage you.”

She removed the flax leaf and Aelius saw it was stained with red. From nearby, she fetched another flax leaf to clean away his excess bleeding and then began to wrap him up again. “Stay still,” she scolded him when he tried to move and he quickly relaxed, not daring to disobey.

“Tsk, that was all the bandages I had…” She had run out of length. With a pout, she looked around them in the cave. “Hard to find medical supplies on a snowy moutain, I’m sure you’d understand.”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Aelius answered. “Don’t worry about it, I can manage–”

“What are you talking about? Bandaging your wounds is the basic of the basic,” she exclaimed, reaching down to the bottom of her skirt. “This’ll have to do. It’s clean, I promise. Just looks dirty cause I haven’t washed it with soap in months.”

“Wait, what are you–”

Without hesitation, she tore a segment of her purple skirt off, and then used it to finish wrapping his wound. “Now, please don’t make me have to change your bandage again any time soon. This is my only dress.”

Aelius pursed his lips at the stranger’s kindness, before submitting and lying down. “Alright, I won’t.”

“Good. Now, you need to rest. I’ll have some food ready for you tomorrow. Just hang in there, catch some sleep.” She left his side and presumably returned to her rock where she continued scraping.

Aelius wasn’t sure if he could fall asleep again so soon. He never let his guard down around people before– not ever since Alea died.

But, with the wound tiring him out, and the rhythmic scraping of the purple girl grinding her herbs, and her soft and gentle lullaby-like humming, his eyes soon fell shut.

The sound of the distant howling wind and blowing snow, together with the crackling fire and her angelic voice, lulled him to a deep slumber.