"Where is Archer?"

Elena felt her soul leaving her body, her eyes moving from Kylo back to the bed. Kylo turned instantly to the spot where he had seen Archer, but no one was there. In a flash, they both ran to the side of the bed to see if he had fallen over, but he was not there.

"Where is he… where is Archer?" Elena started hyperventilating, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

In a second, Kylo stormed out of the room, running back to the path they had come from.

"My son is missing! Help, they’ve taken my son!" He screamed as he ran to an open space where people were gathered.

A few guards rushed to him, stopping him. "What do you mean? Who are you?" they asked as they restrained him. Kylo tried to fight back, but he was outnumbered.

"Keep calm and tell us what is going on," the guard asked as a few more people gathered. Kylo narrated what had happened to the guards.

"This has never happened before. Be calm, we will look for him.'' A guard, who wore a different crest from the other guards, spoke, turning to a guard he instructed;

''Lock the gates; no one should leave or enter the premises," he said and two others nodded and marched away.

"Take me to the room."

In the room, Elena had overturned everything searching for her son, but he was nowhere to be found. When she heard footsteps, she stood up and ran towards the door.

"Did you find him? Where is he?" she asked her husband, her eyes scanning over the people who were with him. When she did not see him in his arms, she walked back a few steps, her heart beating loudly against her chest. A thousand thoughts flooded her mind about what must have happened to her child, and she tried to breathe in but her lings refused to take in air. In a split second, she was on the ground.

"Elena! Elena!"

...

The sudden gust of wind made Archer shut his eyes, and when he opened them, he was in an unfamiliar place.

"Where am I? How did I get here?"

The last thing he remembered was someone knocking on the door and his mother going to open it. Archer felt like he was dreaming, but if not for the sand particles still in his eyes from the gust of wind, he would not have believed it.

Archer turned his head to look around; above him were clear clouds, and around him was a giant oval-shaped bed made of feathers that shimmered with vibrant hues of orange and gold. "Where is this? How did I get here?"

Was he dead?

That was a plausible answer, but he doubted it. No way did he reincarnate to die so quickly. There was something else...

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Archer, you came quicker than I expected."

A masculine voice sounded, akin to the one he had heard a few days ago, back in their home. Archer looked around for the voice but stopped when he saw a purple and yellow bright light encircling a spot, a gust of fiery energy moving within. His eyes trained on the spot, as he watched the gust of energy manifest into a giant fire bird.

Archer's heart almost stopped beating.

Was this the... the Phoenix?

I have chosen you...

The words he had heard a few days ago rang in his mind, and his eyes grew wider.

The phoenix had chosen him!

Legend had it that, the phoenix bird appeared once every thousand years, and bestowed a gift to a person.

He had heard the voice clearly but he did not know what it meant. But nothing on earth prepared him for this moment. Out of the millions of people in Erythrea, the Phoenix bird had chosen him, a dork with no powers to bestow his divine gift!

He could not believe his eyes!

Archer's heart pounded rapidly against his chest as he stared at the giant majestic bird which had manifested in front of him.

Its feathers, like what the bed was made of, shimmered with vibrant hues of red, orange, and gold, resembling a blazing fire. Its tail was long and graceful, its eyes sharp, with blazing fire, resembling the morning sun, and a regal crest rested atop its head.

Stories had it that in the beginning, Erythrea was covered in ice, and the humans were going extinct. The phoenix bird had melted the ice with flames and prevented the surrounding ice from encroaching into it.

Other stories said that Erythrea was forged from the feathers of the phoenix bird, and that was the reason why the ice surrounding it could not encroach.

There were many theories, but Archer never believed any of them. He did not believe in theories and only in what he could see. But now, in front of him, a beast which breathed fire through its nostrils stood.

Archer felt his soul leaving his body as the phoenix took steps towards him, but as he approached, he reduced to a size that was less scary.

"Your destiny has been carved in stone. You cannot flee from it."

Archer wished he could speak; he had a thousand questions to ask the phoenix bird.

Why did he die? Who killed him? Why was he reborn? And most importantly, why did it choose him?

"I cannot answer all your questions, Archer. The reason for your death you shall find out yourself, as for your rebirth, your destiny has been carved in stone by the heavens, you have been chosen." the phoenix breathed out, causing Archer to rise slightly from the bed and fall back down, the gold feathers falling around him.

"There is a great danger coming. One which you cannot prevent. Damnation will come, one that is beyond your imagination. You must be prepared. You must become strong, Archer."

Damnation will come...

What did the phoenix mean by that?

Archer did not have the time to comprehend what the Phoenix had said because, in the next minute, the phoenix bird placed its claw on Archer's chest and gave a mark.

Archer screamed out as pain coursed through his body, the spot which the phoenix had pierced glowing with bright light.

A gust of wind blew again, and the next time Archer opened his eyes, he was in an unfamiliar room, but this time within the palace walls. He was still wailing from the pain in his chest, but the glow had disappeared.

As he continued to cry, he heard shuffling of feet outside the room, and then the door burst open.

"Archer!" The familiar voice of his father sounded, and then he was lifted up from the bed.

"How did you get here?" His father bellowed as he kissed him on his forehead. "You made your mother very worried."

"It seems the child crawled to this room, seeing he's just in a few rooms away from yours. You must not have been paying attention to him," one of the palace guards spoke, and Kylo turned to look at him.

"My son is but a month and a few weeks old; he cannot crawl." he seethed.

Silence ensued in the room. Then the guard who spoke earlier cleared his throat.

"Well, it is good we have found him. Don't be careless with your child next time," he said and turned around, walking out of the room, the two other guards following behind him.

Kylo heaved a sigh of relief as he looked around his child's body, looking to see if he was hurt, then suddenly he froze.

On Archer's chest rested a feather that shimmered of vibrant hues of red, orange and gold.