His heart banged against his chest as he stared at the shimmering feather on his son’s chest.

There were no birds in Erythrea that had such feathers. The only bird rumored to have such was the Phoenix.

Did the phoenix choose his son?!

Kylo could not believe his eyes, as goosebumps washed down his back.

Quickly he hid the feather and carried Archer to his mother.

Elena was sitting on the bed. When the door creaked open, she flung from the bed,

“Where did you find him? Oh my child, what happened to him?”

She asked as she wrapped Archer in her arms, little tears dropping from her eyes.

‘’Don’t get me scared like that again.’’

She cried as she hugged him, planting tiny kisses on his forehead.

‘’Where did you find him?’’ Elena asked, but instead of replying, Kylo walked to the door and closed it shut, then he took out the golden feather.

“Elena…”

Elena lifted her eyes from Archer, and the smile faded from her face.

“What is that?”

The feather glowed in his hands and Elena immediately knew what he was thinking;

“The phoenix?” Her eyes widened, but Kylo placed his finger over his lips.

“Shh… we have to keep this a secret.”

“What? Why? This is our ticket to a better life! Do you know what will happen if the king finds out our son was chosen?!”

“Elena, that is also our ticket to getting killed. If the king finds out our son was chosen, all eyes will be on us. The king will delve deeper and we could be caught. We cannot risk it, Elena.”

“Kylo, there is a reason we were chosen. The Phoenix already knew us and still chose our son.”

Kylo stared at his wife for a few seconds and then in a blink, blue flame glowed from his fingers, and before Elena could stop him he had burnt the phoenix feather.

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“Why did you do that!” she cursed, rage written on her face.

“I just destroyed every trace of what happened here. If you care about the safety of your son you would know that a common dork with no powers cannot be blessed by the phoenix, or even if they can, it has never happened. So the whole of Erythrea would be after our son. How can a common dork with no powers be blessed by the phoenix?

Do you think the king will welcome you with open arms? I think not! Let what happened today be buried and never to be spoken of again.”

Elena fumed but no words left her lips, she did not know what to say to him. She knew he was right but she couldn’t help but be selfish. She was a lowly servant who served the king’s son.

On that cold winter night, Rostov, the late king’s younger brother, Edric’s father had plotted treason and killed his brother. He had used black magic with the help of the Sorcerers of Dwic_ the sorcerers who practiced blood magic, to make a potent poison that wiped out the whole palace.

He killed the king, the queen and her four children_ two sons and two daughters, the palace guards and the servants, and every breathing thing who could live to tell the tale. Elena’s parents were also killed in the palace massacre as they also served the throne.

But luckily, Kylo had gone with her to his master’s house to practice, and had overstayed, by the time they came back, Rostov had taken the throne.

His lust for power surpassed his love for his brother, he wanted the throne and he got it. Even when the price was the life of his first two sons.

Elena and Kylo had run back to his master, who helped them flee to Renev. Till this day, she did not know why Rostov never looked for them, maybe, there were many dead people, he did not bother to count, or maybe he was too power drunk to even imagine that anyone survived.

Klyo was seventeen years of age, and she twelve. His real name was Eon Rymrs, but he had changed his name to Kylo Kaemon, and Elena from Mel Iswalt, to Elena Kaemon.

Life was inexplicably hard. Going from a prince to a dork, was not something Kylo had imagined even in his wildest dreams. His master had given him some lumin (money) but it could only get them a little cottage and a few weeks of food, after which they were thrown into abject suffering.

Kylo could not even do the smallest of things, as he was used to servants doing everything for him.

He had continued to treat Elena as his servant, until it dawned on him that he was no longer a prince, and she was no longer a servant, and therefore she was not obligated to do anything for him anymore. So he had to sit up and be a man or else, they would die of hunger.

`The first few years were difficult, some days they went without food, while on days when he worked in people’s farms, he got some food for them in return.

Elena later learned how to sew children clothes and the dorks paid a few lumins for them, as they were very pretty. She had the water attribute, and although she did not go the the Academy, she entered a stage two in the realm of Clarity through the help of the royal teachers provided by the throne to train palace servants.

Kylo later learned how to farm some crops, he could hasten the process with his magic, but he could not risk being caught, so he learned how to farm like the dorks and that was how they were able to feed.

They got married when she was eighteen. Elena was not sure if it was because of love or because they had only known each other all their lives, and that seemed like the next best thing to do.

They just made enough money to survive each day, and she never dreamed of more, she was content, but that was until she had Archer.

Every day, she thought of what would be, if they returned and laid claim to the throne.

She could be queen, and her son, a prince. They were direct descendants to the throne, they should not be living so measly. If Archer did not cultivate his magic, he would really become a dork.

She could not imagine that her son, who had the blood of a king, who was a quad-elemental mage, would end up as a common dork in a forgotten village of Renev.

But no matter how much she mentioned this to Kylo, he never listened.

Not until this opportunity came. Finally, they would go back to Elleniott. She saw how he stared longingly at the palace when they came, even though he tried so much to hide it.

King Rostov had changed the palace guards suits, and no one who worked during his father’s time was alive. All the faces they saw were new faces, she saw how he strained to see if he would see even one person he knew, but there was none. Everyone was dead.

King Edric was ten years of age during the massacre. Kylo had only seen him twice, so he doubted he would be able to recognize him. Edric’s elder brothers had died from the sorcerer's curse, and his aunt, Edric’s mother, who was the only person who could recognize them, died a few years ago from an illness.

No one remembered what happened fifteen years ago. It was as though they were erased from history. Rostov made sure of it.

‘’Okay, I would never mention of this again. After the funeral tomorrow, let’s leave at first lights.’’