Levi went back home in a daze, he was not sure what to think anymore. He had looked inside the cave, scanned every nook and cranny, he had not seen even a single piece of evidence that such a city ever existed. It had vanished without a trace.

Levi reached his house, his father was pacing along the courtyard. As soon as he saw Levi, his face lit up. Elijah Phoenix never liked to let his youngest son out of his sight at all.

“Where were you, my son?” He held Levi in a tight embrace, not daring to let him go.

“Can’t… breathe…”Levi croaked, his father immediately released him.

“I am sorry, my boy”, he looked at him, “So, where did you go?” His father was the head of the Phoenix clan, a man held in the highest regard across the nation. He had the same black hair and golden eyes as his son but his father was more well - built, specializing in Earthen Phoenix Techniques, one of the four major attributes. The other three were Fire, Water and Wind.

Each clan’s special techniques could be adjusted to any one of these attributes to create an unique Path. Path was like a higher awakening, where you specialized in any one of the attributes and honed your physical, technical and mental abilities accordingly.

But of course, for all of this you need to awaken first.

“I was just taking a light stroll, Father”, Levi replied. He hated lying to his Father but he could not just say that he had seen a city filled with fairies, dwarves and elves and that it just disappeared overnight. Even his father might start doubting him after that point.

“Well… you know, I was just… worried… after what happened yesterday”, he was scratching his chin, not looking directly at Levi. Something did not add up right.

“What happened yesterday?” He asked. His father snapped his eyes towards him.

“You guys didn’t… Oh… Thank God I mean”, even though he was mumbling nonsense, the relief was evident in his eyes.

“Dad, what are you hiding?” Levi asked, he knew his father was a strong martial artist, but lying had never been one of his strong fortes.

He raised his hands in surrender and smiled at Levi, “You caught me”, he said, “It’s just that a young lady brought you unconscious here, an extremely pretty young lady, I must say”, he winked at Levi, “You are quite a womaniser aren’t you, with those dashing look of yours”, he chuckled as Levi rolled his eyes at him.

“There was nothing like that Father, she is just one of my acquaintances”, Levi said, though a red colour was spreading across his face.

“Ooooh , Levi’s blushing!” His father poked him in his ribs. He behaved like a little girl at times, “But…”, his tone changed suddenly ,”Do not even think of a girl without my permission”, he glared at Levi. The laughter building in Levi got stuck halfway.

“Yes Father”, he managed to say.

“Do not tease him Dear” Both of them turned to see Levi’s mother walk out of the house. She was what you would call a 'goddess', long black hair with shining green eyes along with the face that would make any man go mad. Truly a person able to hold herself against the goddess of beauty herself.

"No, Tessa dear, I was not teasing him", Levi's father said, truth was, he was really scared of his wife, "You know I will never do that", he shot her a nervous smile.

"Then what did I observe just now?" Tessa had a beautiful smile on her face, but her tone had crept into the territory of being dangerous.

"No... No... it was nothing of that sort dear, just some friendly banter between father and son", Elijah stumbled and threw Levi a pleading glance. Levi sighed, wrung his hands and looked at his mother.

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"Yeah mother, it was just a friendly banter", Levi said. Immediately Tessa's face relaxed.

"Oh, I am glad then", she smiled, Elijah threw Levi a thankful look. He led his wife into the house, but just before they entered, Tessa turned around threw Levi a worried glance and said, "That doesn't mean you can bring girls into the house Levi", she tried to appear stern, but deep down Levi knew she was just worried about him.

Levi laughed and nodded as he watched his parents disappear into the house.

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He decided to do some training to take his mind off the recent happenings. He went to the official training grounds of his family. It was large and rectangular, with all sorts of practice equipment.

His third eldest brother's spear was kept along with the other weapon, Levi shook his head, "How dare he leave such a valuable piece of weaponry lying around", he thought to himself. He picked it up, it was surprisingly more lightweight than he thought it was. It's handle was designed from pure carbon steel, one of the rarest metals on the earth, its tip was made of the legendary dragon - gold, which also had some special abilities.

"Admiring my weapon, brother dearest", Levi heard a voice from behind, he turned.

"Oh, Noah, I didn't see you", Levi said, standing before him was Noah Phoenix, the third son of the Phoenix family, skilled in the Phoenix Path of Wind, his preferred weapon was a spear.

"I'll take that", Noah said and gently took the spear from Levi's hand, he was a handsome young man, with green eyes of his mother rather than the golden eyes. He had a boyish face and long black hair, which he meticulously styled every morning. He had a thin scar which ran across the right side of his neck all the way to his chest, it was from an incident early on his life, which Noah never spoke about.

"Sorry Noah, it was still lying with the other weapons here", Levi said trying to explain himself.

"Listen Levi, there are some things unawakened scum like you should understand", he looked at Levi directly, "One of these things is..." he pointed his spear at Levi, "... to not mess with my weapons", he said. Levi almost passed out, he was really scared of his older brother, even though he spoke like he hated the sight of him, Levi knew that Noah actually cared about him, that was how he got the scar on his neck.

"I'll demonstrate this fact to you, come let us spar, follow me", Noah said and turned towards the training grounds, expecting Levi to follow him.

"Spar... but...?" Levi started, but Noah cut him off, "No buts!!", he again turned towards Levi, "I think I made it clear the first time Levi, do not make me repeat myself, you know that I hate it", he glared at Levi before walking out.

Levi had no choice but to follow him, he grabbed a training sword and followed him out.

Noah was already waiting for him.

"I'll go easy on you Levi, so don't worry, but give all you have got", Noah said. Levi nodded his head and raised his sword readying himself.

"When I say", Noah said, Levi took his stance and waited for the indication. " 3...2...1... BEGIN!" Noah yelled, but he had already started at 2. Levi gritted his teeth as his brother's spear clashed against his training sword, he realized the difference not only in their weapons, but the wide void in their abilities as well.

"HEY, YOU CHEATED!" Levi yelled.

Noah simply smiled and said, "Chivalry does not exist in real fights little bro, remember that", Noah said, he moved back a bit and prepared for the next strike. He again lunged, this time Levi thought he was ready for it, he raised his sword to defend him, but his brother simply smirked, "You, of all should know better than that, little bro", he twisted his spear fractionally at the last second, just enough so that it could graze Levi's cheeks, a thin trickle of blood erupted from Levi's smooth, unblemished face. He wiped off the blood, but Noah didn't let up, he continued his ferocious barrage of attacks. It was all Levi could do to fend them off.

"Shall I help a bit", a voice echoed. Levi almost dropped his sword in shock, "Freya?" he murmured and looked around, he couldn't see anyone.

"Don't worry only you can hear me", she said. Levi was shell - shocked, he never expected to hear from her again.

"STOP ZONING OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE!" Noah's ferocious yell brought Levi back to Earth with a bang, he barely parried Noah's strike. He felt his body growing hotter each passing second. His heart started beating at a tremendous rate, his breathing increased, his senses sharpened drastically. He could see Noah's next strike clearly, he readied himself, just as Noah lunged Levi smoothly side stepped and jabbed with his elbow at the handle of the spear, it flew out of Noah's hand. He pointed his sword at Noah's neck, but his sword clattered to the ground as well.

"What th-?" Noah twisted in shock, he threw a glance towards Levi, his eyes widened in shock. Levi's mind started to black out, he kneeled to the ground, he was drained of all his strength, on his right wrist the symbol started to glow.

He looked at his brother and asked, "Wha... what is happening Noah?"

Noah looked at him like he had seen a ghost, "I thi... think you just awakened Levi", he said.