--------///----King of the kingdom of ???----\\\--------

Just as the grave of the progenitors was not too close to civilization the kingdom of Nargal was not too close to the forest yet it was still within travelling distance. It was not in the way of any major trade route and it was actually a blessing the forest was in the south because of its size it blocked off any chance for the kingdom of Argentfall to invade or even attempt it because of the beasts in the forest utterly decimated a force of a hundred thousand with no corpses ever reported being found.

It was this event that deterred any who would travel there as the forest had been labeled an SSS class area that only the truly powerful should venture into if they intended to hunt anything in that Gods forsaken place. But that would not stop the greedy from trying to make the forest a political chess piece, despite all the failed ventures and attempts for smugglers to try to steal cubs from the rare species and utterly powerful creatures that live there.

And today on a seemingly normal day the king a man in his late fourties with the build of a body builder and a height of two meters three inches, black hair as dark as the night, a short graying beard and brown eyes was woken early as his aides had told him a court had been called in a hour. However this session would be an aggrivating one as it was called for by one his viscount's who was notoriously known for trying to exploit the forest no matter how many times he was shut down.

Yet that wasn't all, this viscount had consistent rumors of crimes and claims that despite how many reached the kings ears none of them could be verified. When questioned about these claims the viscount would only reference "hypotheticals" and despite the countless times the king would try there would never be any substantial evidence to link any of these "hypotheticals" as actual events or crimes and link it back to the viscount. The king couldn't just remove him of his position or else the other power hungry noble houses would accuse him of abusing his power and begin to spread misinformation, use that one false claim to pile others onto it in order to lead the commoners against him, as was done before with a past king in the same situation.

~ I swear the day we can find a way to get rid of Viscount Mara i'm parading him in a cage all across the kingdom for his crimes. Everyone even down to the lowest Baron knows what he gets away with and yet for all these years he's left no trail... ugh i'll figure it out later now i have to deal with this pain in the ass and the sun's not even fully up yet. ~

(Announcer) " THE COURT SESSION ON THE SECOND OF ARCUS*** OF THE ZARIUM CALENDER** SHALL NOW COMMENCE, HIS HIGHNESS ARGUSTUS VON KURUSU SHALL NOW LISTEN TO VISCOUNT MARA'S CASE"

~ I swear if it's just a waste of time im going to lose my mind, not even Amari or Reina will make me sane... speaking of where is Reina? i still haven't seen her in a few days with all of this damned work. Her mother went to make a deal with the issue of the wyvern spotting a few days ago but Reina should still be home yet she's not here? ~

While the king was thinking about his daughter, the Viscount stepped forward. He was a stout man barely reaching a meter and a half with brown hair and eyes alongside a stubble that he called a beard, he was what one would call incredibly thick boned... He was obese no one could say otherwise and keep a straight face. He was a average and thin man before he inherited his father's position as Viscount in which he would increase the taxs on the commoners that lived in his lands just enough so the king couldn't say anything or make him do anything about it.

Amari had mentioned that he would be a difficult noble to deal with if he hadn't been restricted yet they weren't capable of beginning the process it would take to place restrictions on the certain houses. If they tried to inact certain sanctions that would help limit the viscount and his factions power they would undoubtably have an increase in issues steming from the entire faction, which would make handling the kingdom more difficult. However being overly concerned about the consequences had led them to the situation they were currently in. 

(Mara) " My king it's a glorious morning wouldn't you say. The birds are singing the air smells marvelous and you look as healthy as ever. "

Starting and finishing with a courtsey the least reserved nobles couldn't help but let out a collective groan while the most capable were limited to a slight grimace.

(Argustus) " Yes Mara today is a great day which would be even greater if the reason for this court session was revealed to us so we could resolve it and get on with the rest of this great day. "

Seemingly indifferent to the kings attuitude Mara smiled and looked to they king to say what would begin a veritable domino chain.

(Mara) " As we all know the great threat to the south is something the kingdom must reign in, to have something like that, a home to such monsters within days travelling distance to our great kingdom is not only a threat but also a great opprotunity to bolster our strength. And with that in mind a party of likeminded individuals was formed just recently consisting of the Archmage of the inferno, The lady of the frozen blade alongside the Prince of Thunder and two mappers and a supplier.* "

At his words the entire court stopped any chattering and stared holes into the Viscount and even the King and his aides stopped any thoughts / what they were doing to stare at the Viscount before the king slammed his fist against his throne.

(Argustus) " DAMMIT MARA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! THE FOREST CANNOT BE HANDLED BY 3 S RANKS AND NON COMBATENTS! YOU MAY HAVE WELL JUST SENT CHILDREN SLATHERED IN MEAT INSTEAD! THEY ARE THE MOST EXPERIENCED S RANKS IN THE KINGDOM AND YOU'VE JUST SENT THEM TO DIE!"

with inhuman precision and capable of using any for offense , defense , or utility at the same time.

(Argustus) " Mara... if they die and we lose three S ranks you will be gutted infront of the entire kingdom. And i doubt anyone would rest before finding whoever helped you plan this out because we all know you have nothing to offer them for entering that gods forsaken forest."

After the king said that the room noticably dimmed as his figure seemed to radiate shadows. And still Mara was smilling and yet no one could understand why or how, that is until Mara said.

(Mara) " Oh i seem to have forgotten something hmmmm what was it... "

tapping his chin as if he genuinly forgotten Mara said.

(Mara) " OH! THAT WAS IT! how could i have possibly forgotten the most important part? "

(Mara) " The princess is also joining them however she may or may not be going along willingly. "

At that it seemed like all light in the court room had been devoured and had been replaced with beasts that were ready to tear open the throat of the impudent noble. Reprocussions be damned! the eater of light was about to show why he had been the strongest S class the whole kingdom had ever been graced with.

--------///----Meanwhile at the forest----\\\--------

At the entrance to the forest, a party of three could easily be seen considering there were three flashy individuals who any member of the kingdom would be able to understand who they were with just a glance. These three were the strongest adventurers in the kingdom, the highest ranked S ranks aside from the King and queen themselves.

First the brightest and easiest to spot was the Archmage of the inferno, who despite having just one element, was the strongest who could hold his own against the king until he would exhaust himself. Phoenix was in his late twenties close to reaching his early thirties. Standing at an even two meters with shoulder length red hair that seemed to be flowing with flames and striking red eyes, he was currently wearing his signature crimson cloak with the figure of a Phoenix covering the back with the wings converging onto his chest where two feathers were placed. These feathers belonged to the elder Phoenix Ignastra who had gifted them to him as she found a biped with such a strong capability towards fire with the name of her kin amusing and decided to make him an honorary kin. Those feathers were also not just for show as any avian kin would recognize who they were from and treat him with the respect that came with them.

The second member of this party was The lady of the Blade, Elaine, who unlike Phoenix was in her mid twenties and was capable of manifesting the elemnts of ice / water / And metal, standing at almost two meters with a shoulder length ocean blue ponytail with silvery blue eyes that seemed to be frozen over. She wore a crystal like blue set of armor that covered her arms up to her elbows, her legs up to her knees, her chest up to her collar and her waist where a sword was kept holstered by ice. Under her armor one could notice her toned muscles that were not too big to be intimidating yet not too small to go unnoticed. The sword itself seemed to a seemingly normal steel sword with a pommel and grip yet if one were to look and actually stare at it closely they would notice the steel shifting albeit very slowly it could still be seen.

And the last member of this S rank party was The Prince of Thunder a blonde with brown eyes, Raijin, who was two years younger then Elaine and in his early twenties at just a bot over a meter and a half, and the shortest of the combatents and second shortest of the non combatents, he was capable of manifesting Lightning / air / and Earth despite them being opposing elements. He was wearing a bright cold suit with solid brown pants with streaks of gold and silver going through them if one stopped looking there one might not have noticed he was barefoot with muddied feet. Being ranked third and being one of the shortest would probably annoy or aggrivate someone yet all that knew him knew he didn't care about those things he was quite laid back for someone who risked their life as many times as an S rank does.

(Phoenix) " So i know why i'm here but what about you guys i doubt you've been in the forest Elaine, aren't you supposed to be hunting a wyvern? And what about you Rai? Last time any of us heard you were on some self finding journey or something close to that right? "

After saying that Raijin and Elaine looked to each other to figure out who would answer first and when neither could they settled it in a game of rock, paper, scissors which may have lasted a little too long as they were both a bit too competitive in which eventually Raijin lost and with a sigh motioned for Elaine to talk first.

(Elaine) " Well yea i was but when Amari found out about it she essentially made me promise not to say anything and started saying something about "stretching her legs" and then got geared up and jumped out the window heading to Stonybrook where the wyvern was sighted. "

At that both men just stared at her in shock at the image of the queen just abandoning her duties and instead jumping out of the castle window which was 50' high and then going off to fight a wyvern as if she was going for a walk. The three of them knew her for years so despite the absurdity of the statement, their state of shock lasted for only a few moments.

(Raijin) " You know if you said that i would've let you tell it first ... how the hell do i top Amari jumping out of a castle window to fight a wyvern, Wyvern fighting is way cooler then my story. "

(Elaine) " Hmm? did you say something jin? "

(Raijin) " Nope nothing at all after what you heard, absolutly nothing. "

(Phoenix) " Weeeeeell then that explains why Eli's here but what about you Jin? "

At that Raijin seemed like he had just lost something and started to look around and when he didn't see anyone he leaned in and motioned for them to do the same to say.

(Raijin) " Actually i kind of just wanted to get away and relax somewhere. I found this really nice family of Wyrms in the Brokenspire Caverns and they didn't try to eat me at first sight so i stuck around and learned some wrym stuff from them. "

With that said Phoenix and Elaine looked at Raijin to see if he was being serious and when they could find no sort of deception Phoenix shook his head while Elaine grabbed the bridge of her nose and looked to the sky. On Astrium finding a family of any draconoid species was either a blessing or a curse as the most wise would prefer to talk things out and if they found whoever found them worthy they would teach them ways to improve their handling of magic Wyrms were earth oriented draconoids so for Raijin to be thought on how to improve his weakest element was akin to Elaine finding a piece of Glacium's pure ice.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Phoenix was the only one of them with prior experience with beasts so he understood the meaning of Raijin's words, yet he still had to know something important.

(Phoenix) " Did they actually "Teach" you? Or did they just give you tips? "

Raijin seemed to expect the question and immediatley shook his head.

(Raijin) " They just gave me pointers, but they did say i could come back to them another time and try to pass again. "

Phoenix and Elaine just let out deep sighs of frustration and annoyance.

(Phoenix) " I swear sometimes i wonder what god blessed you with your luck. Its frankly unbelievable. "

Raijin just shrugged with a smile on his face while the other two were cursing his absurd luck and hoped for it to rub off on them.

(Phoenix) " But that still doesn't answer why you two are here don't take this the wrong way since i do enjoy your company but you two have never been in the Grave.

(Elaine) " The grave? "

(Phoenix) " yea it's... "

(Raijin) " What every animal calls the forest yea, now that you mention it i wasn't expecting to see you two when i got summoned here. "

Being the only one left out Elaine was turning her head looking at the other two to elaborate and when they didn't she snapped her fingers at them to get their attention and asked.

(Elaine) " Why do they call it the grave? "

(Phoenix) " Well they call it the Grave of the Progenitors but Ms.Ignastra told me not to spread that name to " The ignorant and dangerous bipeds " which i assume she meant us but since Jin already knew and we've been friends for years i trust you enough to tell you about it. "

(Elaine) " Huh. Well if she said that then i guess i can't really be mad at a giant flaming turkey that could set the contenent on fire by sneezing the wrong way. "

Before Phoenix could say something to that the noncombatents had arrived and with them someone the three of them could easily recognize as the princess alongside them.

The princess was in her late teens getting close to her early twenties standing at just a bit over a meter and a half, with raven black hair like her father that went down to her waist, along with the golden eyes her mother has, she had modest sizes and a face that had no imperfections or blemishes alongside the palest skin tone out of any of them.

If before the three were suspicious now they we're entering the realm of full blown paranoia. They all knew the king personally, before the king ascended the throne he was a well known and powerful adventurer who had taught them before and after they had taken their first S rank assignment. Because of the time they had shared they knew how much he had wanted children. It was well known the downside to having darkness magic was the low fertility / conception rate that bearers had to live with. None of them could see the king let his only daughter go to the SSS rank forest without himself or her mother present.

As she appeared she walked up to them with the bright smile she normally had and if this was any other situation then they would think nothing of it yet this was the most dangerous if not THE dangerous place on Astrium and her demeanor did not suit an unranked and untrained mage.

(Reina) " Hey everyone! It's been a while hasn't it? the last time we were all together was when dad hosted Jins S rank ceremony which was... Four years ago if im right? "

At that the trio were off the deep end, being friends with Arg they obviously had interacted with Reina before and never in all the years they had known her had they ever knew her to call her father dad she always no matter how old she got called him daddy. Even if they were in a public setting which drove him crazy at being embarrassed by his daughter which she loved, yet here she was calling him something else after years of doing it in any setting. However they kept their faces in check as to figure out what was happening so they could find a way to to plan without being found out.

(Raijin) " Hey Rei and yea that sounds about right, can't forget about that silver dress you wore it was good in contrast to your hair. "

(Reina) " Pretty sure i had a Black and red dress. Why would i ever wear something silver? Are you ok Jin? "

With that they confirmed it was infact Reina as she corrected Raijin, she did wear a black and red dress four years back on his S rank ceremony and by not just going along with a false statement confirmed with them she was who she appeared to be yet that still hadn't answered why or how?

(Elaine) " So Rei whatcha doin here we didn't expect to see you pop up here considering where we are i don't think anyone thought you would be here. "

(Phoenix) " Thats true, and considering that Jin mentioned he was summoned just like me and im assuming Eli then did you have anything to do with that? "

(Reina) " Yup, I summoned everyone to go collecting materials for dads birthday next month. "

(Elaine) " I see but does he know your here? "

(Reina) " He should be finding out sometime around now, a message ( Air,Light, Blood elements ) spell came out while we were on the way that a court was called so if he doesn't find out soon then he will when we come back. "

(Raijin) " Wait if Arg doesn't know then who does know? "

(Reina) " Thats a secret you goof. "

And with that more small talk was exchanged before they finally entered the forest. It was also at this time that a father and daughter duo of Eclipse Wolves would leave their den to hunt.

--------///----Eclina Pov----\\\--------

(Martiq) " Okay little one do you remember what mama told you yesterday? "

(Eclina) " Yup papa, No using fire near our home or else we'll be in big trouble. "

(Martiq) " Definetly feel like your leaving alot out but i'd do the same so good enough. "

Right now me and papa are heading to the entrance of the forest since it's the least dense area and there'll be less of a chance to start a fire but i still have to be careful or else it might still happen. Thats why papas with me! If i mess up all papa has to do is use his water and dthe problems solved! Mama said that despite how crude Mr.Fenrirs explinations were he was still right about my elements so during the day papa and i are going to work on my fire and air elemts while at night mama helps me get control over my earth element. No one has an idea on how i'm supposed to train my light element unless they willingly get hurt, but for mama and her earth boosted hide that'd be too hard and papa's naturally hard to hit so that would leave my siblings, and everyone agreed that was a bad idea.

(Martiq) " Ok little one we're near the entrance so now... "

Papa suddenly stops and starts looking around until he sniffs the ground and looks iin a random direction before telling me.

(Martiq) " Little one there are bipeds in the forest... one of them smells familiar so i'm pretty sure it's the not Phoenix, one smells like a Wyrm but another one smells... wrong i don't really know how to put it the smells just wrong so today we're going to go check this out since it's a rule and everything. "

Saying that i sniff where papa sniffed and i can tell what he's talking about, i don't know what a Phoenix smells like but one trail smells like...us and... Dreams? if they had a scent that's what i'd say this was but i don't know what that means and papa doesn't either so instead of asking about that i ask him.

(Eclina) " What do bipeds look like? Are they friendly? What do you mean "The Not Phoenix" and how do you know it? "

(Martiq) " Well for your first one you'll find out soon, for the second one thats depending on who the biped is since just like how there are some of us that don't like them there are some of them that don't like us, there are even some who try to take cubs by killing the parents so you have to be wary on who you trust. And for your last one The Not Phoenix is a biped who has such a strong fire element and is named Phoenix that the elder Phoenix decided to treat him like kin sort of like the law we have for orphaned pups or cubs, just different.

I met him on a hunt years back naturally i was wary of him but despite how strong he was he didn't go out of his way to harm anyone who didn't attack him and he only took small amounts of fauna and things like that so eventually i decided to say hi but i made sure to coat myself in water first before surprising him by sneaking up behind him and barking in his ear... Fun times " 

(Eclina) " So does that mean i can say hi to him? "

(Martiq) " Sure. But be sneaky i want to scare him again. It's been about three years since he's been here so he might not remember it which makes it perfect fufufufu "

(Eclina) " Papa your thoughts are coming out. " 

Papa just smiled at me before pointing the way they went and starts to sprint towards them but papa makes sure to slow down so i can keep up with him. Soon we end up finding who he mentioned along with a few other Bipeds who are walking away from us in a weird pointy way. At the front i assume the one with the really bright red fur is the not Phoenix, looking at them i figure out the one who smells like us is the Biped girl? with the long black fur and the one with the yellow fur is the one that smells like a Wyrm. Theres another one with a long Blue fur tail coming from her head who smells clean just like after it rains, while there are 3 more bipeds behind them.

(Martiq) " Ok now little one listen up you probably already know the bright red ones the not Phoenix so im going to cloak myself and go invisible to scare him follow along in the brushes and i'll tell you when it's fine to come out. "

(Eclina) " Ok papa. "

Soon papa goes invisible but i can see the small indents of his paws on the ground, it looks like he's standing up on his hind legs and slowly making his way up to them... Since when could papa do that? but i can tell at the pace he's about to catch up to them and when i can't see anymore paw prints showing up papa yells at the top of his lungs.

(Martiq) " BOO! "

At that The Not Phoenix stumbles and falls face first while the one with the blue fur tail coming from her head grabs a pointy stick that starts getting coated in ice and the yellow fur one makes claws from the earth that radiate lightning and move to cover The Not Phoenix and The strange black fur girl respectfully. But after a few seconds they hear papa laughing as he drops his invisibility and is punching the ground behind The Not Phoenix, when they see him they start to surround papa which makes him stop laughing as he coats himself in air ready to fight. That is before The Not Phoenix says. 

(Phoenix) " Gods dammit Martiq could you not scare the shit out of me whenever you like. I could've gone without falling on my face infront of my friends. "

At that both the blue fur and yellow fur bipeds stop looking and pointing at papa as they look at The Not Phoenix confused.

(Martiq) " Ahhh you should've seen your face it was definetly worth it and watch your language Not Phoenix my daughters here. "

(Elaine) " Wait you know this wolf? And he talks i thought only a few beasts could do that? "

(Phoenix) " Yea yea he's a pain in the ass that thinks he's funny and has the habit of doing things like this whenever he finds me. And yea he talks though you can hear that for yourself. But that still wasn't funny right guys? "

Saying that he looks to his friends for back up but.

(Raijin) " Well he has a point... It was kind of funny now that we know he's not a threat. And you did look like someone dumped cold water on your face to wake you up. "

(Elaine) " Not the analogy i'd use but yea it was a great prank now that i think about it. "

(Reina) " Yup i definetly wouldn't mind seeing that again. "

As they all start laughing at him The Not Phoenix gets up and dusts himself off as his face get a little red.

(Phoenix) " Ugh whatever anyway you said your daughter? Where? I dont see anyone else. "

(Martiq) " Oh yea , you can come out now Little One. " 

At that i start to step out of the brushes and start making my way to papa when the Black fur and Blue fur biped girls squeel and intercept me and start petting me, making my tail swish a lot because of it.

~ This feels nice it's like there are two mamas giving me attention i could get used to this. ~  

(Elaine) " Shes so cute! she doesn't look as intimidating as her papa and shes just the right size to be a perfect pillow and her fur is so soft i love it. "

(Reina) " And she reminds me of dadd... dad and now that i look at him so does Martiq. "

She had a small twitch when she was trying to say daddy and swapped to dad i can tell the blue fur girl noticed but hasn't said anything, did something happen to him?

(Martiq) " Not sure how i feel about you referring to my daughter as a pillow but ok. Since your The Not Phoenix's friends i'll let it slide. "

(Phoenix) " Its just Phoenix Martiq and you know that. Anyway how's Losine doing? Last time i was here you didn't have pups but since that was years back theres bound to be some... please tell me there aren't any like you. "

That gets a laugh out of papa and makes me tilt my head before asking.

(Eclina) " Whats wrong with that papa's a good papa mama even called him smart after she called him aloof. And i have a brother and a sister. And mamas fine too. "

Saying that both the biped girls squeel again.

(Elaine) " She can talk and that little head tilt!!! "

(Reina) " Shes adorable i wish we could have one. "

They kept giving praises and headpats after that and i could tell i was smiling when i said.

(Eclina) " Praise me more. Praise me more. "

Out of the corner of my eye i can see papa and The Not Phoenix look at each other before shaking their heads.

(Phoenix) " Anyway three pups nice so other then scaring the sh... crap out of me what're you doing here anyway? Don't you hunt deeper into the forest? "

(Martiq) " Well originally we we're going to train her for the first time since she's just manifested... But i picked up your scent alongside the weird smell of the black haired girl. " 

When papa said that they all stopped petting / talking and looked at papa and then at me wide eyed. 

(Eclina) Heeeeey my petting. "

I start pouting at them as they just abruptly stopped and it was feeling good too.

(Phoenix) " So what your telling me is that she just manifested? "

(Martiq) " Yea. She's got fire as one of them and we kinda live in a forest soooo ya know. "

After a small bit of silence the yellow fu... hair biped asks papa

(Raijin) " You said Rei smelled weird what do you mean by that? "

(Eclina) " She smells like us! and Dreams. "

After i said that they looked to papa to elaborate.

(Martiq) " Not sure about the dreams part however she does smell weird but yes she does smell like us judging. About how her hair looks as dark as our fur im taking a wild guess, correct me if i'm wrong buuuut she has the darkness element? "

At that i could see out of the corner of my eye that the 3 bipeds that have been kept in the back begun to take steps back and it seems that the yellow hair biped saw this as they immediately stopped as he looked at them.

(Raijin) " Yup Rei has the darkness element just like her dad. But this smell thing is really interesting wouldn't you say Mr. Not Phoenix?"

(Phoenix) " I'll let that go for now but yes it really is interesting since now im thinking of a outlawed root that when added to food or drinks has an odd smell and has some scary effects. " 

He looked to the three still bipeds and then towards the black haired girl then back to them and said.

(Phoenix) " You three wouldn't happen to know anything about that wouldn't you? "

~ But what about my head pats? ~