The bird came towering down with all its might and landed in front of the children.

Needless to say, it was a phoenix. Its entire body was covered in flames. But surprisingly the children didn’t feel any heat emanating from its body.

It landed onto the ground and looked at the children.

Everything was very still and quiet. The children waited for the Phoenix to make the first move.

In the next few moments the phoenix spoke in human tongue.

“Who is the leader among you?”

The children were apparently not surprised from hearing the phoenix speaking their language.

“It’s me” Clay stepped forward.

He decided that the phoenix did not want to kill them just yet, or they’d be dead by now.

These mythical creatures of the legend were powerful creatures who only listened to the Gods they served.

It was known that different Gods had different rides. Not every ride was a creature of legend. Some of them were even animals picked up from the planet. All of these animals had a holy status on the planet. It was an unspoken rule that no one will hunt or kill their kind out of respect for the Gods.

“Hmmm….. So you are the one that led them here” Phoenix spoke in an ancient tone.

“You all are the students of Parashuram  aren’t you?”

The children were surprised. Their master Parashuram told them to come to this place if they were ever in danger. But never had they expected this legend to know the name of their master whom they treated as their father.

“You know our father?” Nero asked.

He was one of the impulsive ones among the group. But he followed the orders of his brother down to every word.

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“Yes, well he is quite famous among the Gods you know”

“It seems that you all don’t know much about his past”

This time Clay said “He… didn’t talk much about his past. He just said to come here if we ever face any life-threatening danger”

“Hmmm…. Is that so? He didn’t tell you anything about his past. Anyway I can tell that he was your master. You all can stay in this place. As long as all of you don’t grow up to 18. You won’t have any shortage of food or water or shelter”

 As soon as the phoenix said that the entirety of the land that came to be known as the Gauntlet of Graveyards immediately was filled with green trees and plants and a huge lake emerged out of nowhere.

Suddenly a castle started emerging from the ground. It was magnificent and shining. Much more majestic than any of the castle that were present in the world.

“You can all live here. As long as even one of you lives here, no one in this entire world can come inside it. Only you all are allowed. You must cultivate and meditate your art. It seems that you all are miles away from mastering it. But since you are ‘his’ disciples. It won’t take long for you to get stronger. After you are above the age of 18 wander around this world. Take whatever you can help whoever you want. Because once you reach a level, a whole new world awaits you. Don’t let your master down”

All of this happening around them with the phoenix speaking to them and helping them in such a way left all of them shocked to their core.

Most of them started to wonder how significant their master was to make the phoenix do something like that for them.

Nate couldn’t resist and asked the phoenix. “Who was our master really that it makes you go to such a distance for us? He looked very simple and had a very gentle personality. He trained us hard but that’s it”

The phoenix was quiet for some time thinking what to tell the children and what not to. Finally he replied “Your master hated wars and loved normal way of life and normal people. This you must all be familiar with. But what you don’t know is that he was the most powerful existence on the planet”

That answer left all the children speechless. They could never have imagined their master to be that strong let alone be the strongest in the world.

The phoenix continued “As you know the five nations here are in an everlasting war with each other. Because of that many normal people who had nothing to do with the war were sacrificed. Angered from all of this he went on to kill every single member of the army of all the five nation”

The children couldn’t believe what they just heard.

“That’s impossible” Nero said.

“How could a single man kill millions of people alone?”

The phoenix laughed. “Nothing is impossible kid. Your master was the living proof of that. He is the reason the five nations didn’t dare to wage war until your master died. He threatened them to stop and left. Not even the Gods who the different nations worship could do anything”

“Don’t worry you will come to know everything in due time. Until then stay here and become strong. Don’t tread the path of hatred but the path of forgiveness, not anger but trust”

As it said those last few words the phoenix shrieked one more and vanished into thin air.