Name: Zander Elrod Rank: Young Phoenix. Strength 27, Endurance 26, Agility, 26, Mana, 27, Stamina, 25. Level 27. 3,000/65,000 experience. 10 chosen-one skill points. 0 skill points. 0 stat points. No active quests.
Zander looked through his system and wished he had more stat points, but chose to spend 5 on some holy spells that came available when he became a young adult Phoenix.
"Blind, level 1. 2 skill points to unlock. 10 energy. A flash of white light will blind all nearby enemies for 5 seconds. Cooldown 15 minutes."
This skill was quite useful with Sophie's unique pink magic, which they just nicknamed charm magic, despite her Ethereal flame skill.
"Holy Orb, 3 skill points to unlock. 40 energy. Cast a powerful, giant white orb that deals heavy damage to opponents. Stronger against forbidden type enemies. No cooldown," was the other skill Zander chose, due to the increasing number of threats in the interior barrier.
Zander, Sophie and Cyrus had been the original go to team, but as more and more enemies entered, Juno joined up with them.
Matthew and Diane's children, Mary, a 29 year old beauty who stood around 5'9, and had blonde, curly hair and was next in line for the throne, was married to David, a 32 year old male who stood around 5'6, but was stocky, well built and very handsome.
They had two sons, Logan and Daniel, who were 6 and 3, respectively and could already use some magic.
Their other child, Octavia, lost her husband in the attack from Zeke and Deke on SilverCrest, and was 26 years old. Unlike her sister, she had jet black hair, that was straight, but was beautiful as well. She was around 5'8, which made David the shortest of the three.
Her one daughter, Monica, was 7 and looked after her cousins all the time. She was considered a prodigy, much like her mother was, in magical ability.
They had all met Ethan on November 20th and received support from the skies with Zander and Sophie. The council decided it best to not hand out more wrist watches with the amount of threats entering the barrier every day, but Zander and Sophie, using their Phoenix eyes, were able to guide them to the castle and take out their opponents with ease.
"This last month has surely been a lot of work, although I can't say I haven't enjoyed the time with you, Cyrus and Juno," Sophie said as she changed into her Phoenix form near the monolith at the back of the castle.
"Yes it has but we've both grown a lot and we've been able to work on our team work quite a bit, and I think we make a great pair," Zander said, smiling, as he turned into his human form and tossed Sophie a bra, underwear and their formal royal attire.
"I can't believe the King and Queen invited you, Ethan and me into the noble family and blessed us with their family blessing," Sophie said, as she quickly got dressed as their escorted party was coming up behind them.
"With how big the threat has been this past month, they can't afford to always send Cyrus or Zoey out to let us in and out, so it makes sense, in a way. It's not like I'm going to challenge Zoey and Eldrick for the throne. It'll be nice to be able to get out of here and go back to Harmonia before our birthdays," Zander admitted, as he too had put on his formal, royal attire.
Ethan walked the group up and introduced everyone to Zander and Sophie, and Sophie could see the little boy, Daniel, holding on to a stuffed animal of an owl, very tightly, and she walked up to him, knelt down with a big smile and said, "I'm Sophie, that's a pretty beautiful black and white owl you have there, what's your name?"
Looking back to his parents, they gave a smile and a nod and Daniel responded, "I'm Daniel. My grandpa and grandma gave him to me and whenever I squeeze him," and he squeezed him, and everyone could hear the King and Queen of SilverCrest say, "We love you Daniel, stay strong and always remember we'll be watching over you, like this owl here," and Logan and Monica began to tear up.
"What's his name?" Zander said, as he came over and knelt down next to Daniel, who started crying.
"It's ok buddy, I know exactly how you feel. My parents were killed last year," Zander said, with a slight smile, while putting his hand on his shoulder.
"Really, I'm sorry Zandy," Daniel responded.
"That's very kind of you, but I know they're in Solace and let me tell you kids a secret. You promise not to tell," Zander asked with a smile.
Mary, David and Octavia were all very intrigued, as was Monica, who was holding a stuffed animal of a teddy bear, which was pink with black eyes and a black belly.
Logan, who was holding a stuffed animal of an all white owl, also walked with Mary over to Daniel, interested in what this big secret was.
"You see this beautiful woman, well, she is my wife, and on our wedding day, we were transported to Solace, just for a brief moment and let me tell you, Leo, Tej, Luna, Soraya and the Father are all super amazing. It's very beautiful and I know your grandparents will have a special manor near the Father, just like all the greatest souls known to humankind do. There aren't very many manors, so you should be proud to be the grandchildren and children of such brave people," Zander said, and he and Sophie showed off their forever bonds, and grabbed each other's hands.
Because of their sensitive hearing, the Elrods heard Octavia asking Ethan if what they said was true, and he said, "they were the only humans to ever go to Solace in human form, due to their unique bond with the phoenixes. They both carry one inside of them, and they were sent there so Sophie could also receive the blessing of the Father, like Zander did at birth."
This put a big smile on their faces, and Octavia hugged her sister and with tears in her eyes said, "at least we know they'll be where we all strive to go."
Daniel hugged them both, and the three kids all squeezed their stuffed animals at the same time.
Logan's owl said, "We love you Logan, don't slack on your training and one day the throne may be yours!"
Monica's teddy said, "To our oldest and most gifted grandchild, we are so thankful you are brave and look after your cousins. We love you very much!"
Daniel's owl said the same message as before and the kids were awestruck at the tattoos, or so they thought, disappeared.
"This is a special bond I made with Zander, one which allows us to communicate to each other without talking and allows us to teleport to one another if one of us is in danger," Sophie explained.
"Oh that's cool, the three of us can communicate with each other without talking as well," Monica said, pointing at her cousins and the mood finally seemed to become more positive.
"That's amazing young Miss Monica, and young masters Logan and Daniel," Ethan said and Zander and Sophie shared his enthusiasm.
Noticing on his watch that four werewolves were approaching, Zander excused himself and he and Sophie went and took care of the threat quite easily.
Zander casted blind, Sophie casted confuse, then Zander and Sophie each used a bow and arrow, which they had been training with, infused with fire magic, to pierce right through the hearts of the werewolves.
As they returned, Zander transformed his hand into a claw, pricked his right finger, drew the heart and spoke the incantation, in a language not known to anyone but Ethan, which roughly translated too, "with a heart pure of blood, I ask for access to this holy castle," and the monolith split open, and a teleporter appeared.
"Shall we," Zander said, as he and Sophie joined hands and walked in first, followed by the children, Mary, Daniel and Octavia and finally Ethan.
"Ethan will show you to your new rooms, although, with the magic the King and Queen used to upgrade this hallway, you'll feel right at home," Sophie explained.
In order to make the SilverCrest guests feel more at home, the rooms were changed into houses, much like Cyrus and Zoey's places.
Zander and Sophie also enjoyed this upgrade, as it would have been more difficult to have one of the rooms have a different spell and layout than the others.
Zoey and Zander insisted they would help, and showed Octavia and Monica to their house, which was just down the hall from their room. Ethan walked Mary, David, Logan and Daniel down further, to the end of the corridor, where Ricardo was standing, welcoming the guests.
To their surprises, when they entered their new homes, they were amazed at the beauty and touch put into them. The theme reminded them of SilverCrest, which was silver and emerald, and it made them feel much more at home.
After a quick tower and a friendly goodbye, Zander and Sophie told Octavia not to hesitate if she needed anything, even a babysitter, and Sophie blushed.
She thanked them and finally made her way to her bedroom. On Octavia's bed had a note, "Please consider joining the council. We have approved for you and Mary to join. We know you were successful in helping the King and Queen. Your new wardrobe is in the walk in closest, and Mary has plenty of new clothes in her room as well. Please thank Ricardo and Lana for the clothing. We have also provided the casual and formal clothing of Haven for you, as well as council clothing, if you accept our invitation. Love, Cyril and Calla."
As she finished reading the note a second time, it burst into flames and Monica said with a big smile, "Mama this new house is amazing, I bet daddy would have loved it!"
"I'm sure he would have sweetie," Octavia said, giving Monica a big hug.
That's when she saw, on her dresser, a photo of Octavia, Zachary and Monica, when Monica was just a baby. When she picked it up, it flashed through about 100 photos, some with the three of them, some with their cousins, some with their Grandparents, and some in Haven as an entire family, with Zoey, Ethan and even Cyril and Calla.
Octavia and Monica sat and enjoyed the slideshow two or three times, and noticed a note.
"A gift from your parents and from Haven, love, Zoey."
At the same time, the two boys and their parents had also received a similar gift, with a different set of pictures, with some of the same pictures. Mary also had read her invite twice, and asked Logan to tell Monica that she was going to accept.
"Mama, Auntie Mary is going to accept the council position, Logan just told me," Monica said.
"Please let them know I'll accept as well. It's been a long day, I'll let Ethan know of our decision and we should get some rest," Octavia said while picking Monica up and twirling her around. "I love you sweetie, you're so brave and I'm sorry this had to happen."
"It's ok mama. Solace seems nice. I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa will find daddy too," Monica said.
Octavia agreed, smiled, and told Monica a bedtime story and let her sleep in her bed that night, cuddled closely with her favorite teddy.
Octavia and Mary let Ethan know, and he informed Zoey, who informed her parents.
"Did they like their gifts?" Calla, the Queen asked.
"They loved them and they were very thankful for Ethan, and very impressed with how Zander and Sophie interacted with the children," Zoey responded.
"Those two will have a beautiful baby someday, and when can we expect one?" the King asked Zoey, who turned bright red and yelled, "Dad!"
"We have more pressing matters, as tomorrow should be interesting. Has Cyrus finished the preparations for Luna's arrival?" King Cyril asked.
"Yes, he and Juno have everything ready. I can't believe it but Juno has been staying the night with Cyrus a lot lately," Zoey said with a smile.
"Kind of like our beautiful daughter, who thinks we don't know about Eldrick practically living with her," the Queen teased her daughter.
Bright red, Zoey told her parents she loved them and ran off into her room, which was also more like a house, and Eldrick was sipping on a glass of wine mixed with blood, which he also poured a cup for Zoey.
"That was a very nice gift you gave those two families," Eldrick said, as he greeted Zoey with a hug and kiss.
"Thanks, I figured they'd want a piece of home with them," Zoey said, as she sat down and took a drink of her wine.
"So how was your day?" Zoey asked.
Eldrick paused. He wasn't entirely sure how to answer.
Meanwhile, in the King and Queen's bedroom.
"Do you think he will pop the question tonight to our baby?" Calla asked Cyril.
"If there's any man I trust our daughter to marry, I'm glad those two finally got together. Eldrick is an amazing man and great leader. I'm sure he will and it will bring happiness during these dark times. I only foresee more darkness in the future," Cyril said with a sigh.
"I see it too, but we have Zander and Sophie, with those two, anything is possible. Plus we have our council, Cyrus and now the SilverCrest mages. Put that together with our strength and I think we will be quite formidable," Calla said.
"You are right my dear," the King said, kissing his wife goodnight.
Back in Zoey's room, Zoey looked at Eldrick, who was more pale than usual and said, "cat got your tongue or was your day just that boring?"
Eldrick finally mustered up the courage, remembering he had the Kings blessing and got one knee, "Will you, my beautiful Zoey Hart, do me the honor of marrying me, here in Haven?"
Stunned, Zoey almost knocked her glass over.
"I will as long as you answer one question for me, how old are you exactly. No one will tell me and it seems to be quite the secret," Zoey said with a smile.
"Fine, you will be the first to know. I'm 29, and yes it's true, I'm an original vampire. The rest of my family is dead and sacrificed their souls to leave me with the King and Queen of SilverCrest. They convinced your family to take me in when I was 16, which is why no one knows my true age, and I intend to keep it that way," Eldrick explained.
Jumping on him, despite him still being on one knee, Zoey gave him a big kiss and tried on the beautiful ring. It was solid gold with a diamond carat and was embedded with 'to everlasting life and beyond,' to which Zoey whispered, "I love it."
The two shared a Romantic evening, knowing tomorrow was the big day when Luna would be coming to Haven and Leo would be slaying the King and Queen of SilverCrest.