When Sera arrived at Luis's house with Mira and Luis, she saw that both his parents were there plus Rio and her husband Bob. She gave a quick glance to Rio and then instantly left saying.
"I'm gonna see what the soldiers are doing"
Elena wasn't even able to get some words out to her old teacher before Sera disappeared from where she was standing.
Elena then turned her gaze to Luis, she first embraced him and then made sure his wounds were fine, realising that they were healing.
Meanwhile Noah observed from behind with a hint of worry on his face.
After talking to Luis and making sure he was safe. They asked Luis why he went into the forest but before he could say anything.
Mira cut in and gave an explanation of what happened instead and also told them that her mother said they would tell Luis what the whispers were.
After sitting Luis down and with a doubtful and worried expression about what she should say Elena spoke first.
"Luis you know we are from the Phoenix clan and that during our clans last battle we had lost our deity. The reason of the downfall was the greed of others, many people desired our clans blessing, but it was not possible to get them unless you were in the Phoenix clan. Any person who would someone in the Phoenix clan would have to leave their own clan. This did not allow the blessing to be passed down to other people who may have been a part of empires or kingdoms because the clan operated outside any kingdoms or empires. Most people wanted the blessing for their regeneration abilities, longer lifespans, and regeneration bottles made by blessings such as the one Sera gave you. There are more reasons such as most of the warrior's strength in the Clan and many other causes for jealousy but that's most of the reasons simplified."
Luis looked overwhelmed by all the information but asked
"If the Clan was so strong how did it fall?"
Elena continued softly explaining,
"You see there are many jealous people in the world and most of them from two continents joined together to take the clan down."
Luis noticed as his mother mentioned the fall of the Clan everyone in the room had a look of sadness on their face.
However, he was still mostly focused on the story
"However to ensure the survival of its Clan both the clan leader your grandfather, and Phoenix chose to sacrifice themselves in the battle. The Phoenix single-handedly took down half the forces in a giant explosive that made it look like the sun was up during the night. However before it died because of the use of another powerful blessing, the Phoenix chose a body to reincarnate in"
putting her hand on Luis's shoulder
"that was you Luis"
Noah takes over his tone firm but reassuring. "Luis as you grow older the Phoenix will get closer it reincarnating currently it should happen anywhere between when you are nineteen to twenty or even later depending on if anything happens, but there is one important thing your body needs to be strong enough to handle the Phoenix reincarnating"
Elena then continued.
"Luis you see the whispers you hear they want you to move and grow stronger so that you can survive when it reincarnates."
Noah then interrupts.
"But Luis, you can't blindly listen to what the whispers say. The Phoenix is a being that was very powerful and centuries old. It does want to help you and make you grow stronger but it does not know the limits of the human body. Like what happened today it made you fight the rats because it wanted you to grow stronger but it did not understand how dangerous that could have been, It might have sensed that there were strong people around with the Phoenix blessing but you never know what could have happened."
Elena continued in a gentle tone.
"Luis I know you are smart you should have guessed the whispers had something to do with the clan. After the clan fell we got help from another strong clan the Xoliti Clan that helped conceal our blessing or suppress it and even provided us with new identities. They are the people who helped make the contract which made it so you couldn't speak of the clans name. The merchants that come to the village half of them are usually Xoliti clan members who come to conceal or suppress the blessing again.
Luis's face looked shocked but also showed a hint of realization.
"So… everyone in the Clan is hiding and they are gonna hide until the Phoenix comes back to life through me?"
Elena nodded and said with her voice soft.
"I know this is a lot to take in but don't worry your family is here with you and Aunt Sera, Uncle Bob, also Mira and Rico"
Elena gives Luis a tight hug
"I know today was rough for you so come and get some rest I'll put you to sleep. You can ask anything you want to know to me or anyone else that was here tomorrow okay?"
Luis feeling tired from today and all the information nods his head, feeling comfort with his mother as he heads to go to sleep with her.
.
.
.
Sera's pace quickened as she went through the forest, her senses were enhanced with aura. She followed the footsteps of the soldier from before. Finding a small clearing, she found what she expected a temporary camp, with tents scattered around and fireplaces set up.
Hiding in the shadows Sera could tell that it was not an invasion force because of the lack of fortifications and haphazard setup, they looked like mostly scouts with one strong commander. Even though it was a good sign, it was still unsettling because soldiers never came this far out in remote areas.
After not finding anything that seemed worrying a few hours later she retreated into the night.
The next morning the village was full of activities as the merchants that would come every month arrived. Of course, there was a mix of some Xoliti clan members to help hide the Phoenix clan members presence again but there was more news than just that this time.
There was a person who was moving through the crowd while making himself unseen. He kept moving across the village until he went to a house on the outskirts of the village. This person was a trusted member of the current Xoliti Clan leader and it was never a good sign when he came to visit.
There were five Phoenix clan members in the house he entered one of them being Sera, Noah or Elena would also be in these meetings but right now they had other matters to attend to. All of the members were the stronger survivors of the Phoenix Clan disaster present in this village.
One of them was an old gentleman looking to be in his eighty's with long white hair and a full white beard, he was the brother of the last Phoenix clan leader and the current acting leader as he was one of more experienced individual, Bane a legendary tier aura user.
His face was covered by the dim lights he was the first to speak.
"There was no scheduled meeting for today did something unexpected happen?"
The man replied without taking any pauses to quickly convey the entire message.
"The Black Talons have stopped their operation in the other continent their entire forces are being to operate in Varlud now. This is because of their recent expedition into Svarenrh continent as you know there are no human settlements there and it's habited only by a strong creatures. The expedition was led by many strong aura users, they most likely paid tribute a high tier creatures called the Svarogus's they are known for their ability for detection on massive scales with their numbers. They tried to pinpoint the exact location of your clan members but that was unsuccessful because of our blessings to help conceal you. However, they decided to use all their resources, getting assistance from ever Svarogus's to locate the Phoenix only. Our deity was able to stop it but was only able to limit the region to the Varlud region, otherwise they would have found out that the Xoliti Clan was helping the Phoenix Clan."
In a husky voice, the old man replied
"So they are intensifying their search here"
In a respectful tone, the man replied
"Yes but they are not gonna act rashly, the empires do not want to waste more resources as they lost some strong aura users in the Svarenth continent. They have decided to make their groups smaller from fifty to twenty five to cover more areas"
This time Sera responded
"I can start patrolling more, no one can detect me unless they have blessings specialized in detection from a high tier creature and are legendary aura tier or above. We should also inform the rest of the members here and in other regions telling them to be more inconspicuous and careful."
The man nodded in agreement,
"Yes we will also have more eyes and ears for the Varlud continent with the merchants as we can also stop operations in the other continent."
Bane's eyes glowed red,
"If they start getting too close to the Phoenix we can go on the offensive for distractions, I can destroy a thousand soldiers worth of troops in a night far away from this village, to help everyone relocate"
Sera replied in a disagreeing tone
"It won't be that hard for them to figure out that it could be a distraction, for now we should just stay hidden and help train the rest of the members more and the kids, we can't go straight to fights, even if we use our Phoenix blessings using them after a long time will lower our efficiency, I think it's time we look more activity for creatures who's blessings are compatible with the Phoenix's blessing."
Bane replied the red disappearing from his eyes
"I agree, I was just mentioning the worst-case scenario"
A few years later after the meeting, the members of the clan had all intensified their training and training of their kids. One of them was Luis who was now twelve, being five feet five inches tall nothing like the kid he was before, with a better understanding of what his fate was and already an adept aura user about to get his first blessing he could use because Luis was born with no blessing from his genes as the Phoenix essence devoured them all from him, for its own growth.