The Ancient One (Updating Mon, Wed and Fri)

    Phoenix's heart pounded as she dodged an attack. These raiders were weak she scoffed while rolling her eyes. The raider began to run at her with a yell. Seriously, who trained these idiots? She easily stepped to the side, piercing his stomach through his leather armor with her short sword. She grabbed at his head, flinging his helm to the side and lifting him by his hair. "Maybe try not making as much noise, hm? Attacking is based on getting the enemy by surprise if possible." Her thick, Irish accent was dripping with a fake sweetness as the raider's eyes widened. A woman?! He had been bested by a woman?! It was impossible. The last thing he saw as he fell to the ground was her bright, violet eyes as his vision went dark.      Phoenix growled and looked around. It seemed like she had gotten one of the last raiders. There were about 2 other groups finishing off but her fellow villagers clearly had the upper hand. Among farmers, her village trained and produced warriors for the various villages and cities in the kingdom of Camelot. Raiders would come regularly to try to take over crops, steal women or children, or simply try to disrupt the training progress in hopes to weaken the kingdom. It never worked. The men who came to train the boys of the village were prior knights of the king. They knew what they were doing.      Phoenix took off her helm and let her long black hair loose. It fell to her waist and had electric blue highlights, naturally occurring. She was tall for a woman, standing just under six feet. Her eyes were a deep violet. She also had a large, bushy wolf's tail that was the same color as her hair and large ears to match. She always had the characteristics of some sort of animal but usually it was of a wolf. She continued walking into the town and sighed as she made her way to the infirmary to see if anyone had gotten hurt during the attack. Sometimes she wishes she could pass off as a human. Not that it truly mattered. The people of the village knew of her and were completely comfortable with her. It wasn't like she would ever be leaving the village. When it was finally time, when she finally came of age in a day, she would assist in training new warriors. She began thinking of everything that would change or happen when she turned eighteen.     When Phoenix would come of age, she also stood the chance of meeting her Safermenila, or Soul Mate. She laughed at the thought. See, Phoenix was the last of her kind. She was from a race known as the Ancient Ones. A race so old no one could remember a proper name for them. The few historians who had the honor of meeting a member of the sacred race simply wrote about them by calling them the Ancient Ones. Eighteen years ago, the entire race had been attacked by an anti-race called Het Dares, The Riders. They had been created by an evil sorceress who wanted to destroy the Ancient Ones, believing that when she did, she would be able to become the most powerful being in the universe. But that is another story for another time. Phoenix's parents were able to hide and get her to safety before disappearing. She had been a newborn when she was adopted by her parents closest mortal friends. Her parents made them promise that they would raise her as close to their customs as they could, teaching her to fight and making sure she shifted into animals and practiced her magic so she would remain strong.      The Ancient Ones would be born into clans. Each clan had a different creature, real or what you would consider mythical nowadays. When the child was born, the design of the clan would be on their back, similar to a tattoo and it would expand to cover their entire backs as they grew. Usually a child would be born into the same clan as their parents, but there were rare cases when the child was destined for something different that they would be born into a different clan. The parents would raise the child but they would go to training in the clan they would go to when they came of age. Each member of the race had two Fraidents or True Forms, the animal of their clan and either an Angel or Demon. The second true form would appear around their eighteenth birthday after they completed a ritual. Their lifespans were long, longer than one could imagine.      Phoenix's parents had been from the Clan of the Wolf. They were a warrior and scholar clan. This is why Phoenix usually used her wolf Fraident. There was also a clan that was so rare that even the members of the race didn't entirely believe in it's existence. Only two members of the race had ever been a part of it, until Phoenix. It was the Clan of the Dragon. They had the capability to not just shift into their clan creature, but any creature imaginable. They also had four Fraidents; Dragon, wolf, angel and demon. There was a prophecy tht a member of the clan of dragons would be the savior to not only the Ancient Ones, but to the world. Our dear Phoenix was unaware of this prophecy, as were her adoptive parents. Her parents were hoping the prophecy was not about her and everything would end up being okay.     Phoenix walked to a well and pulled up the bucket, drinking a little water before dumping it over her head and sighing happily. "That feels good." She whispered, wiping the water out of her eyes. Suddenly, a large fox ran over to her and tackled her to the ground. Phoenix yelped as her head hit the ground. She winced as she opened one eye and glared at the fox. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Rookewood?!" She growled.      "You were distracted," The small fox responded matter of factly.      "Precisely my point. Why the hell would you tackle me?" Phoenix grumbled as she pushed the fox off her lap. Rookewood laughed and nuzzled his head against her cheek.     "I am only keeping you on your toes." He wiggled his tail and climbed onto the wall of the well. "You should be on guard at all times." Phoenix rolled her eyes.     "If I am distracted and don't feel an aura with a murderous intent, I am not going to be alarmed. I recognized your aura. Didn't think I needed to be prepared for you barreling into me." She muttered. Rookewood simply rolled his eyes. She looked down her armer and groaned. "Now I'm all muddy." She grabbed her helm and began walking towards her home. A green mist surrounded the fox. When it vanished, a large barn owl stood where the fox had been. He spread his wings and took off, landing on Phoenix's shoulder.     "Give me one good reason I shouldn't just push you off right now." She growled.         "Have you heard from the boys yet?" He asked, not answering her question. She stopped suddenly and sighed. How could she have forgotten her adoptive brothers? When they took her in, her adoptive parents had twin boys who had recently turned one. The three grew up to be best friends. It wasn't that Phoenix was worried they weren't okay after the attacks, she was worried they were going to wait for her or go looking for her. She turned to go back towards the gate, preparing to send them a question mentally when behind her she heard:     "Oh okay, not even going to wait for us at this point. Just going to go right back without us." Matthew called out. Phoenix winced as she looked at them.     "Listen, I have been deep in thought, I simply forgo-" She wasn't able to finish her words before she was being tackled to the ground for the second time within the last ten minutes. She closed her eyes and put her head forward to avoid having it hit against the ground again. She hissed before opening her eyes, finding Matthew's ocean blue ones staring at her with amusement. She growled and threw him off of her as Jonathan caught up to the group and laughed, helping Matthew and Phoenix up. Matthew groaned and grabbed the back of his head.     "What did you think was going to happen, Matthew?" Jonathan chuckled. Matthew's voice was deeper but they both had the same English accent that had a sing-songy lilt to it. Matthew's hair was darker brown and was currently up in a small ponytail. Jonathan had sandy blonde hair to match his fathers. He kept it close cropped. He had deep emerald eyes. Despite those small differences, the two were identical in every other way.      Phoenix stood and shook herself off. "It was a raider attack. I knew you two cold handle yourself ad Rooke here decided tackling me and getting me covered in mud would be fun." She hissed. "I simply want to go home and change. Is that alright with the two of you?" She crossed her arms and glared at Matthew pointedly. He chuckled and nodded, standing and brushing himself off.      "Let's go. I'll bet Mother has made something for supper by now. Maybe she will let us have a few bites early." Matthew smirked as he began jogging towards the house. Phoenix sighed as she walked behind, Jonathan next to her.     "In all seriousness," Phoenix looked up at Jonathan, amusement gone from her face. "Did we suffer any casualties? The raiders are getting braver." Jonathan shook his head.     "Between the three of us staying close to the inexperienced and how weak the raiders are we did not even have to send someone to the infirmary for minor wounds." He answered. Phoenix felt herself relax and sigh. "Between you and me," He lowered his voice and Matthew slowed down, looking back at them curiously. "I have been told that we are going to be sending a group to Camelot soon, as the Prince's official guard." Phoenix perked up. They had sent men to Camelot, sure, but never to protect royalty!      "Who is being sent? When is this happening?!" She looked up at Jonathan.      "The three of us. Sometime in the coming weeks." He said softly. Phoenix went pale. Of all places, she couldn't go to Camelot. The king despised any sort of magic or magical creature ever since his wife had died and magic had been unable to save her. Not to mention she was a woman. She would be left behind as soon as the group coming to get them saw her. She rubbed her temple and sighed. She would deal with the issue when it came up.     "In that case, we need to find out who is sending the raiders. Who is targeting this village specifically and why? They have been sending more and more people each time." She said, deep in thought. Rookewood rubbed against her cheek when they all heard a voice they had never heard before.      "This village is being targeted harder than before because of the fact that it is well known that it will be sending members to Prince Arthur's royal guard in the next fortnight." It said. Phoenix stiffened as she turned and saw a man about the same age as Matthew and Jonathan. His eyes were a light hazel and she could feel the immense magical aura coming off of him. Her eyes widened and her ears went back as she stood on guard, hand on the hilt of her sword. How had she not noticed him coming up on them? She really needed to start paying more attention like Rooke had told her apparently. The man noticed her hand on the hilt and put his hands out, kneeling to the ground. "I mean no harm. I am Prince Arthur's personal advisor and messenger. My name is Merlin."