Gifts of the Living Phoenix

Chapter 18

            “Whoa, whoa, whoa, why is he staying here again?” scowled Edric for the 3rd time that afternoon.   

After Faith had left Dante, the twins had come over for a quick visit since they hadn’t seen her in a week.  She casually dropped the fact that Dante would be staying with her and her family while he was “guarding” her, but that seemed to matter little to the twins as they were suddenly furious about the prospect of him being in close proximity of Faith.

            “You’re going to be alone with him in your home?”  Everett said croaking out the words.

            “No, I never said we were going to be alone!  My mother is there, and so is Hope!” Faith said defiantly. 

“What is wrong with you two anyway?  He’s my guardian, not some stalker out to get me!”  Though as soon as she said the words she realized that Dante had indeed acted a bit like a stalker at the beginning of their relationship. 

            “I volunteer to stay over too!” squeaked Edric.

            “Me too actually,” agreed Everett.

            “I don’t like it!” cried Edric.

            “Neither do I!”  said Everett.

            “Well good thing it’s not up to you two then, huh?!” Faith said angrily. “Seriously, you guys are being ridiculous.  You’re acting like you don’t trust me!”

            “Darling,” cooed Edric, “It’s not YOU we don’t trust, it’s him.”

In the end, both twins insisted on coming over and staying for most of each day until they all went back to school.  It was the most awkward of all situations that Faith could have ever imagined.  Dante acted like he lived there permanently and did things to get under the Twins’ skin.  Everett and Edric on the other hand wouldn’t budge from Faith’s side, even going so far as to requiring her to engage in the physical training they all had for warrior course with them.

Hope had a hard time keeping a straight face throughout the two weeks the three boys were fighting over Faith, for her attention.  She was so glad to think she would only give her heart to one elf and him alone.  

Whew!  She thought…this love triangle… or love quadrangle...whatever the hell this was – was insane!  As much as she loved and missed her sister, she couldn’t wait until they all went back to school.   

Luckily for Faith, her mother hadn’t said anything about Dante staying with them after she found out he was her guardian.  She seemed to enjoy having the boys around and actually acted like her old self for a while.  Although there were things left unsaid between the two of them, Faith didn’t want to rush that conversation.  Not yet at least.

-----

            “Seriously, you have the craziest life Faith,” Melody said after listening to Faith’s explanation of what happened during winter break.

            “I’m surprised they didn’t fight every day actually,” Faith admitted. “In the end I think they were tired of fighting and finally gave up taunting one another.

Faith had to admit, as wrong as it was, it had been flattering to have three males fighting for her attention.  She blushed when she remembered how close Dante had gotten to her while she was on the ladder helping her get down some boxes.  And how quickly Edric was to move over and help her down, pushing Dante out of the way.  She laughed to herself when she remembered how Everett insisted on going to their old childhood play area – leaving Dante behind and out of the conversation.  Dante had sulked but didn’t press the issue.  

They were back in school though, so Faith hoped that everyone would get back to normal.  No more Dante living in the next room to distract the twins into insanity.

            “Faith, may I have a word?”  Professor Geniason seemed to appear out of no where asking for her attention.

            “Yes sir, how can I help?”

            “We let you discover your gifts on your own last term before the winter break, but we feel that it’s time we interceded on your behalf.”  Professor Geniason seemed to look almost grim as he relayed this message.  “We also understand that the guardians have made themselves known to you, so they should be a part of this training as well.” 

Faith had met with the other guardians.  Their names were Damien, Christian and Seth.  Ironically, all of the guardians were shapeshifters.  They said there was a 5th guardian, like the five gifts, but he was still too young at present to be introduced.  Five guardians like the five gifts.  She thought that was odd because she thought there were only four gifts of the Living Phoenix.  It was all too much to remember.

            “What does this all entail Sir?”  Faith couldn’t help but wonder why they were pressing the issue now and not before.

            “Well, we have an old elf witch who is able to commune with the past.  We think she can help you learn your gifts by tapping into the past and your past life before the untimely death of the last Living Phoenix.”

            “I guess any help I can get would be good.”  Although Faith said these words, she didn’t really feel confident about this whole process.  Given that no one really understood how the Living Phoenix collected her gifts, she wasn’t about to turn down any opportunity to learn.

It was later in the evening when Faith met up with Professor Geniason in his office.  He appeared to be talking to a frail old elf that was about half the size of Faith.  She didn’t want to appear rude so she hung back, waiting to be introduced.

            “Come closer, my dear, I don’t bite,” the old elf said. “You are Faith?”

            “Yes, I am.” Faith inched closer to her.

            “I’m Valois. It’s nice to meet you finally.” The old elf said kindly.  “We don’t have a lot of time, so let’s get started, shall we?   Orlando, if you wouldn’t mind giving us the use of your office?  We shall only need it for tonight.  After which we will continue training outside.”

            Professor Geniason nodded his head and headed out the door leaving his own office.

Faith looked at the elf puzzled.  

                  “What is it my dear?”

                “I didn’t realize the Professor's first name was Orlando,” said Faith.

            The old elf laughed.  “There is a lot you don’t know about my dear.” 

With that, she brought a clap over her head and made the room go darker instantly.   Faith felt she should have been afraid, but instead she felt soothed by the close presence of this wise elf.

            “My dear, I know this has been some troubling times for you.  There are a lot of unanswered questions you have, about who you are, who you are destined to be.  I can not help you find all the answers you seek but I can help you piece together more of the missing puzzle pieces surrounding the Living Phoenix and your gifts.  Do you have any questions before we begin?”

            “Just one, this book we were provided last year said there were four gifts, but the guardians mentioned there were five gifts.  Do you know how many there actually are?” 

            “Let’s find out for sure, shall we?”  And with that, Faith felt a feeble hand touch her forehead and the world around her went black. 

Suddenly, Faith could hear the old elf inside her head. Calmly talking to her.

            My dear, I know you feel conflicted about your role, your past, and even about who you are right now.  I need you to put all those questions aside and concentrate on only one thing.  We are going to delve into the past to see what happened with the gifts of the Living Phoenix and potentially her demise. We will go as far back as we possibly can and hopefully that will allow us to gather some answers. 

            The world was quite different still, 1100 years ago.  The Living Phoenix was a bit older than you are now.  Back then, the world had understood that changes were happening and she and her gifts had been recognized in time to help with efforts to keep humans above ground.  

As Valois was talking in her head, pictures and images began to swim in Faith’s mind showing her a glimpse of the past and how it had looked before.  She could still see people living in abundance above ground.   The cold winter was starting but they had already started building the underground shelters in preparation.  The humans had hoped though that the Living Phoenix would be their salvation and help them dispel whatever was happening to their world.

Valois continued:

            They had prepared, but unfortunately that did not turn out to be enough.  All too quickly the world started getting colder.  The Living Phoenix had been training and gathering her strength and learning about her gifts.  She in turn learned about her gifts from a human mutant that had similar power reserves, but was not as strong as she was.  The first gift was fire, fire that would be needed to counterbalance the bitter cold that was to be set upon the earth.  The second gift was water.  The ability to conjure water wherever a being could exist.  Water conjuring as well as the ability to manipulate it.   The third gift was earth.  In this case it was the ability to move earth and mold it as necessary for survival.  The fourth gift was air.  Wind that could be harnessed and utilized for the benefit of humanity.  The final gift was the gift that bound them all.  It was called the bonding gift and after mastering all of the four gifts, it would allow the Living Phoenix to bond with any being and use them however she wished – as long as it was for good.

            As Faith heard the message, she saw the different ways in which the Living Phoenix was able to cast fire, grab water from the air, and manipulate the earth to her will.  It appeared that she had never gotten to the fourth gift.  As she was learning how to manipulate wind and trying to harness it’s great power, that she was suddenly struck down. 

            “Who was it?” Faith asked imploringly. “Who killed her before she could help the world?”

The old elf hesitated as if wanting to avoid the topic altogether, but she knew it would come up. She knew this new Living Phoenix would want to make sure she did not repeat the mistakes of the past.

            “I can not say with certainty, but it was unfortunately someone very close to her. Someone that should have been protecting her,” she said gravely.

            “Do you know who it was?” Faith asked more directly.

            “Yes, one of her guardians.”

-----

After her session with Valois, Faith decided to do a little training on her own.  She had seen the motions with which the previous Living Phoenix had cast her hands in order to conjure water from thin air.  She mimicked the same motion and to her surprise, she had water rolling in the palm of her hand, sitting there as if in an invisible bowl. 

            “Good trick!”  came a cheerful voice.

            “Dante!  Sneaking up on me again?  Or should I say stalking?”

            “Come now, is that any way to speak to your guardian?”  he smirked.

            “Guardian yes, father you're not.  So let’s not get the two mixed up, shall we?”  Faith said rolling her eyes at him.

            “Don’t be a brat.  I will not hesitate in keeping you in line,” he smiled wickedly.  “In fact, I might rather enjoy it!” 

Faith gasped “IS that any way to speak to your Living Phoenix?”  she said in mock protest.

Dante laughed and sat near Faith as he watched her hold the water in her palm.  The water seemed to move as if by an invisible force, yet stayed without falling through her fingers.  It was fascinating. 

            “So where did you learn to do that?” Dante asked inquisitively.

            “Can’t tell you, I’d have to shoot you if I did,”  Faith said feeling smug.

            “Little girl, I have ways of making you tell me. Now spill!”  Dante joked.

            “For me to know, and you to find out,” Faith teased.

            “Oh HO!  Someone is feeling feisty tonight!”  Dante said sidling up to her even closer.

Realizing she made a mistake in fueling Dante’s interest, she backed away flustered.  She saw how his expression dropped in disappointment, but he hid it quickly. 

            “Come on, people are settling into the dorms for the evening.  Let’s get going.”

Without another word, Dante led Faith back to the dormitories without another mention of the exchange between them.  Faith walked behind him partially confused as to why he made her feel like a child, but also made her feel something else too.  She wasn’t sure why but she knew she had to maintain distance.  It was best if they did.

            “Dante, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to” –  he cut her off.  “Look, it’s fine Faith.  I’ve been more than clear about how I feel about you.  I also know you have feelings for the twins and I don’t want you to feel conflicted.”

            “No hard feelings, ok?”  Dante said, giving her a small hug and quickly releasing her.

            “Good night Dante, I’ll see you tomorrow?”  Faith looked scared at his response but looked directly into his eyes.

            Brightly he answered with his most charming smile, “You know it!”

-----

            “Trouble in paradise?”  teased Melody.

            “Shut it.  I can’t deal with all these men and their raging hormones,”  Faith sighed.

            “Hahaha… hormones? You’re not even sleeping with any of them, what do you mean hormones?”  Melody continued.

            “Well… I mean all these emotions – hormones! We’ve all got raging hormones and it’s driving me insane!  I wish things were just less complicated.” Faith said in defeat.

            “Look hon, love is complicated.  And whether or not you realize it, you may have feelings for Dante that you’re suppressing.  It was bound to happen.  I mean, he’s a hunk of a dish if I do say so myself.  Tall, muscular shapeshifter with beautiful blonde hair and those piercing emerald green eyes… Yep.  He’s a dish.” Melody concluded.

            “He is gorgeous, but so are Everett and Edric.  They all have really good qualities about them.  They’re really so different too,” Faith sighed again. 

            “Ah, young love,” teased Melody some more.

            “What do you mean, young, you’re the same age!”  shrieked Faith.

            “Hahahaha, right, that we are.”

            “OH, by the way, how are things with Kyle?  Still smooching with the tall Olgas?” It was Faith’s turn to tease Melody and Melody who’s cheeks started to burn.

            “He’s alright, for a young one.  I hope he doesn’t get too attached though,” said Melody almost too seriously.

            “Melody!  I hope you’re not stringing him along!  He really likes you.”

            “I know, I know.  I’m trying to discourage it.  We have different paths we’ll be pursuing, we’re going different ways, I already know this.”

Sometimes Melody spoke like she could predict the future, but Faith already knew she wasn’t like Hope.  She just talked like she knew more about their future than she let on.  

It was another odd thing about Melody.  She was complimentary about Dante, but Dante on the other hand did not seem to trust her at all.  Faith knew that Dante – whatever else he might be – was a pretty good judge of character.  His issues with the twins had more to do with winning her affections than him blatantly disliking them as people.  With Melody however, he was always quiet and reserved around.  

She would have to ask him what his problem was next time she saw him.  If she remembered.  Whenever they got together these days, they were always alone and talked about things pertaining to only the two of them.  Maybe that’s why she had felt closer to him lately. She wasn’t sure, but she would uncover all the secrets that seemed to be surrounding them these days.  That was going to be her number one goal.  No more secrets.