The New Phoenix
Rocky Oberlin
Chapter 1
Unless you want an old, bratty cat and plenty of bills I don't own the Ronin Warriors.
Ever wonder how the Ancient lived so long? What about Anubis and Kayura? We had seen Kayura given the armor of Cruelty, but not the office of the Ancient. What about Mia's parents? She lived with her Grandfather, but where was her mother or father. Could it be that the Ancient was a dragon, a being that ages slowly, but has a mission to watch the Mortal Realm. When he died he gave the job to Anubis. Anubis knew the job meant that he couldn't keep his armor, so when saving Kayura with it presented itself he took it. But what about Mia? What does she have to do with all this? Just as Anubis and the Ancient is the new Guardian of the Mortal Realm, so are her mother and Mia. Listen, my children, as I, the Windwalker, Lady of all Horses, and Queen Mother of the Unicorns, tell of the coming of Power of the new Phoenix.
Mia sighed. The dreams were getting stranger and stranger. They started out as a woman's face looking down at her and saying that she loved her little Mia no matter what. Then the scene changed to a four year old Mia being held in her Grandfather's arms as a house burns and two figures kneel in the bright flames. In the end she would always hear a female voice say that soon she would have to take up her destiny. Then she would awake. But this time she hear the same woman's voice say that she will always love her little Mia. And strange things were happening around her. Like last week she was cooking dinner and the stove just seemed to burst into flames as she turned on the burner. That caused everyone to agree to eat out that night. And when she started fire in the fireplace she didn't even use a match, it just appeared when she had figured that she was done getting the wood stacked. Ryo had joked that she was getting as good as he was in starting fires. Everyone had laughed at that, but Mia was worried. What was going on?
Mia looked at the time and figured that it was time to get breakfast ready for the guys and then get ready for work. She was half way through when Cye came down. "Oh, Mia, I thought that you weren't going to touch the stove after that fire last week," he said surprised.
"Well, someone has to start breakfast if you guys want to get to school on time," she replied. Anything else was lost as three other Ronins came downstairs for breakfast. "Who has to wake up Rowen this time?"
The four Ronins looked at each other and no one volunteered for the risky job. Mia sighed and said, "If someone doesn't get him down here, you all will be late and he won't get breakfast."
"Why don't you go up and wake him Mia?" asked Kento.
"Because she is letting us live here," said Sage.
"I'll go," volunteered Ryo. Sage winced and Cye looked apologetic. This was not going to be pretty. Ryo trudged up stairs and entered Rowen and Sage's room. Rowen was tangled in his sheets and looked almost dead to the world. "Here goes nothing," muttered Ryo. "Hey, Rowen. Time to get up!" he yelled. No response. "If you don't get up, I'll pull you out of bed." Rowen snored on unimpressed. "You asked for it."
Everyone heard the loud thump from the area of Rowen's bed and the startled squawk as the bearer of Strata was rudely awakened. Mia shook her head and wondered if there wasn't an easier way to wake the heavy sleeper. The two Ronins came down and breakfast was started.
Mia was in the bathroom when the next strange thing happened to her. She was getting ready, when she looked in the mirror and saw Anubis standing behind her looking at her. She quickly swung around to see if the presumed dead Ancient was behind her, but the empty bathroom met her eyes. When she looked back, she didn't see anything.
"Must be a figment of my imagination," she muttered and went on her way.
Anubis faded back into existence after she left. "She is getting closer. If only her mother could have stayed alive longer to tell her what her destiny is. This will be hard on her and maybe the Ronins. Are you sure it must be done?"
"Yes," came a whispery voice. "The Phoenix must come to balance the Power between you, Griffon, and my son. When I gave the Power to him with the responsibility of being Unicorn King, the balance shifted. It shifted more when the Ancient made you his replacement. The Power is unsteady and Tulpa has used it to come back. Go, warn Lady Kayura and the Seasonals, they must get away from the Netherworld before Tulpa reclaims it."
"And if they don't?"
"Then I will have a time getting them out and that will leave the young Phoenix open to attacks.
"Very well, Windwalker, I will go. Please keep her safe, she is like a sister to me."
"Don't worry, I always protect my Charges."
Anubis disappeared from the bathroom just as Sage came in to check his hair one more time before leaving for school.
"Vanity, Vanity, all is Vanity, young Ronin of Light. Sometimes I think Solomon was right." Even the breeze of the Windwalker leaving didn't displace Sage's hair, but he noted that they would have to check the window before winter to keep the cold wind out.
How Mia had the whole house to herself was a wonder and marvel. It seemed that the five young men all had dates and would be out for the evening. In a way it broke Mia's heart to think that Ryo would be with another girl, but she didn't have any claim on him so what could she do?
Fight for him, her mind thought bitterly.
Yeah, right. Why would he want to go out with me? We have nothing in common.
She stared into the fire and smiled bitterly. What would Ryo want with her? She was just a friend, not someone he could relate to.
"Oh, but there is, little Phoenix," said a whispery voice. "And soon you will have one more thing in common with him."
Mia looked up at the voice but could only seen the fire burning in the fireplace. A swirl of wind gave the flames a column of air to follow and what she saw next was not what she expected. Instead of seeing the fire follow the air up, she saw a woman standing there looking at her. The woman nodded her short coppery-haired head and winked a dark blue eye at her. The column of wind died out and the fire returned to its sedately burning the wood again. The only evidence of the woman even being there was a red maple leaf at the edge of the fireplace. Mia didn't have any maple trees near her home.
"Are the Seasonals going to leave the Nether realm?" asked a female voice.
"Yes, they are leaving tonight."
"Good. Make sure they get to Mia's house, will you Anubis?"
"Of course, Windwalker. So, how did your meeting with the new Phoenix go?"
"She doubts her feelings for her chosen young man and any connection between them. She may need his strength before she comes to understand her full power."
"Mia will pull through, she did in the Dynasty Wars."
"Yes, but she won't be able to look this up on her Grandfather's computer. Even he didn't know his daughter-in-law was the Phoenix."
"Well, Anubis, I see you are keeping interesting company," remarked a newly arrived Dais.
"And pretty," added Cale.
"Lady, this is Lady Kayura, Dais, Cale, and Seckmet. Lady and gentlemen, this is Windy, the Windwalker, Queen Mother of the Unicorns, and Lady of all Horses."
"A pleasure," nodded Windy.
"Anubis said that we had to leave the Nether Realm, why? Is something wrong?" asked Lady Kayura.
"Tulpa is back," Windy said flatly.
This startled the living Seasonals. "How?" exclaimed Dais.
"The Realms of Magic have four Guardians, the Dragon, the Griffon, the Unicorn, and the Phoenix. The Griffon has been Guardian long enough for changes to be made within the Guardians and my adopted son had taken over the duties of the Unicorn Guardian. The Ancient was the Dragon, but when he died a replacement had to be found. Anubis took this job along with the job of being the new Ancient. When he "died" he gave his armor and the staff to Lady Kayura so he could concentrate on being the Guardian Dragon." Windy paused after this explanation.
"What about the Phoenix?" asked Seckmet.
Windy looked sad. "The original Phoenix had married almost twenty five years ago to a mortal man. When she had her daughter a few years later, she couldn't hide her power. Tulpa sensed her and sent soldiers to get her or the newborn Phoenix. One problem, the original Phoenix hid herself and her daughter again. But one night she had to reveal her power again, so she bundled up her four-year-old daughter and sent her on with her grandfather. The soldiers attacked just as the newborn Phoenix was a quarter mile from her parent's home. She watched as her mother and father died in a fire caused by her own mother to stop the soldiers from finding her baby."
"So, do you know who the Phoenix is?" asked Lady Kayura.
"Yes," said Anubis. "And so do you. We all either attacked her or worked with her during the Dynasty Wars."
"The only woman that we knew was Lady Kayura and the woman the Ronins live with, Mia Koji," said Cale.
Windy smiled. "Good, now put two and two together and...?"
"Lady Kayura is the new Phoenix?" asked Seckmet.
Anubis groaned and Windy buried her forehead in her had like she had a headache. Maybe, she mused, I do. "No," Windy said patiently. "Lady Kayura can't be the new Phoenix; she has the Spring armor and is the living Ancient. Mia Koji is the new Phoenix."
Windy thought the living Seasonals did a very good impression of landed fish trying to breath air. "Are you saying that Mia, doesn't have any power, gets into trouble, Yuli's babysitter Mia, is the new Phoenix?" asked Dais.
"Yes."
"And how does this relate to us leaving the Nether Realm?" asked Lady Kayura.
"Due to the imbalance with one of the Guardians gone and a new Guardian taking on the job, Tulpa used the power to create a rift from a pit in Hell he was sent to back to the Nether Realm. And with the power to make that rift he had enough left over to actually start another army and gain back the power he lost when he was killed," explained Windy.
"So, we have another battle," sighed Seckmet.
"Yes," nodded Windy sadly. "Now we have to explain this to the Ronins."
"I don't think my younger sister is going to appreciate this," warned Anubis.
"Oh, I know she won't, but she's going to have to do this. Unfortunately, there is no other way," said Windy quietly.
Mia was contemplating the maple leaf when the five Ronins returned home. They all were joking about how "well" Ryo's date had gone. "Well, she seemed nice," commented Cye.
"Yeah, if you like snots that just use you to get back at their boyfriends," returned Kento.
"How many times did you hit that guy, Ryo?" asked Rowen.
"Don't ask," growled Ryo.
"I take it that the night didn't go as planned?" asked Mia, looking up from the leaf.
"You could say that," returned Sage. "Ryo went out with a prima donna that wanted to get back at her boyfriend by making him jealous. The guy tried to pick a fight with Ryo in the lobby of the theater and we almost got kicked out."
"But Ryo just said that he would leave them alone together 'since they were made for each other' and left. Where did you go anyway?" asked Cye.
"To the park; I needed to think."
"Oh, but it gets better," howled Kento. "The guy thinks that Ryo had put the moves on his girl and tried to get Ryo to fight him again. Ryo punched the guy once and turned to leave, but the idiot got up and tried again. Finally Ryo knocked him out and we left."
"Personally, I think the guy was stalking Ryo because as soon as we left that restaurant he tried it again," added Rowen.
Ryo's face was getting darker and darker as the others told the story. He finally got up in the middle of Rowen's tale and stalked off. Mia watched him go and commented, "I think that you over did it this time."
"Ahh, Ryo's just sore over being single again. He'll find someone new in no time," said Kento.
Mia paled at the thought. Ryo with another girl, that would surely kill her. How was she going to get past seeing that every night he went out? Mia stood up and left to go to her room. Maybe she could sleep without the dreams tonight.
"Wonder what's eating her?" mused Kento.
"Don't know. Well, we should go to bed too, we have to practice tomorrow," said Cye.
Rowen raised his body from the couch and followed the two up the stairs. Sage moved to follow, but something red caught his eye. "How did this get here? There's no trees like this near here," he said out loud. The fire flared slightly and drew his attention away from the leaf. When he looked back the leaf was one of the many that fell to the ground to be raked up by the Ronins on the weekends for Mia. Sage shrugged his shoulders and belatedly followed his roommate to their room.
Two figures watched him retreat to the comforts of his bed and the peace of rest. The Dragon looked to the Horse Lady. "He could have discovered us."
"Yes, Anubis, but I changed that."
"I didn't know that you could control fire. I thought that you only worked with air and wind."
"Wind is my Primary, but by my father's blood I can use Fire. One of my cousins is better at it then I am. Just like another can work with Earth even though we all have a connection due to being buried in it."
Anubis smiled. "Okay, Windy, then answer me this: How can you control Water as you do?"
Windy smiled at the Dragon. "We only control Water because we are born of the Great Lakes region. We ask politely and they answer, just like when we work with anything else. The only One who could demand the Elements to do anything is the One Who created them."
Anubis shook his head. "Hard to imagine a Christian coming back to do all this."
"It came with the job. I was asked to return, so I can't complain about anything but my own foolishness. I brought this on myself; sort of like working extra hours at the hospital when they're understaffed. It kills you, but you agreed to it."
The figured chuckled and left the Ronin household to rest. In the morning their world would be turned upside down.
Rocky Oberlin
Chapter 1
Unless you want an old, bratty cat and plenty of bills I don't own the Ronin Warriors.
Ever wonder how the Ancient lived so long? What about Anubis and Kayura? We had seen Kayura given the armor of Cruelty, but not the office of the Ancient. What about Mia's parents? She lived with her Grandfather, but where was her mother or father. Could it be that the Ancient was a dragon, a being that ages slowly, but has a mission to watch the Mortal Realm. When he died he gave the job to Anubis. Anubis knew the job meant that he couldn't keep his armor, so when saving Kayura with it presented itself he took it. But what about Mia? What does she have to do with all this? Just as Anubis and the Ancient is the new Guardian of the Mortal Realm, so are her mother and Mia. Listen, my children, as I, the Windwalker, Lady of all Horses, and Queen Mother of the Unicorns, tell of the coming of Power of the new Phoenix.
Mia sighed. The dreams were getting stranger and stranger. They started out as a woman's face looking down at her and saying that she loved her little Mia no matter what. Then the scene changed to a four year old Mia being held in her Grandfather's arms as a house burns and two figures kneel in the bright flames. In the end she would always hear a female voice say that soon she would have to take up her destiny. Then she would awake. But this time she hear the same woman's voice say that she will always love her little Mia. And strange things were happening around her. Like last week she was cooking dinner and the stove just seemed to burst into flames as she turned on the burner. That caused everyone to agree to eat out that night. And when she started fire in the fireplace she didn't even use a match, it just appeared when she had figured that she was done getting the wood stacked. Ryo had joked that she was getting as good as he was in starting fires. Everyone had laughed at that, but Mia was worried. What was going on?
Mia looked at the time and figured that it was time to get breakfast ready for the guys and then get ready for work. She was half way through when Cye came down. "Oh, Mia, I thought that you weren't going to touch the stove after that fire last week," he said surprised.
"Well, someone has to start breakfast if you guys want to get to school on time," she replied. Anything else was lost as three other Ronins came downstairs for breakfast. "Who has to wake up Rowen this time?"
The four Ronins looked at each other and no one volunteered for the risky job. Mia sighed and said, "If someone doesn't get him down here, you all will be late and he won't get breakfast."
"Why don't you go up and wake him Mia?" asked Kento.
"Because she is letting us live here," said Sage.
"I'll go," volunteered Ryo. Sage winced and Cye looked apologetic. This was not going to be pretty. Ryo trudged up stairs and entered Rowen and Sage's room. Rowen was tangled in his sheets and looked almost dead to the world. "Here goes nothing," muttered Ryo. "Hey, Rowen. Time to get up!" he yelled. No response. "If you don't get up, I'll pull you out of bed." Rowen snored on unimpressed. "You asked for it."
Everyone heard the loud thump from the area of Rowen's bed and the startled squawk as the bearer of Strata was rudely awakened. Mia shook her head and wondered if there wasn't an easier way to wake the heavy sleeper. The two Ronins came down and breakfast was started.
Mia was in the bathroom when the next strange thing happened to her. She was getting ready, when she looked in the mirror and saw Anubis standing behind her looking at her. She quickly swung around to see if the presumed dead Ancient was behind her, but the empty bathroom met her eyes. When she looked back, she didn't see anything.
"Must be a figment of my imagination," she muttered and went on her way.
Anubis faded back into existence after she left. "She is getting closer. If only her mother could have stayed alive longer to tell her what her destiny is. This will be hard on her and maybe the Ronins. Are you sure it must be done?"
"Yes," came a whispery voice. "The Phoenix must come to balance the Power between you, Griffon, and my son. When I gave the Power to him with the responsibility of being Unicorn King, the balance shifted. It shifted more when the Ancient made you his replacement. The Power is unsteady and Tulpa has used it to come back. Go, warn Lady Kayura and the Seasonals, they must get away from the Netherworld before Tulpa reclaims it."
"And if they don't?"
"Then I will have a time getting them out and that will leave the young Phoenix open to attacks.
"Very well, Windwalker, I will go. Please keep her safe, she is like a sister to me."
"Don't worry, I always protect my Charges."
Anubis disappeared from the bathroom just as Sage came in to check his hair one more time before leaving for school.
"Vanity, Vanity, all is Vanity, young Ronin of Light. Sometimes I think Solomon was right." Even the breeze of the Windwalker leaving didn't displace Sage's hair, but he noted that they would have to check the window before winter to keep the cold wind out.
How Mia had the whole house to herself was a wonder and marvel. It seemed that the five young men all had dates and would be out for the evening. In a way it broke Mia's heart to think that Ryo would be with another girl, but she didn't have any claim on him so what could she do?
Fight for him, her mind thought bitterly.
Yeah, right. Why would he want to go out with me? We have nothing in common.
She stared into the fire and smiled bitterly. What would Ryo want with her? She was just a friend, not someone he could relate to.
"Oh, but there is, little Phoenix," said a whispery voice. "And soon you will have one more thing in common with him."
Mia looked up at the voice but could only seen the fire burning in the fireplace. A swirl of wind gave the flames a column of air to follow and what she saw next was not what she expected. Instead of seeing the fire follow the air up, she saw a woman standing there looking at her. The woman nodded her short coppery-haired head and winked a dark blue eye at her. The column of wind died out and the fire returned to its sedately burning the wood again. The only evidence of the woman even being there was a red maple leaf at the edge of the fireplace. Mia didn't have any maple trees near her home.
"Are the Seasonals going to leave the Nether realm?" asked a female voice.
"Yes, they are leaving tonight."
"Good. Make sure they get to Mia's house, will you Anubis?"
"Of course, Windwalker. So, how did your meeting with the new Phoenix go?"
"She doubts her feelings for her chosen young man and any connection between them. She may need his strength before she comes to understand her full power."
"Mia will pull through, she did in the Dynasty Wars."
"Yes, but she won't be able to look this up on her Grandfather's computer. Even he didn't know his daughter-in-law was the Phoenix."
"Well, Anubis, I see you are keeping interesting company," remarked a newly arrived Dais.
"And pretty," added Cale.
"Lady, this is Lady Kayura, Dais, Cale, and Seckmet. Lady and gentlemen, this is Windy, the Windwalker, Queen Mother of the Unicorns, and Lady of all Horses."
"A pleasure," nodded Windy.
"Anubis said that we had to leave the Nether Realm, why? Is something wrong?" asked Lady Kayura.
"Tulpa is back," Windy said flatly.
This startled the living Seasonals. "How?" exclaimed Dais.
"The Realms of Magic have four Guardians, the Dragon, the Griffon, the Unicorn, and the Phoenix. The Griffon has been Guardian long enough for changes to be made within the Guardians and my adopted son had taken over the duties of the Unicorn Guardian. The Ancient was the Dragon, but when he died a replacement had to be found. Anubis took this job along with the job of being the new Ancient. When he "died" he gave his armor and the staff to Lady Kayura so he could concentrate on being the Guardian Dragon." Windy paused after this explanation.
"What about the Phoenix?" asked Seckmet.
Windy looked sad. "The original Phoenix had married almost twenty five years ago to a mortal man. When she had her daughter a few years later, she couldn't hide her power. Tulpa sensed her and sent soldiers to get her or the newborn Phoenix. One problem, the original Phoenix hid herself and her daughter again. But one night she had to reveal her power again, so she bundled up her four-year-old daughter and sent her on with her grandfather. The soldiers attacked just as the newborn Phoenix was a quarter mile from her parent's home. She watched as her mother and father died in a fire caused by her own mother to stop the soldiers from finding her baby."
"So, do you know who the Phoenix is?" asked Lady Kayura.
"Yes," said Anubis. "And so do you. We all either attacked her or worked with her during the Dynasty Wars."
"The only woman that we knew was Lady Kayura and the woman the Ronins live with, Mia Koji," said Cale.
Windy smiled. "Good, now put two and two together and...?"
"Lady Kayura is the new Phoenix?" asked Seckmet.
Anubis groaned and Windy buried her forehead in her had like she had a headache. Maybe, she mused, I do. "No," Windy said patiently. "Lady Kayura can't be the new Phoenix; she has the Spring armor and is the living Ancient. Mia Koji is the new Phoenix."
Windy thought the living Seasonals did a very good impression of landed fish trying to breath air. "Are you saying that Mia, doesn't have any power, gets into trouble, Yuli's babysitter Mia, is the new Phoenix?" asked Dais.
"Yes."
"And how does this relate to us leaving the Nether Realm?" asked Lady Kayura.
"Due to the imbalance with one of the Guardians gone and a new Guardian taking on the job, Tulpa used the power to create a rift from a pit in Hell he was sent to back to the Nether Realm. And with the power to make that rift he had enough left over to actually start another army and gain back the power he lost when he was killed," explained Windy.
"So, we have another battle," sighed Seckmet.
"Yes," nodded Windy sadly. "Now we have to explain this to the Ronins."
"I don't think my younger sister is going to appreciate this," warned Anubis.
"Oh, I know she won't, but she's going to have to do this. Unfortunately, there is no other way," said Windy quietly.
Mia was contemplating the maple leaf when the five Ronins returned home. They all were joking about how "well" Ryo's date had gone. "Well, she seemed nice," commented Cye.
"Yeah, if you like snots that just use you to get back at their boyfriends," returned Kento.
"How many times did you hit that guy, Ryo?" asked Rowen.
"Don't ask," growled Ryo.
"I take it that the night didn't go as planned?" asked Mia, looking up from the leaf.
"You could say that," returned Sage. "Ryo went out with a prima donna that wanted to get back at her boyfriend by making him jealous. The guy tried to pick a fight with Ryo in the lobby of the theater and we almost got kicked out."
"But Ryo just said that he would leave them alone together 'since they were made for each other' and left. Where did you go anyway?" asked Cye.
"To the park; I needed to think."
"Oh, but it gets better," howled Kento. "The guy thinks that Ryo had put the moves on his girl and tried to get Ryo to fight him again. Ryo punched the guy once and turned to leave, but the idiot got up and tried again. Finally Ryo knocked him out and we left."
"Personally, I think the guy was stalking Ryo because as soon as we left that restaurant he tried it again," added Rowen.
Ryo's face was getting darker and darker as the others told the story. He finally got up in the middle of Rowen's tale and stalked off. Mia watched him go and commented, "I think that you over did it this time."
"Ahh, Ryo's just sore over being single again. He'll find someone new in no time," said Kento.
Mia paled at the thought. Ryo with another girl, that would surely kill her. How was she going to get past seeing that every night he went out? Mia stood up and left to go to her room. Maybe she could sleep without the dreams tonight.
"Wonder what's eating her?" mused Kento.
"Don't know. Well, we should go to bed too, we have to practice tomorrow," said Cye.
Rowen raised his body from the couch and followed the two up the stairs. Sage moved to follow, but something red caught his eye. "How did this get here? There's no trees like this near here," he said out loud. The fire flared slightly and drew his attention away from the leaf. When he looked back the leaf was one of the many that fell to the ground to be raked up by the Ronins on the weekends for Mia. Sage shrugged his shoulders and belatedly followed his roommate to their room.
Two figures watched him retreat to the comforts of his bed and the peace of rest. The Dragon looked to the Horse Lady. "He could have discovered us."
"Yes, Anubis, but I changed that."
"I didn't know that you could control fire. I thought that you only worked with air and wind."
"Wind is my Primary, but by my father's blood I can use Fire. One of my cousins is better at it then I am. Just like another can work with Earth even though we all have a connection due to being buried in it."
Anubis smiled. "Okay, Windy, then answer me this: How can you control Water as you do?"
Windy smiled at the Dragon. "We only control Water because we are born of the Great Lakes region. We ask politely and they answer, just like when we work with anything else. The only One who could demand the Elements to do anything is the One Who created them."
Anubis shook his head. "Hard to imagine a Christian coming back to do all this."
"It came with the job. I was asked to return, so I can't complain about anything but my own foolishness. I brought this on myself; sort of like working extra hours at the hospital when they're understaffed. It kills you, but you agreed to it."
The figured chuckled and left the Ronin household to rest. In the morning their world would be turned upside down.