Chapter 4
I woke up at 5 again this morning. Boy, this seems to be the new normal for me I guess. I used to get up at 7 when I lived with Mother and Father. I got my shower and went downstairs to meditate. As I meditated, Mianite came in.
"Oh, sorry Phoenix. I didn't know you were meditating." I didn't open my eyes or move from my spot, but I answered him all the same.
"You're fine. I'm calm, cool, and collected. I can ignore anyone and anything within my surroundings. Go about your business." My voice was monotonous as I spoke. Mianite was a little confused, but he went and grabbed a book and sat on the couch all the same. Angrec came and got us for breakfast. As we walked,
"Your voice had no inflections at all when you talked to me Phoenix, what was that?"
"Inflections?"
"Like, no different tones to it. It was monotonous, meaning, it was all one tone."
"Oh, I dunno. It just... happened. I was in the zone."
"Did your focus break at all?" Angrec asked.
"Nope, not at all. I kept cool and could still focus on peace."
"Very good. It seems meditating comes natural to you, especially as you seem to be doing it every morning."
"I guess." I sat across from Aianite as Ianite sat next to her. I never even noticed Ianite behind Angrec, Mianite, and I.
"You excited for archery?" Ianite asked.
"Heck yeah. What kind of tips do you have for me?"
"I'm not telling you yet. Just wait until we get out there." I was disappointed, but nodded. I tried to be mindful of my speed as I ate breakfast. I did finish before the others, but not by much. I waited at the doorframe, bouncing. Ianite giggled as she approached. We both went out together.
"I'm soooo excited Ianite. You don't even know."
"Oh, I can imagine." I grinned. As we reached the temporary archery range, Ianite picked up the bow and smiled softly. "I remember my first lesson. I was the same as you. I couldn't use the bow without dropping it either. Over time I got better and better with practice. The other three just gave up. As you know, they gained their own interests with weapons." I nodded. The others now have appeared, so Ianite handed me the bow and I struggled notching the arrow, but eventually got it. I was so excited to have the four watching me, I made the arrow go well over the target.
"Oops. I think I lost an arrow..."
"No worries, we'll find it when you're done," Mianite said. I nodded. I adjusted my aim to be lower, much lower. This time it hit the ground. Ianite came over to me.
"Your aim needs a lot of work, so does your stance. Here, let me help you." Ianite came up to me and stood at my side. "Make your feet be shoulder length apart and fully turn so your left side is facing the target." I did as I was told.
"But I'm not facing the target."
"You don't need to. The way your arm is makes it so the arrow itself is facing the target." I grabbed an arrow, notched it, a bit easier this time, and turned my torso slightly.
"Like this?" Ianite positioned me so that I was right.
"Like this." I nodded, then I aimed the arrow. Angrec said a little above the target, so that's what I did. I hit the very bottom of the target! I looked at Ianite in shock. She giggled. "Good job!" I grinned.
"All thanks to your advice." She grinned as well.
"Well, I am going to be the archer of the four of us."
"A very talented one at that." She smiled gently.
"Thank you for the compliment." I inclined my head. I took another arrow and took the same stance, but aimed a bit higher. I hit the target again, but high and to the left. I grinned, another arrow, same stance, different aiming. This time I hit just above the bullseye.
"Almost, Phoenix!" Aianite cheered.
"So close!" Mianite exclaimed. Dianite was just grinning at me.
"You've almost got it Phoenix!" Ianite said excitedly. I was getting pumped now. So close! I recollected my stance, my aim. My stance was good, my aim was good, just a tiiiiiiiny bit lower. I took a slow deep breath. I focused, aimed, made sure it's where I needed it to go, then released. Bullseye!
"Whoooo!" Aianite, Mianite, and Ianite cheered. I smiled widely, super proud. Angrec was smiling serenely and inclined her head toward me. I nodded to her and set my bow down. Ianite and Aianite put their arms around my shoulders.
"What next? I mean, obviously I'm not done with archery, but what else do I need to train in?"
"You need to hone your fire reading abilities. You also will gain more and more abilities as time goes on. I can sense this in your future, but for now, fire reading is the one that has shown itself first. Would you like to fire read after lunch?" I nodded. "I shall set up a place. You continue your archery until lunch."
"Yes Ma'am." Aianite and Ianite backed away so that I can continue my archery practice. During the rest of the time, I hit the bullseye three more times, all spaced out. Angrec came and fetched us for lunch. At lunch, I thought about fire reading. The first, and only time so far, I read fire was just random. How am I going to actually try to fire read? After lunch, Angrec led all of us to the spot she prepared outside. As we approached, it was an empty clearing. Of course, we don't want anything catching fire. I sat at my fire. It was normal color. Hmm... again, what can I look for in my fire? Maybe I can look for my future? What about my future can I look for? What about the war I saw these 4 battle? Am I there? Am I helping? I focused on that as I stared into the fire. I repeated about the war in my head over and over. Eventually, the fire turned blue.
I heard gasps from the others. I ignored them. I focused on the blurry images swirling in the flames. Why are they so blurry? I want so much to be able to see... Maybe if I think about clearing the fog, it might make the images better.
'Let me see. Clear the fog. Let me see. Clear the fog.' was all I thought about until it started working. I could see the 4 gods again. Now I know who is who. They are fighting very bravely. I looked around to see if I was helping. I was! I was fighting alongside Ianite. We both were using our bows. Oh wow. We both look amazing! I'm in awe. We also worked together flawlessly. Our movements matched each other really well. I'm very surprised and impressed. Little did I know at that time, Ianite and I would be dating. That's why we worked together so easily. I could see Ianite and I really trying, but we started to struggle. There was a sound and a green light, then the fire died right there. I was disappointed. I sat back.
"What did you see?" Angrec asked.
"Ianite and I working together so amazingly. We were in the war I saw the first time I fire read. Then I heard a noise and saw a green light, but then the fire died, so I don't know what happened."
"Wow, was I using a bow?" I grinned and nodded.
"I was too. We were so good together. It seems I got a lot better between now and then." Ianite giggled.
"It seems so."
"Green light though... I wonder if I did something big there in the war?" Aianite wondered aloud.
"Maybe," I replied.
~Time Jump~
Really, over the next 4 years was me practicing my archery, my fire reading, and my meditation. I am now 14, I got to visit my parents over those two years, of course. I also gained a few more psychic powers, but now today is my 14th birthday. I'm spending it with my parents. As we were taking a walk, I got a sense of foreboding. Something bad was coming our way. I turned around and a cart of vegetables was careening towards us out of control.
"Mom, Dad, watch out!" I moved out of the way as did Mom and Dad. The cart passed us without incident and crashed into the wall. Oh, I felt so bad for the owner of that cart. I wish I could have done something to stop it.
"Phoenix... you just... how?" Dad was so flustered.
"I... just... felt something bad was gonna happen. Like... I can't explain it."
"Could it be another power?" Mom asked.
"Hmm... we should ask Angrec. She might know," I suggested. Mom and Dad both nodded, so we all went back to the mansion to find Angrec. We ran into Aianite.
"Aianite, where's Angrec?" I asked.
"In her study. Why, what happened?" I explained what just happened in the town. "Whoa, that's crazy. Tell me what Mother says? I wanna know too." I nodded, then made my way to Angrec's study.
"Angrec?"
"Come in, Phoenix." Mom, Dad, and I went into her study and I told her what I told Aianite. "More of your psychic powers. I get the feeling this won't be the last one to show up. Thank you for coming to me with this. We'll have to keep an eye out for any more differences."
"Yeah... I thought I should tell you this. Now I want to get back to spending time with my parents. May we go?" Angrec nodded and we bowed then I went back to Aianite and told her what Angrec told me.
"Whoa, another pyschic power, huh? Hmm... I wonder if you'll get any more? You are supposed to be our High Priestess after all."
"Maybe, I kind of hope so. That'd be really neat." Aianite nodded. "Well, I gotta go. I wanna spend a little bit more time with my parents, then we, that is, you, Ianite, Mianite, and Dianite and I, can hang out and stuff."
"Alright. See you soon." I smiled, nodded, then headed off with my parents. They took me out for a birthday lunch, which was nice. After, they dropped me back off at the mansion. I hugged them good-bye and went off to find the 4 siblings. They were in the sitting room.
"Hey, so, what can we do?" I asked. They looked up and the girls smiled.
"We could play cards," Aianite suggested.
"Alright, let's do it." Dianite got up and got the deck of playing cards and we sat around the coffee table. We decided to play War, my favorite game. Boy, it was intense, but in the end, it was Aianite who won. I smiled at her and congratulated her.
"Hey, Nix, wanna go to the garden with Ianite and I?" Aianite asked. I stood and nodded. I looked at Mianite and Dianite.
"Play nice while we're gone you two. We don't need Ianite getting in between you boys today. I'd appreciate spending time with her and Aianite for my birthday." Dianite gave me a small look, then turned his head away.
"You don't need to tell me that. Dianite's usually the instigator," Mianite replied. I nodded, then Aianite, Ianite, and I headed for the garden. We sat on one of the benches in the middle. I sat between the two sisters and I felt a weird feeling as I looked at Ianite. I ignored it and focused on hanging out with her and Aianite. We talked about mundane things, plans for the future, how beautiful the garden is. Before we knew it, it was time for supper. After supper I meditated. Nothing new happened, so when I finished meditating, I headed for bed.
