Zander laid on his bed, in tears, and Sophie went to cuddle with him, which he gladly accepted.
Neither of them said anything until Sophie finally broke the silence, "Zander, you are so loved. Just think, your parents are probably in Eden right now smiling about the fact they didn't get their hunch wrong at the end of the video," she said with a big kiss on his forehead.
Zander wiped his tears away, passionately grabbed Sophie and kissed her with all the love in his heart. The bind on their hands began to glow, and Sophie began writhing in agony.
"Sophie, no, no, no I can't lose you too please stay with me, tell me you're ok!" Zander panicked.
"Be a gentleman and cast some of your healing spells on her to make the evolution process less painful," Zintan told Zander.
"Oh, right," and Zander quickly got to work, using some ice magic to keep her cool, some numbing magic to ease the pain and some healing magic to keep her stable and he noticed she didn't seem to be in as much pain. He watched her muscles and bones break down and rebuild themselves and Zander told himself, "she's gone through two of these with me it's the least I can do," and he encouraged her to fight through the pain because it would be over soon.
About ten minutes later, Zander heard a ping in his system, "Congratulations, your mate's love and compassion for you caused her to successfully evolve!
Reward: instant level up. Level 8, one skill point earned and health and energy have increased. Rank: Infant Phoenix. Level 8, 25/1200 experience Strength 8, Mana 9, Agility 8, Endurance 8, Stamina 8, Health 110/110 Energy, 230/230.
Secret quest (optional): Discover the truth. Reward, Instant rank up."
Zander hadn't been focused much on this system with all that had been going on, but as Sophie finished, she burst into flames and laid naked, in the bed, as the ashes quickly disappeared.
Zander couldn't look away, she was even more beautiful than she was before. Her muscles were toned. He noticed she grew about two inches, now standing about 5'10. Her breasts and buttocks grew to complete a perfect figure, like a model on tv.
He quickly said, "I'm so sorry," then ran and gave her a blanket, but to his surprise, Sophie was too interested in her new, bright, white wings with red flames and her feet which had turned into tiny talons.
She flapped them like Zander had, which his system reminded him he still had a quest active for 100 experience points for learning to fly.
Sophie noticed Zander had looked away and said, "am I that hideous now or something?" in an angry tone.
"No Sophie, it's quite the opposite, you're even more beautiful than before, which I didn't think was possible but you're butt naked, I didn't want to be rude."
"Oh," Sophie chuckled as she retracted her wings and turned her feet back to normal, with the help of Scarlett. She took the blanket and thanked him, reminding him she had seen him naked and he didn't have to look away.
"Why don't you go check out that room of yours, I need to take a cool bath. Thank you for being there for me, it's scary the first time you see someone you love go through it, isn't it?" Sophie asked with a sincere smile.
"It was, you have Zintan to thank. I panicked, he was the one that told me to be a gentleman and help you out," Zander said.
"I know, I was conscious of the whole thing and I only hope that I am able to do the same for you," Sophie said as she waved him off and she went and ran the bath.
With that, Zander kept saying to himself, " 739474830 and Solace please show me the path."
When he got to his childhood room, he went to the closet, cast his eye of the Phoenix skill, which surprisingly showed nothing, so he canceled it and said, "Solace please show me the path," and to his delight, a keypad appeared to which he quickly typed in 739474830.
He heard an unlocking sound, and what looked like an elevator appeared. He opened it, got in and went down.
When he reached the bottom, it was a giant room, painted in all white and had several rows of books, which he assumed were scriptures, pictures he hadn't seen before of his family and the phoenixes, which his parents must have actively added.
He then noticed on a table, with a note, two rings.
The note read, "Zander, if this table is empty, you have yet to find your mate. If this table has two rings, you should propose to whomever shares a phoenix inside of him or her. Each ring is embedded with magic from Solace, which will allow you two to bear children safely, without the need of help like your parents needed from the Blessed Four and more."
Zander stood, looking at the table, stunned at how beautiful the rings were. The engagement ring was silver in color and had two rather large stones. One was diamond and the other was aquamarine. The wedding ring was gold and had two phoenixes as jewels, with a giant ruby in one, but not a ruby you'd find on Earth and what could only be described as gold, but like the ruby, not of this world.
"I hope these help in your quest to save the world. Love, Luna,"
"So Luna, the daughter of the Father, really was an actual nanny of mine and must have kept in touch with my parents."
On the wall behind the rings, there were a variety of swords, spears, bow and arrows, axes. On the wall to the left was armor, two sets, which looked like he wouldn't be able to wear yet. As he walked closer to the armor, a barrier blocked him out and his system said, "error, you are not at a high enough rank to access this armor, nor is your mate."
Zander continued, then walked the halls and noticed that all of the scripture, even before the time change, was down here and he promised himself he would spend time reading these a different day.
Finally, on the other wall, there was a giant picture of Soraya, Tej and a baby Zintan with a table at the foot of the painting.
"Zander, if you are in this room we are all very sorry for your loss. Please note that your Phoenix system is unique to you and was designed by Luna and three souls of Eden. We don't know much more than that, but it's designed to make you stay on the path of righteousness and to not allow you to level and rank up too quickly to cause harm to yourself. From what we know, at a certain point you will be able to fully transform into a phoenix and you will be able to summon Zintan to your side. When, we do not know, love your Phoenix parents."
"You doing ok Zintan?" Zander asked.
"You feel the emotions I feel and I feel the emotions you feel, but today, we both feel the same. It's great to see what I looked like as a baby and even better to know our human parents are with our Phoenix parents, but are you really ready to propose to someone you met a week ago?" Zintan asked.
"Apparently our Mom fell in love with our Dad at first sight and our bond becomes even more connected the more we turn," Zander said as he confidently grabbed the ring.
Ping! "Congratulations you have completed your secret quest. Rank up, because you are not at level 10, two level ups have been granted. Level 10, evolution process now beginning."
"Not again," Zander moaned as he fell and felt even more pain than before and this time he didn't have Sophie to help him through it.
Because of the two level ups, Zander could only think that this thing won't possibly kill me. It just said it's designed to ensure my safety, and with that he faded out of consciousness.
Sophie had just got out of the bath and noticed a throbbing pain on her left hand, where her "forever," bind was. She quickly ran to get dressed only to have the pain fade away and she could hear Zander walking out of his room.
"Congratulations Zander, you are now a young Phoenix. Level 10. Rank: Young Phoenix. Strength 10, Mana, 11, Agility 10, Endurance, 10 Stamina 10. Health, 200/200, Energy, 300/300. Experience 25/2000. New rank perks include access to the chosen-one tab. Two skill points gained. Skills gained. First skill: Dimensional Void: a storage space you can open and store items in and remove at will, at any time. Second skill: Magical Infusion. Please view the chosen-one tab for an explanation of the new skill. Chosen tab selected.
One skill available, 'magical infusion.' No Chosen-one skill points required. Skill allows the user to infuse magic into any weapon or armor he or his mate is wearing or carrying. Mate must be married to the Chosen one for skill to work on mate.
New quest received: Marry your mate. Reward, 200 experience and access to Chosen one skill, magical infusion."
Zander noticed the engagement ring had teleported into his left hand, where their forever bind was cast. He quickly looked in the mirror and didn't recognize himself.
He looked like he was in his twenties, his wings were shining brightly and his hands were covered in golden feathers and his hands had turned into sharp claws. His feet had become stronger talons and he noticed feathers growing up to his shins and feathers going up to his elbows.
"Zintan, how do we look?" Zander asked.
"You're starting to look even more handsome by the day and it appears you share a lot of the same color patterns of my Phoenix body, just a bit different as yours also has hints of silver to match your eyes and white flames," Zintan boasted.
Zander heard Sophie running toward his room, "Zander babe are you ok? I got worried my bind started to hurt so I rushed over."
Sophie stopped speaking as Zander, in his partially transformed Phoenix form, was on one knee with the most beautiful ring she had ever seen.
"Sophie Grace, will you do me the greatest honor ever and marry me," Zander said with the kindest eyes she had ever seen.
"Let me see you in your human form and ask me again," Sophie said with a grin.
Zander transformed into his human form, on one knee, and asked the exact same way.
"I will absolutely marry you, I just needed to know it was you and not some Phoenix version of you who truly wanted to ask. Now how do we tell my parents?" Sophie wondered as she felt Zander's lips kiss hers.
"Oh, sorry babe," as she kissed him several times.
Zander teased, "your new fiancée is naked, after he just proposed to you and you're thinking about your family. I knew I was right to choose you and it's simple, we show and tell them the truth," Zander said as he put clothes on.
"When do you want to have the wedding and do you want a big one or a small one," Sophie asked.
"On my birthday, and a small one preferably unless you've always dreamed of a large immaculate wedding, we certainly have the money for it," Zander explained.
"No, a small one would be nice. I wish Tej and Soraya could come, they can see us from Eden, though right?" Sophie asked.
"Yes, I'll have to show you what I found later but we need to drive to your parents and have that chat," Zander said.
Sophie texted her parents asking if Zander could join them for dinner and to make sure her brothers were there this time.
Her Mother quickly responded, "is everything ok sweetie? You don't have to ask to come home, how does 5 PM sound?" Sophie's mom texted back.
"Perfect, see you then love you! Tell dad I love him and promise me both of you won't be mad," Sophie sent back.
"Mad? Why would we be mad at you," her mother texted.
"See you soon mom, I love you," Sophie texted back.
Sophie told Zander they had an hour to get ready plus the hour drive, so they both got ready. Zander knew he couldn't wear the same suit, so went more casual this time and packed both of them an extra pair of clothes.
He felt guilty going through Sophie's underwear and bra drawer so he just grabbed whatever looked disposable and tossed it in the bag and brought her pink shirt her mom left for her and a pair of black leggings.
Sophie was backing them out of their garage, and Claire and Cyrus waved, asking if they could hop in.
They agreed and Sophie got them both up to speed and showed the ring to Claire and Cyrus and Zander told Cyrus he wanted to have that duel after school tomorrow.
Claire was in tears, Zander asked Cyrus to be his best man and shot attorney Frankfurt a text and Father Glen a text, and despite their shock, agreed and got everything in order for the big day.
After arriving at Claire's house, Claire said her goodbyes and walked inside.
After she was inside, Zander whispered to Sophie "shoot a fireball at Cyrus," with a big grin on his face.
Cyrus, who was looking directly at the two, saw Zander's big grin and as he watched a fireball come at him, he put his hands on the ground, raising five large walls of Earth, to which the fireball was only able pass through two. Cyrus turned into a lightning bolt, charging at Sophie when Zander got in the middle. Cyrus immediately changed form and yelled, "what the hell was that for?"
"We watched my parents' last message today and they told me you were a magical user and master of chi, so I figured I'd give Sophie a challenge," Zander laughed.
"Ah, I'm sorry Sophie I thought you were mad at me or something and I overreacted. I'm sorry I never told you Zander, our parents made an agreement when we were young and my parents had moved me out of Nalthis to Harmonia. They made me promise to never tell you, until the time was right, I don't why, probably to protect me or something but I'm already 17 so it doesn't really matter now anyway," Cyrus said while scratching his head.
"Does Claire know?" Zander asked.
"No, she does not, I don't know how she'd feel, especially because she knows her best friend is part Phoenix, engaged to a part Phoenix and I don't want to make her feel like she isn't deserving to be around us or holding us back or something," Cyrus said.
"You should tell her, I heard your dinner went really well and her Mom and Dad really like you. They're big believers in Solace as well, so just tell her that you couldn't tell anyone until you told Zander," Sophie said.
"That's a good idea," Cyrus said and immediately ran back up to Claire's door and knocked. Mr. Harmony was surprised to see Cyrus, who had just dropped Claire off, but welcomed him in.
"I hope Claire takes it well," Sophie said nervously.
"You were so confident in your answer, I figured you know her well enough to know," Zander said, with a confused look on his face.
"I was just encouraging him to be honest," and before Sophie could finish her sentence, a lightning bolt appeared with two people.
"That was so much cooler than teleporting. Can we do it again and show my parents," Claire said excitedly.
"Yes we can but remember it's not like I can do this for hours on end," Cyrus said with a big smile. "Thanks Sophie, you and Claire sure do know each other really well.
"No problem," Sophie said and with that Zander had grabbed Sophie's hand and started walking to Sophie's.
"Hey Zander, if my parents say no, but Claire's parents agree, can we live with you two," Cyrus asked.
"I'm afraid I can't go against your parents wishes, I'm sorry. Just convince them it's for school because their new school is quite far from here," Zander said.
"Sophie, Zander please," Claire begged with her best puppy dog eye expression.
"You two figure you two out, just be honest you're both 17 I'm sure it'll be fine," Sophie said and continued to walk toward her door.
With that, the lightning bolt had shot back into Claire's house and Zander and Sophie walked into Sophie's parents house.