Zander's eyes finally began to open, and he noticed he was in a bed in some strange house he had never seen before. Sophie was lying next to him, holding his hand while watching the TV. Cyrus was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, Thank Solace, you're finally awake," Sophie said while giving Zander a big kiss.
He kissed back and realized he felt much different, much stronger and had lots of energy.
"Someone needs to take a look in the mirror, you were asleep for nearly two days. Cyrus is keeping watch outside, let me get him." Sophie said with a big smile.
Zander noticed he was in a robe, and hopped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom to check a mirror to see what type of hideous face he must have.
To his surprise, he basically looked the same, just more muscular, about an inch taller, and his hair had grown to his shoulders.
"But, how," Zander thought, and then remembered the system messages and pulled them up.
"Congratulations, Evolution Successful. You are now an adolescent Phoenix. Strength 20, Mana 20, Endurance 20, Agility 20, Stamina 20. Your base stats have improved to meet the basic requirements of an adolescent Phoenix. 210/210 health, 350/350 energy.
New Skill unlocked: Healing Beam. The user may cast a healing beam, using 10 energy per second to hear nearby allies. All basic elemental skills have reached level 2. See tabs for more detailed information. Level 20. 0/30,000 experience," the system concluded.
"So none of us died, but how?" Zander said.
Sophie walked in and said, "the bear you saved came back with his Mother and Father and they protected us while you evolved and we regained consciousness. We setup the tent we bought, which is where we are now, about 2 miles in a different direction than the river," Sophie said.
"I thought we were all goners when that big beast charged at us, I didn't even know beasts existed. There isn't anything in the scriptures," Cyrus said with a confused expression.
"I'm glad the bear warned us. Let me guess, I torched another pair of clothes," Zander said with a laugh.
"I woke up first and saw you laying butt naked with feathers and wings next to a bear. I'll never be able to shake that image," Cyrus said while shaking his head and laughing.
"Would you say the same if you saw me like that?" Sophie teased Cyrus and Zander gave him an intense stare.
"Yes, of course I mean, no, I don't know what the hell I'd think at this point. Too much weird for the last two days," Cyrus fumbled out.
Zander eased and gaze and laughed, as did Sophie and Zander said, "you're too easy bro," to which Cyrus laughed.
"So who won your self made competition, Cyrus?" Zander asked.
"Honestly, I stopped keeping track after I realized that we were all handling the original wolves pretty easily. But when I saw the big one, I honestly thought we were dead. I mean, maybe you two can be reborn or something but I can't, so thank Solace you can talk to and rescue bears," Cyrus said.
"Did you guys find anything out about the beasts yet?" Zander asked?
"Well, after we defeated them most of them started disintegrating and we found twenty two of these," as Sophie pulled out a dark grey crystal. We have no idea where the other ones went," Sophie shrugged.
"You mean these," Zander pulled out his 5 dark grey crystals and one slightly lighter crystal, with a smile.
"How did you get those?" Cyrus asked.
"I don't know, I woke up and could feel them inside of me like Zintan, I guess they went into my dimensional void when I killed some of the wolves. But what are they?" Zander asked.
Zintan and Scarlett both didn't know and Cyrus said, "well, if we ever find Haven, maybe they will know more?"
"That's a good point, Sophie stated as she brought over breakfast for Zander. 'Did you see how even more handsome you are now babe," Sophie said with a blush.
"Not as beautiful as you but I thought I turned into some Phoenix-faced human or something," Zander said with a laugh.
"I'd still think you were handsome if that was the case," Sophie said.
"Man I swore I wouldn't feel like a third wheel but I'm going to go out and meditate and work on my chi, you two are too much," Cyrus said.
They both laughed and Zander stripped down and tried his new Phoenix form, which indeed did start to change his face a bit. His hair turned into golden feathers, and his arms, up to his elbows, had golden feathers, as did his legs up to his knees. His wings were a bit larger, and now even a small white flame emitted from everywhere he had feathers.
Sophie ran up and hugged and kissed him and said, "you're so warm, it's so nice and cozy," and pushed him in the bed while shutting their bedroom door.
Meanwhile, Cyrus was deep in mediation when he started noticing a very faint white, glowing path headed in a direction away from their markings. He then focused harder and could see a very faint black path, leading back from where they came.
He sat there deep in meditation for thirty minutes, memorized as much as he could and quickly sprinted and marked the tree with a rock, then another, then another.
Realizing he couldn't find his way back, he meditated again and saw a white path leading further, to where it stopped completely and memorized the black path back.
"I think I found the 10 mile inner barrier," Cyrus thought, with a wide grin on his face.
He walked into the tent and saw Zander and Sophie on the couch, going over Sophie's notes and what to do next.
Cyrus rushed over and said, "you two, come quick, I have to show you something and Zander be ready to mark!"
Curious, they both went outside. Cyrus meditated for a moment and found the path and when they got to each tree with a rock marking, Zander placed his usual mark and they followed it until Cyrus could no longer see a path.
"Guess there's only one way to find out and I'm sure this is going to hurt," Zander said as he tried to teleport 10 feet forward, to which he got shot back and flew into a tree.
"190/210 HP, your energy will begin healing you. 210/210 HP, 280/350 energy," his system added.
In Haven, someone in a room with a bunch of monitors, radars and cameras picked up the phone and said, "sorry to bother you mam, but you might want to come see this," the man said.
"Is it that important? I'm in the middle of lunch and have a meeting afterwards with the council." the woman said.
"It seems Zander Elrod has finally discovered the internal barrier. I don't know why he teleported into it, maybe he was testing if he was in the right spot," the man said.
"That's great news, it seems we will meet him soon, then," the woman responded.
"That's not it mam, he seems to be with a woman and another young man," the man explained.
"So he got married and young master Cyrus is returning home, let's begin to make preparations," the woman said as she hung up the phone.
The woman got on her knees and said a prayer, "thank you Father of Solace and the blessed four for this unexpected, early blessing. We will be able to teach the boy and his wife, as well as tell the young Prince the truth on who he really is. I pray the boy isn't angry when he learns the truth, For Solace we pray."