The moment Mark entered the Teine’s estate he felt there was something in the air. Some kind of tension. Nothing touchable, but strong enough to ruffle the little feathers on the back of his neck. That feeling was the reason, why he changed into his phoenix form, without much ado. Listening carefully and avoiding unnecessary noise he entered through the flight entrance at the attic instead of the main entrance. His instincts told him it was better to go undetected.

Jordan was awaiting him, but he was an hour early, due to some schedule issues of one of his professors, so not even the old king knew he was coming. Stealthily moving forward, he listened for voices. There- in Jordan’s office- the old king was talking to someone.

‘… better for their own good. …Sacrifice…done…. Seal… Dryke… magical powers, like in the old days… partners… can’t subscribe to their methods…’ he heard the barely audible voice of Jordan. Then the voice of Amelie Teine ‘… mole… else… our family…like dragons…Mero Drake…shame…’ then a hushed sob as if the old queen was pressing her hand against her mouth before she broke into a cry ‘You can’t be gone it’s not fair! They will kill other innocents when they break that goddamn seal! The powers will return, but you will still be gone… the moment the seal breaks you are dead…’ another sob ‘…leave me with two useless kids, that have never grown up to face our past and a young king, who is strong but still a greenhorn… I don’t know if I can do it…’ then the always cool and tuff acting queen sobbed like a little child.

Mark felt his heart cringe at the sound. He had never thought about Jordan’s death that way. To him the stern old king was nothing but that a strict tyrant of a ruler and a father. Hearing the tough Amelie cry over him made him, well, more human. Even though the man had long since lost his ability to turn into human form. Every day he looked older, frailer. Mark knew his time to ascend to the throne he dreaded was drawing in.

Suddenly ashamed of his eavesdropping he retreated as silent as he had come and re-entered the house through the main entrance. Giving the soon-to-be-widow time to collect herself was the least he could do.

When he finally entered Jordan’s office, nothing in the cool and distant façade of Amelie’s reminded of the nigh broken woman he had heard crying. If there hadn’t been a slightly wet spot on her white blouse. Something his human eyes would have barely noticed, but clear as day to his phoenix-eyes.

His gaze must have lingered a sec too long for the queen subconsciously covered it with her hand. A flicker of insecurity ran across her eyes and vanished. The façade was still intact. He let out an inaudible sigh of release. There would be enough time for consoling her, when her husband was dead and she would be able to let herself go a little. The soon-to-king nodded at the present-queen and a hint of an understanding gleamed in her eyes only to dissipate at once. First, he thought she would be offended by the sympathy in his eyes, but then she returned his nod and a smile confirmed, that he had gained an ally today.

‘It is good that the two of you have reached an understanding. My wife was oftentimes the only loyal councillor I could rely on. My daughter, your wife, is a smart woman, but she lacks the steel, you and my Amelie possess. I guess that is my fault. Oftentimes I would have been nothing more than a weak puppet on a lonely string, if my wife hadn’t formed me to rule as a king. She was the head behind my crown. That’s why I invited her over to join us today.’ The ruffled looking white phoenix said sitting on his perch. ‘I feel my end drawing near, I guess you feel it, too. Today we have to get real. No more time for educational nonsense. We need to prepare the transfer of power. And the official coronation as well as your wedding day.’ He added in a rough voice that betrayed the power he needed to speak.

Mark gulped. Though he had known what to expect and had been prepared over the last few months, first unknowingly, later much more intense, he still felt utterly unprepared. Suddenly he had to think of his childish bragging, that he would have done everything better, if he was the king. Now it felt ridiculous, like an odd dream he felt slightly ashamed off. Now he knew the complex net of intrigues, machinations, old rivalry, new economical interests and character traits that were the basis on which a king had to gauge any decision, for any word could have unforeseen consequences. Now he felt slightly panicked at the thought of having to fell the final decisions on things that could influence the lives of every clan-member.

Jordan unaware of or uncaring for his inner struggle continued his announcement. ‘I will give you the power of the phoenix king today. We cannot risk to wait any longer and I deem you as prepared as possible in the short time we had. Our enemies have placed a mole in our inner circle. So only Amelie, you and me can know about it. Amelie is our spymaster and above any doubt, so are you and me. But any other person in our family is of now a prime suspect. We, Amelie and me, have long since suspected something like that, but after the revealing of Mero Drake, we are sure. The order and the vampires are in cahoots so are some of our closest clan-members. The draw of power is too strong for those who are weak in mind.’

‘Darling, now you sound like some priest in the middle-ages… it is dramatic enough without exaggeration.’ Amelie chided softly and laid her own on her husband’s wing. Red on white. Fire on ash. Life on death. Mark looked on his own ashen-white feathers and gulped. The only colourful spots were the little blue flames dancing all over his body. Not that much of a difference.

As if the older phoenix had read his mind, a feat that was much too costly now, he smiled ruefully and said ‘Yes, just like the blue flames are the hottest parts of a fire, we burn in the brightest light. Blessed and cursed at the same time. You have to know, there were no white phoenixes before the sealing. It was the royal line, that felt the changes first, after the magic faded, there feathers slowly, but surely turning white, as the soul-flames were starting to feed of their lifeforce instead the surrounding magic. We are burned to ashes by our own soul-flame, dying by the same force that keeps us alive. Our race was never concepted for living in a low-magic environment. The other clans don’t have as much of a problem, the dragons simply sleep when their magic is nigh empty. Vampires feed on blood, which is a source of life-force and the rest, well, some are doing better than others. But you and I boy, we are burning away like candles lit on both sides.’ The old bird smirked sadly and Mark felt ice running down his spine.

‘You are a fatalist.’ Amelie chided again ‘Very melodramatic. I don’t think our boy here needs to worry. My dear husband feels the weakening of the last seals ever since the order made him one of their sacrifices. Jordan thinks he is the last part of the first but last seal.’ Amelie explained in a serious tone.

‘Once the other side, the order, has won, we will need a strong leader, a powerful one, just like you are about to become. Otherwise, we will be run over and stomped to the ground. We are much too weak to fend on our own. Our enemies, your enemies, know that, they will do anything to divide us and separate us from our allies.’ She shook her head and added looking at the dumbfounded Mark ‘We were once a force to reckon with, together with the dragons. It is good, that you are friends with them. I only wished my Jordan would live to feel his full power.’

Mark thought about what she had just said. His parents-in-law did not say if we lose the war, but once we have lost… they were expecting to fail in their mission and Mark couldn’t help but admit they were right, but secretly admitting and saying it out loud were completely different. Saying it out loud made it more real. Mark frowned at the thought. On the one hand he was selfishly happy to know he would not suffer the same fate as Jordan did right now, on the other side he knew that the moment the seal broke, the world he knew ended.

‘Okay. We have wasted enough time on talking about the future. Now it’s time for the present, we have a ritual and some planning to do.’ Jordan interrupted Mark’s train of thoughts. The ritual, right. He was going to give Mark his powers, the powers of the phoenix king, whatever they were.

‘Look me into the eyes, boy.’ Jordan said and tugged Mark towards himself with his wings. They felt brittle and frail, but still contained a lot of strength. The young phoenix did what he had been told and Jordan nodded, before he started to say solemnly ‘I, Jordan Teine, leader of the Teine-Clan, hereby give my powers of leadership and loyalty to my successor, Mark Teine, who relinquishes his former name to inherit the clan-name. He swears to serve the clan until he names a successor, that he feels will do his duty at least as good as he himself would do. He swears to be the shield and sword of the phoenix-clan and to never forgo his duties. For that none of the blood of phoenix shall defy his orders. And he shall always be led by his soul-flames to lead by example. The moment he forgoes this oath his soul-flames will be extinguished. Do you swear?’

Mark who had never known what kind of oath he had to swear felt as if his phoenix-side answered on its own ‘I swear.’ The same moment he had uttered the words, that condemned him to a life of servitude and leadership, he felt a sudden rush of power, that vanished as fast as it had come. The ancient blood of the phoenix-clan running through his veins had accepted him as the king of his clan. Great power and even greater responsibility.

‘Good. Having that done we need to do the official part of it. You have to be coronated and I guess you and Jenny want to marry, too.’ Jordan continued as if nothing had happened, even though he looked even older now than before. His eyes had lost some of their lustre and his feathers looked as if he would lose some of them soon.

Mark could feel his pain as if it was his own and when he sent some comfort, he felt his new gift of leadership react. So, that was what it felt like to truly lead, share the burden of your people, carry part of their load. If anything-bad happened to the clan Mark knew, that this new ability would feel like a curse.

‘I say we hold your wedding next week. That gives us enough time to prepare, but not enough time for our enemies to crush it properly. Your coronation will be held tomorrow. It is more or less a council-meeting and a stage performance afterwards. Since Jordan can’t hold the crown any longer, I will crown you. We cannot give the mole time to sabotage it.’ Amelie stated and both men nodded in agreement. Wartime was not the time for huge festivities, but some events had to be celebrated either way. Mark sighed. Today had been the day his life ended. Tomorrow would only publish the news of what had happened to him today. He was an unwilling king. Not even officially crowned he felt his castle stood on pillars of salt, pillars of sand. The song ‘Viva la Vida’ by Coldplay came to his mind and he thought ‘Oh who would ever want to be king’.