Elijah sat still on the couch with his eyes closed and decided to start planning for future.
'haaa' he let out a long sigh and opened his eyes " Sebas, please give me some time alone to process all this information"
"Yes, young master, please summon me should you require any assistance." Sebastian picked up the now empty wooden box and left the room.
"This world is divided into five continents. Territory of Count Fenice lies along the northern borders of The Kingdom of Orion, southernmost region of the western continent. The King, who is the hereditary monarch, along with the royal family resides in the capital city of Cassiopeia located nearly at the Centre of the kingdom. There is vast ocean to the south of the kingdom which separates it from the southern continent while to the west lies the mercenary kingdom of Ashura, north-west border is shared with the kingdom of Fornax which is ruled by the Draconic race, to the east lies the Lynx Mountain range separating the kingdom from the Republic of mages and the jungle. To the north lies the Serpens Kingdom which shares its border with the Territory of Count Fenice." Elijah recollected the information from the artifacts and walked towards the balcony, sitting on a chair he observed the sunrise and the pleasant view.
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"Sebastian, how is Elijah?" Alina sat upright, a table filled with piles of papers was laid before her,
"Young master assimilated all five of the artifacts and is currently resting in his room"
"Is that so" there was a hint of surprise and pride in her voice, she stood up and slowly walked to the nearby window, her dark blue eyes turned somewhat worried while looking towards the northern castle walls, her dark black hairs were tied in a perfect bun without a single loose strand of hair. The morning breeze caressed her pale face.
"Tell him about the magic awakening process, if he is capable of assimilating five of those artifacts there is no need to wait for three more years." she continued in a determined voice.
"Yes, Madam" Sebastian left the room after bowing.
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"Let me assess the current situation first and leaving the past for later" Elijah mumbled with a frown on his face as he leaned on his chair and was totally in a mood to light a cigarette.
"Those five artifacts basically contained the official accounts of four heads of the Fenice household, the founding, rise of the household and its gradual downfall. The Fenice household was the most powerful and influential noble family in the kingdom of Orion, the current head, Arthur Fenice, was married to the third princess of the Fornax Kingdom who died after giving birth to my elder brother and sister. The Draconic race of Fornax kingdom is one of the most powerful and proud races in the western continent, their lifespan is also around ten times more than humans, generally. After her death the Dragon King demanded custody of the twins, the Kingdom happily obliged with the demand for some reason, although Arthur was against parting with his children he followed the Kings official decree. Haaa!" Elijah let out a fatigued sigh.
"Who are they trying to fool with this account of Arthur's life, it's obvious that he became too powerful and too soon. To top it off he married the dragon princess, there is clear tension between royal family and the founder of Fenice household, I can totally imagine how each king must feel when they see heads of Fenice household living for thousands of years without illness and old age, it's no joke when they stated that the founder was the descendent of ancient Phoenix tribe from the Central continent, sadly there's no information about the past of the Founder in those stones. Maybe its confidential or something like JFK files."
"The Founder disappeared mysteriously after two thousand years, third head was the same, he disappeared around thirty-five years ago, when the dragon princess died, making Arthur the next head, while the second head died in battle between the Serpens kingdom and Orion Kingdom." Elijah stood up and started pacing back and forth on the balcony.
"I don't want this to be true, but I have a strong hunch that the dragon princess was assassinated by the royal family and the twins were strategically removed from the kingdom to ensure royal family's dominance over Fenice household and the reason Arthur didn't protest must be because he felt that he betrayed the Dragon king by letting her daughter die, and most importantly, because the Dragon King was best protection for twins. Arthur is also sent on the front lines for the same reason, to keep him away and hoping the same fate for Arthur as that of the second head. aaaah! my head is hurting it's not peaceful at all." Elijah sighed loudly.
"Wait! if all that's true then wouldn't they want me dead or mysteriously disappeared for good?"
'Knock! Knock!'
Elijah began sweating profusely at the sound of someone knocking on his door.
"Young Master!" Sebastian called from outside the door
"Oh! Sebastian" Elijah put away the thoughts of jumping from the balcony into the garden pool below and got his foot down the boundary. Wiping his forehead, he sat down on the chair to calm his nerves.
"Come in" Elijah said in a stoic voice, 'I want the Dragon King to protect me too'
"Young master, I have an important message from lady Alina"
"Oh, what is the message?"
"It's about magic awakening; my lady thinks it's time for young master to awaken his mana core and start studying the magic theory."
'My mother also seems to be aware of my current peril that's the only reason I can think for her to be in such a hurry, it's normal to awaken the mana core at the age of eight, the age between five to eight is generally spent in learning the language, reading/writing etc. I'm at fault too, eager to know about the current world I started learning the language and how to read/write since I was three, I can read fluently and have a good grasp on the Kingdom's language. However, I can't seem to attain the writing speed of my previously, nor can I write properly for long, my hands refuse to obey me and just after ten minutes when I try to write something the start hurting. I now understand how Miyoko must have felt when I forced her to learn writing when she was five.'
"I was thinking the same too, so, when should we begin."
"I have prepared everything" Sebastian hesitated for a moment then continued "Lord Arthur is expected to return tomorrow morning. We can commence now, and the young master can present the lord with a delightful surprise."
'Oh, he must think that it would cheer him up a little'
"That's a wonderful idea" Elijah said with a bright smile as if it was someone else who was going to jump off the balcony in panic, just a few moments ago. Sebastian returned the smile with the smile of similar intensity.
'By the way your lord Arthur and my current genius father is same age as me, if we count properly. He married the Dragon Princess when he was fifteen and fathered the twins when he was seventeen. God, he makes me jealous and feel pathetic about my past life, if not for these damn conspiracies against him, his life would have been just perfect.' Elijah mumbled in his head, maintaining the bright smile while getting up from the chair, slowly entering the room.