59 Zeltan’s Shield

We arrived back at the round table with everyone taking their previous seats. Bairon and the others had been healed by the court mages, and besides a few sour faces you almost couldn't tell that a spar had happened.

"Ahem, now if we won't have any further interruptions, let us finish the meeting. Please bring forth the shield." At Blaine's word the same shield was brought out once again, with the same flow of power coming from it as before. Their is a will in the shield.

"Check and see if it suits you, if not we can find another. However I think you'll like this shield, the adventurer who found it said that it was a very interesting shield." Blaine carries on as I look over the shield the in servant's hands. I know what makes it interesting, but what could a random adventurer found to make this shield noteworthy.

Sure it was ornately designed fanciful patterns engraved into the shield, but intriguing enough to bring it to the kings attention?

"What fascinated the adventurer enough to bring it to you instead of keep it for themselves?" I ask as I turn my head toward Blaine.

"It is widely known that we will compensate adventurers for unusual or beautiful items, weapons or even just stones. This one piqued our interest, so we paid that adventurer a decent sum for it. However what made them bring it here was due to the fact that while they were fighting the shield appeared out of nowhere, flying and then hitting the head of mana beast they were fighting. Killing it and leaving them all confused." Everyone's eyes widened at that and they all stared intently at the shield.

"Hmm, so this shield can teleport?" I muse aloud as I focus my attention back on the shield. I could still feel the thrumming of power vibrating off the shield and I was eager to reach out to it.

"Go ahead and pick it up, see if it's to your liking." This time it was Virion who egged me on, so I reached out and picked up the shield. As soon as my hands touched it, everything stopped and then I was promptly forced inside my core area where I was met with a red haired figure. A phoenix Asura, and he was smiling brightly at me, yet his eyes carried a sense of tiredness.

He was young looking, but I guess for Asuras that's not really surprising due to their long life. He looked to be about the same age as my parents though. He shared a lot of the same features as my dad and the Asuras as well, sleek red hair and like my dad he had golden eyes. Does that mean he's royalty? His voice broke me from my thoughts.

"You look just like your father when he was your age." The man's smile only wavered slightly to show a bitterness on his face, but he recomposed himself and approached me. He got down on one knee and now with me standing taller than him he looked up at me, with a warm smile.

"It's good to see you Zellium, or should I say Jaron, maybe even Rez?" He finished with a teasing smile. I just continued to stare back at him, as he still hadn't introduced himself yet. He seemed to hear my thoughts as his eyes widened briefly before chuckling.

"Haha, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Zeltan, Zeltan Zuwellia. I am your uncle, Jaron. Your father's older brother." I was surprised at the revelation and my face must have shown it because he laughed once again. I had thought before that Phoenix Asuras just share a lot of similarities, but I guess his looks looked familiar for a different reason. I had an uncle.

"It's good to meet you… uncle." His smile brightened at the words and he patted my shoulder softly.

"It's good to meet you as well Jaron."

"Uncle, how come I hadn't seen you in any of the previous memories I've obtained?" I asked in confusion and he just smirked at me.

"That my dear nephew is a bit of magic I was able to develop on my own, and that I'm now going to pass on to you. However the reason for its creation is not as pleasant." His smirk turned somber as he seemed to reflect on something.

"No, the reason it was created was to counteract the Vritra's continuing development in soul manipulation. They were getting closer to being able to extract the Phoenix Asuras wills from their resting places, though without a willing me never they'll only ever get their memories. The wills carry an even greater weight than you know, and I'm sure after you absorb mine you will realize it."

(AN for the novel readers: sorry if the 'soul manipulation' part is inaccurate, I was just trying to find a type of magic that could lead to reincarnating people from other worlds)

"What you'll learn from me is memory manipulation, however I was only ever able to learn to manipulate people's memories of me. I couldn't change what others had done in the memory, but I felt I was close to breaking through that barrier and with as gifted as you are I feel you can do it. As for the shield it is a handy piece of equipment that was forged for me by a local blacksmith in the Phoenix Asura lands, but I'm sure he's probably dead now too.

Lastly, take care of yourself Jaron. You still have a long road ahead of you, and while you are definitely strong in human standards the enemies you will be facing are much stronger than what normal humans can achieve. Don't let your guard down and become complacent, is all I ask of you." He looks into my eyes with a fierce intensity he had lacked the entire conversation, and I just nodded quickly.

"I'll make sure to continue to grow stronger uncle." His face softens back into a smile and he stood up from his kneeling position, and he gripped me in a deep hug. I could feel his body begin to fade into me and he left only parting words as he disappeared inside me.

"Stand strong Zellium, even when all seems lost, dig deeper. I fell while fighting side by side with your father when he sent Xaxses away with Emilia. I don't know if he or Emilia still lives, but there's a reason I passed the crown prince position to Zeldon instead of keeping it for myself.

It seems you heard the legend of Phoenix Prince as well, but let me warn you, don't trust the Leviathan too closely. They are a scheming bunch, that helped the prince from the story for their own personal gains, that even I don't know. That's not what is important now though, with the absorption of my will you will find that the wills carry more than memories. They carry power as well.

The reason the prince in the legend was able to completely wipe out the other race was because he had absorbed a staggering amount of wills. He has found nearly all of the slain Phoenix Asura wills and with it his blood became purer and purer. That was the real reason we were cast down by the higher beings, they didn't want competition from a race like us.

Even though we were known to keep to ourselves, competition is still competition, so before he could ascend they sent him to this plane along with the dragons and Leviathans as they had grown too much in power as well. Disguising it as it was because they helped the Phoenix Prince. I'm sure you'll learn even more once you meet your father as he has absorbed our father's will, the patriarch, and the origins of the Phoenix Asuras is said to pass directly through the patriarch."

I was stunned at the influx of information, but it also made me sink into thought. Did the Leviathan just not know the true story? Or was it trying to see if I knew and would try to correct it? I can feel Uncle Zeltan's will settling in, and I can only assume he would think the Leviathan was trying to trick me. All of this was a lot to take in though, based off what I understood I could become a full blooded Phoenix Asura if I just absorbed more wills?

I was pulled abruptly from the mindscape and back into the present as I lifted the shield and placed it on my arm, exactly as Uncle would have worn it. All his techniques and moves with the shield flooded my mind. The shield could teleport back to the user with just a thought, so I could throw it and then have it immediately reappear in my hands.

"It's perfect, I'll take it." I announced aloud to the people around the table. Nods and smiles were shared as well as a small round of applause.

"Good, good. Now lets begin the rehearsal for the announcement." It was actually Priscilla who urged things along now.

Everyone followed her in standing from their chairs and we followed the maids and butlers to the room where we would then practice for the next 5 hours. Apparently a lot goes into these big announcement things, who knew? I was planning on just winging the whole thing and I probably still will. Maybe borrow things from my last life as well as from the memories of my will inhabitants.

"Come on 'shield~' aren't you supposed to lead the way for us weaker mortals~?" Aya came up beside me and wove her arms through my right one and I promptly removed it.

"Sorry Aya, but I'm taken. Maybe you'll have better luck with Bairon? He could use the tension release." Her cheeks flushed a little at the insinuation and I could see Bairon glaring at me.

"Haha, just kidding! No need to be so serious you 2." I walked past the both of them and walking next to Virion to the next area.

"You play a dangerous game Mr. Rez." He laughs lightly at me and I just shrug.

"You gotta find fun where you can or you'll have a dull life. Besides if we all went into this next area with such a serious tone it would be even more boring than it's about to be." He laughs again, this time a little louder.

"Hahaha, I guess you're right!"

After the long and monotonous proceeding of the rehearsal we were led off to our rooms where we would stay for the night. I fell asleep immediately upon impact with the mattress as the absorption of Uncle Zeltan's will had been quite draining. And he was right, I could feel some energy brimming inside me that I hadn't noticed before. But I left that for another time as I fell asleep.

.

.

.

"…. Lets have this next generation of adventurers, mages, artificers, engineers, doctors, scientists and all others lead to a better and brighter Dicathen." As soon as I finished my long and hopefully invigorating speech everything went quiet. I felt a brief flash of nervousness pass through me at the thought that the speech wasn't very good, only to rocked back by the vibrating echoes of cheers and screams.

Excited chatter spread through the crowd and I could even hear the servants behind me chatting eagerly about the future of Dicathen. Seems my speech had done its job. Blaine approached from my right and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"That was a marvelous speech, we might just have to get you to do all the future speeches." He said with a bit of a playful grin I hadn't seen him show before. I responded by shaking my head and waving him off.

"Oh no, that's quite alright King Blaine. I'll leave that to you and the council. Haha." He laughed along with me and we turned back to the rest of the council and the Lances.

"Alright, lets return to the meeting room and you all will be given your assignments." Everyone quickly turned serious and gave slight bows and we filed back into the castle.

——————————————————————————

Author's Note

SORRY for the long delay between chapter, work has been very draining lately and when I get home I just don't have enough brain function to pop out a chapter. I'll try to stockpile a few for you guys in hopes that if this is a recurring thing I'll at least still have a chapter to upload.

Also if things felt stilted or just badly written that's probably because I fell out of the practice, hopefully it at least gets back to what it was previously.

I have fun plans with the memory manipulation magic, and I look forward to using it.

Also I hope you all liked the new revelation about the Phoenix Asura wills. No he won't be ascending into godhood anytime soon so don't worry. The prince in the legend absorbed almost all of the original Phoenix wills and he didn't ascend, so watered down Phoenix Asura wills are not going to ascend him. But it's not impossible.

Hopefully see you guys again soon!

Thanks for reading.

-SocioPhobia