5. The Phoenix and the Child

As a baby, he stepped forward and caused ripples around the «Inner World» with his every step.

Ting, ting, ting.

His steps echoed like wind chimes swaying with the wind. It was silent yet powerful; it brought him peace. Hal stepped up the island that is supported by no earth and peeked over the pond.

The azure light of the pond changed without warning; he was forced to jump back. A flame erupted from the pond, a mix of golden and violet light exploded in front of Hal as the King of all Winged-Beasts appeared before him.

Screeeeeee!

The Phoenix screeched, piercing the heavens and the earth.

Inside his body, incinerating heat exploded, it was powerful and domineering, but Hal watched it with his eyes burning with curiosity.

The Celestial Nether Phoenix no longer possesses the body that expands for thousands of meters across the sky. But it was still around fifty-meters, so its majesty still towered over Hal.

The Phoenix watched Hal's fearless gaze. The bird of the Nether or the guide of souls and flames landed on the ground meters across Hal. Hal then heard a serene voice of a lady, speaking to him in his mind.

"You are the child of yin? Your death should have been predestined, but you tried to fight your fate…listen, a man cannot control me, you cannot gain power from me, I can't give you the strength everyone wishes from me, I can grant you nothing, and I will not try to grant you anything."

Hal looked at the Phoenix and smiled as he raised both hands.

"What are you?"

"..."

A simple question stunned the Phoenix. Hal observed the Phoenix, and once again asked...

"What are you?"

"Hahahaha, interesting, you are interesting, human."

This time, the Phoenix laughed at his words. Hal simply tilted his head, confusing why the Phonix cannot answer such a question. He thought it was stupid, but still, he asked for the third time.

"What are you?"

"I am the Celestial Nether Phoenix, the overseer of Nether, the Queen of the skies."

"So, you can speak, I thought you were incapable of understanding my words. I suppose it is not a one-sided conversation."

Hal was in a world of his own. He didn't fear the Phoenix because he can feel no hostility or danger coming from its body.

He cannot tell why that is so, because he had seen it try burning him alive before. So, to fill the gaps of his mind, Hal asked...

"Why did you try to kill me before?"

"Easy, little one, I answered your question now it is your time to answer mine..."

"That is fair, what is it do want to know?"

"What are you? For a child to open their «Inner World» at such a young age is not something I have heard before, and your way of speech and state of awareness is not normal, so, answer me, what are you?"

Hal and the Phoenix exchanged gazes; their emotions both hidden. Other than the interest of the Phoenix, nothing else could be seen.

"I am the only son of the Estize family, Hal Estize..."

"No, that is not what I want to know...you are the child of yin, but you are closer to a child of death. I was attracted to you because you are this generation's yin cultivator, but only a female is allowed to have such a fate. Why is that? Why are you alive when you are supposed to be dead?"

Hal stayed silent for a moment, but in the end, he had nothing to fear and answered the Phoenix's question.

"Death has been my world. Yin, the aura of death, it had been called by many names. But its bottom line is that I have been marked by the thousands of lives I had to die with.

"I have no name other than what I have now for the name of the past has already dissipated with my death. If you wish to know why my aura is filled with yin and death, it is because I coexist with death."

Hal's words entered the ears of the Phoenix, causing it to lower its head. It met eye to eye with baby Hal, a comical scene yet also a serious one.

The Phoenix and the man who had lived through death finally met; one is the being of the undying flames while the other is the mark of cold death.

Two beings, different from one another yet similar; both are beings who had seen the fate known as death.

They sympathized with one another, and the two separated as Hal left.

His routine continued in the outside world.

"The King of Monsters stayed in his realm. Letting his people and friends return to his second home first, he held off the descending bombs threatening to destroy his world..."

Fifty-seven days passed, and Hal had managed to grasp the way of speech. His mother, Arya, would always tell him different stories and tell him a lot of interesting facts.

She would point to different things and let him become aware of different things teaching Hal what is what. These ramblings of Arya became the foundation of Hal's knowledge of the world's speech.

And in these fifty-seven days, Hal spent a lot of time with his mother and sisters, but not so much with his father, Daryun.

Daryun is busy dealing with troubles in the eastern part of their territory, or so it should have been like that.

Arya's words were, "Daryun is playing again."

Hal did not know what kind of power Daryun possesses for fighting to be called playing. But he didn't question it too much as it was too early.

Hal had something better to do...

Appearing inside the «Inner World» where the white light of heavenly essence proliferated on her surroundings, he saw the Phoenix perched on the root of its pond.

"Old ghost, you are here again?"

"Do not call me an old ghost; I am a young child, not even reaching the age of one."

The Phoenix scoffed.

"And who has lived thousands of lives?"

"Be that as it may, this life is now me, meaning, I am no longer the me of the past."

"Are you rejecting your past?"

"No, I am merely looking forward towards the future."

"Enough of that, teach me what cultivation is again." Hal asked the Phoenix.

A strange connection between the two had already been created.