Chapter 002 – Birth, Two Years

[280AC]

„One more time, Mylady! One last push and you can finally see your child!", the midwife encouraged, as one last scream of pain and exhaustion rocked through the form of Allyria Dayne.

„It is done, Mylady! Your child, your son is born!", the midwife, reassured the almost delirious young mother, as she gave the infant in her arms a light slap on his bottom, which promptly caused the child to cry out in surprise and pain.

„My child … let me see him … Let me see … my son.", Allyria voiced out in exhaustion, her breath ragged and panting heavily, as she heard the voice of her child. Her motherly instincts awakening in her the need to make sure her child was alright.

„Of course, Mylady. Just a moment, until we finish cleaning him.", the midwife replied calmly, bringing a bit of calm into the turmoil of Allyra's heart.

Splashing sounds could be heard, while the baby was still crying out loudly. Allyria was getting more anxious to see her child, but tried to be patient as the Midwife washed him, all the while the healer took care of Allyria's lower body.

Finally, she saw her son brought to her arms after a few excrutiatingly long minutes, that felt more like hours to her. And as she looked at her crying child, she softly carressed his check, while whispering words of love into his tiny ears.

„Shh, shh. All is well my beautiful little firestar. I am here, nothing is ever going to happen to you, my love. Shh, shh."

Silent tears fell down her cheeks, thinking about the father of her child. About the love of her life she had lost, and knowing that her son would have to grow up without his father.

Abruptly the boy stopped crying and opened his eyes, looking directly into her own.

That was when she saw them, flaming eyes like his fathers, instead of purple like her own.

The eyes looked at her with both curiosity and affection, though the boy closed them only a moment later in exhaustion and fell asleep on her bosom.

„Leave us, all of you. We need rest.", Allyria ordered.

„But Mylad-"

As her Midwife wanted to refute in protest for all the servants presents, including the healer/maester, Allyria gave her a hard look and interrupted her.

„Now.", she said softly, a steel-like hardness in her words.

At the end, Allyria Dayne was the little sister of the Lord of Starfell and a great fighter herself, and while normally a gentle and caring individual, she also demanded the respect that came with this status.

After even the last person left the room Allyria slowly relaxed, soon following her son in his sleep, all the while looking at him with love-filled eyes.

„You will do a great many things in this life my son, I am sure of that. But just for now, please stay my sweet little Firestar.", she whispered, before her eyes closed in exhaustion.

…

[282AC]

Two years had passed since Phenex had awoken in this new world as a crying baby.

With the newly-added memories in his mind, he had no problems recognizing this new world, though what he found had caused waves of shock to crash into his heart.

This was the world of Planetos, with four known continents: Westeros, Essos, Uthos and Sothroyos.

Westeros. The land of the Seven Kingdoms united under, and ruled by the Iron Throne.

The exact same world from Game of Thrones, a show he had watched in his last life as a human.

A life that seemed so very distant and insignificant to him now in comparison to the lives lived by his father and other ancestors. Phenex had liked and enjoyed the show very much, but quite disliked the ending.

Only a few days after his reincarnation, he had listened in on his mother's talk with her brother – Lord Anton Dayne of Starfall.

They had talked about the new King Robert Baratheon, Lannisters and their status as a house sworn to House Martell, the rulers of Dorne.

Still, it was strange for him to have come to this realisation.

Because while the dominant part of his personality was in fact the same from his life as a human, it had also undergone a massive change with all these new memories. His perception of time, morals, power, life and death were all very different now.

The one thing that stayed the same was his love and desire for freedom, and it also wasn't a dream or goal anymore, as he had already accomplished this by simply being born a phoenix.

Having been born as a mythical creature, he was now immortal and unkillable. So who was left to restrict his freedom?

His powers as a phoenix were incredible and if he wanted he could simply turn the rest of Westeros into ashes from right where he stood. So what kind of life could he live with his newfound freedom? He was more than willing to find out.

His mother Allyria was also a great reason for his happiness and current mental health. Her unconditional love, gentle smile and encourgement for the past two years, had made him develop an equally strong affection towards her.

It had been easy for Phenex to accept her as his mother, as not only did he have echoes of his father's love for her in his mind, but even in his last life he had been of the mind, that family was something very precious and one had to earn the right to be called as such.

And Allyria was a wonderful mother and had definitely earned her place in his heart.

Another interesting fact about his mother and her origins, that also concerned his own future very much, was the fact that she belonged to House Dayne, one of the most well-known noble houses in all of Westeros.

One reason being that their house dated back to before even the Valyrian Empire had come into existence back in Essos, as they had once been part of the ancient Empire of Dawn.

Another reason for this was at large due to their ancestral sword Dawn, which granted its wielder the title 'Sword of the Morning'. There was a very special custom in their family, where only a knight of their house, who proves himself worthy enough, may wield the sword and not the Lord or heir of the house.

The last wielder of Dawn had been his late uncle Arthur Dayne, who was killed by Eddard Stark at the Tower of Joy in the aftermath of the rebellion.

But the most intersting thing about the sword was that it had been his own father, who had been involved in its creation.

The official history of the sword had been that a meteor had fallen from the sky and the ancestor of House Dayne had followed the trail of the meteor and found a magical stone. He had then forged Dawn out of this magical stone, giving it strength and sharpness easily rivaling Valyrian steel.

The place where the meteor had landed had also been chosen as the place for their castle, Starfall to be built.

The true history though was bit different.

It wasn't a meteor that had fallen from the sky, but his father had descended to the ground in his phoenix form, after which he had encountered the ancestor of House Dayne, who had been wounded from an earlier battle.

Still, even injured the man had immediately prostated himself before his father, believing him the god of the sun, a deity the old Empire of Dawn had worshipped at that time.

Intrigued by the man, his father had healed him and asked him about this god. The man had proven himself a great conversationist, so as sign of gratitude for the entertaining stories he had told his father, his father had given him one of his feathers.

Using his magic and blacksmithing skills, the man had then forged the feather into the ancestral sword Dawn, a process his father had greatly enjoyed watching, before taking off into the sky and continuing his journey.

The ancestor had chosen to honor his father by building his home at the very place he had descended. He had also only ever told his heir the truth about the sword's and Starfall's history, and made him swear to not divulge it to anyone else but his own heir.

That was also the reason why the relationship between his mother and father had been viewed with acceptance and welcome, and his own birth was seen as a miracle.

After only two years, due to the incredibly extensive memories about his abilities as a phoenix, he had already mastered most of his abilities as a mythical creature.

He tried to transform as often as possible into a phoenix, using every chance he was alone with his mother Allyria to do so, which was the case most of the time, as they lived in a secluded part of the castle.

Starfall, the seat of House Dayne lay directly at the coast of Dorne, on a peninsula, surrounded by water and steep cliffs on three sides. It could only be accessed through land, which also made it a very safe and beautiful place to grow up in

Phenex lived with his mother in a small courtyard, where they had moved after his mother had given birth to him. The small closed-off courtyard lay directly at the cliffside and others weren't allowed in on his mother's orders and could only bring the supplies to the gate of the courtyard.

It was arranged as such, because his mother feared others spreading rumours of her child practicing dark arts or such.

Magic was afterall viewed as equally dark and evil by the common people, courtesy of the Maesters trying to erase all traces of magic from Westeros for centuries now. Of course that was something Phenex only suspected being the reason, in addition to the fact that most, if not all magic involved some kind of blood sacrifice.

Still, it didn't bother him too much, as he loved the peace and quiet of their living arrangements. His mother would also take him to walk around the city and castle often, but emphasized that he shouldn't show his powers openly to others, as they wouldn't understand and may become fearful of him, which wasn't something she wanted to see.

The official story of his birth was also altered, as the people only knew that his mother had married a foreigner and that he became ill, shortly after their wedding. Her husband's death, combined with the loss of her brother and sister, made her choose to live in relative seclusion with her son, while her remaining brother ruled House Dayne.

Her bother of course knew about Phenex's true heritage and had helped in concealing this truth so they could live in peace.

Phenex's special heritage also didn't just give him several unique powers, like the transformation into a real phoenis and others, it also made him incredibly strong and fast physically.

Though one of the most amazing abilities was definitely the one that allowed him to speak any language he ever heard or read perfectly, it was called All-Speak by his father. Which caused him to often visit the castle's library to read the texts written in different languages with his mother, who had been just as shocked at his ability, as he had been.

Her pride and joy though had easily trumped her shock. His memory had also proved to be incredible, as he had not forgotten one word of what he had read.

Phenex had also grown faster than a normal child would, much to the chagrin of his mother.

Looking like a five-year old, while being only two, though he could simply shapeshift back into his younger form whenever he wanted, as while his body looked like it was made out of flesh and blood, he was a being of fire and magic in the end.

His mother often forced him to do exactly that, so she could keep carrying him around and cuddle with him in his smaller form. Something he not-so secretly enjoyed, as he loved receiving his mother's undivided love and attention.

Still, he had also convinced his mother to start teaching him how to fight, including unarmed combat and different weapons, like daggers, spears, halberds, short swords, etc.. Though he focused mostly on swords and daggers.

His father himself had been a great fighter and his memories helped him master the different weapons rapidly.

His days were mostly spent by reading, training and sparring with his mother, or playing around with his phoenix powers, constantly improving his control over the bottomless sea of strength that dwelled within him.

His life was spent carefree, as even now there existed nothing that could threaten his life on this planet, as even his father had not only possessed powers way beyond any limit this world had ever known, he hadn't even been truly born in this world but just happened upon it a few millenia ago and decided to explore it.

And on his endless journeys he had never met another creature with even a smidgen of his power.

Even the most powerful dragons at the time of the Valyrian Empire's prime age had been nothing but a spark, when compared to the sun-like powers that his father represented. While his own powers were even greater now, as a phoenix's powers were always growing, especially after an inheritance had been concluded.

Currently Phenex was laying in the grass, with his head on his mother's lap, while she brushed through his hair with her fingers, as they watched the sunset together.

Breaking the comfortable silence between them, Phenex voiced out: "I plan to leave and fly for a few hours tomorrow, Mother. I will be back by nightfall."

Frowning and sighing a bit at her son's words, Allyria answered: "Allright, but you have to promise to be careful, little Firestar."

"I am a phoenix, mother. There is nothing out there that can harm me. I will be back when the sun sets, I promise."

Looking up from her lap, Phenex looked at his beautiful mother with his fiery eyes, confidence and affection burning in them.

Allyria was only nineteen years old this year and had a youthful beauty to her, though her motherly vibe was very obvious in the way she looked and moved around her son.

His uncle even said that her beauty easily rivaled her older sister Ashara, who was once hailed as one of the most beautiful women in the whole realm.

His mother had dark ebony hair, bright amethyst eyes, soft lips, small nose and a well-propotioned figure. Phenex could understand why his father had fallen in love with her, as her beauty was simply breathtaking.

Still, the losses she had to endure, had left their mark in the shadows of her eyes. She was very hesitant to ever let Phenex out of her sight even for a short moment, being filled with worry every time he went out to fly for a couple of hours over the nearby land.

But she also understood that her son wasn't a normal child, her late husband and his father having told her stories about his adventures and mentioned, that she would have to be prepared for the inborn wanderlust of a phoenix to surface early in their son's life.

Because while a phoenix was immortal and would sometimes even stay in one place for decades or centuries, it would only do so after having satisfied their passion for exploration and traveling.

She knew that Phenex would eventually have to go out and see the world at one point, but she just hoped it wouldn't happen too soon.

Sighing to herself, she answered him: „Alright, but you will be back as soon as possible. Understood, little Firestar?"

„Yes, mother.", Phenex replied in assent, his mind already thinking about the places he wanted to visit.