Two days before Luis and Sera would return to the village.
The forest was quiet, only the sound of the campfire crackling and meat roasting could be heard. Luis sat on a log near the fire, looking at the dancing flames, though it seemed his mind was focused elsewhere.
The night sky was visible through the canopy of trees above them, stars lighting up the darkness. It had taken several days of travel to reach the village.
"Aunt Sera," Luis said, his voice hesitant, "why do you think the Phoenix chose me?"
Sera paused, glancing at him, her hand stopping for a moment before continuing her task. "That's a big question, Luis. What made you ask it now?"
Luis sighed, his gaze still lingering on the fire. "It's just that… I don't think… I don't feel like I was the right choice. Everyone else in the Phoenix clan, like my younger brother and sister, has blessings from their parents. They were born with them or will get them when they unlock more aura cores or when they try to awaken specific blessings in their lineage. But… the Phoenix essence inside me consumed all the blessings, and it's dormant, so I can't even get any Phoenix blessings. I have to spend months getting blessings, but they all have most of the blessings they will ever need. And I haven't even been able to reach the intermediate stage."
Sera watched Luis closely as he continued to speak, his voice slightly trembling.
"My little brother and sister are already at the adept stage… and they're just six… just six years old. I didn't even know how to use aura when I was that age. I wasn't able to reach the adept stage until I was ten. It's not that I feel jealous of them. I don't know how to say it, but I think I feel proud whenever they accomplish something. But the Phoenix will reincarnate through me."
Luis's voice dropped lower. "I have to be stronger for when that happens, but… I feel stuck. Progress feels so slow. I can almost feel the next tier, but it also feels so far away. No matter how hard I try, I can't get my next aura cores to split and form into new ones."
Clenching his fists, he continued, "I want to be like you. I want to be strong. I see how hard my parents work, how much they worry about me. I thought everything they taught me was what everyone knew, most kids in the village don't even know how to cook or take care of themselves. And…. I don't know why, but I can tell that the other clan members in the village have high expectations of me, but they never show that. They are always so kind and trying to help me. It feels like they don't want me to think I have to work hard, but I can still see the expectations they have of me."
"Their kindness makes me want to work hard, get stronger. I… want to survive the Phoenix reincarnation. I want to be strong so my parents don't have to worry about the empires, but I just feel so stuck, it's so exhausting."
"I have 2 blessings, which is the most I can have right now… but compared to clans or soldiers who inherit the blessings that can be perfectly suited for each other, mine don't compare in comparison. I have to earn all my blessings because the Phoenix one is dormant."
"And the Phoenix…" He hesitated. "It hasn't spoken to me in years, and the last thing it said to me was… calling me a sheltered brat… I don't know… if it even likes me."
Sera's brows furrowed, but she let Luis keep speaking.
"My little brother was born as the clan's proxy. He's already chosen to be the next leader by the Phoenix. He has two strong blessings already, and because they're not elemental, he can use them without any suppression. And my little sister… She wasn't born with any blessings because the Phoenix essence apparently made it so I got most of the blessings that would be passed down to kids, and with my brother being chosen as the proxy by the Phoenix somehow while it's dormant, all the other blessings from my parents during my siblings' birth went to him. Which made it so my little sister had no blessings, because of which the Xoliti clan deity chose to give his blessings to her because it is rare for people to not be born with blessings."
"I feel useless as a older brother. They both already have ways to become stronger, but I don't even know what I'm gonna do."