This universe was composed of thousands upon thousands of little dimensions such as Sol’s mirror dimension or Tiamat’s sea of stars.
But, out of them all, four great dimensions stood above all of them, forming a pyramid while all the other little dimensions were connected to them.
The first layer and the base of this pyramid was the material world. The place where most mortals lived.
The second layer was called the after-life. Some called it the hereafter, hell or paradise. This was the place where all souls resided, waiting to be reincarnated after losing most, if not all their memories. Of course, there were some exceptions who for some reason were allowed to keep their memories.
The final layer was called the divine realm, where the goddesses resided and observed the world from above.
But what will interest us this time is the third layer... The Astral realm.
The Astral realm was the place of residence for creatures bestowed with divinities and spirit creatures. It was divided into fifteen districts, fourteen of them belonging to the fourteen divine beasts and the last one being a sealed place no one could step a foot in.
Access to the Astral realm was generally extremely restricted. Be it when entering or going out. One of the rare exceptions was when the gate opened to allow humans, for a limited amount of times, to try their chance at acquiring a spirit or an offspring of a divine creature.
[PHOENIX DISTRICT]
“I refuse! Mother! why are you insisting so much!?”
A black-haired young girl, wearing a large white dress adorned with a plethora of jewels that hide her alluring figure, screamed with tears gathering at the corner of her beautiful scarlet eyes.
The woman facing her, while sitting on a golden throne, had similar features as the girl, clearly denoting their relationship. The only difference being her vermillion red hair and golden eyes.
The woman was called Nephtys, the daughter of Gabriel the divine phoenix, and current ruler of all the phoenixes. Still, despite all her power, she could only show a distraught expression at the vehement refusal of her daughter.
Trying to placate her, she explained, “Isis, my dear, please understand that this isn’t something we can refuse. Your grandmother herself received the order from our goddess.”
Isis stamped her feet before leaving in tears, her last words, bringing even more pain to her mother, “If father was here he would have never accepted this.”
Now alone in her palace, Nephtys could only slump on her throne. Even though she knew it was unbecoming of her with her position, she could not afford to care.
“I guess she threw a tantrum again?”
A gentle voice sounded in her ears while a warm light enveloped her. From a bright golden fire, a tall and well-endowed woman appeared.
“Mother.”
Nephtys did nothing to change her position. She did not need to hide behind rules and such things in front of her own mother. Giving a wane smile, she could only acquiesce.
“She isn’t taking it well indeed. I guess she always thought that she would meet her own prince charming by herself, not because of an arranged marriage.”
A bell-like laugh came out of Gabriel as she sat on the armchair.
“You mean like how this boy, Anubis, entered this place so many years ago and swept you with him?”
“Mother!”
Nephtys, shyly screamed, a blush covering her face. Even though she remembered those moments fondly, she still couldn’t help but be embarrassed by how reckless she had been so long ago.
Gabriel continued to laugh for a little while before hugging the shoulder of her daughter.
“You must understand that this is for your own good. The goddesses cannot allow themselves to lose Blaze’s son. With Isis as his first contract, he will be able to obtain Nirvana and get insurance in case anything happens.”
“I understand mother, I understand. It’s just...I do not even know the boy. What if he is a bad influence on her. What if he doesn’t treat her well? I...I don’t know and Isis also hates me now, always comparing me to her father. Sometimes...I just feel so inadequate.”
Nephtys was on the verge of tears as she confessed her innermost worries to her mother.
It was normal for children to go through their rebellious phase, but they could never understand how much some of their words could profoundly wound their parents.
In the mind of most children, parents are this insurmountable wall that seemed almighty and devoid of crack. But, this couldn’t be any more wrong. Parents always had to appear almighty in front of their children, but in reality, they were full of insecurities.
As a mother, Gabriel understood this truth well. After all, she also went through the same thing with Nephtys back then.
Just remembering that infuriating brat pissed her so much. It was even more so since she didn’t know where he was currently.
“Shhh, don’t worry. You know as well as me that Isis isn’t happy here. Even though you did your best to care for her, she is isolated by the others because of the power she inherited from her father. Perhaps leaving the Astral realm and living some adventure could help her?”
Nephtys felt even more guilt from this. Even though she never regretted marrying her husband, she was still surprised about how her daughter inherited all the attributes of her father while only having some of her.
Because of this, even if the fact that she was a hybrid between a phoenix and a demon could be overlooked, her having the power of the greatest necromancer ever didn’t really sit well with most, if not all phoenixes.
For a race such as them that respected the natural order and purity above everything else, necromancers were the vilest creature that existed. In fact, if she wasn’t so powerful, no one would accept her as a queen. She was still thankful that her mother didn’t despite her.
Thinking about her husband who was traveling through the dimensions in search of some unknown truth, she could only sigh.
“I hope the prince will be good to her.”
This was the only wish she had a mother.
AN: So, here a short intro about the Astral realm and Phoenix side. More will be explained in VOL 6. Those knowledgeable in Egyptian myth should know how much I fucked around with the genealogy between Isis, Nephtys, and Anubis. But hey, it’s interesting. Also, did you know that the first mention of the phoenix was in Egypt? Initially, I planned to use a Chinese setting for the Phoenix. But after doing some research, I decided to go with Egypt. As for her Chara design. Hehe. Remember my cover picture? She finally appeared. Yep. Rather sexy right?
As for her name, I needed Isis to be called, well Isis, because in myth she is basically the mother goddess. In the same way that Nuwa is the mother goddess in Chinese myth(*Hint* *Hint*)
As for Anubis, he is the mc of a prequel I have in mind for SHK, the story is called SDK, son of the demon king. I don’t know when I will write it. Perhaps after my Gojo fic or perhaps after I finish SHK. We shall see.
