3 days later

"H-how did you come back?" 

Julian huffed as blood dripped down the side of his forehead, his energy and power reaching a new level of low. He clutched his shoulder, relocating it and stood upright again. He looked at the white-haired devil in disguise and twirled his fingers, a gold spear, about his arm's length forming between his fist beside his hips. His black suit ignited itself with fire as he rushed further and swung the spear into the air, leading towards the witch's head. 

"Foolish Phoenix," 

The spear was reduced to ashes as it hit a void a foot away from her face. She smirked as her palm lit up with silver fire, her eyes glowing with the same as she took her hood off. She spread her palms and closed her eyes before a massive gush of wind blew through the woods, almost uprooting the trees and causing the Phoenix's fire to set itself ablaze even more. 

"You have no idea,"

His suit reduced slowly with his fire, revealing his armour from within, his staff coming into view and his wings pushing themselves through the skin on his back. A huge mix of lightning struck the ground he stood upon as his eyes lit up with golden light.

"Oh, how easy it is going to be to grab all this power,"

The witch was about to extract the Phoenix's powers from him but suddenly got caught in a timeless fire. 

"RRRRRRAAAARGHHH!" 

Her screams echoed across the woods as she tried to put it out.  

"If only the ashes of my spear weren't scattered all across your formation,"

Present day

Billy sighed as he let himself into the chalet and scattered his grimoires across the study before making himself a coffee. He took his seat and began flipping through the pages immediately. 

"At least make yourself comfortable and catch a breath,"

"Not now, Arya," 

The white-haired girl neared him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. 

"You know I can't resist it when you call me by my name,"

"Well, I'm the only one who does so it's quite obvious. The others call you the cursed witch of Versailles,"

Billy couldn't care less about her and continued going through the pages. 

"I supposed you found a way to awaken the Phoenix,"

"I did and all I'm missing is one ingredient,"

"And that is?"

"Your hair," 

"Why?"

"The Phoenix needs a minor source of power to fuel the ones in his subconscious,"

"Alright," She plucked a single hair off her scalp and placed it into one of his test tubes placed in the holder by the wall. 

"How do you plan on extracting his powers though?"

"Relax, I have it all planned out,"

"How? You don't even know the extent of his strength,"

"I am well aware but what I have in store, is something he won't even see coming,"

"Oh, I finally figured it out,"

"Well, then we leave an hour later, brother,"

***

"You really think he can awaken after desiccating like that?"

"No, I know so," Arya assured as she stroked the engravings on the wooden casket. 

"This is no ordinary casket," Billy leaned forward to translate what was written around it. 

"What do you mean?" 

"It's an excerpt in Armenian,"

"What does it say?"

He looked closer before reciting it. 

For the one who shall unravel the secrets within,
Beware of the consequences that along with it writhin'

For the one who wishes to awaken the doom of the day,
Here lies the end of your days

For I shall awaken during the night,
For I shall awaken during the day,
For I shall come out more vital than ever. 

"Sounds like a warning to me,"

"Arya, I need you to think about it once,"

"Why must you say that?"

"He is no ordinary creature. He is the strongest one ever to exist,"

"Billy, I've thought about this for almost 1000 years now and I have never been this certain about it than now,"

"Alright. I'll do it then,"

"Please tell me it's not a ritual,"

"Too bad, it is, sister,"

"Ugh! I hate rituals! Take so much out of me,"

"Really? You're gonna be greedy about this too?"

"Alright, go on," 

Arya extended her palm towards him while looking at him. He softly grasped it and placed the tip of his dagger on the pale skin covering the flesh of her palm. 

Hiss

She hissed as blood flowed out of it, creating a small puddle. Billy drew it closer to the symbol at the centre of the casket and flipped it.  Arya healed as Billy took the vile of his blood out and poured it into hers. 

"I swear to god," Arya grunted. 

Billy smirked as he closed his eyes after putting the vile back and took a deep breath. His lips began moving as he recited the awakening spell. 

"Let's wait aside then," Arya crossed her arms, waiting patiently for the awakening. 

The winds began whooshing harshly, the grounds almost shaking. The blood on the symbol started settling into the engraving by itself slowly. 

Whoosh

"Ugh!" Billy groaned, his head hanging low. 

Pitter

"Not again,"

"Channel me," Arya said while lending him her palm as he cleaned the blood that dripped out of his nose. 

"Alright,"

He grabbed her palm and continued again. The whooshes shook the trees and brought a harsh storm towards the graveyard, threatening the balance of nature. They continued reciting the spell, determined to awaken the phoenix and extract all his power.  The blood began engraving itself into the symbol, slowly turning red. A golden flash burst through the casket house and everything grew silent once again. 

"Oh no,"

They took one look at the symbol and widened their eyes in disappointment. 

"Ugh! We were this close!" 

The symbol hadn't changed colour after letting the blood in. That would only be because of two reasons. 

1. It wasn't Julia's blood, which it was. 

2. The blood was protected from awakening spells, meaning the Phoenix awakened somewhere else. 

"ARGH! I'm gonna kill that protector wench somehow!" Arya threw a fit as Billy opened the casket, just to find a note, written with a thick, black marker. 

Have a blast as thick as this marker! XOXO

Billy crumbled the note in confusion and realised the place was about to explode. 

"Arya look out!"

BOOM. CRASH. KRAARGH. 

The grounds rumbled before being occupied with thick smoke. 

"You okay?" Billy helped Arya up before they readjusted their clothes. Arya extended her hand towards his cheekbone and stroked it like a feather. 

Hiss. 

He hissed as he felt pain shoot through the place. A white light befell over that part from her palm as it healed him. 

"They're so done for, now,"

***

What the hell am I doing here? 

Julia stood by the altar at the church where it all happened all those years ago. She walked towards it and looked at the rectangular stone, a huge patch of blood covering it. 

"It's not your fault, little wolf,"

Her eyes widened as her frown deepened, realising whose voice it was. She turned around, just to see a woman in a sea green dress plodding towards the exit of the church. Julia ran forward to grab her shoulder but ended up exiting along with her, the brightness making her eyes screwed shut. She could hear familiar voices echo through her ears as her trance elongated. 

"Huh!" She awakened, gasping. She knew the person in the sea-green dress was her mother. 

She blinked a little to adjust her vision as golden yellow and brown made their way towards it. A few seconds later, she could clearly see that she wasn't in the year 2023 anymore. She was back to 1000 years ago. 

"What the hell is going on?" She mumbled but her palm traveled towards her neck, stroking it. 

What's up with my voice? 

"Argh!" She grunted as if she felt something sting her brain. She closed her eyes, frowning in confusion, wanting to wake up if this was a dream. 

"I better head to the dungeon. He must be hungry,"

What? Who is she talking about?

She realised she was trapped in her body and wasn't able to control it. She walked out of her room, hiking through the walls with a small, silver plate in her hands. She climbed along the round flight of stairs, about to reach the top of the tower until a huge metal door occupied her vision. She kneeled on one of her knees and slipped the plate through the food hole at the bottom of the door. 

"I don't want your leftovers,"

A very hoarse voice called out from inside the cell. 

"They're not. It's my share,"

Wait a minute, I've heard that voice before. 

Julia questioned where she had heard the voice in the dungeon. 

"I know you are waiting for your freedom," 

"Lyla, freedom is far from what I'm thinking,"

"Then what are you thinking about?"

"About your presence,"

She frowned, sad and disheartened. 

"I do have some great news to share though,"

She placed her palm on the outside of the door, smiling. 

"I'm expectant," 

"What? Truly?!" 

"Yes, after you're free, let's flee and live somewhere peaceful and delightful,"

"Can you tell if-"

"Yes, she's a hybrid, just like you," 

HUH

Julia huffed, as she sat up within a matter of split seconds with widened eyes, realising what she had just seen. 

"Father?"

~To be continued