“I’m a terrible student, am I?” Lewis said as he looked at Xeik.

“Well, yeah,” Xeik shot back almost immediately. “You’re always napping instead of studying. You take every chance you can to run and find a place to nap. And, last time I checked, you were barely passing any of the royal studies.”

“Oh…right.” Lewis frowned. “Yeah, he’s right. I’m a terrible student.” He smirked and looked to Simone with a grin. “But now that I have the proper motivation, who knows?”

The first hour went with little progress. Near the end of the first session, Xeik groaned, throwing his hands up. “I might as well be trying to teach a wall.”

“Well, it would go better if SOMEONE wasn’t rushing!” Lewis said, glaring back at Xeik. “You’re acting like I know what all of this means!”

“Because these are the basics!” The Prince of Wolves threw his hands up. “YOU LEARNED THESE ALREADY!”

“They’re magic basics. Something I’ve never done before since, you know…I’ve NEVER HAD MAGIC BEFORE.”

Simone got up from the seat that she was watching from and smiled at Lewis. “I think… That you don’t quite have the proper motivation yet.” She held up her finger and thought about what she could give him. “For everything you do right I’ll give you a kiss and for every spell, you learn we can take a special break. Depending on how well you learn the spell will be how long our special break will last.”

Xeik looked at her with his mouth dropped, “You don’t honestly think that will work do you?”

“I’m willing to try~” She smirked a bit. “You will only get sex and kisses if you learn magic and master it.” She hit her hand. “Positive reinforcement!” With the side of he wasn’t getting any unless he learned but if he really was determined then he would do it.

“Simone, I don’t know if that will work…”

Simone turned to Lewis and put her hands behind her back, “Osiria taught me about all sorts of new sex positions I want to show you but I guess I can’t since you aren’t learning the spells well enough right now.”

Lewis looked at Xeik, and then at Simone, and then back to Xeik. He stood up, closing his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath, and exhaled.

“Right. Let’s get to work.”

—

It took half a day for Lewis to learn three spells. In that time, he mastered two of them, but with great strain on his body. For someone who had little to no training in magic at all, this was astounding speed, and something that Xeik was impressed by. Of course, the second half of the day was eaten away by “extra-curricular activities”, but with the progress that Lewis had made, it was more than worth it.

But for Lewis, it was still too slow. After one of Simone’s ‘private’ sessions, the two were laying side by side, with Lewis thinking hard.

“There has to be a way to do this faster. My father isn’t going to wait,” he said with a frown. “Maybe we can bounce ideas around until we come up with something?”

Xeik was standing next to Rhenakos dumbfounded, “I can’t believe that worked…” He turned to Rhenakos, “Can you learn like that?”

“No fucking way is anyone taking away sex from me,” Rhenakos crossed his arms. “I’d rather be a moron.”

–

Simone was laying next to him peppering his shoulder with small tender kisses. “Maybe…” She thought about it and pulled herself up on Lewis’s chest. “What if this gift does more than just shares?” Her stormy eyes were watching his before she leaned down and put her forehead to his. “Can you do me a favor and concentrate on what I’m about to show you? Send it back to me.”

Simone showed him all the spells she knew and they spent the better part of the night doing that. In the morning Simone came down with Lewis to the training grounds with Xeik. “Okay, let’s see if it worked…” Xeik looked confused.

“Let’s start with the spells then…” He was curious what Simone was talking about but something felt different.

Lewis was ready to move when Simone told him to start with the spells. It took little time at all for him to summon a blue flame. He bounced it around in his hands a little before using magic to swirl it int he air, creating a small torrent of flames above him. Xeik was in awe, and when he looked down at Simone and Lewis, he couldn’t help but smile.

Each spell that Simone had known had been shown to Lewis, and with looping their experiences back and forth, the two had somehow managed to gift each other the knowledge of that spell and all of its intricacies. It wasn;t a simple process by any means, but they had taught each other quite a variety of different things, and even tested it on newer subjects.

“Not sure what to call it,” Lewis said as he finished up the spell. “But…we learned a lot of the spells we needed to last night.” He smirked. “And I can do it rather well, don’t you think?”

Xeik nodded. “With this…we actually stand a chance…”

—

Days passed, and while Lewis and Simone trained, Lord Llywellyn raised an army. In a week’s time, they were more than ready as the armies marched on towards the Land of Omens.

The mighty fortress lay before them, magical barriers all about the towers. Archers could be seen at the ready at the black bastion. They were ready to weather the storm. Lewis could tell that behind it, they were ready for a counterattack as well.

“Today…we fight for the freedom of all night phoenixes!” Lewis said. There was a roar of agreement behind him, and thus commenced the battle…

Simone was sure with all the training they did that Lewis could easily dethrone his father now as the strongest night phoenix. She was dressed in traditional battle mage robes with her hair braided back. She could cast spells and now she could do it efficiently.

The plan was simple. There were only a few people who were capable of bringing down the barriers. Those people, Simone included, would infiltrate the battlefield and bring them down. Simone and Lewis spent several moments with their foreheads together. “I’ll be fine. I promise.” She put her hands to his and smiled. “Xeik won’t be too far from me and if it gets bad I can portal away.” She kissed his nose.

“Simone, it’s time to go,” Xeik pulled her away, and soon Simone was on her way into the deeper lands in front of her. Traveling the shadows was something she could easily do now. Her tower’s barrier was the first to fall which led to some panic inside the towers from the archers. The other barriers fell soon after.

“They have dispelling magic! Start to put the barrier back up!” Some of the mages were yelling but Simone ran in and quietly dispatched the few mages in her tower. Even if they could manage to put some of the barriers back up… Well… Her’s couldn’t be now. It took them a minimum of six mages to put the barrier up in a working order. Simone had killed just enough to make sure the barriers even if put up… were destabilized.

“Simone’s tower is completely neutralized.” Llywellyn was watching before nodding to his portion. “Let’s go!” The first tower was going to fall soon enough.

With the push from Llywellyn, the first tower fell. By that time, Simone had already moved to the next tower, and one by one they started to fall. Lewis was ready with the main force, and as soon as the last tower fell, they charged forward into the fortress. Rhenakos charged in with his own brand of crazy tactics, barreling through formations and breaking shiels, causing absolute havoc. Following behind him were the special forces, which worked to effortlessly take advantage of the chaos, and bring about win after win.

Lewis broke away once the overall battle had been decided, and found his way to the throne room. Of course, his father was there waiting.

“We could have been great,” King Heath said as he paced back and forth. “Instead…you will bring about our people’s ruin.”

“We were headed there with your way of thinking,” Lewis replied, raising his sword. “But now, we have a chance at an actual future!” He rushed forward, not waiting for additional batner between the two. This had to be decided with a battle…

Blades clashed, and it was soon apparent that Lewis had the upper hand. With sword and sorcery, the Prince started to take ground, and when it looked as though victory were imminent, a sudden blast of magic knocked his sword away.

Felix walked out from behind the throne, his own blade raised. “You…you who defiled my cousin, and took so much away from us…” There was venom in his voice. “Well..today, is the day you fall. You may have won this fight…but when Simone is weeping over your corpse, we will have won the war…”

Simone had a bad feeling about the way things were going. Their secret weapon was the resonance and how lost the concept was to the rest of the night phoenixes. She appeared through a portal by aligning herself with Lewis’s magic. “Don’t worry about Felix. Finish your father!” She yelled at her husband.

She stood in between Felix and Lewis now with an angry expression. “Defiled me? We took so much from you?!” She started to yell. “You don’t know the first god damn thing about me!” She stomped her foot at Felix. Her eyes were azure with Lewis as the floor cracked with great force. She was borrowing Lewis’s strength.

“What is this?” Felix backed up and Simone began to stalk him.

“You are wrong about one thing,” Simone began to cast her magic. “Without Lewis, there is no me either!” She yelled fiercely as she engaged in a close battle with Felix.

“Poetic but you’ll still be here,” Felix smirked at her as they crossed magic.

“No cousin, I don’t think you completely understand the gift the goddess gave us… but they are words lost on you. There’s no way you could understand the depth of our bond.” Simone managed to get the upper hand and send Felix into the wall hard. She was panting though as she had used a bit too much magic to keep the offense spell up.

With Simone taking on Felix, Lewis was left to deal with his father. Weaponless, lewis summoned a massive well of magic from inside him. As he moved, he could feel Simone move. As they each battled their respective opponent, their breathing synched, and their eyes began to glow with an azure hue. They were one, and as one, they each finished off their opponents with ease.

The King of Omens, Heath Terrowin, was blasted by a mighty well of blue flames…and as the flames subsided, nothing remained. Lewis turned to see that Felix had been firmly dealt with, though he was still alive.

“I assume you’ll want to prolong his death,” Lewis said with a half smirk. “I can agree with that sentiment, knowing the experiences you have been through…”

The two made sure to tie up Felix, and they ascended to the top of the keep. Below, they could see the remains of the battle that now had a clear victor. Using magic, Lewis bolstered his voice, so that it echoed across the keep.

“To all those who boldly defend the old King and his foolish ways…know that he has been felled, and that I, Lewis Terrowin, take claim of the throne. No longer will this be the Land of Omens…no longer will we hide from the world. For now…I, King Lewis Terrowin, decree that the Land of the Night Phoenixes be reborn! I welcome you now to the lands, free of cruelty and injustice…to the land of Koskaan!”

“Of course,” She smiled up at him. “I need him to tell me where everyone else is… and then we’ll get all of them for the murder of every citizen in Auclair. That should be enough for me.”

Simone stood by her husband as he made the announcement and she looked down towards the council that was trying to flee. Together she and Lewis summoned a ring of fire around them. “No, you will stay and us what side you are on and traitors shall we dealt with.” They spoke together. “We are rebirthing this land together as one.”

After everything was said and done Simone and Lewis had Felix tied to a chair with anti-magic rope. They were busy taking down old artwork and throwing it into a bonfire. “We have to make this our home now,” Simone seemed happy enough.

“These chairs have to go this is where your father sat,” Simone carried some of the old dining chairs over to the fire and chucked them in. “The bed too! That bed was the one he planned on bedding me in! Throw that in there too!” The servants sighed a bit as they gave in to their new queen though they understood where she was coming from.

“Oh! Lewis! Look who we found,” Simone brought out the white-haired girl. She looked scared but Simone reassured her. “Mirabelle was in the house of my cousin. We shall make Felix pay greatly for his crimes to you.” The girl nodded to Simone. “I’m sorry you became a weapon against Lewis…”