The King's Beloved

[Music Recommendation: "Soffia la Notte" by Fabrizio Paterlini (instrumental only) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in the loop while you read this part to experience the real atmosphere of this scene T_T ~

After their long and heartwarming first kiss, at last, Rania let off a genuine smile. The feelings she had been holding back these past few months were finally set free and reached the one she loved. Deep in her heart, she decided to let it go and just embrace the feelings she had. Elliot was the same, at long last, he figured out the feelings he had been having in his heart.

Elliot held Rania's cheeks as their bodies continued to embrace each other.

"Are you feeling better now?" Elliot asked, caressing her cheeks in the process, and wiping the last bit of tears she had on her eyes.

"Yes, much better. Thank you," Rania replied, holding Elliot's hand that was brushing her cheeks. Her heart was still pounding loudly in her chest. She gazed at him as she answered.

Elliot's lips curved into a smirk, "If I only knew that a kiss would make you happy, I wouldn't have stopped myself from kissing you before".

"What?" Rania blushed. "You mean … you've always wanted to … kiss me? But you've been very kind and polite and very much a gentleman ever since. You won't just … well, not until 'that' night".

"Honestly, I've been having this feeling of … wanting to kiss you, and hug you, and cuddle you for a long time now. I'm just holding back because you said a man and a woman shouldn't be too touchy and close to each other, unless they're lovers".

"That's right," Rania nodded. "Good thing you remembered".

"I always remember everything you say," Elliot shrugged. Then, pulling Rania closer to him, he asked, with a hint of teasing in his tone, "Hmmm … I also remember you saying that 'lovers' are people who love each other. Am I correct?"

Rania was taken aback. "A-ahm … yes, that's also right".

Elliot smirked again. "I love you, and you love me, too. So I assume we're 'lovers' now?"

Embarrassed, Rania nodded her head once. "I … I guess so".

"Good! Then that means I can hug you, and cuddle you, and kiss you anytime I want now, right?"

"W-what?!" Rania was surprised. She profusely shook her head as she answered, "No! I should have an equal amount of say in the matter. You can't just kiss me anywhere," her face flushed red, "I mean … Luna and Ducis … and the others. Umgh, you get what I mean!" Then her voice toned down, and she continued in a murmur, "I-if we're alone, t-that's fine. But not when we're with other -"

"- Got it," Elliot didn't let her finish, and he kissed her again. "We're still alone, right?"

Rania couldn't refuse him, so they enjoyed a couple more minutes of kissing and cuddling.

On the other hand, Luna, Ducis and the other guardians were having a peaceful tea time or coffee time inside the Forbidden Chamber. 

"..." everyone was silent when Rania and Elliot left the room.

"So," Luna decided to break the silence. "While we're waiting for them, can I ask you, guardians, something?"

"What stupid question are you going to ask again?" Ducis raised his eyebrows.

"What do you mean stupid?" Luna was angered. "Excuse me, but I've been asking you great questions so far! To the point, you can't even answer some of them!"

Ducis sighed, pressing his fingers on his temples. 

Terra chuckled. "It seems another fairy is giving you a headache, Ducis".

Ducis squinted at her, sighing, "Apparently".

"Another fairy?" Luna got curious. "Who's the other one?" a hint of a smug smile could be seen on her face. "I want to meet her! We'll definitely get along with each other - especially in making this stupid dragon suffer. He-he!"

Terra and Saburra looked at each other. Caligo and Fauna remained silent, but their countenance turned sullen … especially Ducis'.

Luna felt the sudden heavy atmosphere.

"Wait, why do you all look as if someone died?"

A moment of silence passed by.

"Someone did … die," Saburra replied, with a bitter smile on his face.

Terra held her brother's hand and turned to Luna. "As you may already know, Gaia is not in a very favourable situation right now".

"Yes, I know. I used to wander around different places back there when the Grand Palace hasn't embarked on a journey towards different planets".

"If that is so, then you should know what's keeping it alive right now," Fauna added.

But Luna shook her head. "I'm sorry I don't," her voice turned mellow. "When I woke up, thinking I was a sprite, Gaia was already in chaos. And the hot topic amongst sprites was that the king decided to go to different planets. Aside from that, I don't know much".

"Flora," Ducis continued. His face reflected so much pain. "She … had to sacrifice herself to keep Gaia alive".

Luna gasped and covered her mouth.

"Flora is the Guardian of Nature, and among all of us, she holds the most amount of spiritual energy," Terra seconded. "Since the planet operates and survives on spiritual energy, unless something supplies it, it will die".

"So y-you mean, she sacrificed all her spiritual energy for Gaia to survive?" Luna's lips trembled as she asked again.

Everyone nodded. 

"We didn't know that she was already planning on doing that ever since that 'catastrophe' happened. She didn't tell anyone … not even Ducis," Terra looked at Ducis' direction. "We just … suddenly felt her presence evaporating until it was all gone".

Luna sobbed after hearing such terrible truth.

"T-that's so sad," she cried. "So that's why the planet is barely surviving right now? Because it's still using the spiritual energy she gave? Sniff … sniff".

"Yes, and we don't have much time anymore. We only have around 60 days until it's exhausted, and we need to do something about it real quick," Ducis said, as his face furrowed. "The current king is invading planets in order to suck spiritual energies and transfer them to Gaia. But it's not enough. It can only buy us some time. Once we're done with the trials, we need to go back to Gaia to solve the root of all this".

Luna wiped her tears. "And what is the root of all this?"

"That's…" Ducis hesitated.

Suddenly, Rania and Elliot arrived, chuckling towards each other. Seeing everyone's face, plus the oppressive atmosphere, they looked at each other and shrugged.

"What happened?" Elliot asked. "Did Ducis and Luna fight again?"

Ducis sighed and answered him, "It's nothing. We're done resting. Let's go to the Sixth Gate now".

Elliot wanted to probe more, but he thought, perhaps, it wasn't time yet again.

"Alright, let's go".

And so, everyone went back to Anguis Solum and onto the next gate. The other guardians went back to Elliot's Zweihänder and rested there.

Now, the Sixth Gate looked like a smaller version of a typhoon, curved to make an arc, and in its middle was another black hole. The team jumped into the black hole, and blinding lights welcomed them inside.

When they opened their eyes, what awaited them was the vast and beautiful sky, with clouds in different pastel colours of the rainbow. Most shades were in pink, yellow and blue. Then, the team noticed they were standing on a metal platform situated near a cliff. And in front of them was a mechanical-looking castle, floating in the sky. 

Trying to look closer by squinting their eyes, they noticed some fireworks and sparks booming around the castle. There were festive decorations, too, such as banners of different colours, flags with insignias dancing with the wind, lanterns floating all around, and beautiful hangings on the castle walls.

"There seems to be a festival going on," Rania deduced. "Do you think we need to go there?"

"I think so," Elliot shrugged.

"But how do we go there? Can you use your magic? Or is this realm going to deactivate our magic once again?" Rania asked as she tried to feel her body from any possible changes. She always felt heavier whenever they'd go to a realm where their magic and spiritual energies were suppressed.

Elliot tried casting magic by lighting up a fire on his fingers. And there they were, five tiny torches in each of his fingers, like lighters.

"Hmm … I guess we won't be having problems with magic now".

Rania tried hers, too. "Fire," she whispered, and a small fire also appeared in her hands. "Same goes for me".

"Why are you both discussing magic when we can just ride Ducis to get there?" Luna asked, pressing on her chin. "He can transform into a dragon, remember?"

Rania and Elliot blinked their eyes and chuckled afterwards.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! That's right, we can just ride on Ducis' back," Elliot laughed.

"We're so used to having him in his man form that we forgot the fact that he's a dragon".

"Me, too. Good thing Luna remembers".

"That's because they bicker a lot".

Luna pouted. Noticing something odd, and unusual again, she asked Rania and Elliot a very intriguing question.

"I'm not sure if it's just me but …," Luna squinted her eyes. "You two seem to be awfully closer right now. Tell me, what was it that you talked about when you went outside?"

Rania and Elliot were taken aback. And a hint of blush could be seen from their faces.