The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "Hate" by Lucas King (Instrumental only) - available in Youtube] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this scene ~

A deafening silence covered the whole throne room.

No one dared utter a word. 

Trickle of sweat could be seen on the foreheads of most officials. Having a vast gap of spiritual energy as compared to the king, they all felt pressure and had breathing problems when the king released a portion of his tremendous aura in the throne room. 

The Judges and Generals remained calm. So as the man with dark green hair - the only one who dared go against the king. Perhaps it was because he was the primary head of their noble tribe, or the fact that he held the most power as opposed to other noble tribes. Or better yet, because he had close relationships with the royal family that spanned hundreds of generations. He was, after all, the head of the Reus household, and the Prime Head of the 'Tribe of Darkness'. His name was "Avarus Reus", Nefastus' father.

Aside from the hierarchy of power where the King was the highest, followed by Judges, Generals, Mythics, Legends, and so on, the Magi also have their own distribution of jurisdictions based on territories back in the planet of Gaia. In total, Gaia had twelve continents which contained the "Twelve Tribes", each corresponding to the twelve guardian's powers. They were named as: "Tribe of Fire", "Tribe of Water", "Tribe of Wind", "Tribe of Thunder", "Tribe of Ice", and so on. 

Each tribe was ruled by a noble household, and each household, by a family head. There could be up to three family heads; the "Primus" or Prime Head, the Secondary, and Tertiary. Though most of the time, there was only one family head. These noble family heads worked like Presidents, if we're going to compare it to a human's government, only their jurisdiction was bigger since it was a continent rather than a country. Due to the vastness of each continent, the noble family heads appointed other lower nobles to help them manage the tribes assigned to them. Thus, the hierarchy continued. Those lower nobles were the ones left in Gaia to help govern all the people there.

While it was true that the king reigned above all, the noble families helped govern each tribe in Gaia up to the smallest of things. Thus, they too, had their own share in the messy game of politics.

"Your highness," Avarus called the king. "We have already lost two, young noblemen because of a human venturing to the Forbidden Chamber. And they were mere teenagers! Too young to discern right from wrong. Yet, you did not show mercy to them and had them killed without listening to their cause!" he exclaimed, like a passionate lawyer defending his brethrens. His face reflected sorrow for his kind but his eyes told a cold story.

Hearing his words, the Prime Head of the Tribe of Sand, bowed his head. The two young noblemen mentioned were from his household and up to this day, his heart still ached from the lives lost that day. Avarus was right to a point - they were too young and not even an adult to be subjected to the death penalty.

"Was it the youngsters' fault that those women ran off to the Forbidden Chamber? A place of no return?" Avarus asked, his tone getting louder and louder for everyone to hear. "No! It wasn't their fault! They merely chased the woman who was being disrespectful to them! If we are to ask who started it all, then it would be the humans, are they not?"

Little by little, the other noble heads were convinced and nodded in agreement with him.

"He has a point," whispered one of the noble heads.

"We weren't even given the chance to explain or plead our cause that time".

"That was indeed very unfair".

One after another, the nobles began murmuring.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

King Calum slowly clapped his hands and everyone's attention was gathered in an instant. They stopped talking and looked at their king.

"What a very clever way to derail the discussion, Avarus," King Calum scoffed, putting a stress on his name. "When I appointed that human that you speak of as a 'National Treasure', did I not say that no one is allowed to touch her or even mingle with her except for servants I appointed and friends she allows? Yet these two young noblemen you mentioned disregarded that. Now you say simply because they were teenagers, they should be forgiven? Were we not taught of customs and laws since childhood for us to be ignorant of it? And do you mean that if those 'teenagers' were to plot against me, they should be forgiven as well since they're young?"

The nobles jolted at this remark of the king. No one could refute what he just said.

"You already took the life of my National Treasure, and now that I have appointed my queen, you want to take her life too? Do my words weigh nothing to all of you now? Do my choices not matter anymore? You keep on killing people I like!" King Calum exclaimed and his voice thundered across the throne room. His rage was now immeasurable, and his spiritual aura grew heavier. "First, you plot to kill my father, then my mother, my National Treasure, and now my queen?! HOW DARE YOU ALL!"

The whole Floating Kingdom shook once again in the king's anger.

"Do you still take me as a fool who doesn't see past your lies and wickedness?" the king asked again, his eyes focused on Avarus. "I am no longer a child you can control so you try to control the people around me, people I have chosen! Because you do not approve of them, you plot to kill them. You brood of vipers!"

As his anger and suffocating aura continued, each nobleman dropped to their knees, starting from those with the weakest spiritual resilience.

Avarus' face, who was doing so great in acting a few moments ago, became serious. He stared at the king's eyes, and the king unto his. Deep hatred reflected in the king's eyes, while his' remained calm and mysterious.

"Such heavy accusations, you highness," Avarus replied. He, unlike many others, remained standing on his feet. "But of course, you are king, who would dare question your decision. Give us your verdict. Whatever it is, we will abide".

"I want her dead … was my initial decision. But lucky for you, my kind, human, queen was unharmed, thanks to Clavis, and she wouldn't tolerate such a thing. Instead, I thought of the perfect punishment for your daughter, Avarus," the king declared for everyone to hear.

"Wait, so it was his daughter who tried to kill the queen?" one of the noblemen asked.

"I didn't know! So that's why he was so protective and rude to speak up to the king".

"His daughter's really no good. Always bringing troubles".

Again, the nobles began to whisper amongst themselves. This irked Avarus but he remained calm and awaited the king's verdict.

"And what is this punishment you thought of, your highness?"

King Calum smirked. "Since she coveted the position of queen so much, and disrespected my queen by saying she's nothing but a mere tool for childbirth … I want her to marry the oldest Tribe Head and produce an heir with him. Let her experience what it really meant to be nothing but a tool of childbirth!"

"T-the eldest?" another noble asked.

"But the eldest is … around 50 years old right?"

"And Nefastus should be around half that age".

"She's at the prime of her years".

"Aside from that," the king continued, "she will be tortured everyday for a whole month, with the same ice spears she used to attack my queen. Let the Generals take turns in torturing her. That is my verdict. Any objections?"

Everyone remained silent. This time, including Avarus. But a hint of hatred could now be seen from his eyes.

"Good. You are all dismissed," the king adjourned them. Turning to Servus, he commanded him, "Send me a daily report of the punishment and the progress of the marriage and childbirth. I want it done as soon as possible".

"Yes, your highness," Servus bowed and vanished afterwards.

After a few minutes, everyone already left aside from Clavis. He walked towards the king and crossed his arms when he reached him.

"Are you sure this is alright, your highness?" Clavis asked.

King Calum sighed. "I am done playing games with them. It's time I uproot the unneeded weeds in my garden".

"Shouldn't you be seeking guidance from the Supreme first before making such bold decisions? Just from your argument earlier, you have already lost the respect of many noble family heads".

"I have long abandoned the Supreme the moment He chose to remain silent when we all begged for help. So don't go talking to me about Him again".

"No," Clavis strictly replied, "I will continue advising you to seek the Supreme's guidance for that is what's right. The fear of the Supreme is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. And all those who reject wisdom are like the foolish kings of old. Do not be like them, your highness".

Like a roaring stream, Clavis' conviction drowned the king's heart.