The King's Beloved

The sun rose up from its slumber. Touching the world with its light, it attempted to shed a bit of warmth to the once known beautiful planet. But its warmth was not enough to caress this devastating ruins….nor the hearts of billions of people living in fear. And one of those people living in fear….was a mother.

"Ugh," the mother grunted as she woke up from the sun's rays warming up her cheeks. She fell asleep sitting on a sofa inside a private room of a certain hospital. Her face was young and beautiful, yet drained with all its energy. You could trace remnants of tears from her green eyes and her brown hair was left messy and untaken care off. She wore a simple pastel green dress covered in warm robes.

The mother tried to stand with her feeble feet to approach her son who laid on the bed. Her son was in a deep coma which had been going on for months. Only a machine kept him alive. He was also one of those...almost a casualty...people during the planet invasion. He got impaled on his stomach which caused a major injury on his body. Good thing his spinal cord wasn't damaged or else, he'll definitely won't be able to make it through.

As the mother longingly watched over her son, caressing his cheeks, and his hands, a sudden movement surprised her. It was her son's hand! For a moment, it moved, like an impulse. She felt so overjoyed that she almost jumped with her weak legs and ran to get the doctor. The doctor and nurse quickly followed her afterwards and checked the patient. Tears of bittersweet joy fell from her face like a river as she watched the doctor tend her beloved son.

Few weeks passed after that incident and finally, her son woke up on a one cloudy afternoon.

After opening the door to the room of her son, the mother dropped the bag of food she was carrying as she saw her son sitting on his bed.

"Zeid!" she cried loudly as she ran towards him. Once near, she couldn't believe her eyes and her hands trembled as she hugged him tightly. "You're alive! You're alive my son!"

Zeid smiled tenderly towards his mother. With all his little strength, he raised his arm to embrace her. The doctor and nurses came flooding afterwards to check on him and to celebrate as well the good news of someone surviving after the Magi's attack.

Few weeks passed by again as Zeid recuperated. Good thing he was physically fit and healthy which enabled him to recuperate faster than normal people. As he rested, his mother would always tell him stories of what happened while he was asleep to keep him updated.

"After that incident at the hotel, the next few days weren't any better. Wars broke out all over the world. Each country was fixated on defending their own nations…..but it was all hopeless. Those invaders, they're really strong. Magic…. I never really believed any of those but seeing them, on the news, or everywhere, one can't really shake reality."

Zeid just listened to her silently. Half of his mind was elsewhere.

"Then, after they've completely won, they started planting large crystals that looked like a very huge obelisk tower all over the world. We don't know what it was for, and scientists can't even get near those crystals to investigate. Some tried to… but it was simply impossible. For all we know, those crystals could be the end of our planet… It's really scary."

Zeid was still silent.

"There was some good news though….just one."

At these words, Zeid grew expectant.

"Few days after the incident, those Magi… they released thousands of maidens that they initially captured and returned them to their homes."

" - Rania," he muttered.

" - Unfortunately, she wasn't one of them," his mother regrettably responded. "In an interview with the released maidens, they said that one brave girl stood up amongst the others and asked the king of the invaders to release them. It seems that they were captured to be their king's wife or consort and since he didn't need thousands of women, he agreed to release the unneeded ones. They even said that his reason for releasing them was that he was amused by that girl's bravery."

Zeid smiled bitterly. He could imagine Rania being the girl who spoke up.

"And that's why...a hundred girls were still left in their care and Rania was one of them, I believe...since they safely returned the others."

"She's really amazing," he softly whispered.

Deep sadness could be seen in Zeid's face as he reminisced about Rania. Even though he was healing physically….his heart never did.

"Mom," he called out to his mother as he tilted his head to stare at the skies beyond the windows of the room.

"Yes, my dear?" his mother replied with worry on her face. She could feel it coming, whatever her son was about to say. But...she was not ready for it.

"Mom….I…..Rania…," Zeid felt conflicted.

His mother shook her head and tears began to garner on her eyes..

"My dear son, I know...

But…..

Please...

…..not this." And tears fell on her eyes once again.

Zeid's face furrowed in agony as he looked at his mother.

"Mom, you know how much I love her."

"Yes, I know and that's why I know that you'll do everything in your power to bring her back. But….these aliens, or Magi, or whatever they're called, they're not someone you should mess with! If trained armies and all the military people in the world couldn't do it, what makes you think you can?"

"- I won't know until I try!"

"You don't need to try!"

"But mom….Rania… we don't know what horrible things they could be doing to her! What if….what if she's being maltreated? Or worse...being …. " Zeid clenched his hands hard as he imagined. "..I just can't…"

"I know...son, believe me, I know," his mother's voice was now shaking in fear and sadness and worry. "Rania, she's such a sweet, sweet girl and I really love her too, but…please Zeid….not this."

"Mom,...if you understand, you know that I can't just sit here knowing what could be happening to her."

Her mother shook her head again. "Zeid...why don't you just…. Forget about her and… move on? Okay? I know it's hard but - "

"MOVE ON?!!!" Zeid was furious. "How could you say that?! You said you love Rania but you're telling me to move on?!"

"My son, it's not what you think..it just…"

"- Just what?"

Clenching her first and trying to harden her face and her voice, her mother answered him.

"I…. I DON"T WANT TO LOSE MY SON!"

Zeid was dumbfounded. He couldn't utter a word.

"That day….," his mother continued. "I can still remember that day… The day that I ALMOST lost you…. And NEVER again will I have that! Finally,....finally you're awake now and you want to go and have yourself killed again?! NO!"

She bit her lips as she trembled imagining her son's poor fortune.

"Zeid….," she was now crying really hard. "I know it's really, really hard to accept but...maybe….

Maybe, you're not just meant to be…

At least in this life…

So please….

Don't let yourself suffer anymore than this….

And stop endangering yourself for her…

She's a kind girl and I know she wouldn't want you dying for her…

Please….please….please...huhuhuhu..."

And Zeid's mother hugged him tightly…Really, really tight that Zeid could feel her fastened heartbeats and her body trembling.

Zeid could only bite his lips and distort his face in his own anguish. His heart was breaking every second. He loved his mom dearly, but he loves Rania too deeply for him to move on.

Moving on….was never an option for him.

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Title: "A Beautiful Catastrophe"

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