The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "Missing Piece" by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross OST) - available in Spotify or Youtube] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this scene ~

"It's because … YOU are the reason all of this chaos started in the first place".

These words kept on echoing inside Elliot's mind. With both of his knees on the ground, his heart continued to crumble. His eyes stared at nothingness, devastated from the words he just heard. His thoughts battled against each other.

"That's not true … it's a lie," Elliot thought, trying to convince himself … but he was not succeeding. "But then … why was I locked in the Forbidden Chamber? The most logical reason is because … I'm really the one who caused it - the destruction of Gaia. I … I do have too much power. Too much that I can literally destroy the world if I want to! What if … when I was a child, I really did it? And the white mask ...," on and on negative thoughts clouded his mind.

Then, Elliot remembered a scene from his past.

He was around three years old back then. With obsidian black hair, and eyes like that of a lifeless doll. His small body wandered aimlessly in the Forbidden Forest. Unbeknown to him, the creatures of the forest silently watched him from afar as he walked with no destination in mind. Later on, he reached the wide meadow inside the forest. 

Seeing it was a clear place where he could see the skies easily, his little mind pondered until he decided that he wanted the whole forest to be clear of its trees like the meadow. He raised his tiny arms and from it, conjured fire.

However, his fire was no child's play. It was too big - as big as the whole meadow itself which was already the size of a coliseum. He threw his fire at the trees near him, and continued in a clockwise direction, engulfing the whole forest in fire. The creatures who were watching him a few moments ago, fled far away from him. Despite doing all this, his face remained expressionless … not knowing what he did was entirely wrong. He only stopped when Ducis came rushing towards him and stopped him.

Then, another memory flashed on Elliot's mind.

"Elliot," Ducis whispered the name of the child before him. They were back to the Forbidden Chamber and Ducis held a plain white mask on his hands.

The little boy Elliot looked at him straight in the eyes with the same lifeless expression.

"Elliot, I need you to wear this," Ducis continued, his hands trembling. "T-this mask is a limiter. It will help you control your powers. It seems you have too much and …," he paused while he bit his lips, "and, ahm … for you to not exhaust all your spiritual energy. Losing them all will cause your death, and we don't want that so …".

The little boy Elliot tilted his head and asked, "Is it because I destroyed the forest?"

Ducis' eyes widened. He clenched the mask that he held on his hands and sighed afterwards. In his mind he answered him, "NO! It's not because of that! It's -," but his mouth wasn't prepared enough to tell him. Shaking his head, he replied, "I'm so sorry".

And so, he placed the white mask on Elliot's face. The mask covered his whole facial features. Only his bright aquamarine eyes could be seen from it.

After reminiscing such sad memories, Elliot's heart sunk even further. More and more, he got convinced that it was indeed, all because of him. Tears started to gather at the corner of his eyes. For who else would have such a vast amount of power that could destroy the world? Aside from guardians who would NEVER do anything to harm the planet … who else had it?

The answer was crystal clear … it was "him".

Elliot's body shook uncontrollably ...

He embraced himself, trying to calm down but his lips continued to tremble ...

He panted and gasped, trying to find some air to breathe ...

But his fears took a hold of his heart …

Fears he tried to hide all these years …

Fears he tried to brush off by being positive …

Fears that now returned and came to hunt him down …

Alas, the tears he'd been trying to hold back, fell from his eyes …

Elliot sobbed … his heart, shattered into pieces.

"It was me …," Elliot murmured to himself. "It was all because of me …

I'm the one … who caused Gaia's destruction …

I'm the reason … why my race needed to conquer other planets …

It was because of me … that Rania and the others had to suffer …

It all started … all because of me".

"Yes, that's right," his clone replied. "It's all because of you".

While Elliot's heart continued to sink deeper into the darkness, Rania and Luna flew around the whole archipelago, still searching for any signs of him. They flew high above the ground, watchful for anything that moved or had any spiritual trace in them.

"You're doing great, Rania! Didn't know you're also a fast learner," Luna complimented her as they hovered in the air.

"It's because I had a great teacher! Thank you, Luna".

"Awww, geez. It's nothing!" Luna giggled.

Suddenly, Rania felt her heart sting so much that she unconsciously held her chest.

"Huh? What's wrong, Rania? Is your chest hurting?" Luna worriedly asked, noticing it.

"Luna … I think there's something wrong going on with Elliot".

"Wrong like what?"

"I don't know," Rania shook her head, "I just … my heart, it's been stinging since Ducis disappeared, and now, it's just getting worse".

"So, you feel it if there's something wrong with Elliot?" Luna raised her eyebrows. "I don't think that's possible, though".

"Maybe it's just my instincts. But we need to hurry!"

"Yes! Of course!"

Then, Rania noticed a blue glow from afar. She quickly dashed towards it's direction. As she got nearer, she was surprised to see all the six guardians gathered into one place, in their Sacred Beast form!

Landing on her two feet, Rania called out, "Ducis! What happened?"

The dragon, Ducis, turned his head towards the direction of the voice. He immediately recognized it was Rania, so he shifted back to his man form. The other guardians followed him and changed back as well.

"Rania …," Ducis called her back, his face, filled with fret. It wasn't only him - all the guardian's faces reflected the same look of worry and nervousness.

It was then when Rania noticed something glowing behind all of them. 

Rania made her way past all of them. 

And there she saw Elliot, curled up in a large water cocoon, with magic circles, spinning slowly around it. 

"Elliot!" she shouted his name. She ran quickly to his side, touching the water cocoon, trying to break it and reach out to him. But the cocoon, despite being made of water, was impenetrable. She knocked on it over and over, as she called out his name.

"What is happening here, Ducis?" Luna asked him. "Why is he in a water cocoon?"

"It's part of his trial".

"And what is this trial all about?" even the positive Luna was worried. 

"It's -" Ducis tried to answer her but they were interrupted by Rania's frantic voice.

"L-Luna … D-Ducis," Rania looked back at them, with tears falling from her eyes.

Luna quickly ran to her aid. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Elliot's … he … his -," Rania's lips trembled. 

" - Calm down, what do you mean?"

"His spiritual energy, it's draining really fast!"

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