The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "Mount Pyre" 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 ~

"Pft! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Rania and Luna burst out laughing.

"Right! Elliot's clone can handle all of them! He IS that powerful!" Luna was so proud. "Go ahead Elliot's clones! Defeat them!"

Elliot smirked at Luna's remark. Then, he concentrated, to communicate telepathically with his clones. He instructed them to clear out the area and defeat all the monsters. While he did this, Ducis kept on looking around the area. Rania noticed him and approached him.

"Anything wrong, Ducis?" she whispered to him, not wanting to disturb Elliot's concentration.

Ducis frowned before answering her, "I'm not quite sure but I feel that there's something … amiss".

Rania was startled. "Amiss? Like how?"

"Hmm … Even if I'm the Guardian of Time and Space that knows a lot of things, there are still some restrictions. One of those is the restriction amongst other guardian's realms. I have knowledge of their realms and trials, but only up to the point I have seen. If they were to change it … that would be an entirely different story".

"And right now, you feel that something changed in this realm?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"Is it the appearance? The monsters?"

"Both of that," Ducis agreed, "but there's another - a presence that I'm unfamiliar with".

"I see. I hope it's not something bad".

"I hope so, too".

"KYAAAAAA!" Luna squealed, getting the attention of Rania and Ducis. "Great job Elliot! Keep it up and I might shorten your flirting ban!" She hit Elliot's back hard, trying to pat him for a job well done, though they were a bit strong for a pat.

"Are you patting me, or punching me?" Elliot grimaced. "And who said I'm adhering to your flirting ban?" he teased, "I'm gonna flirt with Rania all I want". He then walked towards Rania's direction and hugged her.

"Ah! E-Elliot …," Rania jolted in surprise. "We shouldn't -"

"- Rania, praise me ...," Elliot acted like a cute child, closing his eyes, and leaned his head on Rania's shoulder, facing her neck. Due to their height difference, he arched his back in order to do so.

"Aaaahhhh!!!" Rania squealed internally. "My heart! Why is Elliot being such a cute baby right now? An overly handsome and alluring man should not act cute! It's highly dangerous! At this rate, I might die". Hesitantly, she patted his head, and stroked his soft hair. "Umgh, how can I say no?"

Elliot smiled so handsomely as soon as Rania patted him. He then opened his eyes and in the blink of an eye, stole a three-second kiss on Rania's lips. Rania froze in her position.

"Elliot!!!" Luna yelled at him. "Y-you! You're being too mischievous as of late! What's got into you? Where has our kind and gentle Elliot gone? Or maybe you're a clone?!" Luna couldn't believe her eyes.

Indeed, Elliot was behaving rather mischievously than usual. While Luna was baffled by the sudden change, Rania could understand why. After their heated argument the other night, Rania figured that Elliot might be doing as she said … cherishing and enjoying their last moments … while there's still time. Rania sighed at the thought of it.

Elliot shrugged his shoulders and ignored Luna. He went back to the magical mirrors he created and checked if his clones were done ridding the area of monsters. It hadn't even been a minute since he left but the clones were already done with their tasks. All areas were wiped clean, not even the bodies of the monsters remained. They all turned into dark sparkles and scattered in the air.

"Well done, everyone," Elliot complimented his own clones, as weird as it might be. "Now, proceed further and see what lies ahead".

The clones did as he instructed. At the end of the path, beyond where the monsters used to be, was another door, one on each path. Elliot's clones opened each door carefully, just in case there were monsters again in the next room. Indeed, what awaited them were another batch of random monsters. The clones continued fighting the monsters again, defeating them one after another.

"This is unusual," Elliot commented. "Why is this place filled with monsters? It's as if … whoever the guardian of this place is, he doesn't want us to come further".

"You're right," Rania agreed. "I wonder why … What if something bad is happening? I don't know if it's just me, but this place seems rather dark. The atmosphere is heavy and ..." Rania paused, and looked at her hands, "I feel a bit suffocated for some reason".

"What? Why are you only telling me now?" Elliot hurried towards her side, in worry. "What do you mean suffocated? You can't breathe? Where does it hurt?"

Rania shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that. Sorry for worrying you. What I meant is … I'm not sure though, maybe it's my holy powers. It feels suppressed somehow, like there's something suffocating it and I don't know what it is".

"Oh, right. Speaking of holy powers … I never mentioned it, have I?"

"Mention what?"

"Ahm, I have holy powers now," Elliot nonchalantly said. "The Supreme gave it to me on the last gate".

Rania and Luna's eyes widened. As for Ducis, well, he felt it way back then, so he wasn't surprised anymore.

"Wow! That's grea-," Rania congratulated him but she was cut short.

" - What?! You have holy powers now?" Luna butted in. "Wow! Give me some of your powers! This is so unfair. Where is justice? I demand a fair share of powers, too! Hmf! First it was Rania, and now its Elliot. Ducis is already a guardian so he has lots of energy already. Where does that leave me? I'm the weakest link here!"

"Exactly. Good that you know," Ducis teased her.

"Shut up dragon! I'm not talking to you! Hmf!"

"And here they go again," Rania jested. "It's amazing how this has become a tradition already. Every gate, Luna and Ducis would bicker". She clapped her hands like an audience watching a comedy skit.

Elliot on the other hand, tried to feel his body and magic if there was any "suppressing" happening as what Rania mentioned. However, he didn't feel anything. Actually, if there was, he would have felt it from the beginning since he had always been very sensitive to all kinds of energy flow. Since it wasn't the case, he thought that perhaps, it was Rania's intuition working.

After a few minutes, the clones finished defeating the monsters and there was yet again, another door in front of them. They opened it to reveal a staircase leading upwards. Elliot instructed them to proceed with caution. When they climbed up, the next room was full of monsters again.

The clones continued fighting. Opening doors, going through stairs, up and up they went. The monsters were never ending. The higher they got, the stronger the monsters became. It was like traveling to an Endless Tower filled with monsters, except this one was a temple. Later on, the clones seemed to have reached the peak, where the doors led them to a gigantic room. All three paths led to the same room, thus, the three separated clones reunited.

The gigantic room was empty except for a pedestal located at the very center that had a glowing red orb on top of it, suspended in the air. The floors were hollow, except for the part where the pedestal was, and a narrow stone path leading to it. Beneath the stone path was a pool of lava. Surely, anyone who would fall from there would die an instant death. Above the pedestal was an open roof, revealing the sky filled with dark clouds.

"So all of the path leads to one place. It didn't matter which path we took," Rania commented. "And what is that at the center?"

"Something is really wrong," Ducis finally voiced out his opinion. "First, there shouldn't be monsters in this realm. Another is that this temple was not supposed to be the trial venue. And most important of all, that room is supposed to be for visit purposes because that orb leads to -"

"WWWRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

A sudden ear-splitting sound reverberated throughout the whole temple - even to the very first level where Rania, Elliot, Luna and Ducis were. The team had to cover their ears in an attempt to lessen the volume they were hearing. The ground shook from its vibration. 

When the team lifted their heads to check back on the magical mirrors, what they saw was yet another monster. A monster that came out from the pool of lava, with a body made from the lava itself. It was shaped like a giant man with bright red eyes and a dark aura emanating from its entire body.

And there it was … the suffocating feeling Rania perceived since the beginning.

It didn't come from the lava monster … but instead, from the dark aura that was covering its body!