The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "Dearly Beloved" by Yōko Shimomura (Orchestra version by Hikari) - available in Youtube] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

After a few more minutes of waiting, the king finally arrived in the throne room. His body shined bright, as he descended from above, and down to the throne. The soft murmurs of the Judges died down when he arrived. They all welcomed him with a bow.

"You may be seated," King Calum said, gesturing his hands for them to sit down. 

Everyone sat down except for the Oracle who stood firm before them. It was customary for anyone who requested an audience to the king to bend their knees and kneel in front of him when stating their concerns. The officials may stand but they need to bow their heads while the Generals and Judges may be seated on their respective seats near the throne. Since the Oracle was neither an official, a General, or a Judge, she was supposed to kneel in front of the king.

But this generation's Oracle, Illumináire, was not one to kneel before anyone else except the Most High - this, she had resolved herself to do.

"The well-known and very much respected Oracle, Illumináire Sortis," King Calum addressed her, "still refuses to kneel before me. How very brave," and shifting to a sharp tone, he continued, " … and stubborn".

"There is no one in this world that I revered the most but the Supreme. Hence, bending my knees is solely reserved for Him," Illumináire replied firmly. Despite her cute looking, doll-like face, was an unrelenting courage and passion. "I respect you as how kings ought to be respected, but my reverence shall forever belong to the Most High".

King Calum sighed as he shook his head in dismay, "What am I to do with you?" Then, he shrugged and leaned his back to the throne. "Anyway, enough with the idle talk. You requested for an audience since you had something urgent to discuss. State your concern".

Illumináire nodded and looked at the king straight to his eyes as she said, "I need permission to bring half of the Sortis family back to Gaia".

Everyone was appalled by what the Oracle just said - everyone except Clavis who already knew the situation beforehand. With enlarged eyes, the Judges looked at each other, shrugging and shaking their heads. Even the king's expression turned serious.

"I believe you know very well why we included your whole household in traveling to different planets, right?" King Calum asked in a cold tone.

Illumináire nodded in agreement. "Yes, I understand. But the situation is dire and the people left in Gaia need our help!"

A short silence fell before the king asked, "What happened? Explain yourself".

And so, the Oracle told everyone what happened that day when she got visited by the Guardian of Fire …

Illumináire was doing her daily routine, praying to the Supreme inside the Oracle's prayer room, when an unexpected guest arrived. It was a man unfamiliar to her - with long reddish brown hair, tall stature, and when he lifted his head, she noticed he had golden eyes. She was shocked for a moment but she understood immediately that whoever it was before her, should be a Guardian … for only Guardians had those same blazing golden eyes.

However, the man had a dark aura surrounding his body, and a barrier covering him that for some reason, instead of protection to its owner, Illumináire saw it as … a barrier that kept the dark aura from spreading. At the same time, she noticed that he seemed to be feeling unwell, with his back hunched down and his hands grabbing unto his chest firmly. With a worried face, she ran towards the man and reached out her hands, wanting to help him.

"Don't!" the man said, his voice sounded sore. His mouth was kept open, trying to breathe but he seemed to be having a hard time doing so.

"Is there anything I can help?" Illumináire asked, putting her clenched fists down, since she couldn't touch him to check his condition. "What happened? And may I know who you are?"

The man tried to smile at her but his aching body was too much to bear. He fell on his knees and breathed heavily.

"Ugh!," the man grunted.

"Ah!" Illumináire walked closer and reached out her hands once more.

The man tried to bear with the pain.

"I'm sorry about that," he continued. "I am Ignis, the Guardian of Fire, and I've come to seek your help … Blessed Oracle".

Illumináire let out a bitter smile. "It is such an honor to meet a Guardian in person. I thank you for granting me an audience. State the help you need and I shall do it in the best of my abilities".

"Thank you," Ignis smiled at her. "There is … a corruption spreading in Gaia … a spiritual corruption that seeks to eat up a person's core, turning them into a demonic being … unable to reason and only seeks to kill and destroy".

Illumináire gasped and her eyes widened in shock.

"Is that … what this dark aura is?" she asked as she looked intently at the dark aura covering Ignis' body.

"Yes," Ignis nodded. "But there is a cure, though, only for those who still had their cores unharmed - and that's your family's holy energy. So I beseech you, send help to Gaia and cure those that have been affected by this spiritual corruption while there's still time! This dark aura … it creeps into the body slowly and starts with the skin, taking several days before it reaches a person's spiritual core. Before that happens, you need to heal them using holy energy and reject the dark aura in their bodies. Only then will they be saved. But once it reaches the core … it is impossible to save the person".

"T-that's …," Illumináire was speechless for a moment, wanting to cry from all the things she was hearing. It wasn't enough that Gaia was slowly dying. If that wasn't tragic enough, now, there was a spiritual corruption spreading, killing the people inside it. But she strengthened herself and focused on what could be done instead of moping around. "In that case, let me heal you!"

"I'm afraid the corruption has already reached my spiritual core," Ignis gave her a bitter smile.

"... No," Illumináire shook her head, and tears started to fall from her eyes. "I'm … so sorry".

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Blessed Oracle," he wanted to pat her head but afraid of spreading the darkness to her. "I'm sorry for putting such a great burden upon you. But please, send help to Gaia".

Wiping her tears, Illumináire answered firmly, "Yes! You can count on me! I will do my best to send our family back to Gaia!"

"Thank you," Ignis bowed his head.

Thus, Illuminaire's explanation of what happened back then, concluded. Everyone became silent upon hearing the horrendous news. King Calum as well, was displeased with the whole situation. His anger was very much apparent on his face.

"Ha ha ha ha! How lucky our planet truly is!" King Calum let out a brief manic laughter. "Where is the Supreme when you need Him?"

Hearing this, Illumináire shot glares towards the king.

"Please refrain from speaking words of disrespect towards the Most High!"

"I'm only asking the obvious," King Calum shrugged. "Our planet is dying, now there's a spiritual corruption going on, it looks like He's keen on ending our race".

"No! That is not true!" Illumináire frowned greatly. "There is a reason for all this and I told you that many times! But you have ears that hear yet never listens, eyes that see yet never perceives, and a heart that beats yet never understands the way of the Supreme! You have hardened your heart so much that you do not see His will".

"I have no time to listen to your arguments so let's stop this nonsense talk," King Calum dismissed her lecture.

Illumináire clenched her fists. But he was right. The matter was more urgent than proving her point to the king - lives of millions of people were on the line.

"As for your request …," King Calum sighed and continued. "Your family is the sole household that holds holy energy, making each of you … indispensable, for the lack of a better word. Should Gaia really fall into ruin and cease to exist, the royal bloodline and your bloodline would be amongst the top priority once we rebuild -".

Illumináire's face wretched. She couldn't believe that their own king would utter such words. Clavis shared the same expression.

"- No!" she shouted in her great disagreement. "There is hope! Gaia will not -"

"- You can never be sure with that!" he interrupted her. He, too, was very stubborn with his beliefs. "Therefore, I will not allow you to send any of your family to sacrifice their lives trying to save dispensable people!"

"D-dispensable? How can you say that a person's life is dispensable as if they're … objects?!"

King Calum gave her a cold stare. "Stop being idealistic, Blessed Oracle. This is reality … FACE IT!"