The King's Beloved

Elliot glared at Ducis who in return lowered his eyes, and bowed his head in dejection.

"Elliot….," he called him in a soft voice. After pausing for a few seconds, he looked straight to Elliot's eyes and answered him. "Yes, there are indeed some things I have not told you yet. And that is simply because the time has not come yet. I know that this may sound unreasonable, but please, I need you to trust me on this. I mean no harm to you."

"How can I trust you when you've been hiding things from me all along?" Elliot's voice raised as he grew furious with Ducis' answer.

"Elliot, I - ," Ducis tried to tap his shoulder but he shoved his hands away in disgust. If there's anything Elliot didn't like, that would be lying in his face and Ducis knew that more than anyone else.

"Yes, we WILL trust you," Rania interrupted as she tapped Elliot's shoulder. She looked straight into his eyes and smiled, then turned to Ducis to affirm him.

Elliot felt conflicted again. He couldn't understand why Rania would choose to trust a liar. He wanted to refute her but he couldn't. Not with those eyes that looked straight into his soul. He could only look away from her gaze and nod. But Rania touched his cheeks and pulled his gaze back to her.

"Elliot," she called unto him. "Trust….is no trust at all if it's conditional. You need to have a little faith. If your faith fails you, then let it be broken once it's broken. Only then can you decide if you're willing to give more or not. But for now, just simply trust in him. Whatever it is, I believe he has his own reasons for not telling you."

As if Rania's spirit is passing unto him, Elliot got convinced and thus, he nodded and agreed to her advice.

"Ducis," he called him, "....if it's broken, then it's broken. I will only give my trust once. Remember that."

Ducis smiled bitterly, "Yes, I understand."

Afterwards, Elliot used his magic to open up the trap door. With his forefinger, he shot a thin beam of light unto it and the trapdoor exploded into pieces. Beyond the trapdoor lies a very long and dark stairway filled with webs and dusts. Elliot told Rania not to come along but she refused. So they all agreed to enter it together, along with the other sprites, and threaded carefully inside since the stairs looked too old and cracked that it might break any moment.

Without anything happening, they reached the very bottom where they saw an enormous door made of stones with large engravings of alphabets that were too ancient to be read, on every corner. It was dilapidated as well to the point that some of the letters were barely recognizable. As soon as they got near it, the door automatically opened to reveal a pathway made of thick, luminous glass that illuminated the rather dark room inside. And at the end of the pathway was a gigantic book that hovered in the air and transmitted a dark aura. Beneath it, a magic circle was drawn on the air as well and a symbol of an hourglass could be found in the middle of it. Even the pillars that surrounded the floating book were all but giant hourglasses if you look at it closely.

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Elliot, Rania and Ducis entered the door and walked on the luminous pathway. Just a few steps inside and the door behind them shut close. This alarmed some of the sprites and terrified, they fled to Rania's back and hid themselves. Elliot couldn't care less for it since he thought he could just blow it up after, so he just continued walking the path faster than the others. He was curious and desperate for answers while the others were worried that they're trapped inside.

However, as soon as he reached the platform where the gigantic book hovered in the air, he couldn't proceed any longer. The magic circle beneath the book entrapped it in a barrier. And so, Elliot tried to destroy the barrier. He used a tiny bit of his spiritual energy to throw a thick beam of red light enough to pass through the barrier.

But, it wasn't enough. Elliot, feeling a bit challenged, raised his left eyebrow and tried it again, this time with a bit more spiritual energy. He was careful not to put too much lest he destroy the whole place. But then again, it was of no use. This time, he tried to gather a concentrated ball of light on his hands, determined to break it at last.

"Don't, it's useless," Ducis stopped him. They finally caught up to him. Ducis slowed down to assist Rania and make sure she didn't fall into the abyss below which Elliot didn't notice due to his haste - that beneath the glass floor they walked on, was a very deep pit which you could see no end.

Elliot, noticing what he has done, breathed heavily to calm himself.

"I'm sorry," he apologized to Rania.

"It's okay. I'm the one who insisted on coming along anyways."

Elliot nodded. Then looking back at the barrier, he told them, "It has a barrier and I can't break it. If I use too much magic, this whole place will collapse."

"You said it's useless, dragon. Why is that?," Luna turned to Ducis and asked him.

"Rania….. Only you can pass the barrier," he confessed.

"Me?" Rania was surprised. "Why me?"

"Is it because she's a human?" Elliot asked.

Ducis turned silent. "...Something like that".

Rania did as told. She approached the barrier, and slowly reached out her hand towards the floating book. To her surprise, her hands just passed through the barrier without anything happening. Not even a gust of wind on her hand or a cold or warm feeling like when you pass unto something. Using two hands now, she grabbed the book and pulled it outside the barrier. The book was heavy so Elliot helped her lift it up as soon as she took it out.

The book's dark aura dissipated as soon as Rania touched it. And as she continuously held on it, the vines that covered the book, slowly shrank itself into the back cover, letting them open it. None of them understood what was going on, except maybe, for Ducis.

The book was beautiful and had many unreadable engravings like the door they walked into. It had a large black gem that looked like an onyx at the middle of the front cover. It wasn't there at first but when the vines were out of sight, it revealed itself.

"Hmmm....another puzzle,huh?" Rania pondered. "Can you all read it?"

Everyone shook their heads in unison. The language was too ancient to comprehend.

"What are you all saying? It's so easy to read!", Luna exclaimed after she finished her turn into looking at the book. The sprites were swarming over her so she was the last one to look at it.

The others were surprised with what she said.

"Then, what does it say?" the other sprite asked.

"Well it says a lot of things," Luna confidently answered as she put a smug look on her cute little face. "But the title mostly says it all".

"Title?" another sprite asked and they all flew around the book.

"Actually, let me take that back. The title is quite weird".

"Oh for goodness' sake! Just tell us what it is!" the short-tempered sprite yelled at Luna. Her face fumed pink in her anger.

"Okay! Okay!," Luna felt scared. "It says….it says….. Key"

"Key?" everyone chorused.

"That's it? Key?" Elliot asked.

"Well, is there a key inside?" Rania seconded.

The sprites looked but there were none. They flipped the covers and everything but couldn't find any.

Rania took the book and faced it backwards. She checked if the vines were covering something, but there was none as well. Then she thought of a weird idea.

"What if…." Then, reaching out her hands, she touched the black onyx gem and to her surprise, her hands went through!

Rania felt her hand entering a body of water. She continued reaching out until her elbows were inside, though she couldn't see what exactly it was she's reaching out to.

Until finally, something cold and felt like metal touched her fingers.

She quickly took it and pulled it out of the large gem.

And there it was…..a black key made of translucent glass with drops of golden dusts inside.

And at its handle was a symbol of an hourglass….

Confused, they didn't know what the key was for. There were no more doors except the one they came from.

Unless…..

~ END OF VOLUME 1 ~

Coming Up Next: Volume 2

Night Arc: When The Night Falls...

Rania found her strength and decided to move forward. But now, she's trapped in the Forbidden Chamber. How will she get out? And Elliot....who exactly is he? The secrets of the Forbidden Chamber awaits...

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Title: "A Beautiful Catastrophe"

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