The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "Heaven" by Roy Kim (instrumental only) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this scene XD ~ 0////0

After Elliot's momentary transformation into a wolf in sheep's clothing, Rania put some distance between them. Whenever Elliot drew close to her, she found herself unconsciously stepping back. Noticing her change of behaviour and knowing the reason why, Elliot discovered a new side of him - a side that somehow, enjoyed teasing Rania. Instead of sulking because Rania was being distant to him, he found it amusing and kept on deliberately approaching her.

"Elliot, stop it!" Rania pouted, finally losing her patience. She noticed Elliot was enjoying it so she decided to confront him instead while they walked towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Stop what?" Elliot innocently tilted his head.

"I know you're enjoying this. Don't act all innocent about it. I still haven't forgiven you for doing t-that". Rania's face blushed.

"Doing what?" Elliot teased.

"Yeah! Doing what?" Luna butted in.

Rania and Elliot were surprised.

"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Luna furrowed. "I'm a fairy not a ghost!"

Rania chuckled. "It's nothing, Luna".

"It's not nothing if you haven't forgiven him," Luna reasoned. Turning to Elliot, she reprimanded him, "You! Elliot! What did you do to Rania? Spill it!"

Elliot's eyes fell on Rania. "Should I tell her?" he asked, smirking.

Luna pouted and acted cutely towards Rania. "Please, Rania? Don't you trust me? What did he do?"

Rania sighed. "Okay, maybe I will if you tell me what happened to you and Ducis, too. A fair trade if I say so myself".

Luna froze. "I - I can tell you anything except for that".

"Hmm … then, I won't tell unless you tell me that," Rania smiled at her. 

"Woah," Elliot clapped his hands nonchalantly. "What a nice way to say no".

Rania squinted her eyes towards Elliot. 

"Elliot, we're not done with this yet".

Elliot snickered. "Roger that, 'mom'," he teased again.

Rania blushed harder as her eyebrows furrowed. Then, she stomped her feet and walked faster than the rest of them.

Ducis was surprised to see Rania all flustered. He turned to Elliot and gestured "What happened?" into which, Elliot simply shrugged.

With the speed of her walk, Rania almost sprinted, making her arrive at the middle of the Forbidden Forest before anyone else. It was the usual spot where they practice Elliot's new found powers.

Rania leaned one of her palms on a tree, and the other on her chest, trying to catch her breath. Her heart beated rapidly, unsure if it was because of her sprinting, or something else.

"Rania," she talked to herself in her mind. "Calm down. It's just Elliot. Don't fall for his jokes. He's obviously teasing you! Why are you even entertaining his teases? Just remain calm and don't let yourself be ignited by his charms. Wait, what? No! Not charms! Argh, what am I thinking? Why am I so disoriented today? Just because of that kiss on the cheeks? Little kids used to kiss me on the cheeks, too ... before."

Rania sighed and turned around, now leaning her back on the tree.

"Where did my innocent baby Elliot go?," she continued. "He was just so sweet and kind until yesterday! Did I say something I shouldn't? Did calling him my son really provoked him that bad? What's so wrong about it? I don't understand".

After another sigh, finally, her rapidly beating heart calmed down.

"Rania, focus!" she reprimanded herself. "Remember your duty, your calling".

And upon remembering, her flustered face turned mellow and serious. Not long after, Elliot, Luna and Ducis arrived.

Elliot noticed Rania's sudden change of expression. 

"There it is again," Elliot thought, as his face furrowed. "What is it? What causes that … sad look on your face? I hate it. I just want to see you smiling".

"Elliot, go ahead and try it," Ducis caught his attention. He noticed he was staring at Rania.

Elliot sighed. "Yes". Then he called out Terra from his Zweihänder.

"You called, master?" Terra cheerfully greeted him. Her smile was such a ray of sunshine.

"Elliot is fine, I don't really like being called master".

"Aww, such a sweetie! Alright! I'll call you by your name then".

"Thanks," Elliot smiled. "So, what are your special skills?"

"Fu-fu-fu-fu! There's actually a lot I can do. I specialize in wide area damage to boot!" 

Terra created mud dolls on the land they were stepping on to demonstrate her skills. She thought it would be easier to explain it that way rather than explaining with mere words. She created 10 mud dolls - one representing the caster of the magic, and the rest as sample enemies.

"First, I can create massive earthquakes on the ground. You can choose the intensity of the earthquake, too," Terra started and the mud dolls moved along with her explanation. "I could either make a big hole on the ground for enemies to fall into, or barriers and walls made or rocks, or simply shake the ground, or create spikes to attack the enemies. Basically, I can control any form of earth - even metals or minerals".

"I see," Elliot nodded. "That is quite useful." Then, he pointed his fingers on the mud dolls. "These tiny dolls, can you also make it bigger?"

"Yes I can!" Terra nodded. "I call them Earth Golems or Titans, depending on the size. The medium sized ones are the Golems, and the enormous ones are Titans. They're very useful if you need numbers in a battle".

"Got it. That's great. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. I can also clone or replicate anything. Like the Pius Village I recreated and reanimated".

"Wow! So that was your magic too," Elliot was surprised. I thought it's a special skill each guardians have".

Terra thought for a moment. "Hmmm … Actually, all guardians can do any kind of skills. The only difference would be its elemental properties and effects".

"I see. I've always wondered about that, too. I've seen other Magi cast magic before. And it's not consistent with each person. It seems like anyone can use any element they want to cast," Rania added.

"That's basically right. The same for us guardians. But whichever domain or realm we govern, that power is our specialty. Like me, for example - I'm the Guardian of Earth. If I cast an earthquake, the earth elemental damage of it would be, if put into numbers with 100 as the highest, the earth damage would be 100. Now, if Ducis is going to cast the same earthquake skill, the earth damage will only be around 30 to 50. And if other Magi, with lesser elemental compatibility, it can range from 1 to 10 only. Sorry, it can be a bit confusing at first".

"Now, I get it," Rania concluded. "So you can use time and space magic, too, like Ducis, just with a lesser -"

"- About that," Terra interrupted. "Only Ducis can use Time and Space magic. Him and those people he blessed or gave a portion of his spiritual essence".

"I see," Elliot pondered. "Is that why you recreated Pius Village instead of travelling back in time? Since, you really can't use Time magic in the first place?"

Terra nodded. "That's right!"

"Hmf! Can't believe this dragon is special," Luna murmured. "Special but stingy!"

"Rgh. I can hear you, midget," Ducis tried to remain calm. Luna really triggers off his nerves. 

"That makes sense. If everyone gains access to Time and Space magic, that would be a catastrophe," Elliot concluded. "Is there anything else?"

"That's it! The others are just the usual earth magic everyone knows".

And so, Elliot spent the rest of the day practicing his earth magic. Terra was amazed by how quickly he learned and managed to control such complex magic. 

For one Magi to be able to cast magic, he or she should be able to fully understand the elemental properties of the magic first, then recreate the same element by controlling their spiritual energy. And once they manage to recreate it, they could mold it to any skills they want or adjust it to do their bidding - like if they wanted to create fireballs, they would need to focus on shaping their spiritual energy into a fireball. But if it's a more complex magic - like the one Terra taught Elliot - it usually required more experience to master it. It would require a huge amount of spiritual energy than usual, and controlling spiritual energy gets harder the more of it you use. It could even damage the body if used too much.

Yet, here was Elliot, easily mastering such complex skills. 'Just how much of a genius was he?' Terra thought in her mind. Even the Great King wasn't as fast of a learner as he was. And most of all, he wasn't even sweating! He was practically doing it with ease!

"What a prodigy," Terra thought again. "I'm excited to see what kind of a king you'd be in the future".

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