The King's Beloved

"Great job! You did it!" Ducis happily cheered for Rania. She was able to do it! She was able to stop time! He was exceedingly happy for her. As expected by the one blessed by the Supreme Being.

"Yes! I did it! Thank heavens!" Rania was elated too. She circled around and watched her whole surroundings stand still. Even the falling leaves were now fixated on their floating positions.

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Ducis then closed his eyes to check the quality of Rania\'s magic. He wanted to know how concentrated it was, how long it could hold. Did it affect everything or discarded anything? And most of all, the range - how far did it reach?

As he analyzed everything, suddenly, his face grew pale!

"Rania! Stop it! Right now!" he desperately pleaded in his trembling voice.

"Huh?" Rania was startled. "Stop? … but … how?" She replied as she turned to Ducis.

However, as she turned, her chest suddenly felt pain and her whole body was paralyzed!

"Stop!" Ducis stopped Rania\'s time in a flash then resumed his whole surroundings.

After such fast paced events, Ducis couldn\'t help but breathe heavily. Everything happened in just a blink of an eye.

Just one second …

If he had missed just one second …

Surely, Rania would have died by then …

As Ducis grew scared of all the ifs he started thinking, his power grew wayward. He didn\'t notice he was already releasing too much of his spiritual power to the point that it woke Elliot up.

The first thing Elliot saw after waking up was Ducis\' terrified face. He held out his hands, fixed, towards Rania. And Rania was there, suspended in the air as she was about to fall and lose balance - with a face that bore nothing but shock. The whole surrounding was moving and Rania was the only one paralyzed in time.

"What are you doing, Ducis?" he angrily questioned the dragon.

With hands that trembled a bit, and lips that had gone dry, Ducis faced Elliot to answer him. "R-Rania … she," he kept breathing heavily, "she … almost … died".

At these words, Elliot jolted and sprung up to his feet, making the blanket covering him fall hard on the ground. He instantly teleported near Rania to examine her. His face grew pale as well and panic overcame him.

"What in the … what happened here?!" Elliot was so angry that his face darkened in menace.

"S-she … used magic … and stopped the whole planet. Due to that, her \'holy power\' quickly depleted and almost …,"

Elliot\'s eyes widened. He knew too well what happens when someone gets depleted by their spiritual energy. Now that Rania had \'holy energy\', he should have known that she\'ll be vulnerable to it too.

Yes, energy depletion causes death for those given the power to control nature and its course - to the Magi, and now with Rania, too.

How could he have not thought of that?

How could he have been so foolish and nonchalant?

Rania never used magic so of course, she wouldn\'t know how much to use and how much not to. She didn\'t know about energy depletion, she didn\'t know about its dangers …

She didn\'t know anything at all!

He should have been more careful.

He almost let someone who saved him … die.

And he was sleeping!

All these thoughts ran into Elliot\'s mind. He blamed himself. Not Ducis, nor Rania, but himself, for being reckless and naive thinking everything will just work out on its own.

And most of all, he got scared. For the first time he knew what fear was.

The fear of losing someone important to him.

The fear of losing a friend.

"Ducis … w-what should we do?" Now, with trembling hands, he asked the dragon. His eyes were fixed on Rania and his hands trying to feel any remnant of holy power inside her. Although he felt that there were still some, it was very faint which made him shiver even more.

Breathe in, breathe out. Though hard, Ducis tried to calm himself.

"I can\'t help her since I\'m a Guardian. But you can, Elliot".

Elliot turned to him. "How?"

"Life energy, the last form of energy there is".

"Right. life energy," Elliot thought to himself as he nodded.

Spiritual, holy, and life energy - these were the three forms of energy that could be used to create magic according to Magi\'s teachings. But amongst them, life energy was the most precious and should not be used as much as possible.

As the term suggested, it came from \'life\'. It was the transfer of life from one body to another. In order to lengthen someone else\'s, one must sacrifice their own. This was also known as one of the "Forbidden Magic" since it was very advanced and prone to errors.

Knowing all these, Elliot did not hesitate. He calmed himself down, closed his eyes and focused. A few seconds later and his body started glowing in bright, white light.

Then, he hugged Rania … very tightly.

The once, suspended body of Rania in mid air, was now in a warm and gentle embrace of Elliot. He was transferring his own life energy to her …

A portion of his own … to save her … like she saved him.

After he slowly guided her feet down on the ground, Eliot\'s right arm enveloped Rania\'s body to him, while the other, held the back of her head, holding her delicately.

His life energy continued to pass unto her. Rania glowed bright too and kept on absorbing Elliot\'s life energy. A few moments later, her pale face had started to show color.

"Elliot, that\'s enough. You can stop now," Ducis interrupted him. Then, he resumed Rania\'s time and freed her from her time freeze.

Elliot stopped channeling his life energy to Rania as well.

After a moment, Rania\'s consciousness came back. She didn\'t know what happened and was surprised to see Elliot hugging him tightly. If it wasn\'t for his trembling hands, she would have reprimanded him already, saying he shouldn\'t just hug anyone. But there he was, with hands shaking, lips trembling, and his eyes hiding between his hair.

Rania got worried for Elliot. Instead of pushing him away, she gently stroked his head to calm him down. Ducis approached them and explained what happened. As she listened to his story, Rania was shocked … but at the same time thankful, and happy.

"So … the reason you\'re trembling right now is because you were scared right?" Rania whispered to Elliot\'s ears.

Elliot did not respond. He stayed still, embracing her and not letting go.

"Don\'t worry, it\'s over now. I\'m saved and it\'s all because you shared your life energy with me". And Rania let go of Elliot, grabbed his cheeks so he would look at her, then smiled cheerfully. "Thank you very much. You saved me".

A very faint shed of tears could be seen on the corners of Elliot\'s eyes. His brows were knitted and his face was all red in panic and worry.

Meanwhile, from afar, a young girl could be seen floating in the air. She had long, bluish white hair and a pair of light blue eyes. Her body was petite and her skin, a pale white. This was the same, doll-looking girl who abducted Rania and brought her to the Floating Kingdom.

And there she was, hovering above the Forbidden Forest - only up until the area of the barrier that separated the forest from the rest, staring at Rania, Elliot, and Ducis. It seemed that Ducis\' power going wayward not only woke up Elliot, but attracted her as well.

But you couldn\'t really tell what she was thinking with her cute and calm, yet poker face.

Was she a bearer of good news?

Or a sign of calamity approaching?

Only time could tell.