The King's Beloved

[Music Recommendation: "Listen to the Cries of the Planet" by Nobuo Uematsu (instrumental only - FFVII OST) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the true atmosphere of this scene ~

Rania and Elliot walked towards the secret door. They carefully opened it and it revealed a stairway leading underground—a basement. It was pitch black inside and Rania illuminated the way for them to see. Once illuminated, it showed an appearance like that of a cave with weird patterns on the wall. A chilly wind howled from inside like cries of anguished souls seeking help. They both knew instantly that whatever was out there, for sure, it wasn't anything good.

And so, they walked down the stairway mindful of their every step. For all they knew, there could be traps hidden anywhere since the place was owned by Avarus. To their surprise, nothing came their way. In fact, it was all too silent. At first they thought that the basement contained more of his army but they found nothing.

Few minutes of walking along the straight path passed and finally, they arrived at another door. This time, it was huge and thick like an ancient door made of stones. It was slightly open, enough for them to pass through. Knowing Avarus, he probably deliberately left it open since he wanted them to follow him. Rania and Elliot alerted themselves as soon as they entered inside.

If the path from the stairs to the ancient door was pitch black, the room inside sparkled in colorful lights—not because it was illuminated by lights but because of the multitudes of magical weapons inside! It was a huge weaponry! And all the lights came from the spiritual cores embedded on the weapons!

Rania and Elliot furrowed seeing all of the magical weapons inside. Some of them were just lying on the floor like a pile of garbage, and some of them were inside a glass-like barrier, floating around. They continued walking inside until they reached the far end where Avarus stood and behind him were two marvelous looking swords.

"Avarus!" Elliot shouted his name with much anger. "Stop running and hiding like a coward! Let's finish this once and for all!"

Avarus' arrogant smile was still on his face. He merely laughed towards Elliot's provocation. While the two exchanged words, Rania noticed something… utterly horrifying from behind Avarus. Yes, something vile and extremely hateful that the word "abomination" was a complete understatement.

"T-that core… an ivory core…" Rania's lips trembled and she barely managed to say her piece. She tried to reach out to Elliot but he already lounged towards Avarus with the Zweihänder in his hands. "Elliot, NO!" She quickly cast a barrier around him for she knew… she finally understood Avarus' plan.

As Elliot tried to attack Avarus, a hooded figure suddenly appeared and took one of the swords behind Avarus. The hooded figure quickly attacked Elliot, slashing away when Rania's barrier met it's sword. Unfortunately, the sword was so strong that it easily managed to break Rania's barrier. As it pierced through, it clashed unto Elliot's Zweihänder, sending a strong gust of wind all throughout the whole weaponry.

CLAAAAAAAANKKKK!!!

Elliot held on to the clash with the hooded figure.

But when the wind blew, the hood of the enemy was blown away and landed down on her shoulder. 

Yes… "her". 

The hooded figure was a woman. And not just any woman…

Her long and silky honey blonde hair fluttered with the wind…

And as Elliot finally saw her face...

It was none other than the late Queen Alice! His very own mother!

Only this time, her eyes were lifeless and bore no affection as it stared unto Elliot's eyes. She was an undead… just like all of Avarus' army. 

Seeing his mother in the flesh and in front of him, Elliot's heart shook and wavered.

"M-mother…" Elliot whispered longingly. His body trembled and unknowingly, he loosened the grip on his Zweihänder. The next moment—

PWOOOOSSHKK!!!

SPLUUURT!!!

The Undead Queen Alice pierced through Elliot's chest like it was the most natural thing to do. Rania was a second too late but she managed to push her back and take Elliot to her side while quickly healing his wound.

"Elliot, wake up!" Rania tapped on his cheeks but Elliot was severely devastated. His face and complexion grew pale as if life slowly drifted away from him.

Elliot's heart ached terribly once more. In fact, it was too much to the point he couldn't bear it. The next thing he knew, tears were already falling from his eyes with no signs of stopping. Rania's heart broke as she saw him like that. But she couldn't blame him. For him to see his mother once again—the mother he longed for… the mother who died sacrificing herself to save her son… 

Not only that. He had to see her be disrespected to the highest degree. Her own mother's body, experimented and turned into an undead! It wasn't enough that Avarus killed her by taking her spiritual core through an Exsorbeo… he even had the nerve to turn her into one of his army! How DARE he?! Even Rania's pure heart raged in anger.

Elliot continued to sob. Rania did her best to comfort him but she wasn't succeeding. What's more, it was getting harder for her to try and talk to Elliot with the Undead Queen Alice attacking them over and over. Rania kept on creating layers and layers of barriers to protect themselves. Despite the amount of spiritual energy and concentration she put for the barrier, the queen's sword was so powerful it continued to break her barriers.

Discontented with the result, the Undead Queen Alice took the other sword behind Avarus and put the two together. The two swords combined into a huge sword with two spiritual cores inside them. She was unsure to whom the other spiritual core belonged to but seeing how it was bright aquamarine in color and shattered into different sizes, it wasn't that hard to guess. It was the spiritual core of the late King Eli!

With a much more powerful sword in her hands, the Undead Queen Alice slowly approached Rania. And all that Avarus did was laugh like the devil in the background, enjoying the marvellous show in front of his eyes.

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