The King's Beloved

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Located not too far from the camp of the remaining Magi survivors, the shrine could be found at the center of the continent of Ducis. Being familiar with the planet, Ducis created a teleportation circle to bring everyone there in a snap. Once they arrived, they were welcomed by a shrine made of black crystals—just like how his temple looked in Abyss of Nox. The only difference was the size since the shrine was smaller and shaped like a perfect square with a tall, black crystal obelisk at the center. It was so tall you could barely see its peak if you look at it from below.

From all sides of the shrine were large fissures on the ground. If the planet had veins, the fissures would be the exact representation of it. A subtle dark glow oozed out of the cracks that led to who-knows-where. If you follow its path, you could never see the end of it. Apart from that, dark miasma filled the air around the shrine.

Everyone braced themselves before they entered the shrine. Ducis opened its massive door, and they walked inside. Since it was too dark inside, they had to cast light orbs all around the place to illuminate their path. Once the whole area was illuminated, they continued inside until they reached the most holy place where the crystal obelisk was erected.

"There are no monsters and no signs of Vindicta anywhere," Luna broke the silence. "Why is that?"

"Hmm… I'm not sure," Ducis pondered. "I don't see the dark miasma inside the shrine, so maybe they failed in penetrating the place. After all, this shrine was the very first shrine built in the whole of Gaia. So it has more consecrated holy energy protecting the place than the rest."

"Phew! That's great, then. I got nervous there for a second."

"What should we do now?" Selena asked. "These fissures… they're all connected to the roots of that crystal obelisk. Is that how it's sucking its powers?"

The men observed the fissures, and indeed, it was the reason.

"How do we close this or stop it from sucking all the spiritual energy?" Clavis asked.

Then, they all observed the fissures once more, trying all sorts of magic or spells to close it up. But none of them worked. Even Terra—the Guardian with complete dominion over the earth, somehow couldn't make the ground close up.

"Should we try holy energy?"

And so they tried, but still, it didn't work.

It was not until Rania knelt and touched the ground where the cracks opened that the ground suddenly began to shake wildly.

"What's happening?" everyone was bewildered.

"Rania, get out of there! You might get swallowed up by the ground!" Luna called out to her and pulled her arms.

"Wait," she said, "I think there's something…."

"Rania, are you alright?" Elliot immediately went to her side. "Why is it that…."

Elliot was then observing Rania's energy flow through his eyes. He had been observing how the fissures sucked energy when Rania touched it and suddenly—

"The fissures, they're sucking your energy!" Elliot exclaimed. "Stop touching it right now!" He grabbed Rania's other arm to stop her.

"No!" Rania firmly disagreed. She felt the strong urge to disagree in her heart for some reason. But, touching the fissures and letting it suck her energy instead—for her, it was the right thing to do.

"Don't be stubborn! That's dangerous! I know you have unlimited spiritual energy, but still! Doing this is not good for your body or anyone's body."

"He's right, Rania. Please stop that. Even us Guardians can't do that. The spiritual energy traveling through our bodies nonstop will take a toll on us and—I don't know what will happen, but I just know it's bad."

But Rania didn't listen to them. Deep inside her, something told her that it was the very thing she should do—like a small whisper. She then created a perfect clone of herself and let that clone continue touching the cracks.

"Stay there," she told her clone, to which it simply nodded in agreement.

"What are you doing?" Elliot asked with a wretched face.

"I understand you're worried but, please, trust me on this."

"Can you at least explain why?"

"I—ahm… I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's what I should do."

"What kind of reason is that?! You're risking yourself for a hunch?"

The two continued to argue, but Rania stood firm on her decision. The twins, Clavis and Illuminaire, looked at each other as if they understood Rania's resolve. Then, deciding to help her out, they stepped into the conversation.

"My King," Illuminaire butted in, "I believe it is wise to simply trust in her. She is the Supreme's Chosen Maiden, and there are things that can only be made known to her and not the others. The same goes for me, the Oracle, and my brother. There are things only I know and things only my brother knows."

"I would have to agree with that, your majesty," Clavis seconded.

"There are things that I'm not allowed to know?" Elliot asked with a broken expression. "Why?"

"Elliot… I'm sorry," was the only reply Rania could give. She then caressed his cheeks, a tiny gesture wishing he'd stop worrying. But then again, she knew she would act the same way if their positions were switched.

Luna and Selena felt sorry seeing them like that, especially for Elliot. Everyone seemed to have an idea about it already except for him, her own lover. But how could Rania even say it? Or could anyone else say it?

"Oh! Look!" Selena shouted in surprise as she pointed towards the fissures that Rania's clone was touching. "It's starting to close up!"

Everyone looked towards the spot she pointed, and indeed, the cracks seemed to be restoring themselves and, little by little, fixed themselves! Of course, it still had a long way to go considering how long the cracks were, but still, it was working!

"Then, I just need to create other clones who will do the same to the other shrines," Rania said.

"Y-Yes, but still, be careful," Luna reluctantly agreed. "If you somehow feel that your body is weakening or anything, stop immediately, okay?"

"Uhm."

Seeing that they somehow found a solution to the first problem, the team went out of the shrine and prepared themselves to go to the next one. Ducis created another thick layer of barrier to even protect his shrine further in case the miasma continued to try penetrating the place or any monster that might be lurking around.

After that, Ducis created another teleportation circle. This time, their next stop was the Shrine of Fauna.

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