The King's Beloved

[Music Recommendation: "Dreamy Shards" by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross OST)-available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

'The late queen… and the late king… sniff… used as a tool to kill their own son,' Rania's thoughts lamented from the cruelty she was witnessing at that very moment. 'How can someone be this evil? I don't understand. This is just too cruel… sniff... And am I supposed to deliver them to their deaths a second time to protect Elliot? What should I do, my Lord? Sniff… sniff…'

Hesitant to fight back, Rania could only but cast barriers after barriers from her hands. She tried creating clones to distract the undead queen but they were easily slashed off and vanished. With both the late king and queen's spiritual core in one sword, it was too powerful for Rania to fight on her own. Yes, she could harness an unlimited amount of spiritual energy if she wanted, but her body wasn't as strong as the Magi. She might be able to contain an unlimited amount of it but the skills to execute them as flawlessly as Elliot, and the innate ability to control them unconditionally, that was the weakness she had up until now. Being able to command nature, but unable to use it's full capacity… What was she supposed to do?

CLAAANK!!!

SLAAASSHH!!!

BZZZZZTTTT!!!

The Undead Queen Alice continued to attack Rania—both with her sword and magic, breaking each of the barriers she created. Rania thought of summoning the guardian's help but she knew they themselves were in a fight of their own. If they left their positions, many people might die in return so she couldn't risk it. She had to do something, anything! But what? How could she defeat the undead queen? If only Elliot would snap out of it. But truly, how could he just get out of such trauma? Even if he did, should he deliver the queen's death from his own hands? Hurting her in any possible way would be more than heartbreaking for him.

"Please, stop," Rania pleaded to the undead queen. "P-Please don't do this… you're breaking his heart."

But the undead queen was unfazed. As if she heard nothing, she continued attacking.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Avarus laughed once more. "What's this? Have you lost your mind that you're talking to someone who's dead?"

Rania ignored his provocation. Instead, she continued to talk to the Undead Queen Alice.

"My queen, this is not you! Please! Don't do this!" 

CLANK! SLASH! SMASH!

"Can't you see? He's your son!"

CLANK! SLASH! SMASH!

"Don't break the heart of your own son any more than this!"

CLANK! SLASH! SMASH!

"Queen Alice, please, STOP!"

Avarus just shook his head thinking Rania was crazy while the undead queen showed no emotion… not even the tiniest bit.

And with a last desperate cry, Rania shouted, "He's your son, ELLIOT!"

The Undead Queen Alice raised her arms once more for another slash—ready to break the last barrier that Rania cast, finally caught up with her magic.

SLAAAAAAAAA—

…

…

…

Though the undead queen remained expressionless…

…

…

…

The swords… they halted.

Avarus' eyes widened in disbelief. "H-How could this—"

Indeed, the sword in the queen's hand stopped her. It trembled and shook, releasing two aura of its own, enveloping the whole body of the sword… as if stopping it. The undead queen tried to take control and to use the sword to slash through the last barrier but she was unsuccessful.

All this time… Rania wasn't trying to talk to the undead queen's body. 

Instead, she was talking to the spiritual cores!

Like what she did with Amare's spiritual core, Rania thought she could speak again with the real late king and queen for she understood that in a person's spiritual core lay a person's very own soul… the soul that contained their real identity. With this truth, she hoped for a better outcome. Elliot had been hurt a lot already. He didn't deserve any more pain than this.

Rania wiped off the tears on her face and smiled.

"Come… Queen Alice… King Eli."

As she commanded, the two spiritual cores detached themselves from the sword, came to her, and rested on her palms. Like two glowing spheres, they laid on her hands.

"W-what is the meaning of this?! This can't be!" Avarus shouted in fear. He then flicked his fingers and another army of hooded men appeared. For some reason, he felt fear crept within him.

How could he not? For at that moment, he realized…

The maiden could command spiritual cores!

With that ability, she could easily kill him off.

At the same time, he thought she was foolish. If she had that ability all along, why didn't she just kill him from the very first time they met? He shivered at the mere thought of the possibility he could die… and at the hands of a human!

"Restore your true form," Rania commanded once more.

And so, the spiritual cores glowed blindingly bright. The broken core of the late king reassembled and fixed itself, forming into a whole. Then, out the two spiritual cores came two spirits. Yes, the spirit of the late king and queen.

"Elliot…" they called their son's name very dearly. Tears flowed from their eyes like rivers. Their hands stretched out to him and gently touched Elliot's face. "Our son… Our beloved son."

Feeling the warmth of their hands, though they didn't have bodies, their spirits were warm—yes, warm enough to wake him up from his misery.

Elliot slowly lifted up his gaze and little by little, his lifeless eyes shined bright as it saw the countenance of his beloved mother and father smiling at him.

His longing eyes widened…

His lips that wanted to say a thousand words trembled…

And like a child who finally found his long lost parents, he wailed…

"M-Mother… F-Father… WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHUHUHU!!!"

Elliot ran into their embrace. 

Queen Alice and King Eli embraced him dearly in return.

And as such, was a child finally reunited with his beloved parents.