The King's Beloved

[Music Recommendation: "The Fire Within" by Hiroshi Mizuta (Final Fantasy XV OST) - available in Spotify or Youtube]

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Fauna's mighty wings flapped and scattered the sands in the desert as they tried to land in front of Saburra's shrines. In contrast to the previous shrines they traveled to, there were no monsters in the surrounding area, much to their surprise. Was it because very few beasts could survive the desert? Or did they all flee somewhere else? They weren't very sure if it was good news or bad news. If they fled to the next continent, then it would just make their next journey more challenging.

Aside from the lack of monsters, for some reason, the arid desert had a brighter atmosphere, and they could see and feel the sun's rays in their eyes, making it sting a bit from the hotness. The miasma only covered the distant desert, and the one surrounding the shrine kept its glow. They carefully observed the whole area, but nothing more seemed to be alarming apart from missing monsters and the little things they observed. Only the fissures on the ground remained the same.

Despite how normal the place seemed to be, Elliot's team carefully threaded inside the shrine. Like the outside, there were no monsters as well from the inside.

"Hmmm… I guess it's our lucky day today," Luna jested. "Maybe this is like Ducis' shrine. I'm not seeing monster anywhere."

"But there's barely a barrier here. It's not as strong as the one in Ducis' shrine, and that barrier was the only thing that kept his shrine safe from the monsters," Elliot replied.

"That's right," Rania agreed. "Maybe there's more to it."

Since there were no monsters anywhere, Elliot kept the other Guardians inside his sword to let them rest a bit more. Only he, Rania, and Lunaflora proceeded to the innermost place where Saburra's light brown crystal obelisk could be found. They spun their heads around, expecting there would surely be a monster there, but still, there was none. They shook their head in disbelief but continued forward towards the crystal. Rania created a clone to fix the fissures by its roots, while Elliot started creating a stronger barrier for the place.

When Rania's hand touched the fissures, a sudden cracking sound echoed all around the room.

CRACCCCKKKK!

"Huh? Did you hear that?"

The three turned towards each other, bewildered, but by the next second, their bodies suddenly disappeared, only catching a glimpse of each other's expressions! As if they were teleported somewhere else, the innermost room fell quiet that even a drop of a pin could be heard.

"Ah!" Rania gasped when she felt her body disappear in an instant.

One moment she was kneeling beside the crystal obelisk, on the next, she was on another place—somewhere along a dark, deserted wilderness. She turned around, checking where she was, but nothing served as a clue for her. Aside from that, she was alone. Elliot and Lunaflora were nowhere to be found.

On the other hand, the same thing happened to Elliot and Luna. They, too, were transported to some deserted place separately.

"Rania? Elliot?!" Luna shouted, trying to look for the two.

Elliot, in contrast, simply looked around but still, no Rania or Luna to be found.

As they tried to search for each other, the sound of huge wings flapping could be heard from a distance. They turned around to face the sound. A huge monster emerged from the sunny skies—a Dark Sphinx with the head of a Magi, the body of a lion, and wings of a falcon. Like the others, its skin and wings were darkened, and its eyes, a dirty gold filled with malice.

The Dark Sphinx landed in front of Rania, Elliot, and Luna, though they were in a different space. At the same time, it asked them a question.

"You who dared to enter my abode, answer my riddle, and I will let you go. 

But should you get it wrong, in this desert, your blood will flow."

The Dark Sphinx had the voice and face of a woman with mischievous looks. A trace of blood could be seen from the corners of her mouth.

Rania felt the urge to puke the moment she saw it.

"D-Did she… Did she eat the monsters that used to be here?" she thought as her body trembled in both disgust and anger.

Elliot and Luna, who were in another area, noticed the same thing. They, too, were extremely horrified and disgusted.

"Are you ready for my riddle, human?" the Dark Sphinx asked to which Rania was unable to answer but simply nodded her head. 

Her angered face pleased the monster, making her lips curve into a grin.

"Here's your riddle—what is it that the people of this world do not deserve?"

Rania, Elliot, and Luna pondered on her riddle for a moment. But knowing she was evil, who knows what answer she wanted to hear.

"Can't answer?" the Dark Sphinx taunted them. "In that case, you lose!"

Laughing like a maniac, the Dark Sphinx began attacking with full power! She unleashed attacks after attacks of magic—sandstorms, sand blades, and all skills she could think of, throwing them all to Rania.

"Such a simple riddle, and you can't even answer! Ha-ha-ha-ha! How stupid. Do you want to know the answer?"

After the long series of attacks in which Rania simply created barriers over barriers to protect herself, the Dark Sphinx suddenly flew close to her, and her huge face stared closely at Rania.

"The thing that the people of this world don't deserve is none other than… MERCY! Ha-ha-ha-ha! Yes! They're a bunch of crooked people, sinful since the moment of their birth, unlearning, foolish and selfish people! That's why they all deserve to die!"

The Dark Sphinx cried out and continued its attacks. Separated, everyone was forced to fight the battle alone. And worse, it was with such a powerful enemy—much, much, more powerful than all that they had encountered so far.

Rania could only block her attacks since she was so fast, and her attacks were all too strong, making each barrier break upon contact. Elliot could only try to run away from her to create a distance while attacking back with magic that barely harmed her. And Luna still angered, used lots of her spiritual energy to counter her attacks. Only she was able to be a little on par with the evil monster.

The battle went on for hours once again. At some point, Rania managed to gain momentum and created clones to aid her in battle. She used the clones to defend and herself to attack. But still, the battle was unequally matched.

"Ugh… this is boring," the Dark Sphinx sighed. "I should just eat you as well."

With that, the monster quickly grabbed Rania and threw her into her mouth!

"ARGH!!!!" Rania screamed in pain.

Fortunately, it was a clone that the monster grabbed. But still, she felt the pain it went through since it was connected to her consciousness.

Despite the distance, her scream traveled to Elliot's and Luna's ears. Hearing her pain, the two went ballistic in an instant.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Elliot and Luna screamed at the top of their lungs.

A strong surge of aura overflowed inside the shrine, making its walls crack, and even the Absolute Barrier formed fissures in itself. This same aura made the Dark Sphinx fall to her knees.

"W-What is this… pressure?"

Luna's golden eyes glowed bright and seemed to pierce through the monster. She stretched out her hand towards the monster while it was down and, in a dangerous voice, said…

"Spiritual Decline."

Suddenly, the Dark Sphinx fell to the ground, and its body started to deteriorate as if it was losing all its life! Black sparkles seethed out from the monster's body and faded away. It was none other than the monster's spiritual energy and life energy. Luna's newly found skill rendered the monster weak beyond measure.

It was not only the Dark Sphinx that she fought that was affected—the same thing happened to Elliot's and Rania's enemies. For some reason, it seemed that the three were connected. When one of them fell, the other two fell the same. Elliot took this chance to Obliterate the enemy and rush to Rania's side.

Rania's body that was weakened from the pain, fell to her knees, and huffed hard, trying to catch her breath. Good thing the Dark Sphinx she was fighting also fell down. If not, she would be having a hard time defending herself.

Seconds passed, and like a bubble that suddenly popped out, Elliot appeared in front of Rania and embraced her.

"What happened?" he asked frantically. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Elliot, you're here."

He quickly scanned Rania's body for injuries, and there was none, much to his relief. But still, he was angered. He turned towards the Dark Sphinx screeching on the ground and glared at it.

"Holy Fire."

"ACK! UGHHH… AAAAAHH!!" the Dark Sphinx screamed loudly.

"It's not the people of this world who don't deserve mercy," he said. "It's YOU, evil monster! BEGONE!"

And with that, the last Dark Sphinx crumbled into ashes.. Not a trace of it was left.