The King's Beloved

Standing on the meadow inside the innermost part of the Forbidden Forest, where monsters lurked, was Elliot, accompanied by Rania, Ducis, and Luna, who all stood behind him. They all decided to train Rania in controlling the amount of holy power she\'s using, and so, Elliot demonstrated for her. Good thing the monsters didn\'t dare interrupt them as they felt Ducis\' presence nearby.

"I\'m using spiritual energy which comes from nature, so it might be a bit different," Elliot spoke as he looked at his left hand then, lifted it and aimed it towards the trees located a hundred meters away from them. "But the idea about it should be the same. First, you need to concentrate your power and pour it in a specific area in your body. The easiest would be in your palm."

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Elliot\'s left hand started to glow as if something was accumulating on it.

"In your mind, you can try imagining ... a jar of water - if it helps. Then, from that jar, take out a small amount, and pour it in your palm. It needs absolute focus to do this the first time, so be careful. Don\'t put everything in there".

"You\'re not really good at explaining this are you?" Luna interrupted him. "Of all the examples you can think of, a jar of water?"

Ducis snorted, trying to hide his laughter.

"Huh? Was I confusing?" Elliot blinked.

Rania shook her head. "Not really, I kinda get it actually". Then, she turned to Luna and rebuked her softly. "Luna, that\'s rude you know".

"B-but, he really was confusing!," Luna whispered to her.

Elliot\'s eyes shrank in skepticism. Raising one of his eyebrows, he taunted Luna, "Why don\'t you explain it, if you\'re so clever?"

"Sure! I definitely WILL explain it better! Hmf!" Luna got so smug and flew beside Elliot - trying to compete with him.

Luna, looking so confident with herself, crossed her arms and faced Rania. Elliot drew back beside Rania and gestured his hands to the fairy to start her lesson.

"Before you use magic, you should know its concept first and how it works," Luna started pointing her forefingers up. "First is, what is magic? Where does it come from? How does someone control it?"

Luna flew back and forth as she explained.

"For the first and second question, magic is simply the use of \'energy\' and manipulating it to do your bidding. There\'s three kinds of energy we can use to activate magic: spiritual, the one that comes abundant in nature; holy, the one that you have that comes from the Supreme Being; and lastly, is life energy, the one that comes from one\'s life".

"Yes, she already knows that much," Elliot butted in.

Luna glared towards Elliot.

"Going back … All these three forms of energy are innate in someone\'s blood. The purer the blood, the more energy it holds. And when I mean pure, I mean pure Magi - only Magi has these kinds of energies in their blood. Well, except for holy power, I\'m not entirely sure how the Supreme Being gave you holy power. There must have been a change in your blood, too".

"Know that you mention it, I do feel somewhat different," Rania answered her. "But my blood\'s still red, I think".

"Our blood is red, too, and even Elliot\'s," Ducis added. "Wait, were you expecting us to have a different colored blood just because we\'re not ... human?" Ducis was confused.

"Oh? Really? I didn\'t know," Rania chuckled. She did think they\'d have different color of blood since they\'re basically "aliens" of some sort, though they look a lot like humans - except for their ephemeral beauty.

"I have red blood too!" Luna argued too.

"Hey! We\'re going off topic," Elliot reminded everyone. "Continue, midget".

Luna glared at him again. "You - you\'re just like your foster father! Hmf".

"There, there, let\'s not argue," Rania stood in between them. "Oh! And speaking of pure blood, that means Elliot has a very, very pure blood doesn\'t he? Since he\'s very strong? And Ducis, too?"

Luna thought for a moment. "For Guardians, they existed since the beginning of time, so of course their blood will be the purest, thus, making them the most powerful. That\'s why they stand above kings, if we\'re talking about hierarchy of power. But they decided to form a contract with the royal family so … that kinda made them equal in standing. Right, dragon?"

"Yes, that\'s right".

"But for Elliot … hmmm …," Luna thought again. "Aside from Guardians having the purest of blood, the next in line should be the royal family since they\'re the direct descendants of the \'Ancient Magi\'. Oh, for Rania\'s sake, the Ancient Magi are those who lived first on our planet! It\'s called Gaia and it looks somewhat like this planet, but more abundant in magic".

"Ancient … magi?"

"Yes! You see, from the beginning of time -"

" - And now, we jumped into history. I thought we\'re teaching her about controlling her magic?" Elliot sighed. "You keep on jumping from one topic to the other".

"But … but … she needs to know too!"

"Ugh, we can do that in our spare time. You\'re trying to teach her everything about us, and that will take years. For now, focus on what\'s important and urgent". Elliot was getting pissed off Luna\'s short attention span.

"Fine!," Luna grumbled and pouted her mouth. "So moving on to the third question - how do we control it - well, like I mentioned about the blood … if you imagine your power like a blood, and using magic is like having a small cut then letting your blood flow out of your body, that\'s basically how you\'ll be able to control it. You shouldn\'t cut yourself too deep and let out too much blood, but you also don\'t want it to be too shallow, making it hard for you to control it".

"One was water, and the other is blood, amazing," Ducis shook his head in dismay. "And midget, compared to your gore example, I\'d prefer Elliot\'s".

"You always prefer his\' - you doting parent!"

And so, the two of them bickered again. Rania didn\'t bother to stop them anymore, instead, she tried to absorb everything that they told her so far.

"Hmmm … I see. So it\'s like \'mana\' from those fantasy books I\'ve read before," Rania pondered over it. Then, pacing around, she raised her hands just on the same level as her chest, and continued to focus. "Just a small amount, like water … and blood," she chanted over and over as she closed her eyes.

A few seconds passed.

Rania kept imagining a sphere of water in between the palms of her hands.

Then, finally opening her eyes, she whispered, "Water sphere …"

At last, her palms glimmered lightly, and indeed, a water sphere was formed - as big as a ball.

"I did it!" she exclaimed.

Elliot, Ducis and Luna who were bickering a moment ago, stopped and looked at Rania\'s direction.

"You did it!" Luna congratulated her as she flew towards her and circled around her. "Yippee! You\'re amazing Rania! You did it in one go!"

"You\'re not feeling dizzy or hurt anywhere, are you?" Elliot immediately fussed over.

Rania chuckled. "Didn\'t know you\'re such a worrywart. I\'m fine. I don\'t feel anything bad at all!"

Elliot nodded. "Good".

Unbeknownst to everyone, Ducis was observing Rania. While she was using her powers and with the water sphere conjured on her hands, his golden eyes glowed as he stared at her.

"I see …," Ducis murmured to himself. "So that\'s how it is".