The King's Beloved

After a full night\'s rest, Rania, Elliot, Luna, and Ducis went back to Anguis Solum to continue their journey of travelling through the twelve doors. They were done with the First Gate - Abyss of Nox, and now they need to proceed to the next.

Ducis led the team towards the Second Gate which was located just behind the first one. Upon a closer look, Rania noticed that the door was different and it was made of large branches of trees intertwined to each other. Moss and leaves scattered all around it, and in the middle was another black hole they needed to enter. And so, they jumped into the hole.

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A blinding light welcomed them inside. Then, the sounds of birds chirping, the stream of the creek nearby, and hustling of leaves. When their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw that they were inside a peculiar looking forest, unsure if it was them that shrunk or the trees were just naturally more humongous than normal. There were weird looking fruits as well, some of them even emitted a continuous glow. The creek was crystal clear that you could see tiny fishes-looking creatures swimming inside it. A few wisps flew back and forth in random directions, too. Indeed, the forest was peculiar compared to the Forbidden Forest; unusual yet enchantingly beautiful as well. And in the middle part of the forest, just across the creek, was a pathway made of bluish stones. As to where it led to, nobody knew.

"Wooooow!" Luna gasped as she dashed and flew all over the place. She always loved the greenery so she fell in love with the whole place. "This place is amazing! I could live here forever!"

"Be careful what you wish for," Ducis commented.

Elliot and Rania surveyed the whole forest with their eyes while Luna and Ducis started bickering again.

"This is a really marvelous place," Rania said as she witnessed more of the forest\'s beauty.

"Yes, it is," Elliot nodded. "But what are we supposed to do here?"

"Hmm, maybe we need to cross the creek and go there," Rania pointed toward the bluish pathway.

"Yeah, that\'s probably where the temple is".

"I think so, too. But - ," then leaning on the creek, "How do we know if this creek is safe to travel to?"

"We could just fly over it".

"I don\'t know how to fly yet, though".

"I can carry you".

"Like baggage?" Rania chuckled on her words.

"Huh?" Elliot was confused. "Ahhh, I mean, like this," then he lifted both his arms, gesturing a princess carry.

"- or you can teach me how to fly now".

"Uhmm, it should be the same when you conjured the water sphere. Try saying \'fly\' or \'float\' since your magic is voice-activated".

"Oh, right. I\'ll give it a try -"

RROOOOOAAAAARRR!!!

The whole team was startled. A sudden angry howl could be heard from afar.

"What\'s that?" Luna asked while she quickly hid behind Ducis.

Rania and Elliot alerted themselves and prepared for battle.

The roar and sounds of gigantic footsteps seemed to come nearer and nearer to them.

RROOOOOAAAAARRR!!!

And with a final roar, bending lots of trees in front of it, an enormous Griffin-looking creature emerged in front of them. Its head and wings were white and looked like that of an eagle while its body was that of a lion. Its eyes were golden and very furious. At first glance, one would definitely be scared upon seeing such a horrendous looking beast.

Seeing that the beast was going wild, Elliot quickly conjured a fireball on his hands and aimed it at the Griffin.

"Elliot, wait!" Rania grabbed Elliot\'s arms and stopped him.

"What is it?"

"Look at its forelegs," Rania pointed towards the Griffin\'s forelegs. "Its injured - maybe that\'s why it\'s furious right now".

Elliot looked at the direction Rania pointed to and there, he saw a big arrow stuck on its forelegs - both of them. Unsure why, Elliot dissolved his fireball and relaxed his shoulders. Perhaps it was because of the sudden memory he remembered - a picture of Ducis in dragon form, with arrows deeply stuck on his scales. He was just a child back then, hiding behind the dragon, being protected from unknown people trying to infiltrate the Forbidden Chamber. As for the reason, he never really understood why.

After a moment of flashback in Elliot\'s mind, he gently approached the raging beast. He flew towards his forelegs to remove the arrow. However, the Griffin was immediately alerted and threw Elliot away from him using its massive wings.

"Roooooar!" the Griffin roared again and stanced itself into a fight. Its eyes fixed itself on Elliot, ready to attack him if he got any closer.

Ducis silently observed on the sidelines while Rania ran towards Elliot, to help him get up. Elliot didn\'t expect the Griffin to fight back, so he was thrown hard and landed towards the big tree. The impact was very strong, too and left a deep dent on the tree trunk.

Elliot sighed as he wiped a trickle of his blood from his mouth and spitted out those inside. Rania took a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it over to Elliot.

"This would be a lot easier if I just kill it," Elliot turned to Rania. "But somehow, I don\'t want to".

"Maybe you\'re feeling sorry for it? It does look pitiful with that injury on its legs".

Elliot remained silent. He glanced towards Ducis, then stared back at the Griffin. Then he sighed again.

"Why don\'t we just kill it and go straight to the temple, Elliot?" Ducis asked him from afar as he noticed that Elliot felt conflicted.

Elliot knitted his brows, "Are you seriously saying that?"

"Our goal is the temple anyway, we could just leave him behind. This is a different dimension and the creatures here can take care of themselves".

For some reason, Elliot felt his blood boiling deep inside him. But then again, Ducis was right - their main goal was the temple and probably get the other equipment there or something. And indeed, the Griffin was big enough to take care of himself.

"But … is it really right to ignore others, just to achieve what you want faster?" Elliot asked himself.