The King's Beloved

[Music Recommendation: "Hate" by Lucas King (Instrumental only) - available in Youtube] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this scene ~

The black crystal orb that Elliot extracted from Calum\'s body…

And the same orb that contained all of Vindicta\'s hatred…

Hatred that materialized itself into an everlasting curse…

The Curse of Hatred.

The black crystal orb rolled in the air, adrift between Avarus and Elliot as the two got nearer each other. One was a person filled with greed and malice in his heart, and the other, with nothing but pureness, sacrifice, faith and obedience to the Most High. One bore a sword in his hands ready to pierce the other, and the other was about to die. 

It all happened very fast. Elliot who was startled for but one second—just one second—was at a great disadvantage. It was too late for him to dodge, or to teleport, or cast a barrier, or do any sort of defensive stance. In the end, it was up to the curse itself to choose who to destroy.

.

Avarus… or Elliot?

…

…

…

Unsure if it had a mind of its own or something else but alas, the Curse of Hatred chose… Avarus. Instead of landing towards the ground, or being pushed by the sword\'s handle to bounce back to Elliot—it was literally a few centimetres away from it when it fell out of Elliot\'s blazer—the black orb moved on its own and went towards Avarus!—or maybe, it was the strong wind that carried it? Nonetheless, it flew towards his direction, on to his chest, and sank into the depths of his heart and soul, if he ever had one. 

  Perhaps it had been ordained since the beginning, 

Or just began from the moment he chose not to repent and change his ways,

And perhaps, those options given to him was his last chance,

The last act of mercy towards someone like him—

But then again, only the Supreme would know.

"W-what… what the—" Avarus was horrified. 

His hands that held the sword suddenly trembled. Then, his arms, his legs, until it was his whole body that was trembling. The sword managed to pierce through Elliot but it didn\'t manage to cut so deep to cause him an immediate death. His blood shed once more but if one were to compare him to Avarus… the latter would be in a more dire state.

Yes, at that very moment, Avarus learned a whole new definition of the words "pain" and "suffering". It was the same pain that Calum and Sanguis had to endure for years yet… it was a pain far greater than they experienced! His body shook terribly! His complexion from head to toe went pale as if his blood suddenly left his body! His knees fell to the floor and as if it wasn\'t enough, his whole body laid down on the ground as if he was having a seizure—only the pain was too much to bear.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" Avarus screamed at the top of his lungs to the point that Rania, Elliot, and the king and queen who heard him were appalled.

"What\'s happening?" Rania whispered to herself as she healed the wounds on Elliot\' chest.

"I… I don\'t know. Even Calum didn\'t scream that much when he had the curse," Elliot replied, staring at the miserable state Avarus was in. "And I—when I experienced it, it was really painful but it can be endured. What he\'s experiencing right now… it seems like it\'s far greater than how it was with us."

Did the pain caused by the curse heightened because Avarus had more malice in his heart? Because he was the true evil? Or did the curse itself recognize him as the real culprit—the person who should be bearing the curse in its fullness? They could only guess.

"W-w-w-what… i-iss… this… t-t-thing?!" Avarus barely managed to speak. In just a few seconds, his voice had already become hoarse and his sweat wet the ground as if a bucket of water was thrown at him.

Whatever it was that\'s happening, it was extreme torture. They could only imagine how he was still breathing after a few minutes passed… and he would still be breathing after a few more.

Rania and Elliot furrowed and clenched their hands. Somehow, seeing Avarus in such torture was painful for them. Their tender hearts gave up in the end and felt sorry for him. Elliot even deliberated if he should end his life at that moment so he wouldn\'t suffer any longer.

As Elliot began to walk towards Avarus, and reached out his hands, a dark shadow suddenly appeared behind Avarus!

It was a shadow so dark that they had a hard time recognizing who it was. It was none of his hooded knights since after the ring broke, they all dropped dead on the floor as how they all should be. But as they took a closer look, they noticed it was a woman, or better yet, a spirit of a woman.

The woman\'s hair was long though they couldn\'t quite see what color it was—just that it looked like the color of wine. Her skin was darkened, her dress tattered, and her face was hard to recognize as well since it had a really scary expression, but her eyes that glared at Avarus with the greatest contempt… it was silver.

The woman\'s hand stretched itself towards Avarus\' head and pulled his hair. With the other hand, she cast a black hole with sparkles of golden dust like the black holes in Anguis Solum.

"Wait, is she… is she creating a new dimension?" Rania asked Elliot. "That kind of black hole… isn\'t that—"

"Yes, it is. And not just a black hole leading to a new dimension…"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Elliot\'s eyes glowed, as he observed and analysed what the dark hole was for—what dimension she was creating.

"T-That\'s a—it\'s a timeless dimension!"

By the time he realized what it was, the woman already finished and she threw Avarus inside the black hole. Afterwards, she went inside and vanished with him. 

And just like that, Avarus disappeared from their sight… leaving only the echoes of his agonized scream.

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!"