The King's Beloved

"Haah…..haah…..haah".

The sound of breathing can be heard inside the Forbidden Chamber. Slowly losing her life, Rania sat down on the floor and leaned on a pillar.

After being swallowed by the vines, what awaited her was simply, from the looks of it, a bedroom chamber.

Rania breathed deeply and after a few seconds, she drew the knife out of her body. Barely putting any pressure on her wound, she covered it with her hands. But blood continued to gush out of her. Its pain was excruciating her.

"Hah...hah ...hah….." she breathed heavily. Even breathing was now hard for her.

Wooooosh….

A ball of black light suddenly appeared in the middle of the room.

Little by little it grew, until it's big enough to reach the ceiling.

It changed its shape.

As if water trying to spread over a solid container, it formed itself.

Slowly, it turned itself into a dragon.

And after a few more moments, the black light was no more and what's in front of Rania was a very enormous and scary looking black dragon.

Its scales were like shiny black crystals that covered its entire body. And its wings, tall and very proud. As for the eyes ... a glowing gold.

It looked as if it was ready to devour anything and anyone.

Seeing Rania, the dragon opened its gigantic mouth and formed a ball of fire.

Rania, accepting her fate, closed her eyes and prayed to herself.

"I guess this is the end of my journey. It was short but I was happy. Now, I offer my soul to you, my Lord."

Alas! The dragon roared loudly and breathed the ball of fire to Rania. The fire reached the poor girl and engulfed every part of her. The scorching breath of fire lasted for a whole minute. Surely, no one would survive this kind of fire.

This now marked the end of Rania's story.

The fire that engulfed Rania ceased.

And after the fire, only bones were left.

Wait…

There were no bones.

Glowing in bright light, Rania, miraculously survived the fire, unscathed.

The black dragon's eyes widened. It couldn't believe what happened. It breathed fire into a human, yet nothing happened?

Then, he saw sparkles of light surrounding Rania, as if …..protecting her.

"Stop! Don't!"

The dragon heard a tiny voice. So little it seemed like a whisper.

"Here! Below! I'm here!"

The dragon looked around but couldn't see anyone, only the girl who was now fast asleep.

"Oh for goodness' sake! Why don't you transform, you Guardian! You're too big!" said the little, childish voice.

The dragon transformed itself again.

Covered in black light, it changed itself to a form of a man, losing its enormous size. As a man, he had long and straight, silky, black hair as ebony and captivating golden eyes. He was enchantingly stunning and his body stood tall and perfectly in proportion. He wore a long black cape embroidered with silver markings at its corners. His inner clothing looked like that of a regent.

"There you go, now can you see me?"

The dragon finally saw who was speaking so rudely in front of him. It was a little sprite who looked like a child with long and wavy silver hair and golden eyes. And yes, it was none other than Luna, and her pack of sprites.

"Oh, a sprite," the dragon said unamused. "And what is a sprite doing protecting....a human? Or should I say, sprites? Since there's a bunch of you here?" he continued. His voice was deep and a bit sarcastic.

"Don't hurt her! She's a kind human. She helped us before. She saved us from that nasty wolf trying to eat us in the Forbidden Forest."

The other sprites nodded in agreement.

"And why would a human go to the Forbidden Forest?"

"Because those mean girls were playing tricks on her! They told her they were sick and that the medicine could only be found in the Forbidden Forest."

"And she believed them? Then, she's a fool."

"No, she's not!" Luna argued. "She knew they were lying but ...those girls...She said they needed to feel how to be trusted so that they could give trust in return. She said humans could only share what they have."

"Huh! Still a fool," the dragon snorted and turned his back. He's now making his way back to the inner chamber. "Since you protected her, I'm not gonna kill her just yet. Feel free to leave once you're done."

"Oh! And her Pandora dress is also white! It's just covered in blood right now ...A white pandora dress means that she's pure inside and out, just so you know. And when I touched her, I felt her heart…..it was warm and gentle....and very comforting. She's really great. Hehe" the little sprite continued to brag about Rania while chuckling.

With those last words, the dragon stopped.

"What did you just say?" he asked.

"Huh? She's...really great?"

"A white pandora dress?"

"Ahhh… yes! Look!" the sprite gestured and flew towards Rania. She pointed her tiny fingers to the skirt of Rania's dress which wasn't covered in blood yet. And it was sparkling white.

The dragon walked towards Rania to feel her dress and make sure that it was a genuine pandora dress. As he felt the fabric, he was convinced. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"A human?....This can't be….," he whispered to himself. He stared at Rania, then looked at the little sprites with glaring eyes.

"What's happening here?" another man came in.

His voice...how should we describe it? It was simply the most beautiful and captivating one in comparison to anyone else's voice. It was deep and calm, yet cold and very mysterious. The man wore a plain white mask that covered his whole face. You could only see a glimpse of his aquamarine eyes when the light illuminates it. He had jet black hair and wore the same suit as the dragon, only his was blue and silver. He was tall, around 6'1" in height, and his body was slim yet muscular and perfectly toned like the others. And this was the same man sleeping at the pavilion during the last banquet.

"Elliot…," the dragon called him. "This…" he hesitated.

Seeing Rania, Elliot floated towards her. He only observed the situation for a moment and he already understood what had happened. He knelt down, removed Rania's hands from her wound and aimed at it.

"Wait, what are you doing? Don't hurt her!" Luna intervened and the others chorused in agreement.

"Just shut up, midget" the dragon reprimanded her.

"Hmp! How rude!"

Unfazed, Elliot continued. Bright and white light suddenly surrounded his hands, extending to Rania's back shoulder. He was healing her. Seconds after, her wounds had completely healed. The sprites exclaimed in happiness. They all thanked the young man.

"She's no longer in danger now but she lost too much blood. She needs to rest," Elliot explained to the sprites.

Afterwards, he lifted Rania to his arms and carried her to his bedchamber. Upon arriving, it was too dark to see anything but he easily strided along. He let her down onto his four-poster bed ornamented with beautiful drapes and a canopy. The mattress was very soft and covered in blue and silver sheets, with comfortable pillows. Then, he tucked her inside the warm and soft blanket.

"Do you know the girl, Elliot?" asked the dragon.

"Somehow ...She's the one who lent me her robe during the banquet."

"Oh...what a coincidence," the dragon remarked as his face furrowed. "It seems fate has brought you together again."

"Fate, huh?" he smirked. "Then I guess, it's also fate that locked me in this chamber."

The dragon frowned further, "No - I didn't mean....I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Ducis. No need to stress yourself."

Then, Elliot climbed his bed and laid down beside Rania. This shook the little sprites.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Luna blurted in her shock.

"Hm?" unaware of his mistake, Elliot innocently tilted his head in confusion. "I'm sleeping….on my bed?"

"Asdfghjkl...," Luna's eyes widened. She tried to speak but her words jumbled against each other.

"Hey dragon! Do something about your master," the other sprite turned to Ducis.

"He's not my master," Ducis answered angrily as he was offended. "For your information, he is my friend and I am his trusted confidant."

"That's not the issue here! Seriously!"

As they argued, Elliot continued laying down and shut his eyes to sleep.

"What the-! How vulgar!," another sprite shouted in anger. "You bad man! Get out of there!"

"Yeah! Get out!"

"Quick everyone, let's push him away!"

The little sprites discussed amongst themselves.

Ducis got irritated with their ramblings.

"Why don't you all shut up! Can't you see Elliot's trying to sleep?"

"Tell him to sleep elsewhere!"

"There's only one bedroom here, where do you think will he sleep if not in his room?"

"Then, on the floor!"

"--or the sofa", added the other.

"--or go make another bed!"

Ducis shook his head in disbelief.

"What is so wrong with sleeping with a human? Its not like he's gonna kill her you know. She just saved her life as a matter of fact," he argued.

And with this, the sprites were all…..stupefied.

"Tell me," Luna finally got over her jumbled speech. "How long have you been living under a rock?"

On and on they argued again, Ducis versus the sprites until Elliot got irritated and threw them all out of the room.

Finally having his peace and quiet, he looked at Rania who was lying beside her, before he closed his eyes and bid her "Good night."

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