“πρόσεχε … ,” as if brought by the wind, a soft voice whispered.

“Huh?” Rania tilted her head but she saw no one. She looked back to her comrades but none of them seemed to notice anything. “Must have been the wind,” she thought. And her body continued to be sucked inside the black hole before them.

​​

In an instant, they felt their bodies lighten. Not even a second has passed and they were now in an entirely different place, in front of an ancient – looking temple. The temple was gigantic and was made of pure black onyx, with colossal pillars at each corner. And at the top was a signage written in gold ink but was too primeval to be read.

Ducis opened the enormous gate of the temple and led them all inside.

“This is my temple, Abyss of Nox,” Ducis welcomed them. He gestured his hands toward the pathway and continually led them deeper in the temple.

The inside of the temple was dark and only a few golden lights on the walls illuminated the place. If you look closely, you’ll see dragon markings on the pillars, just like the ones in the Forbidden Chamber. Actually, aside from it being made entirely out of black onyx, you could say it looked exactly like Anguis, only less the furniture.

Ducis suddenly halted upon entering the innermost part of his temple where a large translucent curtain hung like a canopy from the ceiling down to the floor. The curtain changed its colors like the aurora from ‘Anguis Solum’.

At the very center of the room, covered by the hanging curtains was a very long sword emitting a golden aura and hovering in the air. They drew near to it and the nearer they got, the more beautiful it became. It was a straight, double bladed, black sword that had golden hilt and pommel. The area where the blade and the hilt met, started a pair of dark wings that curved and extended up to the round pommel of the sword. And tying the ends of the wings was a long, thin golden ribbon with small bells at the end.

“That’s a … Zweihänder,” Elliot broke the silence.

Ducis nodded, “That sword is a sign of my approval as the first gate. You may take it, Elliot”.

“Why should I? And why would you just give it?”

” … It’s to help you on the next journey that we need to take,” he replied. His face turned sullen.

“Journey to where? And why do we need to take it?”

“I … I’m sorry”.

Rania, feeling another fight will come, interrupted, “So … Ducis, do you mean we need to travel through all those doors we saw at your dwelling place?”

“That’s right. We need to go through each one and receive the approvals of the other Guardians”.

“Is this related to the prophecy that this little sprite muttered?”

“Hey! Stop calling me little! I’m the average size for a sprite!” Luna pouted.

Ducis lowered his eyes and sighed, “Yes, it is”.

“Huh,’ Elliot snorted. “Guess, it was a waste of time searching through all those books. And I supposed I won’t be getting any more answers from you, right?”. Walking towards the sword, he continued, “Next time, please tell us in advance if it’s already the ‘right’ time for you to say it, instead of us asking all the time”.

“Elliot!” Rania reprimanded him. “When will you stop sulking?”

Elliot opened his mouth and widened his eyes. “Huh?!”

“Yes! What you’re doing is called sulking,” she teased him.

“I – I’m not … sulking!”

Rania giggled and teased some more. “Yes, you are”.

“I said I’m not!” Elliot was starting to get irritated.

“Ahhh … poor baby, his father kept a secret from him so he couldn’t forgive him”.

“Stop that!”

“Hahahahahah!” Luna laughed with Rania and the other sprites started laughing too.

“Yes, come to think of it, you really are like a baby who just lost his candy! Hahahaha!”

Elliot’s face grimaced and his cheeks flushed pink. But he still looked cute like a pouting handsome man.

“Besides, he’s not my parent. I DON’T have a parent”.

“But he took care of you from your childhood up until now, right?” Rania asked. “He’s always been there for you,too”.

“Not that I have a choice. We’re just stuck together. He can’t get out of there,too.”

“Can’t? … or won’t?” Rania’s mischievous face suddenly became serious.

Elliot was confused again. “Ugh … It feels like Ducis’ puzzle words are rubbing off on you”.

“Elliot, there’s a difference between ‘he can’t get out’ and ‘he won’t get out’, you know?”

“Of course, I know”.

“Yes, you ‘know’ but it seems you don’t ‘understand’ it”. Rania sighed and walked near Elliot. She patted his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye.

He couldn’t look away again. Elliot seemed to have developed a susceptibility towards Rania.

“Elliot, he CHOSE not to leave you. That’s what you call devotion.

And he took care of you for so long, that’s what parents do.

And parents … don’t just happen by blood. It happens by CHOICE, too.

And the fact that he stayed with you, even if he could just leave you alone,

That itself means he cherishes you, and loves you.

Like a parent to his child”.

Elliot felt conflicted again. There were just a lot of emotions he could not understand. And one of them was this.

“But … why? What would he get from it? I’ve been wanting to ask all along. Why? And now, he’s a Guardian, too. And not just a Guardian, he controls time and space, one of the most powerful one out there. What would he get from taking care … of someone like me?!”

Ducis’ face furrowed in worry. So as Rania. For what could have happened to this child to not even understand such basic human emotions? He was like a doll, devoid of what makes him a person. Rania then turned to Ducis and Ducis in return just shook his head and smiled bitterly towards her. In an inaudible voice, his lips drew the words …

“It’s all my fault …”

Rania clenched her heart and decided not to press any further.