Part 3
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She whirled around at the mention of her name, already anticipating who she might find, and there just as expected was Queen Alizara sat atop her throne, a smug yet board expressed laced onto her face, her blue hair trailing behind her as her crown sparkled in the sunlight.
Surprise overtook her, as a sinking feeling took hold of her, Elana had brought her here, promising it would be here way out. She thought they'd come to an agreement that she wasn't doing this, that she couldn't defeat the Queen.
"You brought me here." She stated sharply, looking at Elana hardly as disappointment clouded her features. She thought for a second she saw genuine remorse on Elana's face, but she may have been mistaken.
"I'm sorry but I didn't have a choice." She replied firmly.
"You promised me you'd let me out. I got you the crystal. I got-"
"You got a shiny rock. Not the Ezerulium Crystal." Alizara bellowed out from atop her throne, clearly listening into their conversation. And Eclipse glanced to the crystal in Elana's hands, the one she'd fought to get to, the one they'd brought here.
Brought to Alizara... the sting of betrayal cut like a knife, Elana hand been playing her the whole time. She'd brought her here, laid out a perfect trail of breadcrumbs so that they'd get the crystal for Alizara so she could complete her spell.
But there was still one piece of the puzzle that didn't quite line up, "I don't understand I thought..." she trailed off, what did Alizara mean? They'd gotten the crystal, Cosmic had promised the crystal would be at Cerberus Corner. And they'd found it.
"Oh, the Crystal was there, but it's not that rock you've got in your hands." Eclipse looked over to Elana's hands where she was holding the iridescent stone, her mind trying to figure out how they'd somehow accidentally retrieved the wrong rock.
There hadn't been any other crystals there, what else had they missed? Her hand subconsciously reached up to hold her necklace, as her mind raced with how they'd missed the Ezerulium Crystal... it was the only thing there that-
The necklace.
Cosmic had said it would be at Cerberus Corner shortly, and it had been. Just like Cosmic had promised.
"Did you know?" She demanded, shooting Elana an accusatory look. She was the one who told her there was something important about her necklace, and she'd trusted her. Believed her and now.
Elana nodded weakly, as the familiar sting of betrayal sank into her bones.
"Why would you do this?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper, she needed to know, no matter how much the answer would kill her to receive. She needed to know.
"I didn't have a choice." Elana replied glumly, her eyes drifting up to meet Alizara's.
"Oh, don't take it so personally, she was merely following orders." Alizara said, as Elana's left eye flashed with a gleam of red, matching the cards that covered Alizara's eye.
"I'm sorry." Elana mouthed, and Eclipse didn't know what to think, Elana had been manipulating her the entire time... on direct orders from the Queen, and right now, Alizara had the only piece she needed to complete her spell in front of her.
Practically handed to her on a silver platter.
She gripped her sword tightly in her hands, drawing it out from where she'd stowed it in her belt. One thing was for sure, she wasn't letting her necklace go without a fight.
The Queen rose up from her throne, towering above her using her enormous wings, which only added to her magnitude, she was truly terrifying.
But Eclipse wasn't ready to let her win, not when lives were on the line if this spell were to go through. She couldn't let Alizara get her necklace.
She didn't back down, not even as magic began to spark in Alizara's hands and she could almost feel its warmth from her position. Fire power, one of the deadliest.
Eclipse clung tightly to the shining silver blade, as her dark eyes darted towards her opponent. The Queen, she'd risen out of Eclipse's reach, towering above her using her gigantic wings and she knew her sword would be useless against range attacks. She felt the temperature in the room begin to rise before Alizara started pelting fireballs at her, she dodged the first three and used her sword to deflect the fourth.
She knew she was merely stalling, knowing she couldn't do anything until Alizara was down on the ground. She dodged another attack, knowing she couldn't keep going on like this. "Is that all you got!" Eclipse yelled, taunting her, trying to aggravate her enough to get her to fly down to her level, wishing this was a fairer fight, she knew she should've been used to that by now. Her opponents never fought fair... so why should she?
She dodged the next attack, her eyes sparing a glance at Elana who stood practically frozen in the corner. "What did you do to her?" Eclipse shouted up to Alizara.
"She won't be able to help you with this battle I'm afraid, she's already played her role."
Alizara had spelled her, that had to be the only option, combined with her manipulation of Elana earlier, this only severed to anger her more. She needed to do something.
The Queen sent another fire ball and she narrowly avoided it, two more followed in close succession and she dodged those quickly, trying to find some sort of weakness, like she'd done with the Cerberus.
Alizara drew another fireball, it soared through the air and Eclipse tried to dodge it once more but this time she wasn't so fortunate, the blast hit her necklace with a sizzle.
The fire didn't burn, it was almost like her necklace managed to absorb some of the impact, neutralising the threat.
She continued to doge attacks, ducking behind a pillar after the fifteenth in order to catch her breath. It was only then she noticed how her necklace was glowing, a bright emerald green she'd been too caught up with the battle to notice sooner.
She peered around the pillar, waiting for the next attack, it came from her left. That was when she noticed she couldn't quite feel the heat from that blast the same way she had all the others.
Alizara shouted something to her again, but it sounded far away, like she was in a different room altogether, the noise echoed around her mind as she fell into a sea of green, when the emerald light disappeared, she was left in a cool black room.
Her necklace was still glowing, brighter this time and she could feel the pull of magic radiating from it, it felt almost as powerful as Cosmic had.
Her necklace began to float, gradually growing bigger as it tore off from the string, leaving her staring at the most breathtaking Crystal she'd ever seen.
The Ezerulium Crystal.
This was how she was going to win this battle.
She closed her eyes, finally accepting the Crystals power, letting it consume her, she felt the magic run through her body, she felt energised, any trace of tiredness gone in an instant, and her fingertips felt tingly as if her magic was looking for an outlet, demanding to be used.
She could feel the rush of power, and now, this was a much fairer fight.
And suddenly she was back in the throne room, the warmth of Alizara's magic still radiating around the room, only this time she didn't fear it. Now, she could fight it.
Eclipse pointed the shining blade at Alizara's throat, it glowed with power, enhanced by the Ezerulium Crystal. "It's over." She stated fiercely, her eyes locking with the Queen's, so she understood just how much she meant it.
She'd won.
She had the Crystal.
A smile tugged on the corner of her lip as she felt a sense of pride swell through her, she'd done it, she'd actually done it. She had defeated the Queen, now all she had to do was-
"Eclipse!" Elana's scream pierced through the eerily silence that'd befallen the room. Her eyes darted over to Elana's, before a sparkling red glow of light enveloped the room. Alizara.
Her fireball hit her like a punch to the chest and she flew violently back; she felt her sword fly out of her hand and clatter to the floor. The world flew past in a multitude of flashing colours before her.
She landed on the ground with a thud, gasping for air her lungs couldn't quite seem to grasp. She wrapped her arm around herself, her legs tucking up closer to her as she curled up on herself.
Everything hurt.
She closed her eyes, no longer feeling the tingling of the Ezerulium Crystal flowing inside her. She felt weak, weaker than she had in a long time and her eyes felt like stone.
She shivered, feeling unnaturally cold as she heard a steady rhythm of footsteps from... somewhere. She couldn't focus; her heart was pounding so loudly she could hardly hear anything above it.
She tried moving her eyes again, the blinding green light was almost too much for her to take, and she screwed then shut once more. She was tired. So, so tired. She felt sleep tugging at the edges of her soul, and she breathed out heavily before finally giving into the darkness.
"Eclipse!" She yelled, desperation clouding her voice as she saw the sparks forming in Alizara's hand, she knew Eclipse hadn't seen them. She couldn't have, and then... the room was enveloped in a blinding red light.
She buried her face in her arms to keep from getting blinded, and when she reopened her eyes, the room felt colder, darker and- "Eclipse!" She shouted out, her eyes landing on her immediately, she was curled up on herself lying motionless on the floor. No, no. No!
Her eyes darted to the green glow that now surrounded Alizara. She had the Ezerulium Crystal, the one final thing she needed to enact this spell.
She felt rage bubble up inside her at the very notion, that she was truly about to enact the spell. That she was truly about to drain the entire kingdom's magic for one selfish goal. She clenched her fist, nails pressing into the palm of her hand, as she narrowed her eyes at her mother.
She didn't bother with a fancy speech or attempted warnings; she knew that would never get through to her.
Elana closed her eyes, wondering just what she could do to stop this. She didn't have magic, not like Alizara had and she's seen what she'd done to Eclipse.
She was no match for her mother.
The reminder only served to aggravate her more. She needed to do something she needed to... her eyes drifted to her fist, it glowed with a pink energy, that she'd seen a few times before, whenever she was about to shield or teleport. But never like this. Her hand felt like it was on fire, it tingled with a burning energy, the pink glow just waiting to be used.
She knew what she had to do, she'd practiced this manoeuvre countless times alone in her bedroom, in case she ever needed it. She knew how to stop the spell.
Closing her eyes once more, she focused on the humming of her bones, letting the flow of magic envelop her as she began to trace a star pattern in the air in front of her, before wrapping it in a circle, she opened her eyes, almost terrified of the magic before her. She'd never held this much power in her life, she felt the wind change as her magic only grew, her hair getting tossed around in the wind, as she narrowed her eyes, focusing directly on the Queen.
She took a breath; it was time to end this. Once and for all. She released the blast, the pink magic sailing through the air right at Alizara, she didn't notice it until it was too late, too preoccupied with her newfound crystal to see the blast.
The room glowed a light pink as Alizara fell to the ground.
She felt her shoulders slump, as her arms dropped to her sides. It was over. It was finally over.
The Ezerulium Crystal lie just out of Alizara's reach, shattered into millions of tiny pieces.
They'd won, Alizara had been defeated. The kingdom would keep its magic and without Alizara in power, Elana knew things would finally start to improve around here and yet... her eyes drifted to where Eclipse lie unconscious on the ground, just a few feet away from her. They'd won. But at what cost?
Life in the Jovial Empire looked different after the battle. With Alizara bound to life in the castle dungeon, the palace started to take on a different form. For the first time since Solaris's death, the castle let in light and music and finally opened its doors to the public for the upcoming coronation.
It was a kingdom wide celebration; everyone gathered from throughout to meet the new heir to the throne.
The ballroom was decorated to perfection, the stained-glass windows polished until they sparkled, letting in more light than the throne room had seen in over seven thousand moons, and a symphony echoed through the air.
As the day progressed so did the festivities, the ceremony was cause for celebration, and it wasn't until late that afternoon when everyone gathered to watch the ceremony.
The orchestra played, as the doors swung open, revealing Elana dressed in a truly majestic gown, looking every bit the Queen she was about to become. She walked slowly to the front, a round of applause echoing through the throne room as she did so.
Рос
"It is my honour to present the New Queen of the Jovial Empire.
Queen Elana Rosara, long may she reign!"
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