The Cursed King

Loriel immediately tugged hard on Elise\'s right hand and refused to let go of the beautiful woman. It was a small tug of war, but Loriel was still really weak.

Dante easily overpowered the boy and took her to the portal, and it was at that time that Elise\'s ring slipped out from her finger. It was the only thing that Loriel managed to hold onto.

Loriel stared into the thin air where the two of them disappeared. He didn\'t know who the guy was, but Loriel immediately disliked the man for taking the fairy away. 

But he focused on the ring in the palm of his hand.

"I… I\'ll return this to you, I swear!" Loriel shouted to no one in particular.

The young Loriel held on to both the ring and the crystal that the fairy gave him, but before he knew it, the crystal was suddenly absorbed into his body. 

A bright light flashed over Loriel. He felt a great warmth seeping into his body and the young boy felt his limbs strengthen, energy course into his veins and somehow he felt like had the power to stand up to his mean sisters.

It really was a magical crystal!

Loriel made a promise to himself to not only return the ring to its rightful owner, but he would someday be strong enough to actually repay the beautiful fairy for everything that she did to help him.

The boy was left alone and stranded in the hut. When he looked around him, however, he didn\'t see all of the people who kidnapped him.

There was a wooden hut in the middle of the forest and an old lumberjack came out of the hut with his equipment, ready to work.

"Hey… what are you doing here?" the man came rushing to Loriel\'s side when he saw his bruised and bloody face. "Are you all right? Who did this to you? Where is your family?"

When Renwyck and the king\'s guards came to the forest to get him, Loriel heard that he had been missing for a year. The crown prince didn\'t understand what was going on. They also couldn\'t find his kidnappers.

He didn\'t know that when he struggled with the Time Master, Dante accidentally sent him a year into the future. 

***

"Uff… I hope Loriel is alright," Elise murmured once she and the Time Master arrived back in his home. She looked behind her back in interest as the time portal that they took finally closed.

It was a type of power that Elise could not comprehend right now, she wondered if it was something that one was capable of learning or if it was exclusive to the god of time alone. 

Dante only feigned a smile at Elise\'s worry about her husband and said, "I think the two of us know that he is alright because he is now married to you. You don\'t have to worry about it because everything was in the past."

"Oh, right," Elise nodded sheepishly. "I just couldn\'t stop myself from worrying about him. Especially when I realized that Loriel back then was so meek and shy. I\'ll always remember this time fondly. Thank you so much for letting me go back in time, Dante."

"It is the end of a debt," Dante nodded but then managed a real smile. "But shall we not forget about the tea that you promised to have with me?"

"Of course," Elise smiled. "I can help you heat water or make certain types of flowers here in your mountains bloom so we can have rare tea as well."

"You\'re quite incredible," Dante couldn\'t help but say. "I can\'t help but wonder if your ancestors are in any way connected to one of the main gods in Cretea or the Earth Goddess looks at you so favorably."

"Oh, my family has always been a powerful bloodline of witches and wizards," Elise explained. "There were rumors that our ancestor is the descendant of one of the old Earth Goddesses."

"Ahh… that seems more like it." Dante nodded. "I am not interested in other immortals\' private lives, but if you want, I can ask around."

"What for?" Elise chuckled. "It\'s been many generations. It\'s not like we have anything to do with her now."

"You never know," Dante shrugged. "Being descendant of a demigod has its perks. For example… you might be allowed to apply for access to Cretea."

"Huh?" Elise furrowed her brows. "Cretea? I have heard about it a lot,  but I am not sure I am following you here. What does Cretea have to do with  me."

Dante smiled mysteriously. "Cretea is OUR world. That\'s where the magic in your world originated."

Elise nodded. "I know that much. They said the seventh prince brought magic to humans\' world because he was sorry when he saw how difficult our life was without the ability to use magic."

"Yes. So, you know that story." Dante nodded happily. "Some people are so talented and they had innate magic within themselves that was awakened after the seventh prince sprinkled the magic dust in this world. Those people became so powerful, that they could even kill gods."

"I thought gods are immortals. How could they be killed?" Elise asked Dante.

"Well, your definition of immortal needs some fixing. By immortal, it means that we can live forever in our current youthful bodies. We couldn\'t die of natural causes. But, of course, we can die if someone more powerful than us attacks and kills us."

"Oh…" Elise gasped. She realized Dante was right. "So…that means, other gods can kill each other?"

"Uhm, duh?" Dante chuckled. "The seventh prince was punished by our king because the king was more powerful than him. We have other immortals who died in battles among themselves. You see, we are not all peaceful creatures. Some of us like confrontation and wars too and every year immortals die one by one for whatever reasons."

"I see."

"Yes.. so, those mortals who grow up to be really powerful,  they could even kill gods. And what should we do if they became more powerful than regular gods? We take them in and make them one of us," Dante explained. "They could become gods too."

"That sounds amazing!" Elise was surprised by this fact. So… humans could actually become gods? This was news to her. Her father was very powerful. She imagined if he trained more and became even stronger, he might even reach godhood someday, and… become immortal?

But maybe King Alexander wouldn\'t be interested in immortality since his wife, Catalina, already passed away. What was so good about living forever without the person you loved?

"You have the potential," Dante finally uttered his point. "Don\'t you want to be a goddess? You are quite powerful and you are only what..? Twenty? You could be beautiful and young forever."

Elise was dumbfounded by the offer. A real god just offered her the opportunity to become an immortal? This felt surreal.

"I-I don\'t know about that…" Elise said in a stammer. 

Why would she live young forever if her husband stayed as a regular human and died in old age? She only wanted to be with Loriel.

She didn\'t want to live forever if she had to witness her husband\'s death and then she would spend eternity in loneliness. Elise was really not interested in this offer, but she wanted to be polite.

"That\'s such a wonderful offer. I feel honored that you think that way about me," Elise said with a smile. "I  will have to think about it."

"Yes, you should think about it and let me know if it\'s something you would want," Dante replied.