Chapter 43 – Elemental Being (Earth)
••• Aleena’s POV •••
“Thank you for breakfast,” I sighed with contentment as I joined Queen Neia in the garden.
“I’m glad you enjoy our food,” she laughed softly.
What’s not to love? Yes, their food was different. I didn’t even know what ingredients they used, but they sure tasted delicious. It was like they knew my taste bud’s preferences.
Queen Neia gave me time to relax after breakfast before she would bring Witch Lily and me to that place. Okay, I still didn’t know the place’s name, but so did everyone. We all referred to it as ‘that place’.
“This kingdom is beautiful,” I told her. I wished I could bring Kyson here with me someday.
“Thank you. We’ve been protecting our existence for so long. We do not want anyone to just be able to enter and taint our kingdom,” she told me.
I could understand her reasoning. If many people knew, this place would be destroyed. It would be loitered with trash, just like the world we were living in – the human world, and it wouldn’t be as beautiful and serene anymore.
“So there hadn’t been many visitors coming here?” I asked the Queen, who now had those tiny birds around her again, just like yesterday when I first saw her.
“We only let a few trusted individuals know of our existence,” she informed me.
Well, that explains why I never heard that elves existed.
“Queen Neia, you are close to Witch Lily.” I tried to find out about their relationship.
“Yes, we go way back. She is a chosen one, too,” Queen Neia told me.
Wow… I didn’t know Witch Lily is a chosen one, too. So, she must have a specific purpose like me.
“What is Witch Lily’s destiny?” I asked in curiosity.
“Her destiny… is to help Kyson and you. We were the ones who helped her escape from Witch Rose’s evil plan,” Queen Neia disclosed the information to me.
Another shocking news!
“Will you help us in the war against Andre and Witch Rose?” If she helped Witch Lily last time, then the elves should help us this time, too, shouldn’t they?
“Unfortunately, we can’t. We don’t want others to know of our existence and are not allowed to help either. We helped Witch Lily last time because the Moon Goddess had asked for our help,” she made it clear that they wouldn’t be involved in the war.
“The Moon Goddess asked for your help?” Could they stop with all these shocking revelations?
“Yes, Aleena. In helping Witch Lily, we were helping you as well. Everything is within our destiny,” she said.
“Helping me?” How?
“When we helped Witch Lily escape Witch Rose’s clutch, she would then be able to fulfill her destiny. And we are to welcome and allow you to enter that place when the time comes,” she explained patiently.
I can’t believe that my destiny is intertwined with so many people!
“Queen Neia, why do I need to defeat the elemental beings to activate my witch power?” I had been wondering about it. Why couldn’t I activate it like when I helped with the protective spells?
“Because you are not a witch, Aleena, but you are blessed with a witch’s ability. When you defeat them, their powers will be transferred to you,” she said.
Ohh… It’s like a shortcut to get my witch power. Defeat them; then I’ll get their powers; no need to train or anything else.
“Queen Neia, Luna, it’s time.” Witch Lily, as per usual, appeared out of nowhere.
“Alright. Let’s get you to that place.” With that, Queen Neia led us toward a stone wall just behind the garden. There was no door, entrance, or opening for us to go through, making me wonder how we were supposed to get there.
Queen Neia stepped forward and touched the stone wall. The nature elements’ symbols glowed on it, and we heard the cracking sounds of stones as the wall split into two, creating a portal.
I gulped nervously, not knowing what lay ahead. As Witch Lily and I stepped toward the portal, Queen Neia’s hand suddenly grabbed mine.
“Aleena, take this,” she offered me a medium-sized silver dagger. “This is an Elven dagger; it will help you greatly.”
The dagger was beautiful; the silver glinted under the sun. The handle had carvings on it, and the blade was sharp. Despite its size, it weighed like nothing. I tried swinging it, and a slashing sound was heard. Wow, it could even cut through the air!
“Thank you, Queen Neia,” I thanked her sincerely and placed it on my belt, though I had no idea why I would need a dagger.
“Good luck, Aleena,” she said with a smile, and I stepped forward, following Witch Lily, who had crossed over first.
As I stepped through the portal, I heard Queen Neia’s voice, “Oh, and Aleena, Witch Lily couldn’t use her magic inside. It’ll be best for you to defeat those beings as fast as possible.”
I turned toward her in shock but saw nothing. No portal, no stone wall, only a vast desert – sand as far as the eyes can see. And the temperature was so hot that I had already begun sweating.
“Luna,” I heard Witch Lily’s voice.
“Witch Lily, where is the elemental being?” I asked as I looked around and saw nothing like a being, elemental or otherwise.
“We need to keep walking,” she said in her soft voice as she started walking forward.
I followed her and suddenly remembered what Queen Neia had told me. “Witch Lily, Queen Neia said you can’t use your magic here?”
“Queen Neia was right. I can’t use my magic when you are fighting the elemental beings, but I can use healing magic afterward to heal you,” she clarified Queen Neia’s words.
And here I thought she would help me in fighting those beings. But healing magic was better than nothing.
We kept walking forward for what seemed like hours, but it was actually only thirty minutes when I suddenly felt the sand shift under my feet. It looked like it had a mind of its own as it moved forward and gathered in one place around ten meters from where we were standing.
More and more sand converged together, and it began to take form. My eyes widened in disbelief as I looked at the figure in front of me.
It couldn’t be…
But… It is!
It was a golem, and it was huge, nearly ten times my size.
Before I could react, the golem charged speedily toward us despite its size. I shifted, merged with Celia, and managed to jump sideways just as it slammed its fist to the ground. I would’ve become a pancake if I hadn’t managed to avoid it.
I looked toward Witch Lily and sighed with relief when I saw her safe.
“Let’s beat it, Celia.” I remembered Queen Neia’s words about defeating them as fast as I could. With the high temperature, we would lose our strength fast if we delayed defeating it.
We lunged forward and jumped as high as we could, intending to bite its shoulder, but our bite didn’t injure it at all. Instead, we felt like our teeth would break from biting it.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
“Aleena, we can’t use our teeth. He’s too hard. We can’t puncture him!” Celia said as we jumped backward to avoid its attack again.
We kept trying to injure him with our teeth and claws, but no matter where we bit or slashed, it didn’t affect the being at all.
Celia and I began panting as we tried hard to hurt it but failed every time.
“What are we gonna do?” Celia asked.
“Pick up the Elven dagger and try to jump onto its shoulder. I have an idea,” I told her, and we jumped forward, using the golem’s hand as leverage, and jumped higher to its shoulder. I quickly shifted back to my human form and plunged the Elven dagger straight to the side of its neck.
I felt defeated when I realized that not even the Elven dagger could hurt the golem. But I wouldn’t give up. I circled my legs around its neck and plunged the blade into the top of its head to no avail. He was rock solid; it was impossible to stab him.
The golem started to shake me off his body, and I somersaulted backward before charging ahead and trying to slash every part of him. And as we had expected, all my attacks were unsuccessful.
My body had started to tire as a result of moving too much. I moved as far back away from him as possible, keeping a safe distance between us, as I panted and tried to think of how to defeat him.
“Aleena!” Suddenly, I heard Witch Lily’s voice and turned to look at her. It looked like she was surrounded by a force field, preventing her from moving from her spot.
“Find the crystal! It has a crystal embedded in a part of his body. Find it and crush it. That’s the only way to defeat it!” Witch Lily shouted for the first time since I had known her.
A crystal? “Celia, did you see any crystal on its body?”
“I didn’t.” Celia’s answer was the same as mine. We didn’t see any crystal on him, but we weren’t looking for it. Now that we knew about the crystal, we had to concentrate on finding it.
The golem lunged toward us, and I ran head-on toward him. I jumped back a little when he slammed his fist down and quickly ran forward again, this time running upward along his arm. I locked his neck with my legs again and searched for the crystal around his head, but he shook me off, and I landed flat on my butt.
The crystal was not on its head or the back part of its body, and I was sure it wasn’t on his face or the front part of its body, nor its arms or legs. His feet and hands were the only possible places. I need to concentrate on those parts.
As I was thinking about it, the golem lunged toward me and stretched out his hand.
“Aleena!” Celia’s shout brought me back into reality, and I managed to jump backward, evading his hand. I would’ve been crushed if he had taken me in his massive hand.
“Aleena, I saw it! The crystal, it’s on his palm!” Celia became excited despite being downcasted a while ago.
On his palm? “Are you sure, Celia?” Not that I doubted her, but I just needed to make sure.
“I’m a hundred percent sure. I saw it when he was going to snatch you just now,” she replied with certainty.
If it is on his palm… An idea formed in my mind.
I relaxed my stance and waited for the golem to charge toward me again, and he did, much to my satisfaction.
He came toward me with his arm stretched out, and I saw the crystal clearly this time. It was green in color, the color of the earth. I kept myself still in my spot while waiting for him to come nearer.
“Aleena, what are you doing? You need to move, or he’ll crush you in his hand!” Celia shouted anxiously.
I ignored her and kept my gaze locked on the giant rock golem who was fast approaching me. My heart was beating fast. I was betting on my one final attack to defeat him once and for all, but if I failed, then I’d be dead.
My grip on the dagger tightened as I waited for him to get closer to me.
Ten steps… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three…
I lifted my hand and stabbed the crystal in his palm with the Elven dagger when he was two steps away. I stopped breathing as the blade successfully hit the crystal.
Did I crush it? Was it effective?
The golem stopped moving with his hand stretched out mid-air, and suddenly, a burst of light came from his palm, blinding me with it. I jumped back quickly, wanting to keep a distance from the giant golem in case my attack was unsuccessful.
My eyesight returned to me after a few seconds, and I quickly took a defensive stance when I saw the golem still standing on its spot.
“Aleena, look!” Celia exclaimed, and I saw the light from the golem’s palm move toward my moon-like object as if it were being transferred into it.
“The golem!” Celia exclaimed again. I quickly looked at the golem and saw its form dissolving until there was nothing but sand on the spot where it had been standing.
“We did it!” Celia was so ecstatic that she began jumping around in my mind.
I let out a heavy sigh of relief and sat down, with my energy depleted from the fight.
“Luna, you did well.” I heard Witch Lily’s voice. The force field around her seemed to disappear with the golem, and now she could move freely.
“Let me heal you,” she said, and I stood up. I had many cuts on my body from the golem’s attacks, but no bones were broken.
Witch Lily chanted her healing spell, and as usual, there was a yellow glow surrounding me and a warm feeling before I saw all the wounds on my body were gone. Even my tiredness vanished, too. All my energy was back as if I had never fought with a giant rock golem.
I thanked Witch Lily and was about to ask her about transferring the golem’s power to my moon-like object, which was useless in this realm when suddenly I heard Celia’s tense voice.
“Aleena, look at the sand!” she cried out.
I looked at the vast area of sand and saw something alarming. Water seemed to seep from the earth, replacing the sand before us. I tried to move back, but Witch Lily grabbed my hand, preventing me from moving. We stood still as we watched more and more water seeping from the earth, transforming the vast desert into an ocean.