Chapter 26: The Trial of Light

Elzilaura descended the grand staircase and saw the Queen of Ludin waiting for her at the end of the hall. The monarch led the princess into the balcony. Along the way, she experienced an anxiety attack. What was happening now made her recall what happened the day she was in her home world. All these memories flashed into her head and she nearly falls down.

"Are you all right, princess?" Monandra asks her hand stayed on Elzilaura's back.

Elzilaura pants as she fights through the panic. Soon, she rises and straightens herself.

"I am fine, your majesty. Let us proceed. The people are waiting." She replies while recovering from the anxiety episode.

As they entered the balcony, they saw the crowds that have gathered below. Monandra starts to address them. "Peoples from all over the universe, I hereby present to you a princess from Fliska seeking the right to claim her birthright. It is time to witness if she truly is worthy to be the next ruler of her kingdom."

They leave the balcony and proceed to the great hall where the sacred pool is. The guests have settled down and so the Queen marches to the dais and began to chant incantations and blessed the people present in the hall.

"Today, we begin the ritual to test who will be the next Queen of Fliska. Only those of the true noble bloodline can inherit the throne as our ancestors have decreed. Thus, this test was made so that the one true heir bears the right to use the power of the gem to its full capacity. Who then is this true successor? Reveal yourself before us."

From the doorway, the princess comes forward. Her neckline was exposed revealing the shining Crystal Cross being worn as a pendant. She goes to the dais where Queen Monandra is.

"I am the true heiress," Elizlaura says. She stops at the edge of the dais.

"I am Elzilaura Coremelle Maurelin Ruleinna, daughter of Azestina, granddaughter of Minemora, and descendant of Maurelin."

"We shall see." The Queen says. She then motions for the princess to go to the sacred pool. At the edge of the pool, she takes off her robes revealing a traditional white gown.

The lady approaches Elzilaura and the former took the cross from the princess' neck. When Queen Monandra held the gem, it would have broken her but because she too is linked to the Sardonyx Square, she can safely wield the Crystal Cross but not to full capacity.

Holding it in one hand, she raised the gem, which emitted strange burning light. Instantly, a shimmering shield enveloped Elzilaura protecting her from the harmful light. Monandra then narrates to the witnesses.

"In ancient times, the heiress was once separated from the royal family. To identify her from pretenders, the Queen raised the gem and harmful light appeared. All the pretenders perished except for the true heiress encased in a glowing crystal shield. Thus, she has been known as Crystal Princess." After a few minutes, Queen Monandra stops emitting light.

"Congratulations, Elzilaura, daughter of Azestina, granddaughter of Minemora, and descendant of Maurelin. The first phase of the testing is complete." The assembly claps.

Queen Monandra placed the Crystal Cross on the lamp. Automatically, the lamp floats above the pool. Then, Elzilaura entered the sacred waters. She lay down and floated calmly. When the cross emitted its brilliant light, she began to sink and disappear from the audience's sight.

Elzilaura sank deeper and deeper until she hit rock bottom. It was so dark there but a light shined and she saw that the crystal cross was once again set as a pendant on a necklace around her neck. She used it as a lamp to light her path and soon discovered that she was on the ocean floor. She managed to breathe surprisingly and when she tried to find out why, she realized she suddenly had gills. Though she still had her pair of legs, her skin when examined very closely had tiny scales. She had turned into a sea creature. She swam further and noticed something move.

When she approached it, she saw the strangest creature, an extremely large shark with tentacles instead of fins. The shark also squirts ink and it was the reason why the area was dark.

In fear, she swam as fast as she could but the creature followed close by. Pretty soon, one of its massive tentacles reached her grabbing her lower body. She tried to escape by using the power of the gem. The tentacle exploded but it also grew back.

All the tentacles now held her tight. As the creature placed her in its mouth, she used the power gem to make a barrier bubble which ballooned up suddenly occupying the whole mouth area and pushing the teeth out of its place. All the teeth fell and the creature had to let her go. When her bubble barrier was let loose, she began to focus her energy to create a large ball of fire which eventually killed the monster.

When the monster perished, the blackness faded and water immediately evaporated revealing a desert. She traveled across the desert and finally found an oasis. She drank as much water as she could but still felt thirsty. The more she drank the water, the thirstier she got. When she choked and found it hard to breathe, she used the Crystal Cross once more. It seemed as if it wasn't also working.

She concentrated hard and then, she coughed out large amounts of sand. Soon, the oasis faded revealing a huge sand pit. The winds became so strong that she was pushed into the sand pit and it turned into quicksand. She decided to limit her movements and slowly managed to work her way out of it by allowing her power gem to lift her up like a rocket escaping into space.

Once she landed on safer ground, she continued walking and found another oasis. This time, she used the Crystal Cross to make sure it is a real oasis. After confirming it was genuine, she bent down at the edge of the oasis and scooped up some water to drink. Not long after, the waters of the oasis began to spin and sprang upward. She was immediately sucked into what seemed to be a cyclone. She was swirling and swirling around together with so many particles within the cyclone. Her skin was bruised when cacti flew by and scratched her arm. Then, her vision was impaired and her mind went swirling when a piece of driftwood hit her head.

Meanwhile, the people in the great hall saw this as they viewed the sacred pool and thought Elzilaura was going to die. Kanunia cheered for her sister. She advises her sister to wake up and use the power gem to defeat the hurricane. Monandra then slowly approaches Kanunia.

"I understand your concern for your sister but let her be. Firstly, she cannot hear you. And even if she can, you must allow her to grow and make decisions on her own. Have you not seen Kanunia? She is fearful and anxious because she was never given the freedom to think and make decisions on her own. You have given enough support so now let her grow." The Queen of Ludin suggests. Kanunia nods in agreement and takes a step back from the pool.

Back inside the pool, Elzilaura grasped her power gem which glowed and magically revived her strength. She then allows the power of the gem to take form. The light it emanated looked like two human hands pressing the hurricane taming it down. When the swirling waned down, the light faded and the water splashed down turning back into a pool.

Elzilaura was left levitating within the bubble caused by the Crystal Cross. Once again, she was having trouble controlling its power. The power gem was emitting light beams which hit the pool. Not for long, the pool turned into a huge volcano. It erupted and the lava fell toward her. Though she had the bubble to protect her from the volcano's might, her uncontrolled beams of light were weakening the bubble.

As the bubble barrier was about to collapse, she realized the source of her flaw. The power flowed through her roughly because she was too tense. Her fears were getting the best of her causing the light beams to scatter. To remedy the situation, she empties her mind just like what she does during meditation.

She slowly releases her tension and allowed the power to flow into her. It was warm and almost burning but she stayed calm and savored the energy. Soon, it was no longer overwhelming. The warmth ceased and releasing the flowing energy became second nature to her. Soon, the beams gradually ceased.

With the aid of her gem, she used an emergency incantation to summon the rain. The intense storm dried up the large volcano and the lava emitted turned into a stream of gases that pushed Elzilaura's new fortified bubble into the sky.

For a moment, she felt as if time had stopped. The bubble was stationary. Not for long, the bubble began to shake and sped like a rocket until it reached outer space.

It soon burst leaving Elzilaura floating in zero gravity. Suddenly, she felt being pulled in by a current. It was a black hole that was drawing in energy beams including her. She releases the energy of the Crystal Cross to seal the black hole which turned into a colorful nebula. As she approached it, the colors meshed and transformed into a different scene. She found herself in the court of a royal palace.