Chapter 38: 38 The Royalties

From the pedestals that were inside the temple-like structure, there were two items that were floating.

One looks like a cape, but it looks ethereal, which confuses people whether it exists.

The other looks like a hairpin with a blazing feather design that looks like a tail feather of a peacock.

"Young man, please claim the gift of the whole Ashen Elves!" the old man asked and gestured to Arie to pick up the items.

The moment that the young man entered the structure, blazing flames emerged from the ground and devoured him.

Urie almost jumped in the flames to save his little brother, but the old man stopped him from doing it. He was too strong to be stopped by the old man. That's why the old man asked for help to restrain him.

"Young man! Young man! Listen to me!" The old man kept on calling out Urie's name to get his attention, which was drowned by his worry towards his younger brother.

A few more calls when Urie finally notices the old man's call.

"Don't worry! Nothing's going to happen with your brother! If I'm right, he'll emerge from those flames with the items in his hands!" The old man said to comfort him, which made him at ease at least a bit, but the worry still exists inside his head.

Meanwhile, inside the blazing structure, Arie was leisurely walking inside the flames feeling the warmth that it emitted which could burn a normal person, even an Ashen Elf, but not him.

He was enjoying the feeling like he was just leisurely taking a bath, but when the pedestals appeared in front of him, as he slowly held his hands when the items flew towards his hands as if they had a sentience of their own.

[System]

[You have acquired the Crown of Flames!]

[You have acquired the Essence of a Royalty!]

Arie was surprised when he read the notification as he stored the items in his inventory, but surprisingly, the items directly went to his equipment as they devoured the past items on those slots that he was wearing.

"What? What's happening?" Arie confusedly asked as he looked at himself.

Urie and the rest of the Ashen Elves who were nervously waiting for him to step out of the flames were surprised to see him when he emerged from the flames.

His green hair with red tips complimented the flaming halo surrounding his forehead and at his back were a pair of ethereal wings that looked like they were made from fragments of light.

Truly a sight to behold that was more majestic than what he showed back at the Brilliant River.

"Thank gods! You're alright!" Urie said as he breathed a sigh of relief and examined his little brother if he received some damage.

"Brother, chill! This is just my avatar! I can resurrect in town if I ever died there!" Arie replied while scratching his neck length green hair with red tips.

"Still! I can't help myself, but I have to worry!" Urie replied.

"As I told you, young man! There's nothing that will happen to the young man! Especially, he has the blessing of the guardian of Nature and Flames, an Elven Royalty!" the old man explained, which caught the two off-guard.

"What do you mean by Elven Royalty?" Arie and Urie synchronously asked the old man as the old man faced towards the gigantic doors of the vault as if he was reminiscing about something.

"Well, I'll tell you a story about the Elven Royalties." The old man said while leading them all out of the vault towards a room where a long table was and a lot of chairs were placed around it.

Ladies from Asheville entered the room, bringing plates of food, and placed it on the table.

The old man cleared his throat and told a story about the gathering of the Elven Royalties.

There was a council of Elves called the Elven Royalties. They were composed of Elves of different kinds. Fire, Air, Water, and Earth.

The leader of the council was the Earthen Elves, which were the guardians of most parts of the world.

Ashen Elves were the guardians of the Flames, that includes the interior of the world and the Sun.

Marine Elves were the guardians of Waters and Marine life.

Avian Elves were the guardians of the Air and everything that lives in it.

They were the main Elven kinds that guard the world, but because of their authority, they had restrictions that would tie them together with the power they had.

The inability to tame beasts was one of them, but the Elves that weren't related to the Royalties weren't restricted by this rule, that's why there was an Elven Clan back at the Town of Beginnings.

A weird incident happened that broke this restriction. A royalty that belonged to the Earthen Elves went to visit the Marine Elves for a formal meeting when an aquatic beast appeared in front of him and attacked him.

The fight between the Earthen Elf and the beast went for a couple of days and even though there were guards that kept an eye on the elf, they couldn't help him because they were restricted in interfering with a Royalty's affairs.

On the fifth day of their fight, the beast collapsed and fell on the ground. The royalty was surprised because the beast was still strong when they were still fighting until he noticed something peculiar.

For the past few days that they were fighting, the beast didn't move an inch. The royalty looked at what was keeping the beast from moving and saw that there was a nest behind it that it was guarding.

The royalty felt guilty and examined the beast to see what was wrong and concluded that it was exhausted itself from the fight even though it just gave birth.

He felt conflicted about what to do and took care of the beast and its eggs until it totally recovered and the eggs hatched.

The people that belonged to the Marine Elves tried to persuade him to go back to the domain of the Earthen Elves and leave the matter about the beast to them, but he profusely refused.