"Where have you all been?!" one of the maids bawled as soon as she noticed three elf maids walk into the grand kitchen of the castle.
This elf was middle-aged by their standards with some wrinkles on her face.
She adjusted her monocle as she barked at them, obviously furious with their absence.
She glanced at her wrist, telling the time on her watch.
"You should have been here over twenty minutes ago!"
The three maidens said nothing, only bowing in deference to her rank as she was their senior in the hierarchy.
They stood and listened to her go back and forth without interrupting her.
Only when she was done did they finally speak, letting her know the reason for their lateness.
"We were by the Queen's side, Madame Coletta," one of them finally spoke out. "She asked that we escort her to the Hall of Lanterns."
The senior elf servant of the Elf Queen, Madame Coletta, raised a brow as she listened to their reason.
She was sceptical and unwilling to accept it as true but if they said it was the queen who delayed them, there was nothing she could do.
"Tch!" she gritted her teeth. "Get to work! We have a lot to do."
"Yes, Madame Coletta," the three of them chorused.
As the three of them walked past, Madame Coletta couldn't help but cast a wary look at them and then toward the exit of the kitchen.
*********
Freya, with Drax, started to climb down the flight of stairs.
This place gave Drax the creeps since it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything.
As if realising her baby's fear, Freya snapped her hands and in an instant, tiny orbs of light appeared out of thin air.
These little bubbles of light were small individually but together, they were able to generate enough light to guide them down the stairs.
With the light shining and him being able to see Freya's face, Drax felt more comfortable in this strange place.
It didn't take long before they completely descended the stairs and headed towards another door.
This door was larger and more ancient-looking than the previous one and doing the same hand gesture, the door opened to Freya's command.
As it opened, light penetrated the place and illuminated halfway through the room, allowing Freya and Drax to see what was beyond the door.
Drax's eyes widened.
"Woah!" he expressed, bewildered by the beautiful scene in front of him.
It was a colourful sight, too colourful and beyond anything he had seen.
A vast garden that was a mix of a variety of flowers whose natural colour blended into the adorable location before him.
It was not just the sense of sight that was satisfied.
The fragrance from these flowers was sweet to his senses and the air felt pure and satisfying to breathe in.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Freya asked as she looked at her son, smiling while bouncing him around.
Drax nodded. "Yes, mother. I like it."
Freya's smile widened even more and then she turned to look ahead of them, pointing a finger to two distinct pillars some metres in front.
The pillars were not hidden but Freya pointing at them seemed to add a dense spotlight on them.
These two pillars were the only structures inside the large, beautiful garden and the only non-flowery thing there.
Each one stands five metres tall with a very thick breadth, separated by a space between them, which measures about half of their height.
Drax looked at the stony pillars and squinted his eyes.
He found it strange that they were simply rooted there because it appeared like they did not save any purpose in the garden.
He traced Freya's hand back to her face, looking at her curiously as if waiting for an explanation.
"That is where we are headed, my darling," she said. "To the Hall of Lanterns."
"Hall…?" Drax muttered, confused.
He turned briefly at the pillars, straining his little eyes to try and see this hall that his mother was speaking of.
However, Drax saw nothing and he turned back to Freya.
"Hall… of… Lanterns…?"
"Yes, sweetie. Hall of Lanterns," Freya reiterated. "It is our oldest heritage. A mystical hall that is located in another dimension and holds the lanterns of every living elf."
Drax blinked furiously.
He was intrigued by this.
'A mystical hall? Another dimension?' he thought.
Freya continued to explain everything as they walked towards the two pillars.
"Listen carefully, my love…"
Drax agreed with a bob of his head, his eyes sparkling with interest for his mother's next words.
"You might not understand everything that I'm going to say today, but I still feel that I need to tell you," she said. "The earlier you know, the better but as you grow older, I will continue to tell you more about us elves."
"Okay, Mother," Drax answered excitedly.
Freya approached the space between the two pillars and extended an arm to it, making contact with an invisible force.
Drax had noticed it as Freya's hand seemed to be unable to go beyond a certain distance.
'A wall?' he rightly considered in his mind.
Freya maintained contact with the invisible barrier as she chanted some words which caused the tips of her fingers to glow with mana.
With each mana-imbued finger, she crafted some symbols in the barrier, making the symbols seem like they were floating in the air.
This continued for one complete minute before Freya was done.
She stepped back with Drax and watched what was happening as the space between the two pillars distorted and began to swirl like a whirlpool, shining with a golden gleam.
It sparkled with resplendent golden light, with Drax barely able to keep his eyes open, but Freya didn't even flinch.
She approached the portal which she created and walked straight into it while carrying Drax.
They were headed towards the ancient Hall of Lanterns where Drax was going to take a name for himself as the son of the Elf Queen.