The butler, seeing the queen's expression, wondered what was written on the letter.
Elora was stunned as she read the letter out loud, "Congratulations on your coronation. Queen of Palaverda. I, the king of Dragonsvile, wish to unite our kingdoms through marriage. I will send my sons on the day of your celebration. From king Altar Dagon to the queen." Elora saw the royal seal, confirming the letter's authenticity.
The butler's eyes widened. Dragonvile, the number one powerful kingdom on this continent, wanted to form a marriage alliance with the queen, which was very surprising.
He felt a surge of joy for her majesty, but also a deep concern. Were their intentions pure? The queen, now 24 years old, had indeed reached the age to marry and secure an heir.
If the late queen hadn't left so soon, her Majesty would be living a carefree life and would have likely already settled with a family of her own. A wave of melancholy washed over the butler as he thought of the late queen.
"Butler, bring me paper and ink; I must send my reply." Elora's tone was calm, though she sensed the marriage proposal could be problematic. Still, she wasn't against it, since it would further her long-term plan of retirement.
She would marry, bear an heir, and raise the child to take over the throne; once that was done, she would retire to a private island with her husband-assuming their relationship was solid and enjoy a life of salted fish- eating, playing, and sleeping all over again.
A bright smile crossed her face from her imagination, making the butler feel she was happy that she would soon start her family.
Not knowing she was thinking about her future retirement life.
"Your Majesty, I will summon the tailor to begin preparations for the celebration gown." Elora nodded as she sipped her wine.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty," He bowed and left her to enjoy her soak; he had a lot of things to prepare; in five days, they would open their doors to all other kingdoms, and visiting kings and representatives were all coming to congratulate their queen.
He made a mental list of what he was going to do and quickly called all the maids for a meeting.
Soon after, a maid brought paper and ink. Elora composed her reply with smooth, elegant strokes: "I accept your request to form a union." Her reply was brief and straight to the point.
She sealed the letter, stamping it with her dagger emblem. She placed it on the creature's back and watched it fly away. She said the ancient key lock to the barrier, and it closed, blending with the blue sky.
She felt there were hidden intentions with this marriage union to connect their kingdom, but she didn't waste her time thinking hard about it.
They would show their intentions eventually, she just has to be prepared. It seems she has to strengthen her guards and army even if she wanted to lazy around, she had their powerful backing.
From what she knows about magic, the mages honed their abilities by absorbing energy from the magic crystal into the magic chambers.
Magic chambers are like a second heart to mages. Once they are destroyed, there is no practising or magic.
Once the energy from the crystals enters their magic chamber and enhances and strengthens it, purifies it gradually when it reaches the bottleneck, they advance.
It sounds simple, but it's harder than it seems; they have to align the magic chamber with the energy of the crystal, focus intensely to draw out the energy, and channel it- absorbing quickly could, in the worst case, destroy their magic chamber or cause damage to their mind and body.
The magic crystals are rare and for one-time use only; once used up, their energy fades, leaving only their glow, like the ones in this pool.
Hmm... none of them have figured out the right way
It seems none of them have found the right way to channel the energy in the atmosphere into their magic chamber yet, she mused.
It was considered dangerous due to the impurities mixed in the air, and mages were advised to use crystals as a medium for training.
Elora closed her eyes and searched through her memories of those cultivator breathing techniques. She had been existing for a very long time, through different Civilization till the modern ones.
She had led different souls to the afterlife and had the opportunity to hear a thing or two from them.
Her brows furrowed, thinking and shuffling her memories; what cultivation time was that again? She thought hard, her hands caressing her brows as if to jump-start her memories.
It was too clustered in there with different memories mixed up. If she hadn't learned to freeze her memories over time, she would have become insane due to billions of memories that were too much for a human mind.
"Got it! Wasn't it that drunken sect master that fell to his death." She shouted, her tone excited.
She came out from the pool to test what he told her. She sat in a lotus pose, her eyes closed as she inhaled and exhaled.
She opened her magic chamber slowly, a green hue covering her whole body, as she inhaled and exhaled, her magic connecting to the atmosphere.
White golden particles flew into her body; as she inhaled, she took in the particles, compressing them in her mind, and exhaled white smoke through her mouth.
It continued for a while as she entered a trance-like state. Her magic chamber absorbs, filters, and expels the impurities out of her body through her lips.
****
The creature flew with such speed that it was impossible for the eyes to catch. It flew through landscape and ocean, eventually arriving in a kingdom covered in snow. It flew into a grand black castle.
Its walls were covered in black dragon scales, causing them to shimmer under the moonlight. The creature landed in a study dropping the letter in the man's hands.
The man's hair was long and black, his eyes jet-black with a depth of wisdom befitting an ancient being. He opened the letter, a smile tugging at his lips.
''Seraphira, it seems your daughter is a character. I hope my sons will suit her. Old friend,'' he murmured, gazing out the window, lost in the memories of his old friend.
Unbeknownst to him, his wives had gathered their sons, scheming to use Elora as a pawn to consolidate their power.
Only the pair of motherless twins remained unaware of the marriage arrangements.