Chap 43: Conflicts Part 2

Grim and Julia were quickly taken to the emergency room for treatment, and Elastor was temporarily locked in a dungeon because of his danger. Eva looked at Grim's wounded body and worriedly said:

"What now? Grim is too badly injured."

Emanda was holding Belle, she hurriedly said:

"Let me, I can heal..."

Belle suddenly pushed Emanda away and said:

"Let me heal Grim, I still have enough strength."

Eva and Lamalia were shocked at the fact that half of Lamalia's face was severely swollen. Emanda hurriedly stopped her and said:

"You are not strong enough, let me."

Belle replied:

"Your face was burned, you are weaker than me right now. I can do it, believe me."

Emanda couldn't argue with that, so she agreed. Belle continued:

"But I'll need to borrow your eye to see better. Let's start the surgery."

Grim was brought to the operating bed, Belle, Emanda and the maid elves present for surgery. Belle activated the Eyes of Energy in her left eye and peered inside Grim. Belle saw Grim's internal bleeding, near the kidney. Belle said worriedly:

"Too close to the kidney, scalpel."

A maid handed Belle a light-sterilized knife. Belle made a long cut in Grim's left abdomen near the kidney to drain the blood. Belle was shaking her hand a little so Emanda held her hand and said calmly:

"Calm down Belle, you can do it."

Belle nodded and continued the operation. After the bleeding inside Grim was drained, Belle inserted a white crystal to heal the wounds around Grim's kidneys. After the wounds were healed, Belle sutured the wound and said:

"The surgery was a success but he will need a long rest."

Belle then healed Julia, her neck wound slowly healing. Julia opened her eyes and woke up and breathed heavily, still in shock from Elastor's anger. Eva approached Julia to reassure her and said:

"Julia, calm down. You're safe."

Suddenly Julia pushed Eva away and ran into the corner of the room, she trembled all over and said in fear:

"Don't come near me, don't come near me. Especially Elastor."

Eva was a bit worried, she said:

"Belle, what's wrong with Julia?"

Belle replied:

"Severe nervous shock, perhaps the shock from Elastor severely damaged Julia."

Eva said worriedly to Julia:

"Can she get well again?"

Belle replied:

"I don't know, if Julia has suffered many shocks before, it will be very difficult to recover now."

Everyone worriedly looked at Julia, who was trembling and terrified like a madman. Emanda created a small magic circle in her hand and blew through it. Small white flowers flew out of the magic circle and onto Julia's forehead and helped her to sleep. Emanda said:

"Those flowers will help Julia settle down, let her sleep for a while."

The maids took Julia to her room to rest. Eva looked at Belle's wound and said:

"Belle, your wound?"

Belle replied:

"It's okay, I'll heal myself soon. Everyone needs to be healed first."

Eva said:

"Me and Lamalia are fine, you and Master should heal first. You were already weak and tried to save Grim, so you must be exhausted."

Belle sat down and replied:

"OK."

Emanda created a magic circle and healed Belle. Emanda said:

"Although you are my best student, your stubbornness has always made me undisputed."

Belle smiled and replied:

"That's why I survived."

Eva said:

"Me and Lamalia are going to see how Elastor is. You and Master should rest."

Belle nodded and the other two left. Eva and Lamalia walked along the corridor to the dungeon, Eva said:

"Hey Lamalia, why are you here?"

Lamia replied:

"I have completed the connecting ritual with my ancestors, who gave me the ancient power of the royal family of Corput. I have come to train with you, King Avator will temporarily rule the kingdom until I return."

Eva said:

"Okay then, we need to prepare more until we fight Urizen."

Lamalia replied curiously:

"But why did Elastor become as ferocious as he was when he attacked us in the Newlaphaine kingdom. Is he more angry than before?"

Eva said:

"I don't know exactly what happened either, but it's partly Grim's fault. When he got mad, he was fighting Grim."

Lamalia replied:

"Grim's brusque and short temper has always been his greatest weakness, perhaps asking Elastor for the best."

Eva and Lamalia went down to the dungeon and saw Elastor still sleeping, Eva said:

"He'll probably wake up tomorrow, Elastor sleeps for a long time when he's exhausted."

After that, Eva and Lamalia left and trained on their own. While Lamalia trained hard by manipulating rocks floating in the air to develop the potential of new powers. Eva sat looking at the scene as she was still a bit shocked by her inability to fight Elastor and severely injured many people. Eva thought to herself:

"Perhaps Elastor was right, I've come to this point but I'm still immature. I can't become the queen of Gloria kingdom. Maybe I should give up, but Urizen believed in me, what should i do now?"

Lamalia noticed Eva's sadness so she stopped training and approached her. Lamalia sat near Eva and said:

"Why are you so sad?"

Eva replied:

"Nothing, I'm not upset."

Lamia said:

"I get you, you're emotional and trying to prove yourself worthy of many things. You're having a hard time, I get it."

Eva replied:

"Yeah, it's true that I'm having a hard time, but I've never felt so hard as I do right now. It likes the feeling of giving up."

Lamalia said:

"You said you would always try no matter how hard it is. Why are you thinking about giving up now?"

Eva replied:

"I'm not saying I'm going to give up, it's just... I can't do more. Honestly, when I was in the Lanxter kingdom, I talked to Urizen, at that time I really felt that Urizen was just better than me."

Lamalia said curiously:

"What do you mean?"

Eva replied:

"Urizen ruled the kingdom better than me, there was no rebellion after Urizen took the throne. When he held a meeting between the leaders to form a common alliance, he also had the approval of Urizen. Urizen has better popularity than me. While Urizen has such a good political and strategic mind, I have none. I simply copied Urizen's idea and implemented it quicker. But his idea was partially successful when he had an alliance with Halazar. And now that I have a strong alliance like this, I'm on the verge of losing it. There are the conflicts going on."

Lamalia said:

"Calm down Eva, you're under pressure."

Eva replied:

"I can't even protect people anymore, I've always been behind to support but when I'm really facing the enemy I can't do anything. Because of me Julia, Belle, Master Emanda got hurt. Then Alata, he was so innocent but was dragged into the battle and killed. And also to protect you and me, Zed had to sacrifice. Why is my life always associated with grief and suffering?"

Lamalia said:

"No, listen, if you can't do it now but you will when you stop thinking negatively about yourself. You can't keep thinking like that, it's just going to get in your way and make you weak."

Eva replied:

"I can't stop thinking about it, I'm so nervous and overthinking."

Eva gasped from the tension and she started to cry. Lamalia quickly hugged Eva in her arms and said:

"It's okay, it's okay, you'll be fine."

Eva cried as she replied:

"I'm so hopeless and helpless with myself."

Lamalia kept hugging Eva to let her cry and vent all her suffering. Eva said:

"I'm sorry Lamalia, but when I helped you to stop being sad, I was also sad. I couldn't hold my sadness any longer. After Zed's death I was already in so much pain."

Lamalia didn't say anything, she just let Eva say everything and comforted Eva. In the evening, after Belle was healed, she still needed a little bandage to heal again because the burn of Elastor's darkness was still burning very hot. Belle was still taking care of Grim, she sat by his bed and looked worriedly at Grim. Grim was still sleeping to recuperate. Belle looked at Grim affectionately and wiped his face. Eva entered the room and said:

"Hi Belle, how's Grim?"

Belle replied:

"Grim is fine, he'll probably wake up tomorrow morning. But he hasn't been able to retrain yet, most of his bones are broken."

Eva took a chair to sit down and said:

"Belle, I'm sorry, I was powerless and couldn't help you. I hurt you and everyone else."

Belle smiled and replied:

"You don't have to worry, I'm fine."

Eva said sadly:

"Needless to say, I know it's partly my fault. After Zed's death, I lost confidence in my own strength. There's nothing I can do about it."

Belle replied:

"I told you I'm fine, it's okay Eva. Listen, you've always been strong and brave to get to this point, you can't give up now. I know you're losing faith in yourself but you need to calm yourself down."

Eva said:

"Part of me is worried about other issues as well, that is between Grim and Elastor and also Elastor and Julia's relationship might be in trouble."

Belle replied:

"I understand, Elastor is tough and strong but he's also one of the saddest people after Zed's death. Elastor also suffered a deep trauma because of Zed's death but instead of accepting it, Elastor tries to suffer in a negative way and tortures himself a lot. Grim understood that and tried to advise Elastor but only made him more negative and there was an incident today."

Eva said:

"Elastor has become more grumpy and cold-hearted lately. I understand a lot about his thinking now. But when Grim wakes up he'll probably need to talk to Elastor a lot."

Belle replied:

"Master Emanda is resting, how is Julia?"

Eva said:

"I haven't checked her yet, she's probably still sleeping."

Belle nodded and replied:

"I think she's fine but Elastor will have a hard time seeing Julia again."

Eva said:

"By the way, you're having a crush on Grim, aren't you?"

Belle blushed slightly, she replied:

"What did you say?"

Eva said:

"You always cared for and worried about Grim the most. You also tried too hard to save Grim."

Belle replied:

"I simply want to help him, Grim is a very reckless person who always harms himself to become stronger. But Grim is also a person who lacks love and emotions, he needs someone to listen to every heart. Grim is born tough, but sometimes he's emotionally weak."

Eva said:

"Then I'll go see Julia right away. Remember to stay healthy, Belle, and take care of Grim as well."

Eva left Grim's room and went to Julia's room. Eva went into Julia's room, she had woken up and was having dinner in bed. Eva waved to Julia and said:

"Hey, you're awake."

Julia replied:

"Yeah, how are you, Eva?"

Eva said:

"I'm fine, you stay in bed Julia, you need to rest."

Eva sat by Julia's bed and said:

"Are you okay?"

Julia replied:

"I'm fine, but I still have a headache."

Eva said:

"It'll probably be better tomorrow morning. And, I want to say sorry, I didn't help you this morning so I hurt you."

Julia replied:

"It's okay, I understand you're having a hard time and in shock after Zed's death. But we can get through that."

Eva said:

"I know, oh yeah, about Elastor..."

Suddenly Julia trembled when Eva mentioned Elastor's name, Julia said:

"Don't mention his name again, I'm still a bit nervous."

Eva understood something, she replied:

"Okay, it's fine if you don't want to. You continue to rest, I'll let you recover. Good night Julia."

Julia said:

"Good night Eva."

Eva left Julia's room and walked down the hallway. Julia whispered:

"Why do I get so scared at the mention of Elastor's name, this doesn't look like me at all."

The next morning, Belle just washed her face and brought food to Grim's room. Suddenly Belle no longer sees Grim lying in bed. She hastily put the plate on the table and said:

"Grim, where did you go ?!"

Eva looked out over the large balcony of the room. She saw that Grim had regained consciousness and was doing push-ups with his left hand. Belle breathed a sigh of relief, but she immediately angrily went out to meet Grim. Grim saw Belle approaching so he stood up and said:

"Hi Belle."

Belle said angrily:

"You have just recovered from your wound and have continued to train, you want to die?"

Belle focused light energy to prepare to slap Grim. Belle raised her hand to slap Grim, but Grim grabbed her arm and said:

"Can you stop slapping me? You said you didn't want me to get hurt, but each slap of yours hurts me more."

Belle replied:

"Because you keep hurting yourself."

Grim gently let go of Belle's hand and touched her cheek. Grim said kindly:

"I didn't know you were so worried about me. Sorry."

Belle blushed, she said:

"Nothing, you're my friend anyway."

Grim replied:

"I don't need you to worry too much about me anymore, next time I will train with no injuries."

Grim and Belle looked at each other passionately and affectionately. Eva went down to the dungeon again to meet Elastor. He had woken up this morning and was thinking about his actions. Eva greeted Elastor:

"Good morning Elastor."

Elastor looked at Eva and replied:

"Hi Eva, I didn't know it was morning."

Eva said worriedly:

"So are you feeling better? Did you lose control again?"

Elastor replied:

"It's okay, I'm fine. It's crazy, I did a lot of things yesterday and made my anger take over. I don't know what's wrong with me?"

Eva said:

"Belle and Grim knew something. That you blamed yourself for Zed's death too negatively. You're going through emotional pain and sadness, I get it."

Elastor grumbled:

"I'm fine and I know what's wrong with me. I'm just not training well."

Eva said:

"No, you're denying Zed's death yourself, you're just hurting yourself more."

Elastor shouted angrily:

"No, I don't!"

Eva said angrily:

"So what's with that attitude? You're getting angry again."

Elastor replied:

"You don't know anything about Zed, maybe even his act of self-sacrifice. You just see Zed as a normal protector."

Eva said:

"I understood more about him when you talked about his past. I cared about him more and shared our thoughts together."

Elastor replied angrily:

"Zed died because of you!"

Eva immediately argued:

"You think I don't care when he's dead, that I don't understand Zed's wishes. I've loved Zed since I didn't know it myself. His thoughts and dreams have helped me move on. You're not the only one who's sad when Zed dies. You've become weaker because of Zed's death."

Elastor was very surprised, he said:

"You fell in love with Zed?"

Suddenly there was the sound of plates falling and breaking, Eva looked up the stairs and saw Lamalia looking at them, she looked like she heard their conversation. Lamalia said nothing and ran away. Eva worriedly said:

"Lamalia, wait!"

Eva rushed after Lamalia with the truth that she loved Zed. Elastor thought to himself in his cell:

"Am I weaker because of Zed's death?"

Elastor looked at his palm and sadly leaned back against the wall.