The Crown.

Celestia's POV:

It took every ounce of strength in me to sneak inside my father's throne room. He is not in the castle right now. He is out in the meadow performing his daily prayers. This is my chance to steal the crown. I won't get a better one than this.

The throne room was a little empty today. His coffer in which he keeps his precious artifacts was not visible. Perhaps he concealed it with his magic. What if he had done the same thing to his Ivory crown? 

I hesitantly surveyed the room completely. But it was empty. How am I going to find the crown? It's over now! Theo and I can't be together if I don't find the crown. He is going to leave me once he realizes that I am incapable of even retrieving a crown for him. 

I pressed my body against the wall and closed my eyes. Holy Aiden! Please help me find the damn crown. Suddenly, there was a noise of something swirling around in the air. I went alert and opened my eyes. What is happening?

The whole room went dim as if someone sucked all the light from it. How did it get so dark? Is there an eclipse? 

I used my powers to yield a light ball. Then everything became visible to me. The room was the same as before, but the walls weren't. A secret door was opened. I never knew there is a secret passage in the throne hall. 

I stepped inside the secret passage. The only thing visible to me was the stairs that lead downwards. I started walking down the stairs. For a while, I wasn't able to see anything. It was like walking into nothingness. 

But soon, the pathway led me to another room. This room looks exactly like the throne room. But this one wasn't empty. There were so many treasure chests full of artifacts here. 

I wasn't able to figure out what the artifacts did. Why did my father keep this a secret from me? I doubt if Darius knew about this. I don't think he does. If he were aware of this room, then he would have told me about it before.

Whatever! Now I should find the crown. But there must be at least one hundred coffers here. How can I find out that among these treasures? It is probably going to take me a day to do it. 

I touched the handle of a random coffer and tried to open it. But I froze when I heard a grumpy voice.

"No one can touch anything here without my consent," the voice said.

I turned over to look who it was. I screamed in horror as I saw a ghost hovering above me in the air. It was wearing a long and hooded brown robe. The spirit looked very old and had a very long silver beard. 

What is a shadow creature doing here? 

"I am the spirit of the Druid, and I am also the guardian of this throne room."

"So my father made a creature of darkness like you as the guardian?"

The Druid got hurt by my remarks. I felt terrible for insulting it with my words. I never knew that spirits had feelings. 

" Young lady, you can't touch anything without my consent," it repeated its statement again. 

" Fine, what should I have to do?" I asked the Druid. 

The Druid chuckled a bit. " Only a pure-hearted Fae would be able to touch the things around here. Since you are here against your father's will, your heart is not pure. So you can't take anything from here. That is how King Oberon has concealed this place."

So my heart is not pure? That is not true! I am here for the greater good. This kingdom needs a better king like Theo, and I am here to fulfill his purpose. 

I took a step forward to the treasures and opened the coffer. Nothing happened to me. The spirit of Druid gasped. So I am on the right path!

" This is impossible," the spirit shouted. " How are you able to touch the treasures?"

I smirked at the spirit and stared at its deadly black eyes. I could feel that the spirit was reading my mind. 

" Hey, stop doing that," I shouted. But it didn't listen to me. 

After a while, the spirit began to talk. " Now I understand why you are not harmed. Because your heart is filled with love. You are doing this out of love and innocence. When anyone does something for love, the individual is eventually considered pure-hearted."

I blushed at his explanation.

" King Oberon should have put a better concealing spell than this," the spirit added. " Since you are pure-hearted, I am obliged to obey you."

" Okay, now tell me, where is the crown?"

The spirit pointed its hands over to the coffer, which was on the corner of the room. I ran towards it and opened the chest. I thought I would find one Ivory Crown there. 

But there were a lot of crowns in it. I was confused. Which one is the original crown? The spirit started laughing out loud. 

" You can't pass this final test. You are not wise enough to see through the illusion," it said. 

What am I going to do? I can't take all these crowns. If just one of them is real, then I should only take that one. 

How can I know which one is real? I shut my eyes again. What is the significance of Ivory? Why does the King have to wear this? 

Ivory is extracted from the dead wild warthogs, which is seen mainly in the Southern regions. The reason why they are used widely in the realm is because of the immense field of vigor they have. 

The scriptures say that when a king wears this on his head while he is in the courtroom, he might make better decisions. I thought that it was just superstitious beliefs when I read that. But they emphasized the energy this crown can yield, which will enhance the Kings' decision-making process. 

I put my hands inside the treasure chest and touched each and every crown.