Aliadam was filled with great joy when he received Moist's invitation.
He had woken up that morning and got ready to send Moist another spiritual white rose but suddenly he saw five fireflies, spreading yellow dust on his window.
He wanted to disrupt their actions but then sensed Moist's essence in them. He was immediately filled with excitement and decided to wait and see what they were up to. After sometime, they stop spreading dust on his window and four simply flew away, leaving one of them behind.
He stared intently at the dust they spread on his window and it gradually turned into words. And they were… "I would like for you to hand me the white rose in person".
Wait! Was that an invite? Yes it was. He finally opened his window and the remaining firefly flew in and perched on his finger and then the dust from the window earlier flew into his room formed new words on the air….
"See you at my Holy Sanctum before dusk!"
After he read the words, the dust completely disappeared but the last fire fly remained, it simply flew outside and stayed on his window.
Finally! he was going to visit her in her abode and get to speak with her even confess his feelings to her.
All the times of him sending her those white roses with the aid of his spiritual energy finally paid off, now he was going to gift her the white rose in person, not grow it on her window every morning.
He had his attendants in the spirit palace make him the best royal suit ever! If he was going to visit Moist, he had to look his best.
"I fear you have too much excitement bubbling within you your grace" Drucius Aliadam's Hand walked in on him smiling at his own reflection on the mirror.
"Is the goddess fully aware of how much you admire her?" He asked again, looking instinctively at Aliadam who did not take his eyes off his reflection.
He was trying out the newly made suit that his attendants just brought in for him. The smile on his face definitely showed how very satisfied he was with the suit.
It's dominant color was yellow with touches of white here and there. It really went well with his flowing golden hair and hazel eyes. His gaze was still fixated on his whole look, while he ignored Drucius's question.
"Do you think Moist would love my outfit or should I rather put on something else?" He went ahead to ask Drucius who was still in anticipation of an answer to his own question.
However, he dared not ignored his king so he put aside his need for an answer and went ahead to reply to his question.
"I believe the goddess would be pleased with your suit and whole look your grace" Drucius bowed. "The spirit king has never looked this elegant for any other, that says a lot about how you feel about her". He managed to bring up his question indirectly. And this time, Aliadam finally gave him an answer.
"Moist is only aware that I admire and adore her, the matter of how much is still very unknown to her and I very much plan on letting her know today" he ended with a proud smile on his face.
"I understand how much you idolize the goddess and her whole being your grace but I also ask that you trade with caution. The war of races still exist and each race still seeks to have total dominion over the others. The witches are still at war with the human race. Your grace, do not forget that she is the goddess of the humans, and would do everything to protect the best interest of her race. I strongly advise against loosing your guard your grace" Drucius spoke with a lot of concern.
For some reason, he could not get himself to be comfortable with the relationship that was about to sprout between goddess Moist and his king. He did not trust the goddess and wanted nothing more than for his lord to do the same. He knew the goddess was smart and might be planning a sinister attack against the spirit race, while using their king as her master weapon. But he was not going to allow that happen under his watch.
"Drucius I understand your worries and I want you to be rest assured that nothing of such sort would happen okay?" Aliadam turned around to meet Drucius's worried face. He gave him a friendly pat on his shoulder and smiled at him, hoping it would ease his tension, but it did not.
"Your grace…" he began again, this time falling on his knees before the spirit king. "For all we know, this might be a trap!" He cried. "Please my lord, reconsider what you feel for the goddess and do not put the future of the spirit race in jeopardy. You are the blazing fire phoenix of the spirit race, our king and leader. Your fire burns stronger in innocence and in the absence of emotions and you and I both know you can not afford to fall in love, it will reduce your spiritual power and make you vulnerable before the goddess. I am pleading with you to please have a rethink on what you are feeling for the goddess, your power is deteriorating with the passing of each day, so is the strength of the spirit race. We cannot afford to face any form of attack head on as it stand now, please your grace!"
Aliadam understood him as well as the reason for his cries and complains but also believed he does not understand him because he has never been in love before. Hence, he fails to comprehend its strength and influence.
All his live as the blazing fire phoenix till he took a mortal form and became the spirit king, he had always had the interest of the spirit race at heart and put it first at all times, even before his own concerns…not like he had any.
He was very powerful and feared among the spirit race and beyond. The most magnificent feature about him was his spiritual power and blazing fire, but no one could uncover the true source of his strength, unlike Moist's which was very obvious that it was from acknowledgement, worships and praises she received from the humans. The more people adored her, the more powerful she became.
Elisha's powers came from her song and the melodic harmony of all of the siren race. Lucifer's will was drawn from ruins and wrath of the demon realm. Sheba's powers came from her powerful sorcery and manipulation of nature itself. But Aliadam's case was different. Only he and Drucius knew the true source of his strength, and that was his innocence and lack of affection.
If they were to be disrupted, then spirit race was going down with it too. It would either go into extinction or acknowledge a new master, the one who possesses his powers or strength.
"You don't have to be worried Drucius, I can handle myself and protect the spirit race as well. I might get weaker as I fall deeper in love with goddess Moist, but you need to understand that love is a very great force on its own. Besides, Moist is not aware of how weak I am right now, I am sure she has no plans of attacking me or the spirit race, she just wants to have a one on one discussion with me and who knows, maybe she feels the same way about me and has invited me over to talk about peace between our respective races, you can't always be optimistic all the time Drucius, give positivity a chance" he lifted his face to meet his and smiled at him again.
The smile this time pierced Drucius heart like a thousand needles. Not only was his king innocent, he was also unbearably naive.
How could be possibly think that Moist was not after his strength, power and the leadership of the spirit race. However, he was not going to bother him any further, he was going to protect him at all cost.
He knew an ancient technique of sealing the spirit king back into his egg form but can only be done once in a lifetime. He might not be able to stop Moist over powering his king and draining his spiritual power, but he was going to stop her from killing him and destroying his true form.
The ancient technique would need all of his spiritual energy to be performed, but he necessary did not care. That was his final resort if he truly wanted salvation for the spirit race.
His king was certain to fail now but he truly hoped this sacrifice he had made up his mind to carry out would be worth it. By saving his life, even if Moist gain control over the spirit race and spiritual energy, he was going to return one day and reclaim all that would be lost and never make the same mistake again.
"Okay your grace" he nodded and got up his feet.
"I will go prepare the carriage for you, I would not want you to be late on your first visit to the goddess's sanctum"
"Thank you so much Drucius" he appreciated as he watched him leave to get his ride prepared. He honestly cared so much about Drucius, it has always been just him by his side and he was more of a brother to him than a right hand man so it was actually natural for him to be worried about him. But he just wished he would understand that there was really nothing for him to be worried about, Moist was a good and gracious goddess, he does not believe she would ever be capable of doing him any harm. Deep down, he believed she felt love for him and he did not mind becoming weaker just to love her better…