"It's poop," Ronaldo said.
"Poop? What poop?" one of the miners asked.
"Idiot, that gold is the excrement of this mythical creature," Ronaldo explained.
The miners and Ronaldo all shouted in shock. Francis sighed. "Tsk, tsk. Give me a break from all of you. Don't you know that this creature is one of a kind? I've read about it, and apparently, you don't know the resemblance?"
A miner came closer to the head of the creature, an "Eagnix." "It's the emblem of your family, my lord," the miner said.
"Yeah, you saw it right. I thought it was just an epic story, but my forefathers hunted them to tame them to produce gold. But it didn't happen, as far as I've read. However, maybe before that, they tamed one of them, and after that, we never saw their kind again. This is the first time I've seen an Eagnix."
"So, how old is your family?" Ronaldo asked.
"Well, it might be older than you think," Francis said.
"What will you do about this, Lord Francis?" the miner asked.
"Just leave them there, and I will send a guard here to watch over them. You can take what you can."
"No, sir, it would be a disobedience to your great-grandfather. We promised our service to him and to the rest of his family for our entire lives to serve you all," the miner said.
"Okay, fine," Francis said. "We will return."
Ronaldo suddenly collapsed.
"Ronaldo!" Francis shouted. He carried Ronaldo and took him to their vacation house, where he was to be treated. Leyla, the wife of Olrond, the head of the miners and the dwarf group, was the caretaker of the house. She was an expert in healing, a skill she learned from their race.
"My lord!" she bowed as she opened the door.
"Oh, Leyla, lucky you're here. Come, heal this idiot!"
"Yes, my lord!"
Leyla began healing Ronaldo with a spell that encircled his body. "My lord, I'm afraid I can't heal him," Leyla said.
"What? Why?" Francis shouted.
"He is…" Leyla said, with a look of suspense.
"What is he?" Francis demanded.
"His body is not made of human flesh; it's a dragon-made flesh—a very rare body type. It can only be acquired by touching the Cardinal Trees."
"Goddammit! Then what will I do?"
"You must travel back to the kingdom and go to the Sunshine Kingdom. Queen Dorothea might be able to heal him."
Francis picked up Ronaldo and prepared to leave. Leyla looked at Francis with eyes that signified great loss, as if someone had just died. "Your kingdom, my lord, is far beyond. There is no hope."
"There is." Francis vanished quickly as he used Time Walk.
At the Sunshine Kingdom, Francis appeared in the middle of the forest. He lost consciousness, as he was at his limit. As he was about to lose consciousness completely, a graceful woman jumped out from the vines.
The two of them lay in the center of the tree. It was like an X-ray. A green-violet dust floated inside. Francis woke up first. "What happened?" He held his hand and took away the vines on his body, getting out of the "tray."
Dorothea and four other women were at a table, meeting. They heard a footstep on the floor, and one of them, Elle, rushed over. She saw Francis. They were naked, but not totally; their private parts were covered by the vines that had wrapped around their skin.
"Your majesty, the one who woke up," Elle announced.
Queen Dorothea walked in. "Where am I?" Francis kept looking around and then found Ronaldo.
"Francis," Queen Dorothea spoke gently. "Calm down. You are in the Sunshine Kingdom now. Relax and let us heal you."
"Oh, Dorothea. Where's… where's Ronaldo?"
"He is healing, too. Don't worry; he will be fine. Just take a rest first. Ladies, help him get back to the tray." Beth and Dana took Francis and put him back in the tray.
After an hour, Francis woke up in a normal state, no longer dizzy. He gently removed the vines and set foot on the floor. No one was around. He saw a glowing tree and went there.
"Ro—Ronaldo!" he thought Ronaldo was dead because he was encapsulated in another type of tray.
"He's alive, sir," an attendant appeared.
"Then why is he there?" Francis asked.
"It's a healing process for the likes of us who have suffered a lot of losses on his body. But his is different from ours; it was the flesh of a dragon that cannot be repaired in just an hour or so."
Francis looked back at his friend's condition and knelt down. "It's my fault. If only I didn't let him follow me, this wouldn't have happened to him."
Queen Dorothea appeared in the air. "You are not to blame for that, Francis; it was bound to happen."
Francis looked up at Queen Dorothea. "The likes of us are vulnerable to danger, as we are all bound to the Cardinal Tree. Its fate is our fate too. If it dies, we die too. I am so lucky that I have my loyal ladies." She looked at Elle, Beth, Dana, and Ivana, who were at the back, bowing their heads. "You are his friend. It's a normal act for Ronaldo to go, just like when your mother and I were friends back then. But Francis, if we are this powerful, how is it that the higher we climb, the harder we fall? I wish you could be there in Ronaldo's state when he falls into the depths of despair."
Francis stopped crying and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I promise to become stronger," Francis said, and the Queen smiled. He looked at Ronaldo. "His condition is worse; it will take days to heal him. You need to rest too, Francis."
Days passed while Ronaldo was in the healing process. Francis trained himself with the Amazons.
Swords clanged. "Come on, boy, act like a man!" Ivana said, flicking her long spear.
Francis was grasping for air. "Ha! I'll give you more!" A clock appeared, and he changed his sword. He now used the longest hand of the clock, which was a long katana. The two of them fought instantly at a speed where only the sound of their swords slashing each other could be heard. Their fight led to intense training, and Ivana's close combat was at an Alpha-Beta level, the same as Francis's. Their fight destroyed nearby tree branches.
Ivana laughed. "Ahahaha, you've improved a lot, buddy!"
"Well, thanks to you belittling me, it helped me desire to slash you even better!" Francis said.
"Then come and slash me!" Both of them paused mid-air. Francis extended his hand, and the longest sword glowed. He held it in both hands, then lifted it upward, facing Ivana.
"Tsk. Enough with this playtime," Ivana said. She transformed; her body had a white flower, and her aura flared. She too held her long sword at her side.
Francis shouted, "Chrono Dimensional Slash!" and Ivana yelled, "Chrysanthemum Blade!" They were about to slash each other.
"Queen of the Night's Breath, Ethereal Scent."
The battleground was filled with a scent that made Francis and Ivana stop. It was a dreamlike haze, and a silence engulfed the battleground.
"Rose Thorn Cushion."
The two of them were gripped by vines of rose stems with thorns, and they screamed in pain. It was Queen Dorothea's power.
"I permitted you two to train here, but I didn't allow you to destroy my kingdom and scare the rest of the diwano," the queen spoke eloquently while the two of them trembled in fear.
"I'm sorry, my queen," Ivana said while being held.
"It's not my fault! She's been belittling me since I started practicing with her!"
The queen glared at both of them, and her aura flared even more, adding tension. "My queen, Ronaldo is awake," the attendant said, despite the queen's aura. She persisted in informing her. The queen looked at her, and she too trembled and thought about why she interfered with the queen's actions.
The queen punched the two of them, knocking them to the ground. The healers who watched what the queen had done were also scared as they were, once again, going to heal the two of them.
Ronaldo cannot be dead; instead, his body will perish, and his soul will roam around, and he will be powerless.