The Cursed King

Loriel stayed in Summeria for a couple of years and helped assist his nephew by giving him advice on how to rule. However, he mostly kept to himself and instead chose to remain in his wife's chamber and stay with Brick.

The time in Cretea changed him and most especially, realizing how much Elise mattered to him made Loriel look and reminisce inside of her old study because there was nothing else that he could.

All Loriel could do was wait and he would do it wholeheartedly.

He wept when the old cat finally died and then stayed in Summeria until Loriel himself had to see his royal butler buried. He said the oaths of funeral passing for Horatio who took care of him even while he was a child. 

After that time period, Loriel chose to leave.

There was no other reason for him to remain and he wished to explore the world like he used to before. Loriel could not be idle and stay in Summeria all his life, he wanted to find if there was an artifact or great magic that could send him to the future.

Or anything that might help him.

His nephew's son was already hoping to have Loriel mentor him, but he refused to do so and preferred to leave. He would leave Summeria in their care and would go on and travel around the world.

That was how Loriel would travel the world multiple times over, visiting old friends and searching for things that might possibly aid him in the future. The former king of Summeria would encounter things that he would send or inform the kingdom.

While he chose not to personally interfere with the affairs of the kingdom, Loriel would gather information that was useful. Even though he was now a god, Loriel preferred to pay for things and it meant acquiring money and assets.

In the event that he met Elise in the future, it was also vital for him to prepare for that day. Loriel would give her the entire world if he could and he did his best to do just that.

And after fifteen centuries

when he was on the brink of desperation… 

when he finally wanted to give up on life…

on that one rainy day, he would find her again.

His wife was standing right outside the window shop of the cafe.

***

"Elise, is that really you?" a gentle voice suddenly asked. 

When Elise looked up, it was a face that she could hardly recognize… but somehow, a part of her instantly knew who he was.

It was the Time Master. He was the only person that she could never forget. She promised him that much before she drank the waters that erased her memories and wiped them away. 

Somehow, it was like a sudden click sounded in her ear and Dante was the trigger that unlocked all of her memories. She fell to her knees in agony and clutched her head, biting back down a scream.

The Time Master rushed to her side and held her up, trying to help ease the pain, but then it was gone and vanished at that moment. Elise became icy quiet and she lifted her head to look him in the eye.

"Dante?" Elise asked.

"Yes, it's me." Dante couldn't help but smile gently upon seeing her look better. 

He was so relieved to see that she was alright.

The Time Master quickly pulled the woman into a hug and found a warmth spread into his chest. All this time, Dante had done his best to search for her and while he was raising Alexei, did his best to go from one time portal into another.

He did all of that in the hopes of seeing her again but he never thought that the two of them would meet like this. 

Was it fate that son and mother reunited again in the future? 

Elise coughed and pushed the man away. Her memories were piecing themselves back together and she knew that he was a friend. She was grateful for him being there when she needed him but she had a lot of questions.

"Where is my son?" she asked.

"Elise…"

"Dante, you told me that my memories of Loriel would vanish but everything was gone," Elise's lips trembled. 

Dante knew that this was going to come up, but seeing her looking so terrified hurt the Time Master. It was painful to see.

Elise pointed at him. "Do you have an excuse for that? You told me that it wouldn't affect a god that much and I would be able to keep the people I cherished the most. You asked me to remember you too."

"I was wrong," Dante averted his gaze. 

Elise stepped away from Dante and furrowed her brows. "What? Explain."

"When you drank the immortality potion, I thought that you would become immortal and so the effects would diminish greatly. You were going to recover your memories slowly, and yet I failed to realize that only your baby would become immortal."

"So this was an error on your part?" Elise asked and only laughed a little. She was hysterical after what Loriel revealed and this time it was Dante. "A life-changing error? I came to the future and lived an entire life that wasn't my own because of that one mistake, Dante."

The Time Master could see that Elise had changed so much when he last saw her. Before, in the past, Elise might have forgiven him on the spot. But right now she was upset and that was incredibly fair.

More than fair. Dante wasn't sure how he was going to fix it but he bowed his head lowly and said. "I'm incredibly sorry, please know that if I could take it all back…"

"I mean, you technically could. Couldn't you?" Elise dared him and smiled. "Go back in time and stop all of this from happening. Why didn't you do just that in the first place?"

"Elise, my powers are not so simple like that." Dante sighed. "I overlooked the time when you saved a younger Loriel, but it's different now. Besides, I thought you wanted to meet your son?"

Elise's anger went out and she let out a deep breath. "Where is he?"

"You've already met him."

.

.

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From Missrealitybites:

I have a feeling that "The Cursed King" is close to the ending. Soon, Elise will be reunited with her son and... husband. Should she forgive Loriel after everything?

What do you think?