Chapter 31: Powering Up

~Continuation of Chapter 30, 3rd Person's POV

Everyone shut their eyes, the light coming from the box far too bright for their eyes to handle.

After about 2 minutes, the light finally dimmed down and faded, revealing the insides of the box.

"Wha…" Logan gasped, a bit surprised at the contents.

Inside were 12 rings, placed in a rather weird order.

Four rings, seemingly made out of diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald sat on the top section of the box.

6 more were neatly arranged underneath, looking like they were made out of different colored metal, neatly arranged by color which was red, yellow, green, blue, white and black.

At the bottom part of the box, facing the Z-axis, were two rings. One made out of some sort of glimmering white metal with a small blue/gold gem placed on top, another one made out of a strong looking wood with a red/black gem engraved on top.

"Our rings…" Logan was the first to reach out and pick out his white diamond ring, inspecting it in awe, marveling at how beautiful it looked while light reflected off of it. Kendall stood next to him, feeling a bit sad that Logan has to take off the engagement ring now.

Or at least he thought Logan was going to… Until the boy slipped it on, slipping it right on top of the engagement ring.

With a big smile, Kendall grabbed his and slipped it on, immediately feeling a new surge of power.

It was as if his old memories flooded back.

Every single moment his ancestor, King Kendall, spent with Logan's, flowed back inside. He smiled, shutting his eyes and watching all the sweet things he did with Logan, and to the other two kings.

"I love you, so much," He heard Logan whisper as the boy hugged him. Right then, he knew Logan was also seeing the same things, though probably through his ancestor's own eyes instead of King Kendall's.

Pup shut his eyes, his own ancestor's memories immediately coming back. He immediately knew how to summon his Greatwood wand with a Mythrillium cap, forged by his very own blacksmith lover. Shutting his eyes, he saw the very last few moments Wizard Carlos spend with his lover, Blacksmith Ben, before a bright light showered over them.

"Pup," He heard Ben call him out. Opening his eyes, he realized Ben was holding a rather odd looking hammer, made out of Void Metal. 'Void Metal? Huh…' Pup wondered how he knew, until he realized… All of his memories from his past life was now back in his brain.

"I mean, I was hoping for a sword but… Clobbering's fine," Ben grinned, Pup shaking his head after. "So I guess all we need now is an anvil and a bunch of alloys?" Pup joked, seeing Ben nod excitedly.

Niall slowly reached into the box and took out his yellow ring, awed at it was actually glowing, showing off the intricate engravings on it.

Upon slipping it on, he immediately transformed into his wolf form.

Once transformed, Niall felt far more powerful than he ever was. Other than a noticeable change in power, his own fur was different. It was the same shade of yellow, along with a white belly-fur, except his hands had tribal marks all around it, covering his arms from his finger all the way to his shoulder, and had the symbol of a sun on his chest.

"Cool!" Louis grinned, immediately putting on his blue ring. He, too, immediately transformed into his werewolf self. Running towards the nearest mirror, he marveled at the tribal markings, which were slightly different than Niall's, on his arms, and the cosmic symbol on his chest.

Soon, the rest of the werewolves slipped on their rings.

Harry donned a symbol of endurance on his chest, Liam donned a symbol of a red moon on his, Zayn had an eye on his and Tom had a ying-yang on his chest.

Immediately, all 6 wolves, along with the Wizard and the Blacksmith, turned and bowed down at Logan, Kendall, James and a sleeping Carlos.

"We're ready, your highness," They said in unison.

Logan looked at Kendall, both nodding together while James slowly slipped on Carlos' ring onto his finger, smiling upon realizing that soon, he'll also be wearing an engagement ring, like Logan and Kendall.

"For now… We need to train. Get used to our new armors, powers, and weapons. The battle isn't too far now," Logan adds, his voice firm and confident. Kendall adoringly stares at his lover as the boy gave a small pep talk, loving how he actually sounds like a real king preparing for battle.

~Meanwhile, somewhere else in the Dimensions…

As if on cue, all 399 counterparts of the Ancient Kings were shocked. Some startled, some curious, some nervous as their rings transformed into a new ring made out of sturdy gem instead of simple metal.

They knew that soon, the dimensional doors would reopen, all linking back to the Living Dimension as the final battle ensues.

~Nothingness…

A red-haired woman, with a streak of black in her hair, sat on top of her shadow throne, overseeing the rapid reproduction of shadow creatures over her kingdom.

Kneeling in-front of her were 392 chaos generals, corresponding to each dimension, except for 8 dimensions that the kings recently visited and saved, killing the evil generals residing within.

"This time, I'll make sure they die," She sneered, looking up into the pitch-black nothingness.

~Back at the Living Dimension…

"Hey Carlos," James smiled as the sun set, Logan and Kendall hanging out by the balcony, enjoying the last few sunsets they could get.

"James," Carlos smiles, his eyes now less puffier and redder than it was before.

"How come you guys weren't so tired when you came back?" Carlos pouted, a bit annoyed at how poofed he felt. It was as if his energy was completely drained when he came back!

"Logan says it might be because you leaped so far. He said you went to the 98th dimension?" James tilts his head curiously.

"Oh… Right. Guardian Logan did say I leaped far…" Carlos smiled, remembering the events that caused him to lose his ring. Curiously, he glanced over his ring finger and saw…

A ring made of ruby, slipped on right there.

"Wha…" Carlos' eyes blew wide slightly, inspecting his new shinier ring.

"Long story," James smiled, picking up a small velvet box from the table.

"I uh… I went back to town earlier, on my own and… I went to the nearest jewelry store I could find, which was kind of hard," James began, Carlos curiously eyeing the box, wondering what could be inside.

"I know, this isn't romantic at all. And frankly, I wanna wait a bit longer but… Logan told me that the day's coming closer and… I…" James slowly lifted open the lid, revealing two silver rings inside, "I… Will you marry me, Carlos? Once this is all over, we'll host the biggest wedding ceremony back at PalmWoods, I swear we'll have a huge party with the biggest bouncy house I could get," James smiled, a bit nervous as Carlos sat there silently.

"I don't want all that, James," Carlos smiled, feeling tears well up in his eyes. "I… I-I just want a simple, double-wedding with Logan and Kendall. W-We could have a small party after with our parents and all a-and a chocolate fountain, maybe?" Carlos grinned, James immediately breaking into tears as he gently took out a ring, slowly slipping the silver ring into Carlos' other hand's ring finger.

"Can't wait to be called Carlos Diamond," Carlos grinned, slipping another ring onto James' finger.

He didn't even care that James didn't do a huge mob proposal with thousands of roses like he had imagined… All that matters is that he's James' fiancé now and Logan was right.

It felt amazing to be engaged.