Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"[Shatter]"

The moment the word loosed itself from Lucius's lips, a seemingly weak wave of mana surged forward like a gentle breeze. It seemed to weave through the air until it met the soldiers on the bridge. One by one, various weapons and pieces of armor both still in use and those laying on the ground, still equipped to the dead and dying, began to glow subtly red.

The unexpected glow throughout the battlefield distracted friend and foe alike. No one understood why these random pieces of equipment had begun to release mana. Lucius on the other-hand grinned evilly. Before anyone had the time to react, the sound of fracturing metal filled the bridge.

Thousands of pieces of shrapnel exploded into the air and into the bodies of hundreds of soldiers. Men and women screamed in pain as their bodies were peppered with the pieces.

Lucius could feel Kalliope's concerned gaze at the back of his head, but he simply watched on in slight amusement at the amount of confusion created by the sudden explosion of weapons and armor. With this level of confusion, the enemy was completely oblivious to the raging wall of water quickly bearing down on their position.

By this point the roar had grown loud enough to cause Lucius and Kalliope to cover their ears on reflex. Jade walked closer to the riverbed as if in a daze. Though Kalliope attempted to reach out and stop her, Lucius quickly placed himself between them and gave her a gentle shake of his head.

"Watch. I want to see if she can truly pull this off."

Lucius had a hunch that there was more to Jade than he realized. Sure his brief conversations with Desmond helped give him an inkling, but something inside his soul told him there was more than meets the eye with the normally clumsy girl. It was a similar sensation to what he felt every time he was around his sister.

Though both girls were physically weak and lacked any Compatibilities within Arts or Magic, something else itched in the back of his brain. This itch told him one thing: they were dangerous.

The roar grew ever closer until eventually, the wall of water became visible. The surging wave stood nearly a hundred feet tall. It was easily enough to overwhelm the stone bridge. Thanks to the confusion, only a few of the soldiers had seen it. Those that had desperately ran for the safety of land, not even pausing to warn their comrades.

This was true for both sides as elves tripped over themselves and their comrades trying to rush to safety under the threat of the massive wall of water. As the destructive force bore down on their position, Jade's mark glowed even brighter. Her arms trembled as if she was under the strain of a massive amount of weight.

Lucius and Kalliope watched, jaws agape, as the oncoming flood seemed to slow its advance for a moment. Slowly, but surely, the directionality of the river began to change. Instead of directly overwhelming the bridge, Jade began to push the water onto the opposite bank.

*****

Everything hurt. Each and every inch of skin felt as if it was being stretched, every muscle fiber screamed in protest under an invisible weight. Never before had Jade felt such stress and pressure.

On nights when the skies were clear and the air was warm, she would stand on the beaches of the island on which Keinydd Academy was built. Waves would lap at her bare feet as she stood at the intersection of land and water. Under normal circumstances, she felt weak when compared to her peers.

Jade was the only Unranked student at the school and was only granted attendance on behalf of her brother. He was an exceptional warrior and excelled at Water Magic. In his entrance exams he easily trounced his examiners, who were students in the upper classes.

Seeing how strong and skilled he was, the school's headmaster wanted Desmond in their school at any cost. Though everyone knew his identity as the shamed Desmond Adler, they were all willing to overlook such an issue if it meant increasing the strength and promise of the student body.

With someone like Desmond at their school, they might have been able to stand higher on the continental stage against the other nations' educational institutions.

Desmond made a single request as a condition for his acceptance. If Keinydd wanted him as a student, they would also have to allow his Unranked and Marked One sister entrance as well. Jade being a Marked One was not an issue, but Unranked was a first for the school. Of course, they accepted quickly and without complaint.

When she stood alongside her peers, she felt like an insect. However, those nights on the beaches of the academy, listening to the waves push and pull against the land, feeling the water run over her bare feet… those were the nights she felt different. It was as if the water itself filled her being with power. Jade felt as though her power was only limited by the depths of the ocean itself.

Before she knew what was happening, she found herself manipulating the tide around her. Over days, weeks, and months, Jade slowly found herself able to manipulate the rise and fall of the water around the circumference of the island.

Though she was physically alone, there was often a dangerous and deadly presence that observed her. Jade could never tell if the presence was proud or hateful. Occasionally she would feel its deadly gaze fall upon her, watching over her training.

Those experiences led her to this moment. Flood waters roiling and rumbling down the riverbed it once occupied fought against her command. The amount of force greater and harder to control than the gentle rise and fall of the ocean. It felt as though the 'spirit' of the water itself fought against her and raged against the injustice of having been manipulated against its will.

Where the ocean was like a gentle series of breaths that she could join alongside, the river was an explosive and angry shout. Yet, she was stronger. No matter how much it tried to defy her, Jade's power was greater. She exercised her will and pushed the oncoming wall into the Ayalla's armies.

Men and women screamed in shock and terror as the rapids overwhelmed them. Jade carefully estimated which parts of the bridge was mostly devoid of their allies. She carefully split the wave in two, willing the new branch to rise nearly a hundred feet into the air.

To those witnessing her exercise her abilities, she appeared as calm as a conductor guiding an orchestra. The new branch arced into the air. The moment it crested over the bridge, Jade calmly flicked her wrist downward, forcing the wave to crash onto the heads of the enemy force with explosive power.

Water rained down upon them as the impact sprayed thousands of gallons of it into the air. Elves and debris were pulled along with the rapids further downstream. Jade slowly relaxed her forceful control over the raging rapids, allowing it to mostly flow as it wished.

The enemy camp was no more and those that remained simply gasped for air, thankful for the fortune that smiled upon them. Faylin slowly approached with his hand around the hilt of his sword. His rage seemed barely contained, threatening to burst from beneath the surface.

"Lucius Kane," Faylin growled, "What have you done? Do you know how many villages and homes border this river? Your actions do not only affect our forces, but the lives of innocents…" he turned to face Jade, "Marked One, cease your actions."

"I wouldn't do that." Lucius warned.

To make his point, Jade slowly relaxed her control. The river instantly moved to fill the space that she had been forcing it to avoid. The water's edge quickly climbed further up the bank. It threatened to overwhelm the top of the bridge once more. If she fully relaxed her control, the bridge and all of them would be instantly swept away in the rapids.

Faylin's face paled as he watched the water greedily lap at the edge of the toes, begging to overwhelm them and carry them along with it.

"Those that remain alongside the edge of a river that has become a warzone are idiots. If they wished to avoid being casualties of war, they would have fled. This is the cost of stupidity. Their sacrifice will secure Lethaya's ascension to the throne." Lucius explained without even looking at Faylin.

"You're not the monster people claimed." Faylin stated, "You're worse. The lives of innocents mean so little? And what did you do? You are the one responsible for the detonation of our own men's corpses. Were those sacrifices necessary?"

"Yes."

Kalliope's fur stood on end. She slowly placed herself between Lucius and Faylin. The elf general paused for a moment and took a step toward Jade once more. Kalliope was about to move, but she stopped, her eyes going wide. Faylin's own eyes also went wide.

With a simple twitch of her finger, a rope of water wrapped itself around Faylin's leg, crawling around his torso before tickling the side of his neck. The other end of the 'rope' connected to the river. Jade flexed her finger again, giving the rope enough of a tug to force Faylin to take a step toward the water's edge.

"Prepare the forces Faylin. Recall all of them to our position. This bridge is the only one remaining. By the end of the day, the others will have become nothing but splinters. Send word to the capital that Ayalla's southern defense has been breached. We will advance further south tomorrow.

Be ready."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om