Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius watched as Sheza quickly darted off toward the slums. Their conversation turned out rather fruitful, and he was confident that her willingness to serve Kestis would turn out in his favor.

In fact, her steadfast desire to support her leader and love was so resolute that the promise she made would likely accelerate his plans in the city. When he was ready to make his move, she would be there with her best to give him everything he needed.

The Varris family estate twinkled in the distance. Magical lights illuminated nearly every room. Most of the city worked in that fashion. It was still shocking to him every time he looked at the skies above and saw nothing where once he would see countless stars. It was as if their brilliance was drowned out by elven "ingenuity".

Lucius deftly avoided notice as he approached the walls of the Varris estate. The walls themselves were mostly decorative and could easily be taken down by even an Intermediate Ranker. However, they stood over fifteen-feet tall and were topped with a row of artistically designed spikes. The intention was to remain pleasant to the eye, while still preventing people from easily climbing them.

Two gates provided access to the grounds with each guarded by a group of four soldiers. From Lucius's vantage point, he could not make out the equipment they wore, but he could tell they were Intermediate Rankers. He could sense an Advance Ranker just inside the walls as well. He was likely the commander and stayed out of sight unless his additional strength was needed.

Seeing as Intermediate Rank was the most common level for common people to 'cap out' at, men like him usually would be able to sit on their laurels for the majority of their shifts. That level of complacency was also something easy to exploit; a fact that brought a smile to Lucius's face.

As the moon continued to fade in the sky, Lucius waited patiently atop a roof a few hundred feet away from the estate's walls. He wanted to watch tonight's change of the guard sine it was the last day of the week. By this point he had witnessed the shift changes a number of times and had gotten used to the pattern, schedule, and a number of small discrepancies between shifts.

A servant inside the estate had also managed to leak a roster of the men assigned to protect the location to Kestis, who shared a copy of that information with Lucius's alias, Wulf. They were able to figure out most of the people's homes, abilities, and ranks by using their network of sympathizers among the elves, many of whom were prostitutes and innkeepers. Liquor and sex made for loose lips, a fact that held true no matter what country he was in.

Time passes slowly and the sun began to rise, turning the black sky into a purple and then a muted blue. It was just before the colors of the morning sky would burst that Lucius felt a strange pressure on him. Eyes from somewhere in the estate bored into him, despite his confidence that he had remained hidden. Someone much stronger than him had seen him from within the manor.

Lucius's hair stood on the back of his neck and his body began to partially shift against his better intention. Whoever it was that bore down on him was a major threat making every inch of Lucius's body prepare to flee out of instinct. Using sheer willpower, he forced himself out of the panic state and surveyed each floor of the manor carefully.

There was no point in fleeing or hiding again after being found out, so he figured the best option would be to locate the source. When Lucius's eyes finally reached the fourth floor of the building, he still had not located the person whose power still weighed on him. Suddenly, Lucius found his eyes drawn to the roof of the building. Standing atop it was an elf in strange robes. Strapped to his waist by a simple cord was a curved blade with a strangely green coloration.

Thoughts of Lady Tenia filled his mind as the weapon at the stoic elf's side reminded him of her strange spear. With his powerful attunement to the flow of mana, Lucius sensed that the elf was a Master Ranker and his sword seemed to repel mana in a small area around its blade.

Though the man did not move, Lucius hesitated for a moment as he backed up step-by-step. As he was, there was no way to combat the powerful warrior at this moment. Additional measures would need to be prepared for him to have a chance. Unfortunately, there was unlikely to be a way for him to infiltrate the manor to talk with the current lord of the city about Shiyani.

After all these weeks, there was nothing that indicated she was in the city, but the strange person or group behind the letters with the shattered orb had never been wrong before. This city held some secret of hers and after investigating its entirety, the only place left was the lord's estate.

Lucius had a desire to pay the woman back for trying to kill him. After all, if she learned that Rena was pregnant… as well as learned about Kalliope, the girls and children would be in danger. The threat she posed was worth every risk to eliminate.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Slowly, but surely, he retreated from the manor. The elf warrior in strange robes made no movements or actions that said he would follow. Instead, his gaze followed Lucius as he retreated along the rooftops before eventually disappearing from his line of sight in a random alleyway.

The moment Lucius's feet touched the stone walkway, a powerful pulse of pain surged through his left hand. It was unfamiliar to him, having never happened in the past. The intense sensation forced him to his knees as a scream attempted to escape his lips, only barely being suppressed by biting his own tongue.

'I found it… it is in there. Lucius, you have to go back! Go back now! Retrieve it!' a strange panic arose in Lucius's chest, though he felt it was not his own. Grimm's voice and desire seemed to lash out from with his mark. Continue reading at empire

Tendrils of shadow shot out of his body, piercing the walls of the building next to him. From inside a woman screamed while another gurgled as though they were struggling to breathe. Lucius looked over at the wall and saw a trail of blood flowing down a few of the tendrils.

In an effort to ensure quiet, the parts of the tendrils inside the building splintered, piercing the bodies of an unknown number of elves. Though Lucius was physically blind to the occurrence, he could feel what was happening through the tendrils.

"Grimm! Stop!" Lucius shouted aloud in panic. The pain in his arm and weight on his chest subsided while the shadows dispersed. A few dead elves did not phase him, but the fact that Grimm activated his mark without Lucius's intent concerned him greatly. "Never do that again, Grimm. I will retrieve the fragment, but if you ever do that again, I will borrow Luz's power to seal your own. Don't think I haven't caught on to the change between you two."

'Retrieve the fragment…' Grimm spat before his presence faded.

Lucius sighed in frustration and concern. He doubted that a warning such as that would disturb Grimm enough to prevent another outburst from happening again, but it would likely buy him time. Thankfully, Lucius still had control over his own faculties and Grimm seemed to only be able to lash out using the Mark's power.