Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

The familiar object before her caused a shudder through her body. She remembered the horror and excitement she felt when she had first been presented one of these items. A mysterious woman with dark hair told her the crystal would change her life, all she had to do was touch it.

Verona remembered what the first crystal had shown her all those years ago. She saw a world bathed in fire with corpses strewn about haphazardly. The source of the destruction seemed to be an ever-present flame that burned brilliant gold. Though in its wake, it left destruction, something about the world it left behind felt… pure.

The fire consumed all, leaving behind a blank slate on which a new world could be built. Something about this struck a chord deep within her. As someone who had been oppressed due to her birth circumstances, witnessing the world being consumed felt like a form of vindication for all her struggles.

She felt a strong desire to repay these Flames for the future they promised. Such was the start of her journey nearly a decade ago. Now, there was another of these crystals before her. What secrets would it contain?n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Tucked in the box underneath the crystal was a small slip of paper. On the paper was a simple phrase, "Flames consume all." Verona felt her heart pound as she reached towards the crystal so she could consume its secrets.

*****

Desmond woke in an unfamiliar bed surrounded by soft sheets and a plush comforter. The room smelled lightly floral and the light of the morning lazily peeked through the curtains. It took him a few moments, but he eventually realized he was in Princess Corva's mansion.

It still startled him that the strange elf who was clearly obsessed with forging and enchantment was a member of the royal family in Aedrider. However, he knew a handful of strange people already, and that included himself and his sister.

"Can't really judge others, can I?" Desmond sighed.

"No, you can't."

A woman's voice called out to him, startling him. Desmond quickly pulled the blankets over himself. Though he was not completely nude, he was still only in his undergarments. Standing at the edge of his bed was a stoic-looking elf with long white hair. He recognized her immediately as the elf named 'Snow'.

"Relax." She said while giving a brief glance down. "You're cute, but that's not why I'm here."

"Why are you here?"

"To ask a few questions. I figured I would ask you since you're the first one awake out of you and your sister. The wolf-girl isn't here and Lucius Kane is not present." Snow explained, "Tell me what you know about him."

Desmond eyed the elf carefully. He did not know her very well and, as such, did not trust her. He was not about to betray Lucius simply to satisfy some strange woman's curiosities. Sure, she had helped Lucius rescue Kalliope, but that did not immediately mean she was a trustworthy individual.

In fact, her coming to ask questions when Lucius was gone only went to prove that she wasn't completely trustworthy.

"I'm not about to answer questions about my friend to a stranger."

"Hmm, is that so?" Snow looked him up carefully. She seemed to be contemplating something for a moment before she continued, "How about I just ask you the questions, and then you can just decide to answer them or not?"

"Whatever." Desmond sighed. While she started to ask him her questions, he tossed the blankets off himself so he could get up and prepare for the day.

"Is he a good person?"

The elf's first question almost made Desmond choke on his own spit. It seemed innocuous enough, but as it related to Lucius, it was a hard question to answer.

"Depends." He said finally. "If you're his friend, then yes. If you upset him, then no. No better example than Seteste. He likely would have simply ignored its existence if they never took in Kalliope."

"He would let slavers continue? Would he not have tried to eliminate them anyway?"

"Why would he? Lucius isn't some kind of hero. He's just a man who wants to be left alone. I've known him for a little while now, and the thing that I've learned about him is that he gives you back what you give him. He's slow to trust, but he's not unkind… That is unless you're unkind to him first."

"Like Seteste…"

"Yep."

Snow's questions continued after that. She seemed particularly interested in how Lucius treated his allies. For some reason, she seemed keen on learning about his personality. None of her questions were regarding his abilities, secrets, or even motivations. Desmond was rather confused at what the woman's motivations might have been, but simply let her ask the questions.

By the time she reached the end of them, Jade and Yue had entered the room as well. Yue even started serving tea for them.

"Alright, that's enough." Desmond said with a sigh. "Why are you so interested in him? Do you have a thing for him or something?"

A look of disgust flashed over Snow's face for a moment as she vehemently denied the allegations. "Absolutely not. There's… Well, I don't really want to talk about it, but something about him seems important and…"

Yue calmly placed a hand on Snow's shoulder to calm the elf's rising emotions. "Lady Corva will be joining Lord Kane when he returns to Aedrider it seems. I told her as much when she awoke from her rest early this morning.

Forgive us, but we are rather nervous individuals and if we are going to be concurrently serving Lady Corva and Lord Kane, then we simply want to know his motivations as much as we can."

Desmond sighed, a part of his heart hurting because of his error in judgment. "I apologize for my accusation."

"I have no interest in a married man." Snow said plainly.

"Understood!" Desmond answered.

Silence permeated the room creating an awkward atmosphere. Neither Desmond nor Snow seemed interested in breaking it, and Jade had scarcely been a part of the original conversation. Yue, on the other hand, let a sneaky smile grace her face.

"Lord Adler," Yue beamed, "Are you married perhaps?"

"I'm not."

"How convenient, don't you think so, sis?" Yue giggled as she nudged Snow with her elbow. Before her sister could yell at her, Yue's ears twitched and she turned her head to the door of Desmond's room.

Corva threw the doors open with a loud crash as she triumphantly held a spear in her hands. The shaft was a beautiful bronze color with different runic carvings etched along it. The head of the spear was made of a beautiful blue metal that was reminiscent of the deep ocean. At the opposite end of the spear was another metal head that was much smaller, but had the same coloration as the main piece.

Desmond quickly rose and approached the princess to receive the weapon she presented to him. Once he felt it in his hands, he could instantly tell the quality of the weapon. It was perfectly balanced and seemed to cut through the air effortlessly. The deadly point of the spearhead seemed to glint in the sunlight of the windows behind him.

After holding it for a few minutes, he began to sense an almost heartbeat-like pulse of mana through the weapon. At first it was faint, almost imperceptible, but it increased with intensity the longer he held it until it was as obvious as his own.

"What is this?" He asked. "It's like it's alive."

Corva smiled proudly. "That, my friend, is the power of mithril. This weapon lives and breathes mana. It uses the ambient mana generated by your body to power the runic formations carved into the shaft. By simply holding it in your hands, you can charge the weapon's abilities."

"Truly? That is simply incredible!" Desmond exclaimed.

"It is, isn't it!" Corva answered, "The true beauty is when you use your Arts and any magic. The weapon will siphon off any excess mana that leaks out from any skills or spells you use. Once the smaller blade on the bottom of your spear begins to glow, you'll know that it's ready to activate.

"When fully charged, you can activate the spear's first enchantment which uses a powerful fire spell to accelerate it when thrown. It is a similar concept to my Titan Killer hammer. I also ensured to enchant it with a Recall feature as well, so you can still use that."

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"What an amazing…" He tried to praise Corva again, but she interrupted him to continue her explanation.

"However, if you don't want to throw it, you can instead transfer the fire spell from the rear blade to the spearhead. This can be used to enhance all of your attacks with a powerful fire enchantment hot enough to melt through steel!"

Desmond paused and waited to see if Corva would continue. They stared at each other for nearly a minute before he realized she was done.

"Princess Corva, thank you. I cannot fathom your level of skill. To imbue three enchantments on a weapon meant for someone like me. I am beyond honored." Desmond bowed as low as he could manage before without falling over. He could hear his sister and Yue giggling in the background.

For some reason he also felt like Snow's eyes were trained on him, but he chalked that up to a figment of his imagination.

"Right. Well, whenever Lucius and Kalliope return from wherever they disappeared, she can get her sword and his equipment, too."

Jade interjected, "I thought you were only making something for Kalliope and Desmond? Lucius has a weapon and I don't see him giving that up. It has sentimental value."

Corva walked out of the room without answering, waving off Jade's question. While Jade started to pout, Desmond looked at the weapon in his hand once more. He gripped it resolutely and smiled. He was not foolish enough to think that a weapon would make him a greater warrior, but he did know that it would give him more opportunities to show his strength.