Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius' ears were ringing and the side of his face felt wet. The world around him was completely white. There was also an intense, burning sensation along his chest and neck that made breathing difficult

He felt around blindly, trying his hardest to control the little ability to breathe he had to remain calm. He felt the tree he was standing next to and used that to maintain his balance.

Slowly, the brightness faded and the world's other colors returned to his field of vision, though it was blurry. His eyesight was damaged. His ears were also damaged again and continued to ring with no sign of returning to normal.

The air smelled like soot and it felt hot. He turned his attention to where the battle with the main force was happening with the rest of the party, but all he could see were shapes moving frantically.

In the direction the Shaman was, there was nothing but a giant black and brown crater where there used to be forest, but again that was all he could make out. He attempted to take a step forward, but his legs buckled beneath him.

Collapsing to his hands and knees, Lucius began to retch and release the contents of his stomach onto the forest floor. The pain in his chest and neck was worsening and his ability to breathe continued to lessen. He looked upwards and saw a red blob running his direction before his vision went completely black.

*****

Rena watched as Lucius seemed to instantly appear in the group of goblins around the Shaman. His body glowed and crackled with electricity that had taken on a red hue.

She recognized the Art as the Mutilation skill and he had combined it with his movement spell to take the enemy unawares. His target was the Witch Doctor that was enhancing the weapons of the goblins she and the party were facing off against.

Rena could not help but smile to herself at him choosing to help the rest of the party first, but she also knew that it was only for her and had nothing to do with the others.

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'Silly boy.' She thought as she blasted a goblin in the face with a spell. "[Ventus: Wind Blade]"

Suddenly, two of the Hobgoblins around the Shaman fell to their knees and Lucius vanished from his position. A few moments later, a girl that Rena could only guess was Zira had thrown something at the group.

Simon saw this as well and his eyes went wide in panic. "Everyone! Dive backwards, face in the dirt, hands over your ears! NOW!"

Simon's party instantly complied, ignoring the fact that goblins were still right on top of them. Feeling like it was the best option given how terrified Simon looked, Rena and her party did the same.

Just as her face hit the dirt, she felt an intense heat fill the air and heard a massive explosion that caused her ears to ring and shook the earth. When the rumble and heat had stopped, she rolled over and got onto her feet.

The place where the Shaman had been was a crater and the goblins that had been fighting against them were either dead or writhing in pain on the ground. The two parties quickly got to work finishing the monsters off while rubbing their ears to try and get the shared ringing to stop.

Everyone seemed to return to normal quickly thanks to the rapid advice of Simon, who seemed to know what had happened. Rena and her party were confused about it though, including Jen who seemed to always know a little bit about everything.

Just as Jen was going up to Simon to discuss what that was, Rena watched as Lucius stumbled out of the trees. He was leaning against one that had been blown to pieces and was smoldering on the side that had faced the explosion.

Her face paled as her eyes fell to his neck and chest which had a massive gash stretching from below the left side of his jaw and down a jagged diagonal to below his right breast. Where armor should be covering, there was only skin and ripped tissue.

"Lucius!" She shouted in a panic and began running towards him.

The boy was looking around, but his eyes were unfocused. He attempted to walk forward but collapsed and began to vomit on the ground. By the time she reached him, he had lost consciousness completely.

Zira walked out of the trees as well and rushed up to them, profusely apologizing. "I'm sorry! I told him it was going to be like a large fire spell! I thought he would…"

"You did this?" Rena screamed. "You bitch! If he dies, I swear I'll tear you limb from limb before hanging your corpse outside the gates of Pelith!"

Zira quickly scrambled backwards from the unbridled rage leaking out from Rena. There was a surge of mana filling the area as the red-headed girl seriously contemplated simply ending the scout here and now.

Simon and Jen rushed up between them to ensure no blood would be shed. The male warrior placed a protective hand in front of Zira before looking down at Rena cautiously.

"I knew you were… with him. But I thought you were simply playing around… you really have feelings for that boy." He observed.

"And what of it Simon?" Rena growled without looking at her cousin. She was too busy pouring a healing potion directly on the wound.

"He's a Marked One you know." Simon said plainly. "It would be fine if you were just messing around, but you can't actually consider being with him?"

"You left the family to do what you want. Why can't I do the same?" Rena answered coldly. "[Lux: Heal]"

Her cousin did not say anything in response to her words and simply continued to talk to Jen about what happened. Rena's panic and anger had distracted them from the conversation before.

What Zira had thrown was a special sort of item from Aedrider that could be filled with mana. It's only purpose was to absorb mana, and depending on the size, would cause different sized explosions similar to powerful fire spells.

Their party had gotten ahold of one somehow and Zira shared she used it because of the levels of protection the Shaman was using. She was concerned that it would try to flee before the two scouts could get backup from the main line.

They had already agreed that they could not take down the Shaman's guards alone, so they went for the best option available. By her opinion, if something has turned to ash, then it can't run away.

Rena's healing spell had taken effect and her boyfriend's breathing settled. The wound slowly stitched itself together, but because of the intense magical power behind the damage, it would not heal all the way. The amount of mana in the wound interfered with her healing spell, so it would leave quite the nasty scar.

Rena sighed to herself. 'At least he's alive.' She thought.