Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

After a few days of waiting, Corva started to get impatient. She had been expecting Lucius to return from Stark Academy a long time ago, but he was still there. So far, he had been gone for three days.

Corva had been obsessively watching the saved recording of their rematch. He said he would not hold back in their duel, but after witnessing what happened with Snow, she could tell he lied. There was another power that he did not use in the fight.

The recording showed he used his Arts, Magic, and of course, Channeling. However, not once did his mark glow. That meant he did not use it. That was until the end of the match when he told Snow to kneel. Even Corva felt the energy pouring off of him when he made that command. It was terrifying and gave her the urge to vomit.

For Snow's part, the look on her face was one of pure terror. She looked more like an injured animal than the powerful assassin Corva knew her to be. After watching the recording multiple times, Corva also saw that when Lucius gave his command, Snow's mark also flashed for a moment.

She tried to ask her friend about it, but Snow kept her silence. "I'm sorry, my lady. I do not wish to speak of it." That was all she kept saying. Yue appeared to be concerned for her adoptive sister and was also clearly aware of what was going on, but Corva did not press them for an answer they did not want to give.

Instead, she changed her focus to trying to figure out ways to improve her items. The hammer made it out relatively unscathed this time. However, her armor was another story. It was designed with runic enchantments that would absorb and dissipate electrical energy like that from Thunder Magic and naturally occurring lightning.

However, Lucius somehow managed to overwhelm the rune's capacity and shatter the armor in a single blow. Even with the recording crystals replaying that portion of the fight in exceptionally slow motion, he moved too quickly to be able to be seen. Whatever it was he did to overwhelm the enchantment was unknown and would remain a mystery until he chose to reveal it.

"I swear. Every time I blink I see flashes of my fights with him." Corva whined, not even caring that someone had opened the door to her room, "My mind is consumed by him."

The person who entered began to giggle. Corva turned around to see her older sister, Letheya, standing in a casual gown meant for resting in the evening.

"Have your mind stuck on a boy?" She teased. "My, my, it seems that our little Corva is finally growing up. Who, pray tell, caught your eye?"

Letheya looked at the image hovering in the air in front of Corva and squeaked after seeing Lucius's mask. The image had frozen on the man while he was punching Corva in mid-air. Letheya eyed her youngest sister warily with eyes full of concern.

"What? Oh, no. Nothing of the sort. My only love is my work. The reason I can't get him out of my head is because I cannot think of a way to beat him!" Corva complained. "Every idea I think of, I can see him countering."

Letheya listened to her younger sister complain for almost an hour as she detailed several working theories. Every idea she shared for possibly beating him was then shot down with explanations of how he would get out of it. Though night had long since fallen, the elder sister listened quietly and thoughtfully.

When Corva was finally done, she nodded and pondered the situation for several more minutes.

"Well, what do you think?" The younger elf asked.

"I think you want to build something powerful." Letheya said simply.

"What do you mean? Of course I do! Were you even listening at all, sister? I can't just power something up, then he could…"

"I did not say you need or want to beat him. I simply said you want to make something powerful." Letheya interrupted. "Baby sister, everything you do is to advance your knowledge and prowess with your smithing and enchanting. I think you see Lucius as an obstacle you must surpass in order to grow. However, I believe you are looking at it wrong.

"Let's say you make something that beats him. What next? Just because you made an item that can defeat a single warrior, what good will it do if it cannot beat another? Will you simply find someone else to defeat? The lessons you learned from defeating Lucius might not even apply to the next warrior, or the next after that.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I would say it is a safe bet to even guarantee that learning to defeat Lucius would actually hinder you in trying to plan for someone else. That man is different. He fights differently, acts differently, and thinks differently than any other warrior that I've seen in my two hundred years."

The younger of the two elves contemplated her elder sister's words briefly.

"But then… What should I do?" Corva asked. "If it's pointless to try and beat him, what should I do?"

Letheya smiled and pulled Corva into a tight hug. "Instead of trying to best him, ally with him. Do not learn how to fight him; learn how to fight beside him. From what I know, he is a clever fighter, capable of defeating those much stronger than himself. Learn from that. Don't overcome it, embrace it."

Corva sat in stunned silence. Why had she not thought of this before? She could ally with him instead of trying to beat and compete with him. She could make things for him and learn to improve items based on his ever-evolving needs!

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Corva threw her hands around her sister, gripping the elf tight enough to make Letheya wince. "Oh, sorry! I forget my own strength. By the way sister, I imagine you already knew that I would be supporting you. Right?"

"I had a guess, but thank you for confirming. After this is over, why don't you return to Arcadios with him? If I either fail or succeed in ascending the throne, I worry that others may target me. I feel that Lucius will be able to protect you." Letheya explained.

Corva nodded slowly. She understood why Letheya wanted to protect her. After all, Letheya was the one who basically raised her. Their mother had started suffering symptoms of the Long Sleep shortly after Corva's birth, and because of that, Letheya was the one who cared for her the most often. Truly, there was no question of who Corva would support.