Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Snow watched with bated breath as Corva stepped into the ring with the person known as Titan, Lucius Kane, or whatever the fuck his name was. The only thing she noticed was that an oppressive darkness surrounded him.

No one else seemed to see it, but Snow somehow saw the truth. Darkness poured off him like a waterfall and infected the very earth upon which he walked. It made her sick to her stomach. Yet... it felt right. The darkness called out to her and begged her to join it.

Despite herself, she felt tempted to accept its offer.

A cold sensation tickled the base of her skull, and the mark on her left hand began to burn slightly. Snow felt the urge to follow, to bend, to obey. Why? Why now, why here, why him?

Yue's hand lightly squeezed her own. She did not realize that her adoptive sister had found her waiting in the viewing room. Yue could clearly see that something was bothering her and offered her comfort. Slowly but surely, the desire to submit to the darkness faded and was replaced by the comfort of her sister's presence.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Of course, dear sister. Besides, that man is terrifying."

"You can see it?" Snow asked incredulously.

Yue shook her head. "I don't see anything. But something about him… I see a light surrounding him, yet it fades in and out. Something is eating away at it slowly." Yue muttered.

A wave of mana managed to pierce through the barriers and wall, washing over everyone in the room. Snow steadied her sister who almost fainted from the intensity. Even the two princesses in line for the throne looked pale.

That was when her eyes settled on a pair of humans. They had beautiful light purple hair and eyes as blue as the ocean. It was clear they were twins. The man was tall and muscular and held his sister steady. Their eyes met momentarily, making Snow turn away quickly to look at the viewing projection.

Titan had magically extended his sword and was imbuing it with magic silently. She could not believe it; the man was using Channeling! Only a handful of people on the continent were known to be able to use that, and this man was one of them.

Once he had fully charged his mana, Titan made a slashing movement with his weapon. Erupting from the blade's edge was a red streak of lightning in the shape of a blade. Three more slashes followed by three more arcing blades of lightning surged toward Corva.

The first two clashed with the mana of the cyclone and shredded it to nothing. Corva was forced to fly upwards to dodge the final two lightning blades. She glanced to the ground and saw that Titan was missing.

"Above you!" Snow found herself shouting despite the fact that Corva could not hear her.

At the same instant the elf dodged, a massive clap of thunder echoed throughout the arena. The people in the observation room watched as Titan stopped his foot on the ground, sending a shockwave of mana and force in a circle around him and propelling him dozens of feet into the air.

Corva looked above her and was face-to-face with her opponent. The man had an evil grin on his face as he brought a fist coated with red lightning onto the side of the elf's helmet. With explosive force, she launched toward the ground at a speed many times greater than an arrow.

She attempted to stand, coughing up blood for her efforts. Pieces of her armor fell off of her and crumbled to pieces. Blood dripped from the side of Corva's head and a small dribble of it formed at the corner of her mouth.

Titan on the other hand landed with a loud thud a few feet away, absorbing the impact in his knees. He rested his blade on one shoulder and strode slowly towards Princess Corva. Snow watched as her lady attempted to pick up her hammer to make another strike.

"Not broken yet? You built it better this time. Yet…" The man's terrifying voice echoed throughout the observation room, sending chills of fear and excitement down Snow's back. Yue looked as though she would vomit.

Princesses Letheya and Ayalla were shivering. If the effect was this bad, why did someone invite him here? Why was their Empyrean Ranker allowing him free reign?

Unable to resist anymore, Snow rushed out of the room. She saw Titan gearing up for another attack and knew that her lady would not be able to withstand yet another impact. One more hit could end up killing her, and Snow could not let that happen.

She threw the doors open and leaped into the middle of the fight. Snow took a defensive posture, prepared to block Titan's next hit. However, the man's blade stopped just short of her own, leaving fractions of an inch of space between their two weapons.

He stared at her with his head cocked to one side and appraised her. Something stirred within her, and she hoped that he approved of her. She ached to please him and desired his acceptance.

Snow carefully moved to a standing position but kept her weapon trained on the man. Her mind was cleared of the strange thoughts with a few shakes of her head. He continued to watch her with eyes glinting in curiosity. They were beautiful. One was a shining silver rivaling the very beauty of the moon itself. The other was a brilliant gold that challenged the intensity of the sun.

She could only barely see them through the slits in his mask.

As she admired the man's eyes, they suddenly turned black. The whites of his eyes, their gorgeous hues, were engulfed by the darkness. What was once admiration of beauty was now replaced by fear, respect, and reverence.

"Kneel." The voice Titan spoke with sounded like a dozen different voices speaking together. Some were clear and gorgeous, others terrifyingly dark and deep. Yet others were that of a whisper, and they all echoed in her mind.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Snow felt her body quiver and begin to move. No matter how hard she tried to resist, she found herself on one knee with her head bowed in respect. The man's hand slowly lifted her chin to bring her eyes to meet his gaze once more.

"You are…"

"Snow!"

Yue's voice rang clearly through the fog that started to envelope her mind. Titan's dark eyes also reverted to their previous form, and he huffed in annoyance before walking away.

"I win this one." He proclaimed.

Yue rushed past him without giving him a second glance and pulled both Snow and Corva into an embrace. She was crying and laughing, and saying she was so glad they were okay. Snow did not know what happened, but having her there saved her from Titan's clutches. Not that he would have done anything to a simple elf like her, but she found herself worried nonetheless.

Corva finally spoke with a slight pout, "He was still holding back. I'll get him next time!"