Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Fire coursed through every inch of Lucius's body. He felt like his entire body had been set ablaze. The sensation was thousands of times worse than the explosion in Alorek's desert. At least then, the flames were real and burned away his nerve endings, taking away the pain. However, no such mercy was granted to him now.

Whatever poison was at work sapped him of his strength. Any attempt to move on his own was futile. Even his senses had been dulled, and his vision blurred. Faint voices echoed around him, and he could feel himself being carried somewhere. Unfortunately, Lucius was unable to tell who was moving him or where they were taking him. Find adventures on empire

A quick flash of purple moved in front of his eyes, accompanied by two small blue orbs. It seemed one of the twins was trying to talk to him, and though he could not hear or understand them, it was comforting to know one of them was by his side.

After what felt like hours, his scenery changed from the open stars above to a stone ceiling. He also felt himself no longer being moved around, which did help ease some of the pain he was feeling.

Other people gathered by his side and poked him with their fingers and sharp instruments. Every sensation sent a shock of pain through his body. Despite being very accustomed to injury, the intensity forced him to groan and shout with every touch.

The people surrounding him were wearing bright, white gowns and had strange masks covering their faces. Occasional flashes of different faces entered and exited his vision in rapid succession. Wherever he was, there seemed to be a number of different people who had replaced his friends. Ever since he noticed the purple hair of one of the twins, he had not seen them again.

Despite the pain, he knew he wasn't in danger, but he still felt a sense of anxiety building in his chest. It had been a long time since he had felt this weak. It was different than after he used his [Overcharge] in the Exhibition Tournament. Back then, he had been drained of all his mana, and though he felt drained, he still had his physical strength to rely on.

Right now, he would have been shocked to even stand on his own. Feeling so small and dependent on others was not something he enjoyed…

As he started feeling sorry for himself, someone placed something small and cold in his ear. It was a familiar sensation and was easily recognized as the receiving part of a communication crystal.

Jade's calming voice echoed in his mind, "Don't worry, Lucius. Brother got you some help. You've been brought to a medical facility in the palace. I know you cannot respond, but we are here for you."

Knowing that Jade was safe and nearby helped ease some of the anxiety. She continued to talk to him and let him know what it was the medical staff were doing. He appreciated her insight since he was lost at what was happening in the world beyond his blurred vision and intense pain.

According to her, he was struck with a nasty concoction of different poisons. None of them were particularly deadly, but the blend made it hard to create a cure for them. Some of the poisons conflicted with the common antidotes for others. On top of that, one of the poisons was hindering the application of mana, so healing magic and cure magic were ineffective.

One final obstacle to finding a cure for him was the fact that one of the poisons was completely foreign to elven knowledge. Lucius wracked his brain to think of options for poisons that the elves would not know about.

He thought back to the scent of the poison and how it was odd. After trying to mentally sort through the different odors, he realized why it smelled odd. Lucius turned his hand to face his palm up and activated his storage ring. A small potion vial appeared in his palm.

"Po…tion… poison… to Arts." He mumbled

There was no way for him to explain further to the elves around him and he had to hope that either they would understand or that Jade was close enough to understand. It had taken almost everything he had to do that much already.

"Lucius! Is that what I think it is? Okay, I'll tell them." Jade yelled into his mind.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The weight of the potion vial vanished from his palm, and more elves scurried in and out of his vision. There was only enough time and potion available to develop a neutralizing agent, so he did not have to worry about them investigating all of the substance's effects.

Lucius also hoped that the Adlers would not explain further the significance of the potion because they still needed to find the source, and adding potential other sources for copycats would slow that progress to a halt.

Nearly an hour later, someone cradled his head and pressed something cool to his lips. A foul-tasting liquid entered his mouth, and despite the taste, he made sure to swallow what he hoped was a potion. For a moment after, nothing happened, but then the fire in his blood began to recede and some of his strength returned.

Additional bottles were given to him, each one tasting just as disgusting as the first, but with each successive potion, Lucius regained each of his faculties. The final potion returned his sight to him. Though the poisons were no longer hindering him, much of his strength was still recovering.

It seemed like it would be a short while before he would be back to normal, but the light was at the end of the tunnel.

"Lucius, I am so glad you are okay!" Jade rushed up to him from the other side of the room and nearly tackled him back onto the bed he had been placed on.

Desmond shook his head and pried his sister off of him before chastising her for potentially harming him. "You know he's not fully recovered, dummy… Anyway, glad you are okay."

"Thanks, I…"

"We need to talk." Desmond's face was deathly serious. "I don't know how long you think you've been out, but it has been nearly a week since your fight with Mia and some things have happened…"

"A week?!" Lucius jumped to his feet and nearly fell over, only to be stabilized by Jade. "No, I killed her only a few hours ago. I swear it's only been five hours or so. Kalliope… has anyone gone after her while I was out?"

Desmond grimaced and shook his head, "No. We haven't been able to do anything. When I tried, we were told that things had changed."

If Lucius had not expended most of his mana, then the floor of the room they were in would have shattered, but luckily for them, he was nearly completely empty.

"Nothing else matters." He growled dangerously, "I have remained calm. I played the slow game. I did the favors I was asked. I met the people I was told to meet. I want Kalliope back. Now."