Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius and Kalliope looked into each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity. It seemed as though entire conversations were had in the span of an instant. They leaned into one another once more but pulled apart quickly when the doors to the room were thrown open.

Appearing in the doorway and shouting, "Kalliope!" Jade rushed into the room and dove into the wolf-girl's arms. Tears flowed like a river from her eyes and soft sobs wracked her body as she threatened to squeeze the life out of Kalliope. Though Jade was technically Unranked and Kalliope was an Advance Ranker, the wolf-girl seemed to be struggling against Jade's grip.

Desmond approached slowly from behind with a knowing smile. "Did we interrupt something?"

Desmond pointed casually to Lucius's shirt, which had been thrown open, and then to Kalliope's own clothes, which appeared to have been roughed up. Kalliope also had slightly disheveled hair. From the twins' perspective, it appeared clear that they had interrupted something rather romantic.

Jade stepped back with a crimson hue to her cheeks. "Oh my… shall we go?"

Before Kalliope could say anything, another voice joined the fray. "I think they can wait."

Lucius immediately recognized it as Lady Tenia. Alongside her were Lady Voltara, Corva, Yue, and Princess Letheya. Snow was likely still in her own medical room and though Yue looked like she wanted to be with her, she was required to follow Corva wherever she went within the palace.

Letheya moved beside Lady Tenia and bowed deeply to Lucius and Kalliope. She had a glint of fear in her gentle eyes when she gazed upon Lucius. It seemed she had already been made aware of the events at Seteste. On top of that, the light from [Overcharge] was clearly visible to almost all of the Aedridan Capital.

Some of the citizens had referred to it as the rising of a 'Second Sun' which amused Lucius.

"Lord Kane," Letheya began carefully. She paused to swallow a lump in her throat before continuing. "I am glad that you have found your companion, but I must ask you to complete the task for which you were summoned to our country. My sister's forces have us pressed on two fronts and though you were gone for barely two days, things are not going well.

"Too many of our promised 'allies' have chosen instead to abstain from providing military support. Because of that, our forces are woefully outnumbered by Ayalla's own. You are experienced in both commanding troops and fighting on the frontlines. Please, help us win. If Ayalla is victorious, Aedrider may well become as withdrawn as Haedda and might become an elven ethnostate.

I cannot let that happen to our people of mixed blood."

Lucius was about to answer before he was distracted by a slight twitch in Lady Tenia's hand. It was almost imperceptible, but he managed to catch it with his heightened senses. Something that Letheya had said upset her. It seemed like she wanted to take action somehow, but her oath as an Empyrean Ranker kept her from interfering.

"If you hold her off for a month, I can just destroy her like I did Seteste?"

Princess Letheya's face went pale as she contemplated the impact of his offer. She quickly refused, citing that one destroyed town was enough for Aedrider at this moment in time. Lucius simply shrugged dismissively as he thought the idea was simple and effective. It would allow him to finish the war within a month, and then he could return to Rena.

By this point, she had entered her third month of pregnancy, and he did not want to miss more of it if he could.

He continued to offer solutions which included various modes of assassination, like relying on Snow's strange ability. However, this time it was Corva and Yue who opposed him. They were concerned for Snow's health. Whatever it was that happened to her seemed to be a repercussion of using her mark's power for an extended period of time. As it stood, they had no idea when it was she would wake up.

Before this moment, Yue would look at Lucius with a plain expression that contained hints of pity or sadness. However, when he mentioned relying on Snow's strange ability, that all vanished under the weight of a sister's fury. Corva was no different. Though she gazed at him with a look of respect and rivalry, that too vanished under the possibility of losing Snow to her mark.

"Well then, what is it you would have me do?" Lucius said with an exasperated sigh. He wanted to do everything he could to avoid a prolonged war so he could return home for his child's birth.

"Simply take command of the forces to the South. I will have my subordinates focus on the Western front, and I will focus on trying to engage the support of those who have chosen to abstain." Letheya answered.

"Though you were only gone a short few days," Desmond interrupted, "I have already discussed at length with Princess Letheya regarding troop movements. Currently, the South is using Varris as its primary base of operations. It is situated several miles behind enemy lines and is blocking any potential for outside support.

"We do not have word of them receiving additional support either, though. It seems that they are simply closing the borders to prevent outside interference in any capacity. If we manage to take the southern region first, we might be able to reopen supply lines and gain support from Paede nobility."

Kalliope furrowed her brow at the mention of Paede, which surprised Lucius for a moment. He was unaware of them having any connections to Paede that were of any import, but he also figured he could ask her for clarification later.

Focusing on the current situation, Lucius realized that Desmond had been taking the mission very seriously. The man seemed to have been gathering all the information he could so that Lucius would not have to waste time processing it entirely on his own, thus speeding up his ability to assess the situation.

After a few short moments of contemplation, Lucius buttoned his shirt back together, much to the chagrin of Kalliope and Jade. He requested that he be guided to the war room where they had been strategizing. Letheya bowed in thanks and left the room, gesturing for them to follow. Directly outside the room were the princess's guards.

They immediately placed their hands on the hilts of their weapons, not forgetting how Lucius had behaved in front of her not too long ago.

Lucius chose to ignore them and continued following the princess through the halls of the palace. Content with not giving Kalliope a moment to rest from the blush on her cheeks, he pulled her to his side by intertwining his hand with hers. She found herself unable and unwilling to escape his grasp while her red cheeks turned crimson.

Once they had made it to the war room, Lucius quickly moved to the map placed on the central table. It denoted the last known positions of different parts of Ayalla's armies. For the southern border, it showed Letheya's forces holding firm at a large river set between the capital city and Varris.

This line was easily a hundred miles away from the capital city and almost one hundred fifty more to Varris.

Though the river was a good point to defend, it would be better to push beyond it. From what Lucius could tell by the map, as well as recall from his trip to the capital in the first place, there were very few natural formations that could be used defensively after the river. Once Ayalla's forces broke past the line, there was little in the way of natural barriers to assist in holding them back.

Unlike in Alvora, Varris was not within easy striking distance of their current lines. When Lucius took over command of Eroa's armies, they were only a few dozen miles away from Alvora. On top of that, once Alvora fell, the war was over. The same could not be said for Varris. It was likely they would have to continue to defend it from a counter-attack.

"So, what is our next move?" Letheya asked timidly.

Lucius looked over the map a few times more. "I'm going to take my group to the riverfront where we will make a push at one of the primary bridges. After that… Well I suppose we will see."

"Are you saying you are planning to 'wing it'?"

"No, I'm saying I have a plan, but I don't trust explaining it to people I don't know. Send word to the southern forces that we will arrive in a few days. In the meantime, I will return with Corva to her home where I imagine she has quite the forge." Lucius explained while giving a side-eye to a few other people who were in the room when they arrived.

"You want to wait before leaving? How is that wise?" Letheya nearly shouted. Her panic was understandable due to the state of things.

"Corva is an excellent blacksmith and enchanter. Though my weapon is more than adequate, Kalliope and Desmond could use a substantial upgrade."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

A fire was lit in Corva's eyes when she realized that Lucius wanted her to forge weapons for him. It died a little when he said he did not want a weapon done for him, but she was excited nonetheless.