Marcus…
After the announcer called the end of the match and officially declared him the winner, the spatial battlefield collapsed and his opponent, Layla Vulcara, was still lying down on the ground in shock.
What was more surprising was that the yellow flame that had burned her right eye during the fight was still burning and showed no signs of going out. Despite the flame burning in her right eye, she showed no reaction to it. She just simply laid there as if the life had been drained from her.
I don’t have the patience to deal with her. I have other people to worry about, he thought to himself as he looked down at her with pity before turning around and walking away.
In a flash of lightning, he appeared next to Selene who was giving him an annoyed expression. She was still holding onto his shirt, jacket, and revolver during his fight.
After handing him all of his belongings back to him, she asked, “What was the point of all of that if you were going to summon your word towards the end anyways? Actually, what was the point of me taking these from you?”
While he was putting on his jacket, he replied, “It was to show the audience that I could defeat her with just my bare hands as her magic was useless against me. Her flames would not burn my skin no matter how hot she tried to make them. Once she was beaten, then I would display my real strength. You showing up to take my stuff was to sell the image even further.”
Selene then folded her arms in front of her and raised her eyebrows disapprovingly.
Artemis, who had been standing next to her and watching the fight, let out an exasperated sigh.
He eyed the both of them and realized that they must have finally talked things over.
“You two seem to be getting along well,” he said, to which Artemis blinked in surprise.
Just as it seemed that she was about to curse him out, he cut her off as he said, “Sorry, but I need to borrow her for a bit if you don’t mind. You can have her back for some mother-daughter time later.”
Hearing the words ‘mother-daughter time’ made Artemis shut her mouth and a slight smile play on her lips as she turned around and said, “F-Fine…take her with you, but bring her back soon.”
Selene, who had not said a word during that entire exchange, seemed confused and asked, “Uh…ignoring that for a moment, what’s going on? Do you need my help with something?”
“Well, kind of. I have a bit of a situation to take care of. I’ll explain when we reach my house,” he said and she agreed to come along.
On the way back to his home, he was surprised to spot Thalia and Alta making their way home along with another woman who was also a Dark Elf.
“That must be the sister that Alta talked about, Fayebel I think,” Selene said.
“Yeah, but I wonder what she’s doing with Thalia,” he said, failing to hide the defensive tone in his voice.
“If you want to know so badly, then just go and ask them,” she said as she walked towards them and he followed after her.
When they were within ear shot, Selene called out to them to which Thalia turned around and smiled back at her. Fayebel’s eyes widened in wonder when she saw him, but in stark contrast, Alta flinched.
“Were you watching Marcus’s fight today Thalia?” Selene asked her.
A nervous smile flashed on her face as she looked away and said, “Uh…about that.”
Curious, Marcus asked, “I’ll take that as a no, but if you weren’t watching, then where did you go? Also, what is this woman Fayebel doing here?”
Thalia chimed in as she said, “She’s going to be my sword instructor! She’ll teach me how to use magic too and a bunch of other stuff.”
He then looked at Alta who nodded in confirmation as he then said, “She will also help as a second bodyguard.”
Marcus folded his arms and said, “Alta, I’m paying you to be her bodyguard. You can’t just ask someone else to take your place with the expectation that I will pay them too.”
Fayebel then raised her hands up as if to dismiss what he was saying and replied, “Oh no no! That’s not the case at all! Our father King Rohen asked me to be her teacher personally. You’re not obligated to pay me in any way!”
Hearing that made him even more wary as he walked up to her and looked her in the eyes, which started to make her very nervous.
“You should choose your words a little more carefully before making such a statement. What does the King of New Alfheim get out of appointing you as Thalia’s teacher and second bodyguard? Its clear that he wouldn’t do something like that out of the goodness of his heart, am I right?”
Fayebel swallowed nervously and Selene gave her a look as if to suggest that she found it suspicious as well.
Alta decided to answer for her as he said, “It wasn’t our father’s idea to make her Thalia’s teacher or a second bodyguard. It was my idea actually, the king simply decided to agree to it and enforce it himself.”
Marcus eyed him carefully, “Hmm…and why can’t you teach Thalia yourself?”
Alta shrugged and said, “I’m more powerful than her but she has better skill with the sword and more experience than I do. Also, Fayebel is the most talented of her generation when it comes to mastery over Elven Shadow Magic. Its a very powerful form of magic that not anyone can learn to use and she intends to teach it to Thalia as well.”
He paused as he thought things over until he sighed and said, “Alright. I’ll allow it.”
Thalia threw her hands up and shouted with excitement at his approval.
“Well, now that that’s settled…,” Selene said while looking at Marcus as if to ask him what the other matter that she was following him for was.
He got the message clearly as he said, “Ah, right. Before we get inside, there is something I need to tell all of you about. Earlier today, Julian attacked someone who was connected to another person that I have a personal history with. That person, along with the ones they are connected to, are going to be living in my house until Julian is dealt with.”
Confused, Thalia asked, “Why are you taking care of them?”
“Partly so I can keep an eye on them, and because I don’t want to run the risk of Julian getting any leverage over me through them,” he answered as he opened the front door to his house and found an unwelcome sight.
Lyrra was ransacking the cupboards for food, Felkin and Rosanne were messing with the TV trying to figure out how it worked, and Cole was drinking his liquor.
Fuming with anger, he couldn’t contain himself as he shouted, “WHAT THE FUCK! GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF MY SHIT!”
All four of them, as well as Thalia and Selene, jumped as he raised his voice.
He rushed over to Cole and snatched the bottle out of his hand as he said, “Gimme that!”
Already plenty drunk from downing half the bottle, Cole looked up at him disappointed to see the fine liquor leave his hands as he mumbled, “Aw…”
He walked over to the cupboards and slammed them shut, making Lyrra yelp at the loud noise.
Rather than walk over and turn the TV off himself, he turn his head and glared at Felkin and Rosanne until they walked away from it.
Frustrated, he took in a deep breath to try and calm himself until he said, “Were you guys raised in a fuckin barn? You couldn’t wait half an hour for me to come back before you started ransacking my home?”
“I got hungry,” Lyrra said with a mouthful of food.
Marcus pointed a finger at her in barely contained anger and said through gritted teeth, “Shut up and sit down with them.”
Not wanting to provoke him further, Lyrra obeyed meekly as she walked over to where Rosanne and Felkin were and sat on the couch.
Cole, who was still drunk, stared up at him lazily and said, “Can I get my booze back?”
“Its not your booze! Its mine!” Marcus shouted at him as he pointed a finger at him and a bolt of electricity shot from it and struck Cole in the chest.
Lyrra and Rosanne let out a scream as they watched it play out, and upon being hit, Cole immediately sobered up and yelped in pain. He jumped from the chair he was sitting on and freaked out once he realized Marcus had come back and was pissed.
“Uh oh…” he muttered.
“Get over there!” he grumbled and Cole did what he said.
Once the four of them were seated on the couch and kept silent, Selene walked forward and asked, “Uh, Marcus? Why is Cole Mohr in your house…?”
“Well, I told you earlier that I had a personal history with him and I’m keeping him and his friends under my protection until Julian is dealt with,” he said.
“Yeah, right, but how do you know him? He’s been living in Erebus for decades, yet you know him?”
Cole looked like he wanted to explain things himself but Marcus glared at him and he kept his mouth shut.
“Yeah, I know him. I…met him when he was about thirteen or so about four years ago on Terra. It seems that when he crossed over, he was sent back eighty years in the past. Now he’s here.”
“Okay…judging by the way you’re acting, I’m not going to ask you to elaborate on how you know him. What do you intend to do now?” she asked.
“Right now I just want to lay some ground rules down. You need to know how things work in my home. If you can’t follow any of the rules I give you, then I’ll just put you in a temporary coma until its time for you to come out, understood?” he asked.
All four of them nodded.
“Good. First rule I want to address, don’t go rummaging through my house without asking. You’re adults aren’t you? Act like it.”
Hearing that, he was surprised to see a look of shame and guilt on their faces but continued on anyways.
“Second, the four of you will be living on the second floor. There are three bedrooms up there. One of those is Alta’s room in which he will be sharing with his sister Fayebel from now on.”
“God dammit…,” Alta muttered under his breath.
“The other two rooms are for you to decide on who gets what room. Also, the walls are sound proof so do whatever, but don’t make a mess.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized just how suggestive they sounded and cleared his throat.
He waved for Thalia to come over and she did.
“Moving on. This is my sister, Thalia. I don’t care if you’re rude or angry with me, but treat her with respect and I’ll treat you well,” he said as he paused to allow them to understand his words.
“However, if any of you hurt my sister in any way,” he said as he pulled out his revolver and showed it to them before setting it on the coffee table as he continued, “Then I will kill you. Do you understand?”
Thalia turned her head to look up at him with an expression on her face that said, You are taking this a little too far.
Even Selene had her arms folded and was eyeing him carefully when he said that. Alta and Fayebel however didn’t seem to mind and just seemed bored.
“Y-yeah, we understand,” Cole stammered and the other three nodded.
“Good. Now go get settled in your rooms,” he said and the four of them quickly stood up from the couch and left up the stairs.
“You’re not actually going to kill them if they try to hurt me are you?” Thalia asked.
“What do you think?” Marcus asked sarcastically.
She sighed but said nothing to try and argue with him.
Alta and Fayebel went up to their room, arguing on the way about which side of the room they were going to take.
Only Marcus, Thalia, and Selene remained in the living room.
“So why did you ask me to come along Marcus?” Selene asked.
“Well, I figured that since you and I spend so much time together already, it would only be right to let you know what’s going on.”
“O-Oh...I see,” she stammered as she looked away from him for a moment.
Watching the two of them, Thalia looked at Marcus and smiled.
Marcus frowned and asked, “What’s that look for?”
“Oh, nothing,” she said before going to her bedroom.
Now with Marcus and Selene alone together in the living room, an awkward silence hung over them as they thought about what to do next.
He decided to speak to break the ice as he said, “Weren’t you going to spend time with your mother some more? I’m sure she’ll feel disappointed if I kept you here for too long.”
“Yeah...I guess,” she said disappointed.
“Well, my next fight isn’t for two more days. You and I can probably set something up for tomorrow, yeah?”
Her eyes lit up as she said, “Oh, yeah! I guess I’ll see you then.”
Dean…
After witnessing Marcus’s fight against Layla, he was getting terrible flashbacks to the Mordrinite War of when he had to fight and kill Malthael all by himself.
To see that Marcus had Malthael’s soul inside him and now controlled the monster’s power filled him with anxiety.
What’s even worse, Dean knew that the display of power that was shown wasn’t even Marcus’s full strength. He could tell just by watching the fight play out that he was toying with Layla the entire time.
He was terrified to imagine what his true full strength could really be.
Yet not long after the fight was over and everyone in the audience had dispersed, he was summoned to the royal palace to speak with King Arobynn.
Through the glass doors of his thrown room, he could see that the King looked like a disheveled mess, with his black hair tangled and loose over his brown eyes. His pale skin made him look like a Draugr in the pale light as he paced back and forth, muttering to himself.
As he knocked on the door and entered the room, he said, “Your majesty, you wanted to see me?”
King Arobynn seemed startled by his sudden appearance until he collected himself and said, “Yes, come in. I wish to have a word with you.”
He walked inside and closed the door behind him.
“I take it you witnessed Marcus Wright’s strength for yourself, yes?” The King asked.
Shocked that Marcus was the topic of this conversation, Dean stammered, “Uh, y-yes. I watched his second fight play out.”
“What do you make of his strength?”
“I...I’m not sure. I know very little about the full capabilities of his magic. All I do know is that what he showed in that fight was not his full strength, or a full display of what he is capable of even with just that amount of strength. However, I would make an estimate to say that he might be on the same level as Camilla Lykos.”
At the mention of Camilla’s name, King Arobynn stiffened up and turned around to look Dean in the eyes.
“Your sister, correct?”
Dean went still as he remembered the ridiculous theatrics of when she revealed her identity as the true heir to the throne of Brunhildt.
“Y-Yes sir. My sister.”
“Hmm…I’m not happy that you decided to keep that information to yourself, but given how you’ve already surrendered your claim to me and how she has seemingly no interest in Duranell’s throne, I guess I won’t punish you for that.”
He let out a sigh of relief as he watched the king continue to pace as he thought about his next move.
“Dean, do you consider Marcus Wright to be a threat to Duranell?” he asked.
Feeling nervous about the question, Dean asked, “I do not think that he has any intentions of a hostile takeover of the kingdom, nor do I think he has any interest of trying to usurp you.”
“I’ll rephrase my question then. Do you believe that Marcus is a person, like Selene, that if he was provoked had enough power to level this kingdom?”
“With all due respect sir…As Camilla has already shown, she could destroy a moon with only twenty percent of her strength. If Marcus is even half as comparable to her power, then there is no doubt he could bring Duranell to ruins if he so wanted.”
“Hmm…and what if I ordered you to kill him?”
The blood drained from Dean’s face from hearing the mere suggestion of trying to kill Marcus that even the King was shocked.
“W-what you of me would be impossible. I don’t have the strength necessary to kill a man such as him. Although, even if I did, I would strongly advise against it,” Dean said in a panicked tone.
The King furrowed his brows in confusion as he asked, “For what reason would you advise against killing him then?”
“Well Your Majesty, I’m sure you have already learned about how Marcus has become a dignitary of King Razel Aldia of Forrosa. As Marcus is not from this world and has no direct obligation to serve Duranell, the motives as to why he is still bothering to participate in this competition are unknown to me. However, what I do know is that he has entered into a strong partnership with Forrosa and-”
“I am well aware of that, yes. Which is precisely why I am wary of what might happen if he abandoned Duranell in favor of aligning himself with Forrosa and making their kingdom that much stronger. Already, it seems as if New Alfheim will be repairing diplomatic relations with Forrosa, which could make them the most dominant superpower of the world. If Marcus decides to fully commit to supporting Forrosa, then with all those powerful allies, who is to say they won’t turn their sights on war against us?”
“I see…”
“And what of Selene Kiser then? Would she have the necessary strength to kill Marcus Wright if ordered to?”
Hearing that made Dean go completely silent as he could not muster a response.
“What is your answer to that Dean?” The King asked once again.
Yet still he remained silent.
“Answer me at once!”
Forcing himself to speak, he said, “Your Majesty, if we attempted to order Selene Kiser to kill Marcus Wright, she and him would surely kill us all. As of this very moment, the two of them are currently in a budding relationship. I’ve already done your work years ago when I killed that Mordrinite Prince she had grown close to, yet it nearly broke her. If I tried to force her to kill Marcus, she would undoubtedly turn against all of us, and so too would Marcus. I strongly advise against such an action.”
“I see…then perhaps we should just observe them and see how things progress. We must take things very carefully in handling them.”
Dean agreed with that sentiment, as he knew from the brief conversations he’s had with the man, if someone tried to kill him or those who were close to him, he would no doubt hunt that person down and skin them alive.