Marcus…
He was sitting among the audience with Thalia, Selene, and Alta as they watched Artemis’s fight come to an end before it could even start.
He was a little underwhelmed with the result and expected more from one of the so called ‘Nøkkran Assassins’. Even Selene, despite rooting for her mother to win, was just as disappointed at such an anticlimactic end.
For them to just stare at each other and then have Raum yield almost right away didn’t make any sense. He knew something wasn’t right but couldn’t put his finger on it.
But the more he thought about it, the more he felt an itch creep into his mind.
Had he...forgotten something?
It shouldn’t be possible for him to forget anything, but that itch he felt in his mind, his memories, he could feel something missing.
The more he tried to focus on what he might be forgetting, the more he scratched at that itch in his thoughts until…
Until all the memories of Artemis’s fight came back to him at once.
He felt a spark of red electricity dance across his eyes and let out a shocked gasp as he lurched forward.
Selene and Thalia both looked at him strangely and his sister asked, “Marcus, are you alright?”
He breathed in deeply as he tried to focus on what his memories were telling him as he said, “Y-Yeah...I just trying to remember something, but its alright now. Don’t worry about it.”
Selene and Thalia looked at each other worryingly while Alta munched on some popcorn without a care in the world.
“Well, if you say you are alright then I won’t bug you about it,” Thalia said and Selene nodded but kept her eyes on him.
If he was being honest with himself, he wanted to ignore what he saw as well but it was just too absurd.
The entire fight between Artemis and Raum played out in his mind all the way up until she destroyed the future of that timeline and came back to the moment before the fight could even start. The memories of the fight must have come back to Raum as well which is why she had such a terrified expression on her face.
Ruvick had told him that Artemis was strong, but he never explained that she was powerful enough to erase timelines from existence.
If he ended up having to fight her, he just hoped that Malthael and his sword would be enough to take her down.
“Hey Marcus, I got a question for you,” Alta said as he finished his popcorn. He spoke in a quiet tone so that Thalia would not overhear.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“My sister is going to be fighting Julian next when Heimdall's fight is over. Considering what he did to Lyrra, are you sure its alright to leave her alone?”
He turned to look at Alta and asked, “Do you not have faith that she will win this match?”
Alta shook his head and said, “That’s not what I mean. As things are, I work for you as Thalia’s bodyguard and so does my sister as her sword instructor. As our boss, isn’t it your job to take care of us so we can do our jobs? I don’t want Julian to do to my sister what he did to Lyrra.”
“Alta, just say what you want to say and stop beating around the bush about this. What do you really want me to do?”
“I want you to make my sister forfeit to keep her away from that piece of shit Julian. Can you go tell her to forfeit and keep an eye on her?”
Marcus stared at him for a moment, thinking about whether or not this would be the right move until he nodded and said, “I can do that for you.”
Alta’s expression became more relaxed as he let out a sigh of relief and said, “Thank you.”
Marcus then stood up from his seat and said, “I have to take care of something.”
“What? Wait, your match is going to start soon. What are you going to do?” Selene asked.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
He quickly made his way to the waiting room where Fayebel was staying and knocked on the door.
“Fayebel, are you in there?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah.”
“May I come in?”
“Sure.”
He stepped into the room and Fayebel was surprised to see him as she asked, “You know that your match will be the last one for the day right? You don’t need to show up so early.”
“That’s not why I’m here. There is something I need you to do.”
“What, right now? I have a fight to get to real soon.”
“I’m aware, and that’s what I’m here about. I need you to forfeit the match against Julian.”
She stood up in anger as she said, “What, why should I?!”
“Because I’d prefer that you have no involvement with that man in anyway shape or form. You know what happened to Lyrra right? Julian doesn’t give a damn about anyone and he might go after you if he feels like it.”
She tried to say something but the words failed her as she felt confused and frustrated but couldn’t bring herself to object.
“I know you want to fight, and if it was anyone other than Julian, I’d say go for it, but not this time. For now, just focus on training Thalia.”
She sighed with disappointment on her face as she said, “Alright. I’ll forfeit the fight, but I need to ask, is Julian really that much of a problem? I’m sure that I could beat him if I tried.”
“I’m not concerned about if you could beat him in a fight, with thousands of people watching. I’m concerned about whether he could get the drop on you and use you as leverage or do something even worse,” he said as he left the waiting room.
Fayebel followed after him and he said, “I’ll make the announcement for you. Just go wait with Alta and the others.”
She nodded and left as he walked down the hallway and onto the arena floor.
The audience cheered for a brief moment as he walked out but quickly quieted down as they recognized him and began muttering to themselves in confusion.
Julian, who had already arrived, was also confused as to why he was here.
“Don’t you know that you’re supposed to wait your turn before I give you your ass beating?” he snarled but Marcus ignored him.
Then, the announcer’s voice called out to him, “Marcus Wright, are you aware that it is not yet time for your match to begin? Explain your reasons for appearing at this time.”
He turned in the direction of the Ruler’s seating but noticed that only King Arobynn, King Rohen, Queen Hylla, and the Ambassador of the SUK were sitting there. King Razel Aldia and the Orc King were seated amongst their own countrymen in the audience.
“Yes, I’m here to announce that Fayebel will be forfeiting the match. As her employer, its my obligation to make sure they are taken care of and avoid people who are…,” he turned to glance over at Julian as he finished his statement, “...intolerable.”
The announcer then said, “We ask that you elaborate on this further as interfering with the other competitors before or after a match begins is strictly prohibited and would typically result in being eliminated from this competition.”
“Certainly, and I’ll explain starting with this man Julian Romano,” he said as he pointed at him, causing Julian to back away nervously as all the eyes in the audience became fixated on him.
Marcus then looked to the Orc King and said, “Your majesty, the Orc King. I’m sure that you have been wanting to know the identity of the man who had assaulted and attempted to rape your daughter Lyrra. The man responsible is Julian Romano himself. If anyone is a greater perpetrator of interfering with competitors before or after a match, then it is him. I merely asked Fayebel to forfeit the match to avoid any interaction with this man for her own safety.”
The Orc King stood up from his seat suddenly and shouted, “IS THIS TRUE! WHERE IS LYRRA, MY DAUGHTER?!”
Marcus bowed his head respectfully to the Orc King and said, “As of right now, I’ve placed her under my protection and she is currently staying within my residence. You are free to ask her if Julian is truly responsible for attacking her if you wish.”
The Orc King, and many others in the audience, looked pointedly at Julian in disgust and anger, which caused him to back away several steps.
Julian then glared at him and shouted, “Damn you Marcus!”
With that, he turned around and disappeared as he teleported away.
“Oh no you don’t,” Marcus muttered as he snapped his fingers, using Light Taker’s power of omnipresence, and forced Julian to reappear on the arena floor.
He looked around in a panic as he realized he was back in the arena and tried to teleport away again only for Marcus to bring him back once more.
“W-What, what the hell?!” he stammered nervously as he realized he couldn’t escape.
He then turned around, looked at Marcus with his hand raised, and understood that he was keeping him there.
“You son of a bitch!” he shouted as he charged at him only for Marcus to extend his fingers and fire red bolts of lightning at Julian’s chest, causing him to drop to the ground, twitching in agony.
“Are you going to punish me for taking action to protect my subordinate from this man who is very clearly trying to flee the scene?”
The announcer paused as he seemed to be discussing what to do next before saying, “Given this new information, we have decided not to eliminate you from the competition. Julian Romano however-”
“Now hold on. Before you make any decisions about Julian, I have a request of my own I would like to make. I ask that you do not take any immediate action to eliminate him from the competition or punish him in any way just yet. Let him stew in his humiliation of being caught for a little while longer until I’ve finished with him.”
He then looked towards the Orc King once again and said, “I promise that I will make sure the punishment I serve to Julian will fit the crime he has committed against your daughter. I will make sure that everyone here is witness to it, if you will allow it.”
The Orc King stared at Marcus for what felt like an hour as he contemplated his next words.
He then took a seat and said, “I have no objections. Carry out your punishment in due time as you see fit.”
Marcus bowed his head once again out of respect before turning to Julian and said, “I’ll see to it that his punishment is carried out during our match. However, just to be certain that he cannot escape, I will implant a curse onto him that will make sure he attends this competition.”
As he walked over to Julian’s twitching body, he spoke to Malthael in his mind, Gather some Arcanence for me so I can put a curse on him.
Tch, very well…
As Julian tried to regain control of his body after having his nervous system fried by electricity, Marcus knelt over him and grabbed him by the hair.
He roughly pulled his head up and pressed his palm against Julian’s forehead as he said, “You’ll be getting what’s coming to you very soon Julian, I promise. Just be sure to hold out til the rest of the competition.”
After he finished, he stood up and walked away, leaving Julian lying on the ground as the people in the audience cursed him.
Julian…
DAMN THAT FUCKIN BASTARD!
He really called him out in front of everyone!
DAMN IT!
He wasn’t expecting things to go so badly, or for Marcus to take an action that bold. Even as he tried to run away, he was brought right back like it was nothing! As if Marcus had a leash on him the entire time!
He was struggling to make it back to Kayron’s hideout as the shock from the electricity continued to make his body twitch and spasm painfully.
When he finally arrived, he slammed open the door and shouted, “Kayron!”
The few cult members that were present in the room approached Julian as he nearly tripped on a leg of a table in the room.
In less than a minute, Kayron appeared and had a furious and disappointed expression on his face.
“Julian…I did not think you would risk compromising yourself to such an extent by attacking a princess of a different land. If your strength wasn’t worth some amount of praise then I would cut off your head and be rid of you right now.”
Gritting his teeth, Julian grabbed Kayron by the arm and squeezed with enough strength to shatter his armor and break his arm.
“Get this fucking curse off of me NOW!” he demanded, but Kayron’s expression did not change.
“Why should I? You’re barely worth the trouble of making use against Marcus, and with this stunt you pulled, you give me even less of a reason to help you.”
“I have...more than just my strength to offer, you know that! I have information on him that is so dangerous that you cannot afford to get rid of me!”
“Is that so…? Do pray tell, what kind of information?”
“Help me and I’ll tell you!”
Kayron summoned the Bloodletter and placed the edge along Julian’s throat as he said, “No. That’s not the way this works. I cannot simply take you at your word. You have to give me something that proves to me that you are worth saving in the first place.”
Julian said nothing as Kayron stared back, waiting for his answer until-
“Fine! Fine! You want to know what’s so damning about him? I’ll tell you one of the things I know about.”
“Speak.”
“That little sister of his? Thalia? You know, right?”
“What about her? She is useless to me as she does not possess the same level of strength that Marcus does,” Kayron said with a bored tone.
“She is far from useless! She is leverage! There are things about her that are so detrimental to Marcus that you could use to manipulate him in any way you wanted!”
Hearing that seemed to have peaked his interest as he pulled the sword away from Julian’s throat and said, “Continue.”
“I know that Thalia is not Marcus’s full blooded sister. She is only his half sister as their father’s are different.”
“And? What of it?”
“Take this curse off of me and I’ll tell you the rest.”
Kayron sneered as he knew that what Julian had to say was too valuable to let go so easily and went along with it.
“Fine, I will attempt to remove it, but you had best finish answering me when I am done,” he said as he placed his hand on the curse mark branded on Julian’s forehead and began to concentrate.
A few seconds passed and Kayron’s expression became strained and confused as he tried to remove the curse until he screamed out in pain. A pulse of energy erupted from the curse on his forehead and traveled through Kayron’s body.
He fell to the ground as thick black roots erupted from within his body and tore him apart from the inside out.
The cult members in the room watching what happened quickly backed away in fear and even started screaming in horror as Death Root ripped its way through Kayron’s body.
For over a minute, Kayron used his magic to fight back against the absurd surge of Arcanence flooding into his body from the curse until finally he got it under control.
Many of the other cult members around him however, were not so lucky as they had already turned into Draugr.
Before they could attack anyone else however, Kayron cut them to pieces and ordered one of his other members to burn the remains.
He grunted in annoyance and said, “I will find a way to remove that curse eventually, but until then, you will finish telling me everything you know with no exceptions. Now, what is it about Thalia that you consider so important enough to be used as a bargaining chip against me?”
“Like I told you, Marcus and Thalia have different fathers. One named Lucien and the other, William.”
“What of it?”
“I know that Marcus killed Thalia’s father.”