Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius felt the world around him melt away. The only thing that seemed to exist was himself, the Alpha Deer, and the open clearing in between them. He didn't think that the monster had seen him yet, but he also could not be sure it hadn't.

Cautiously, he moved to the right, to attempt to get more behind the beast. Currently he was facing its right side and he would need any and all advantages to slay it.

While making his move, he also eyed all of the trees, mentally mapping out the ones that had easily scalable branches for a quick escape. As far as he could remember, Alpha Deer only relied on physical strength and had no special skills or magic they could use.

Lucius prayed to the gods that he was right. Or this battle was going to get messy. At least messier than it likely already would have.

The way the monsters versus humans were ranked in this world were as follows:

Monster Ranks--------Human Ranks

-NULL------------------ Novice

F------------------------Beginner

E------------------------Intermediate

D------------------------Advanced

C------------------------Master

B------------------------King

A------------------------Empyrean

S-------------------------NULL-

In general, each gain in rank meant a roughly four times increase in strength. That meant an S-Rank monster was over four thousand times stronger than an F-Rank monster. The same rule applied to human warrior and mage classes.

However, they were not equal. An F-Rank monster was supposed to be equivalent to a Beginner Rank human. Since Lucius was not even ranked…he was fighting a nearly impossible battle.

'Maybe that's the point.' A quiet, gentle voice whispered into Lucius' mind. 'Maybe you are being taught to run from a fight you cannot win.'

"What was that?" Lucius whispered in a hushed panic. He looked around furiously, but saw, heard, and smelled nothing other than the monster in the clearing.

The sudden rustling of his equipment attracted the attention of the Alpha Deer, and it perked its head up and began to scan the area. Lucius quickly hid behind the trunk of a tree and held his breath.

'Maybe you should prove him wrong.' A voice whispered again. This one was raspy and had an almost snake like quality to it. 'Prove your father wrong. Take it down. Fuck his lesson, show him. Show him.

Show him. Show him.'

The voice began to repeat that phrase again and again, echoing throughout his mind. It overwhelmed his world momentarily before it stopped.

Lucius stood still for a few more minutes, both waiting for the Alpha Deer to calm down, and also to ensure that whoever was speaking inside of his head would stop.

He took a deep breath and continued to move around the monster. It had calmed down by now and continued grazing as if nothing in the world could go wrong. Though given the kind of being that was attempting to 'hunt' it, those thoughts were kind of founded in reality.

"Well…now is as good a time as any…" Lucius took his bow off his back and slowly drew an arrow. He aimed slowly, moving inch by inch until he believed he had lined up the perfect shot. Alpha Deer had a weak spot right behind the head. It was a nerve that when struck, inhibited their ability to run.

Slowly, he exhaled, inhaled, then on the second exhale, released his arrow. It flew straight and true towards the intended target, but the whistle of the arrow zipping through the air caused the Alpha Deer to twitch its head.

This minute amount of movement threw the target off, and while the arrow embedded itself into the neck of the beast, it missed the mark.

It yelped in pain from the shock and wheeled around in the direction of the pain. Instantaneously, it was able to lock eyes on the boy.

"Shit." He couldn't think of any other reaction than that.

Hitting that nerve was his only shot at potentially walking away from this, but now that opportunity was gone. Panic began to set in. He thought about running up the trees, but the charge attack that the monster was known for made that a moot point. Escape into the branches was contingent on hitting that nerve so the power of the charge couldn't take down the tree itself.

Now it could.

Lucius screamed as he released arrow after arrow at the charging creature. He was able to hit it with about two out of the six additional arrows he shot, before he tossed the bow aside to run.

Lucius drew his sword and dashed to the left. Following him instantly, the monster wheeled on its hind legs and changed direction. Trunks shattered, spraying shards of splinters everywhere. Several hit him, but still Lucius kept running.

Despite his long hours of training, running twenty miles a day for a year, 30 for the last few months, stamina wasn't the issue. No, his problem was speed and it was failing him. The Alpha Deer closed on him. It lowered its head and swung its antlers like a club.

They connected with the boy, striking his left side and sending him hurling over a hundred feet into another clearing. Dirt and rocks launched into the air, leaving a human shaped skid mark behind the boy. He finally came to rest at the base of a large boulder.

Blood poured like water from his head, arms, mouth, and legs. Consciousness came and went. A blanket of white approached Lucius' limp body. The Alpha Deer leaned down, sniffing at him. Its breath smelled like the inside of a barn and it was hot, and wet.

"It stinks…" Lucius managed to mumble.

'Ouch. That one hurt, didn't it?' The raspy voice from early on stated. There was a hint of amusement in its tone.

'Lucius, do you want to survive? To make it home to your parents?' The softer, gentler voice asked, which elicited a scoff from the raspy one. 'I can help you. If you let me.'

"Why…who are you?"

'A weakling. I would be much better to help you.' The raspy one stated.

'Stop. I am your future.' The kind one whispered.

'Hey! Now, now. Just cus you can help him now, doesn't mean I can't later…just wait kid. When I help you out, you will appreciate what I have to offer. For now, I'll let the other one take over. Ta ta for now…Lucius…'

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