FVN Chapter 343 Concerning Revolt
Chapter 343 Concerning Revolt
lucius watched as sheza quickly darted off toward the slums. their conversation turned out rather fruitful, and he was confident that her willingness to serve kestis would turn out in his favor.
in fact, her steadfast desire to support her leader and love was so resolute that the promise she made would likely accelerate his plans in the city. when he was ready to make his move, she would be there with her best to give him everything he needed.
the varris family estate twinkled in the distance. magical lights illuminated nearly every room. most of the city worked in that fashion. it was still shocking to him every time he looked at the skies above and saw nothing where once he would see countless stars. it was as if their brilliance was drowned out by elven "ingenuity".
lucius deftly avoided notice as he approached the walls of the varris estate. the walls themselves were mostly decorative and could easily be taken down by even an intermediate ranker. however, they stood over fifteen-feet tall and were topped with a row of artistically designed spikes. the intention was to remain pleasant to the eye, while still preventing people from easily climbing them.
two gates provided access to the grounds with each guarded by a group of four soldiers. from lucius's vantage point, he could not make out the equipment they wore, but he could tell they were intermediate rankers. he could sense an advance ranker just inside the walls as well. he was likely the commander and stayed out of sight unless his additional strength was needed.
seeing as intermediate rank was the most common level for common people to 'cap out' at, men like him usually would be able to sit on their laurels for the majority of their shifts. that level of complacency was also something easy to exploit; a fact that brought a smile to lucius's face.
as the moon continued to fade in the sky, lucius waited patiently atop a roof a few hundred feet away from the estate's walls. he wanted to watch tonight's change of the guard sine it was the last day of the week. by this point he had witnessed the shift changes a number of times and had gotten used to the pattern, schedule, and a number of small discrepancies between shifts.
slowly, but surely, he retreated from the manor. the elf warrior in strange robes made no movements or actions that said he would follow. instead, his gaze followed lucius as he retreated along the rooftops before eventually disappearing from his line of sight in a random alleyway.
the moment lucius's feet touched the stone walkway, a powerful pulse of pain surged through his left hand. it was unfamiliar to him, having never happened in the past. the intense sensation forced him to his knees as a scream attempted to escape his lips, only barely being suppressed by biting his own tongue.
'i found it... it is in there. lucius, you have to go back! go back now! retrieve it!' a strange panic arose in lucius's chest, though he felt it was not his own. grimm's voice and desire seemed to lash out from with his mark. continue reading at empire
tendrils of shadow shot out of his body, piercing the walls of the building next to him. from inside a woman screamed while another gurgled as though they were struggling to breathe. lucius looked over at the wall and saw a trail of blood flowing down a few of the tendrils.
in an effort to ensure quiet, the parts of the tendrils inside the building splintered, piercing the bodies of an unknown number of elves. though lucius was physically blind to the occurrence, he could feel what was happening through the tendrils.
"grimm! stop!" lucius shouted aloud in panic. the pain in his arm and weight on his chest subsided while the shadows dispersed. a few dead elves did not phase him, but the fact that grimm activated his mark without lucius's intent concerned him greatly. "never do that again, grimm. i will retrieve the fragment, but if you ever do that again, i will borrow luz's power to seal your own. don't think i haven't caught on to the change between you two."
'retrieve the fragment...' grimm spat before his presence faded.
lucius sighed in frustration and concern. he doubted that a warning such as that would disturb grimm enough to prevent another outburst from happening again, but it would likely buy him time. thankfully, lucius still had control over his own faculties and grimm seemed to only be able to lash out using the mark's power.