Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

It had been a few months since their defeat and the leaders of Alorek were still licking their wounds. Lady Tierga, their Empyrean Ranker, was assisting them in moving their troops past the blockage preventing them from supporting Alvora.

However, they were unable to reach the city before it was taken and mostly destroyed. Because of the distance between Alvora and the nearest city or fortress, Alorek would have lost a significant amount of ground to the enemy and would be facing a two-on-one fight without the benefit of the natural bottleneck that Alvora created.

Pana was punished for her failure as an example to their forces, but her call was a difficult one. That warrior, Titan, held the city's civilian population hostage, and then proceeded to eliminate a majority of its citizens without restraint or emotion.

Truly, what Pana had done was an honorable thing and she saved many lives. However, she failed to notice their infiltrators until it was too late and created a scenario where their loss was all but assured.

"King Zethis, there is someone requesting an audience." A messenger entered the room with a bow and pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Who is it?" If at any other time he would have been furious to have his alone time disrupted, however the energy for such behavior simply wasn't there anymore.

"They claim to be an envoy of another nation…" The messenger began.

"If it's from Eroa or any of the Union nations, send them away, I'm busy."

"Sire, they claim to be a representative of Haedda." The messenger finished.

Zethis's interest was already piqued. Haedda was the second of two elven nations. Aedrider was in the northern part of the continent, while Haedda inhabited the south. Aedrider had open borders and trade with every country on the continent, but Haedda was the exact opposite. Very rarely did the isolationist nation interact with the other countries and their peoples.

There was a vast mountain range that isolated them from all the surrounding nations with only two natural passes leading in or out of their lands. One entrance connected to the nation of Docia, while the other connected to Alorek. Seldomly they would allow trade caravans through the pass, but very few people ever left the country and even fewer people were allowed in.

Zethis quickly moved to the throne room to receive a rare and honored guest. With his powerful legs, he sprinted there in a very short amount of time, leaving the messenger in the proverbial, and literal, dust.

Once in his throne room, he sat in his large chair, overlooking the main floor which hosted a single, large rug that led directly from underneath his chair and all the way to the doors. With a wave of his hand, the guards at the door slowly opened it and allowed an enchanting elven woman to step into the room.

She wore a long, flowing white gown that hugged her figure tightly. Though the dress went all the way up to her neck, the way the clothes fit left little to the imagination of Zethis on the exact size and shape of most of her body. Trailing behind her was a long lace train with the tail of the material barely kissing the ground.

Flanking the woman were a handful of guards and servants. Each of the guards wore strange, glittery armor. It looked like steel plate armor that had flecks of emerald infused throughout the metal. Zethis had absolutely no idea what kind of material it was that was folded in with the steel, but it looked expensive and intimidating.

Once the entire procession had entered the room, the woman in white kneeled before his throne. Her luscious, pink hair accentuated her perfect face and pale, blue eyes.

"I, Princess Enaeria of Haedda, greet you, King Zethis of the Raging Sands, ruler of the nation of Alorek." The woman spoke with a voice as smooth as silk and sweet as honey. Her manners were perfect and everything about her felt otherworldly.

Zethis couldn't help but gulp in response. "Greetings, Princess Enaeria." He stood and walked down the steps. Zethis offered his hand to her and helped her to a standing position. "I greet you, but please do not lower yourself to kneel to a person such as me. A woman of your caliber should never have to kneel before another."

Honestly, he felt like he was laying it on thick in his response, but for some reason he could not help it. The princess smiled at his words and made his heart jump.

"Thank you, your majesty. I come as an envoy of my great nation, Haedda, the kingdom in the mist." She continued before pausing.

She then looked at her gown and frowned at the bit of dust that had dirtied her perfect dress. With a simple wave of her hand, water formed over the dirt and pulled it out of the cloth. A single snap of her fingers and a small gust of wind quickly dried the fabric, leaving her just as perfect as before.

Zethis almost had to pick his jaw up off of the floor. What he had just witnessed was an effortless example of Channeling. The elven princess had used it as if it was a trivial matter for her.

"Apologies, my liege." Enaeria said with a smile. "I have come as an envoy for two purposes. One is that my king and queen, or my mother and father, wish to form an alliance and trade partnership with the nation of Alorek. As their third daughter I have been sent to offer my hand in marriage to you as a token of our desire to ally with you."

The king of Alorek stood there dumbfounded. Not only had he witnessed Channeling occur in front of his very eyes, but this heavenly vision before him was also offering herself in marriage. If that wasn't enough, the very reason for her visit was because the infamously isolationist nation of Haedda was wanting to enter into an alliance with them.

Truly, today was an interesting day. "Of course. I graciously accept both the offer of alliance and my fair lady's hand in marriage. As a show of respect, I offer the forfeiture of my nation's traditions of multiple wives. Out of respect for you and your kingdom, I promise myself to you and you alone."

Enaeria beamed at him with a smile brighter than the desert sun. "I am glad to be shown such a measure of respect, my lord husband. Or rather my lord husband-to-be." She giggled at her own words, lightly covering her mouth with her spare hand. "There is one more matter to attend to, however. I have brought with me the representative of another nation who wishes to speak with you."