Lucius continued to follow his father deeper into the woods. The sun had long since risen and even passed its peak before he finally asked for Lucius to stop again.
This time Wayne asked him to stay quiet and motioned for Lucius to crouch down. The constant attention he paid to every sound in his surroundings had begun to overwhelm his senses. After working on overdrive for hours, it seemed they were burning out. Whatever it was that his father wanted to show him, Lucius could not see, smell, or even hear it.
Regardless, he did as instructed and crouched next to his father behind the trunk of a massive tree. Now that they were deep into the woods, the trees became taller and thicker, reflective of their advanced ages since humans did not venture in this far to log.
Lucius waited quietly, hidden next to his father for several minutes. He was still confused at what it was that his father wanted to show him, but as he was about to finally speak up, his ears twitched.
Lucius threw his head to the right where the sound came from. It sounded like shouting. Soon he also picked up heavy breathing and footsteps.
Moments later, a group of three children appeared between the trees. One was a girl, and two were boys. All three were a few years older than Lucius at most; they were definitely trial-takers.
Another thing they had in common, aside from age, is that they each had a black symbol on each of their left hands. They were Marked Ones, just like Lucius. He was tempted to say something since he had not spoken to another person like himself, but he knew that this was not what his father was trying to do. As such, he continued to observe the children.
All three of the children were panting and doubled over, gasping for breath. Cuts and bruises were plastered all over their faces and arms. Their shirts and pants were also partially shredded.
"Are they gone?"
"I don't…I don't know…blugh." One of the boys answered before vomiting from the physical exertion.
The girl stepped up and began massaging his back, soothing him. He stood up and began to say thank you, but his voice seemed to catch in his throat.
Lucias, who had tuned into their conversation, understood why the boy stopped. A few more children stepped out of the trees, surrounding the first three. These new additions only numbered about five, but they were in a lot better shape. They also had weapons, whereas the first three did not.
"Looks like we caught you!" One of the new kids laughed.
"Leave us alone!" The girl shouted, her eyes flared with defiance. Unfortunately, this only made the new children laugh.
Lucius felt another ominous feeling travel down his spine. He noticed that some of the children gripped their weapons a little tighter as they taunted the injured. Lucius looked to his father, who simply watched the interaction with a blank expression.
Lucius did not know what was about to happen, but he could tell it was not going to be good. He was tempted to rush in, but he was smart enough to know that he could do nothing alone. In addition to that, he was making assumptions, but he did not know exactly what was happening in the first place.
Other than the weapons and the lack of injuries, the five new children had another similar trait…they lacked marks.
"My papa told me that your things were dangerous. More dangerous than the monsters." One of the unmarked called out. "Dangerous and disgusting. He said that if I met you in the woods, that I should fight. Besides, no adults are here, so we can do what we want."
"Why!" The marked girl shouted. "Why are you doing this? We fought together, and you said we could work together to get out of here!"
"Ha! I said if you fought with us, WE would get out of here. Not you. You Marked Ones can stay in the woods and die."
"No! I'm going home. I'm going to see my mom and my little brother again!" One of the marked boys screamed angrily.
"Well, since you don't wanna stay here and die by yourself, I guess we have to make you!"
Suddenly four of the unmarked ran forward with their weapons held high. They were clumsy and could barely swing their weapons properly, but it did not matter much since their targets were completely unarmed. All three Marked Ones turned and ran away.
It would have been good if they had run in different directions, but they did not. Instead, they all ran the same way, hoping to stay together in these woods. This worked against them in the end.
The fifth unmarked child smiled and flatly called out, "[Glacies: Ice Spear]"
A sharpened spear made of ice formed in his hand and launched forward towards the three Marked Ones. It managed to avoid his allies as it flew. Seemingly sensing her impending doom, the girl turned around while running just in time to have the spell impale her chest. She was hit with such force that it lifted her off the ground before sticking her to a tree.
Lucius was able to see as she choked on her own blood, before going still. Her two companions shouted in anger, before turning around and running at the unmarked children. It was futile since they only had their hands. One of the boys held up his left hand and a strange energy seemed to fill the space. His left hand seemed to glow with a white light, emanating from the mark.
The boy who could somehow use magic already, despite his age, smiled. "Looks like the beasts are trying to fight back. You know what we do to rabid dogs like these? We put them down. [Glacies: Ice Spikes]."
Instead of anything leaving the boy's hand, the ground below the two remaining Marked Ones began to frost over. They looked down at their feet just as several spikes rose from the ground, piercing their vitals and killing them both instantly.
"Great job my lord! As expected of a nobleman's son!"
"Yeah! You are so awesome!"
While the unmarked continued to smile and laugh among each other, Lucius could barely contain his anger and his fear. He did not know which feeling was stronger, but he felt a tightness in his chest and mouth. The world became clearer, every sound and smell became more intense.
He felt himself rising from the ground, but before he could get far, his father pushed him back down.
"There are more than beasts in this forest son." Wayne whispered, to the background of laughter and praise being thrown upon a murderer. "Be careful of the monsters we don't expect."
Lucius could hear his father speaking, but he was having a hard time understanding him. His emotions were getting the better of him.
"Did you learn? The true purpose of a sword?" Wayne asked. He maintained a calm and measured tone that seemed to help calm Lucius just a little.
Lucius simply nodded his head and whispered. "The true purpose of a sword is to kill, father."