Darius sprinted the stairs along the great corridors of the Venlock estate, his laboured breathing and thumping heart binding him. Sweat was streaming from his forehead as he grasped the arms of his tunic tightly, dreading what was happening in his mind. The events just witnessed replayed his thoughts-Lucian had slaughtered his bodyguards like it was not even an issue. His voice possessed a cold, mocking timbre to it, along with the unbridled power that appeared to emanate from him as he spoke, leaving Darius frightened.
Darius nearly stumbled as panic overrode all pretence of poise; bursting into his father's study, he hurtled into the room, and Lord Venlock, seventh Circle mage and head of the Venlock family, looked up at the papers at his desk with narrowed eyes and irritation clear on his face.
"Darius," Lord Venlock said sharply, "what is the point of this? You act as if you have seen a ghost.".
"Father!" Darius panted, laboring for breath. "Someone—someone is coming! He called himself the Supreme Being, and—and he killed my guards without even lifting a finger!"
Lord Venlock's brow furrowed, and disbelief flickered across his features. "The Supreme Being?" What rot is this?" His voice was sharp with doubt. "How can someone like that exist in this world?"
Darius shuddered, knowing his dad wouldn't take such information so lightly. He looked around for words to pass on the horror he saw. "Dad, you won't understand! He-he wasn't normal. He—
Just at that moment, a figure emerged from the darkness of the room, movement fluid, quiet, and elegant. The secret protector, the mage of the 6th Circle, hidden and always observing Darius from afar. His face set with an air of grimness, he stepped forward, bowing respectfully before Lord Venlock.
"My lord," the protector said, low but steady, "I saw it all. What young master Darius says is true. This. person, Lucian, brought out power far greater than anything I have ever seen."
Lord Venlock's eyes went wide, his incredulity wavering. He trusted his protector, had done so for years. The man had guarded him with a loyalty that bordered on obsession, and his words carried weight.
"What in blazes happened?" Lord Venlock asked his tone now solemn.
The protector straightened, his face grave. "This man, Lucian, didn't need to cast a spell. One glimpse, and he had killed three mages of the 4th Circle. I couldn't fathom the limits of his power, and as one of 6th Circle, felt impotent before him. I did not dare intervene.
Lord Venlock's heart sank at the protector's words. It was not that he was any novice, after years of study and battles and sacrifice, he had reached as high as the 7th Circle. Still, that was not what mattered. He knew what it had taken to make it there. What sat top on his mind now was that 4th Circle mages could be killed without having to so much as lift a finger.
"And what of his claim to be the Supreme Being?" Lord Venlock asked, his voice laced with doubt and worry.
The protector paused for a heartbeat before continuing slowly. "I cannot say if his claim is true, but I do know this, my lord—his power is real. I have never felt anything like it.".
That was when silence fell in the room as Lord Venlock digested this new information. All sorts of calculations threw his mind around, guessing what to do next. If this Lucian indeed proved as mighty as Darius and the protector said him to be, then the Venlock family was in the claws of serious danger. There were forces beyond even a 7th Circle mage's control, and if Lucian was one of those forces.
His Lordship would have gone on to suggest what it might be, when a strange pressure filled the room. It was at first slight, like a distant hum vibrating through the air, but it soon came to acquire such force that the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Then, without any sort of warning, three figures appeared out of nowhere, as if they had stepped from the very fabric of reality itself. Standing in the center of the room, uninvited and unconcerned by the presence of the Venlock family, were a tall male, a petite female, and a young boy who had to be only eight years of age.
Lucian stood at the front of the pack, his face lined in smiles and benevolent, as it had always been. Beside him stood David, the obedient servant ever in his wake; David's eyes roamed through the room with nonchalant disinterest. Third in line stood Elysia, who looked nervous and out of place; yet her eyes didn't stray far from Lucian as if he were the anchor of her world.
As Darius looked at Lucian, he pointed his very trembling finger towards his father, speaking in a tremulous voice full of terror and desperation. "Father! That's him! That's the man who calls himself the Supreme Being!
Lord Venlock rose slowly from his seat, his face an unreadable mask as he assessed the newcomers. He could sense nothing from Lucian or David-no aura, no magic, no energy at all, as if they were voids in the fabric of existence. And yet, the weight of their presence filled the room, like standing on the edge of an abyss.
His eyes flicked to Elysia, and he immediately knew her aura. She was only a 2nd Circle mage-a wee apprentice to the powerhouse of mages surrounding her. And yet, with such puny strength, there seemed to be something different about her-a spark of potential, perhaps, but nothing that should have placed her in the company of these two mysteries.
By his own standards, Lord Venlock was a 7th Circle mage-a mighty being of unutterable power. Yet something in those eyes made him squirm uncomfortably. Ancient that was there, and it terrified and stretched out, and for the first time in years, Lord Venlock felt the dread coil about his chest, tightening with every second that passed.
Lucian moved forward as if walking across the study almost carelessly, his eyes scanning around as he gets a measure of the place. "Now I know what this place looks like," he said. He looked at the great bookshelves, at the desk polished to a sheen and at the tapestries that covered the walls. After a moment's pause, he smiled.
"This room isn't half bad," Lucian said, an undertone of amusement creeping through his voice. "I have seen worse."
Darius's face screwed up in anger and terror. "Father! He is mocking us! This-this man thinks himself superior to us!
Lord Venlock held up his hand, the look on his face backing his son into silence. Moving forward, composed but pale, he said,
"Now, you are Lucian, aren't you? My son here says you prefer to call yourself the Supreme Being. Quite a name for yourself, isn't it? "
Lucian turned to Lord Venlock, his smile never wavering. "It's not just a name. It's the truth.".
Lord Venlock thought over Lucian carefully. His mind was racing as he sought to judge the situation. He had fought against powerful mages, even against those stronger than him. Yet, this was very different. He felt no competition, no leveling ground to stand on. The presence of Lucian and David alone told him everything he needed to know: they were something beyond him in ways he could hardly start to fathom.
But Lord Venlock was not a man who bent with one whispered word. He had taken his place with strength and guile, and he would not cringe before anyone, not even a self-proclaimed Supreme Being.
"And what do you want with my family, Lucian?" Lord Venlock demanded, the wariness in his voice coupled with a refusal to be bent. "Why have you come here?
Lucian looked from Elysia to Lord Venlock. "I'm not here for your family. I'm here because of Elysia. She has potential, and I'm offering her something that no one else in this world can."
Darius snorted in derision, but before he could speak, Lord Venlock shot him a silencing glare. The head of the Venlock family turned to Lucian, his expression darkening.
And you expect me to believe that you, who just happens in off the street and into my home without invitation, offers your charms to her? What exactly do you imagine you have to give her, and which does the Venlock family, or the other great families of Arcanis?
Lucian smiled silently to himself, and the murmur of his low chuckle ran straight down the chill marrow of Lord Venlock's back. "Power, of course. Power beyond anything you or anyone else in this world could ever hope to achieve.".
The room lapsed into a strained silence as Lucian's words hung heavy over them. Lord Venlock narrowed his eyes, feeling the building tension in his son, but more than anything, dread had begun to germinate within him and took root in his chest and deepened.
Lucian so unruffled by the whole experience; he spoke so surely, so certainly-it was unnerving. Lord Venlock had seen many powerful foes in his lifetime, but this-this was something else indeed. He felt it in the bones, the very air bending round Lucian's presence.
"I see," said Lord Venlock, voice tightly controlled. "And what happens if I refuse to let you take her?
Lucian's smile was even broader this time; but it's cold and sharp, like a snow axe biting into frozen earth. "You don't have an option"
The air in the room appears to drop in temperature at Lucian's words, and Lord Venlock felt his heart pounding as if it was in a vice. For the first time, he really realized that he was sitting there.
This was no ordinary mage. This was something infinitely worse
And there was nothing he could do to stop him.