Orion swung his arm, pushing away Lucius as he rolled backwards to the edge of the platform. Fire rained from above, balls of flames barraging the platform. Shield winds conjured, trying to block the attacks, but the air got harder to control.
"Lucius! Stop! You're going to kill him!" Professor Rowan stepped in, a cage of stone erupting from the platform, encircling Lucius.
Lucius took a step and then another. The chamber got hotter. Pillars of flame burst from his feet and all around him, melting the cage in seconds. The orange brilliance of the bright flames turned into an azure hue, the platform beneath melting into molten rock as Lucius quickly grabbed Orion and sent him crashing into the grandstands.
The students watching all backed off as Jasper helped to block them off and let them escape.
"Uack!" Orion coughed up blood in the distance. Amidst the growing smoke cloud, "Aiden was right. You are so easy to control."
The other professor stepped, "Lucius! Stop!" But Lucius paid no heed.
Streaks of lightning sliced through the air, homing in on Lucius. Still, each got absorbed and deflected by the dancing sparks of flames in the air, each one blinking in and out of existence in a remarkable show of control and elemental mastery. Each step wrought even more havoc upon this chamber. The temperature soared as their skin started to scald, as did Lucius'.
Rowan pushed out his arms, solidifying the molten platform before the fins extended out of the hardened rock in multiple places, rapidly absorbing the heat from the surroundings, yet every step Lucius took only made it harder to maintain its solid form. The air distorted further from the extreme heat as the students and Jasper had already evacuated.
The professors were on the brink of their consciousness, but their relics kept them in the game, regenerating their skin despite the excruciating pain.
Hisses of steam from drops of sweat dripped from Lucius' chin as he slowly walked towards Orion among the chaos.
"Okay! I get it, I'm sorry!" Orion finally realised that maybe it was too late, "Let's call it quits?"
But no one in the room truly believed it would have worked. Lucius continued to redirect and block the streaks of lightning flashing around him, but his eyes lost track of the professor. In the blink of an eye, his body flickered in the warping air, creating afterimages of pulsating static.
Lucius blocked the first attack with his forearms, but the force sent him tumbling into the erupting pillars of rock, each one melting on his touch. Rowan strained, his arms and fingers trembling as he tried to solidify the molten rock, but he couldn't match Lucius' flux intensity.
With another flicker of lightning, the professor sent a flurry of punches into Lucius, but each was blocked, albeit with difficulty. Each punch was riddled with slight electrical pulses that shot through Lucius's body, causing his limbs to go numb, but this last effort was all too late, as a single explosion blew him and his lightning clouds away.
With a giant leap, Lucius flew through the smoke and dust, crashing on top of Orion.
His bloodied face screamed fear, but he knew what was coming was inevitable as Lucius' fist drove his head into the wall, the impact sending cracks spidering up into the ceiling as he finally let go of Orion's collar, dropping him to the ground.
The ringing in his ears let up. The blaring alarms in the background slowly came into focus.
He looked around at the devastation he had caused. It wasn't really rage or fulfilment that filled him, but a realisation that Orion was right. So much power, yet he couldn't do anything.
Multiple professors finally rushed into the room, surrounding him quickly, albeit all too late. But he had no intention of fighting back. Rowan bit his lip as he swung his arms, shooting chains from beneath that cuffed Lucius to the ground with his arms behind him.
Rowan looked his former disciple dead in his eyes, yet all he could see was despair. The brilliance of the talented child he once taught was gone. He couldn't help but feel a sort of sadness as he said his next lines, "Lucius Thornes. You are now under arrest for the intentional destruction of school property and the attempted murder of Orion Lark."
. . . 5 Days Later . . .
Eryndale Prison, Cell of Trials
"Why?"
"I just told you, Jasper," Lucius pressed his finger against his temples, "Orion had it coming. I can't sit back as he just insults my dead family."
"Oh, come on, Lucius. This isn't the first time anyone has done it, why now…" He leaned back against his chair with a deep breath, "Look. You know my family's stance on this. We owe the Thornes family one. We know. We know." Jasper stood back up, pacing up and down the area outside the bars, "But we can't get you out of this one…"
Within the cell sat Lucius in the corner of the cell, his back resting against the wall as he chewed on bread. The skin on his arms flaked from the scalds and charred burns.
"It doesn't matter."
Jasper ran his hand through his hair in frustration, "Argh! I'll prepare for the trials. I'll see you there later."
"…Thanks," Lucius muttered, throwing the bread at the wall.
Time passed as Lucius stared blankly at the sunlight filtering through the bars. His body sank further as he bit his nails.
I fucked up, didn't I
He could imagine it, his father telling him off for letting his emotions get the better of him. Shouting at him for making such stupid decisions. He could even see his brother standing there, clear as day.
It was a hallucination. He knew that.But he didn't look away.
"…How's the afterlife, Parkel?"
His brother sat opposite him, under the lights like a ghost he was, "You think we can make a peaceful afterlife with you being like this?" he scoffed, looking around the cell as if it were some kind of attraction, "You know what mom and dad always said. Thornes against the world."
"Yeah." Lucius nodded.
"We're better than this." Parkel stood up and walked to Lucius; he squatted down and rustled his hair, his sensations cold to the touch, "But whatever, don't need to listen to this family nonsense anymore. You're the last there is, live a little."
Something so Parkel to say. He was always about freedom, finding joy in life, not being caught up in city politics or bullshit power trips… He just wanted to find a girl who loved him. Parkel smiled as he looked Lucius straight into his eyes, "Besides, don't you remember what you're fighting for?"
Lucius didn't answer right away.
He let out a quiet, tired chuckle, shaking his head.
"No," he whispered, "That's the problem."
With a blink, Parkel was gone before Lucius could even get a reaction. Footsteps echoed through the corridor. Lucius quickly wiped the welling tears away.
With the sound of scraping steel, the door creaks open.
Seraphina stepped in, dragging a wooden stool to the front of the bar before taking a seat.
"Not too sure why I ever thought I could beat you," Seraphina said. "Orion Lark, all while battling 2 professors? Insane."
"Queen Celeste." Lucius pursed his lips, "For what do I owe the pleasure?"
She pulled her stool closer to the bars, leaning in closer, "Finding new ways of courting death? Hm?"
Lucius only let out a dry chuckle, adjusting his position, "I'm just my family name… I guess."
"Is that why you're fighting so hard to retain your first-place title?" She muttered as she slowly grabbed a pair of keys out of her pockets and strolled over to the gate.
"The family head can't be seen as weak now, can he?" Lucius mumbled, a weak smile momentarily stretching across his face, "It's all I've got left."
Seraphina quickly unlocked the gates and stepped in. She pulled her arms by the chain of the cuffs. Single-handedly, she pulled him up and dragged him out of the cell. "Then what now? Just bend over to those Larks? You obviously know what they are after."
She led him through the long corridor.
"Of course. But what they intend to take won't matter."
She stopped in her tracks, pulling Lucius and putting him in place, baffled by her rival's nonchalance. Though it is starting to feel like it is ridiculous to have ever thought of him as a rival, regardless, how could she have thought that he was so weak-minded? "The 15 ancient relics of the Thornes won't matter?"
Her anger almost flared, but she held herself back, "You're willingly handing control of the city over to them."
She grabbed his shoulders and shook them, as if to wake him up, "Even the Celestes won't stand by this."
"Whatever. Those relics aren't shit. You've never seen proper relics." Lucius brushed everything off with casual indifference, "Those relics ain't shit in the face of a proper fluxborn anyway."
"You're fucking ridiculous." She shoved Lucius to walk once more, "You're ruining the power balance in the city. The best part is, even though the Celestes are the mediators, so long as we act like we're in your interests, they'll swallow us up too "
Lucius kept silent, looking to the end of the long corridor. The ceiling extended high beyond, and standing in front of him stood 2 tall gates in which Seraphina pushed open.
Standing in the middle of the pillars and seats filled with the panel of judges of mediators was Jasper. The man who stood by Lucius all this time.
Serpahina guided Lucius to the stand before standing off to the side.
"Thanks, Jasper."
"Like I've said, I'm always here for you." He smiled, looping his arm around Lucius' shoulders.
"Lucius Thornes. Son of Aurelius Thornes, you are now brought to trial for the attempted murder of Orion Lark, the assault of Rowan Sinclair and Galen Monrose, as well as the destruction of academy property. Your sentence shall now be judged in the face of his brother Alessandro Lark, his father, Robert Lark, and the Celeste's will be your jury. Jasper Nightwell is the only attorney allowed to you. Are we clear?"
"Crystal," Lucius replied.
The chairs around them rose as the Lark family members sat and looked at Lucius with condescension. "Why did the defendant attack Orion Lark?"
"On all accounts, your honour, Celeste, Orion Lark never said a proper surrender. As such, he is legally still in the match until unconsciousness. Orion Lark was a top 10 combatant from the academy, it is only natural for the match to be hard fought."
"Larks?"
"We would like to bring a witness to the stand."
The witness, a nervous-looking man, took the stand and shifted uncomfortably. "I-I saw the entire match, your honour. Orion Lark surrendered properly. He tapped out after Lucius—" He paused as he glanced at Lucius nervously, "—completely destroyed him. It was one-sided. I was there; I saw it. Larks was well within his right to call for this."
Lucius could only look on. His cold, emotionless eyes once more stared daggers into the panel of Celestes and Larks. The only thought running through his mind: "No Surprise."
"Well, well, well," one of the Lark family members sneered, "It seems even your own people know the truth."
"Larks?" the judge said again, turning to them, "What is it you seek as recompense for this transgression?"
Lucius felt a familiar weight press on his chest as they finally made their demands. He already knew what was coming. Larks had made their intentions clear long ago.
The leader of the Lark family stepped forward, his eyes cold and calculating. "The Thornes family is in possession of several artefacts of great importance. We demand the Heart of the Fallen Titan, the Essence of the Voidbringer, the Tusk of the Soul Eater, the Compass of the Final Horizon, the Ashen Crown of Burns, the Chains of the Hollow Star, the Veil of Neverwake, the Fang of the Godless Beast, the Mirrored Bloodstone, the Black Halo of the Forsworn, the Tear of the Silent Choir, the Cradle of Stormglass, the Ironroot Seed, the Red Spindle, and the Pale Flame Lantern—artefacts that have remained in Thornes hands for far too long. These and others. If the Thornes are to be exonerated, they must be handed over immediately."
Lucius's eyes met with Ignatius Celeste's eyes, almost as if a show of defiance, then at the man whose glare was clear as day, Alessandro Lark.
"Do you comply, Lucius Thornes?"
Lucius flux collected around him, but Jasper shook him out of his trance, "It's not worth it."
Lucius didn't look away.
Alessandro's expression turned to arrogance.
"Whatever. Take it." He finally sighed, looking away. He clapped Jasper's shoulder, "Thanks again."
Seraphina came up and tugged the cuffs along, as the same Lark was now in front of him, standing taller than Lucius, looking back down on him, his long curls on his fringes practically covering his velvet eyes but not the disdain dripping from his next words, "Ah, it feels great to look down on a member of the Thornes finally."
"Yeah, keep looking. Sooner, it'll be the last thing you see."
. . .
Later that day...
The relics were shipped out of the house in vaults. Secured containers that sealed the bursting energy. Countless men of the Lark family continued in and out, coordinating the operation like it were some large-scale raid. Lucius sat by the porch, a cigarette in his fingers as he tapped the ashes onto his legs.
The family head finally walked up, "Thornes. It is sad to see your family mansion fall to such a state."
It was an old man, bald, with a beard of white as well. Apart from his silver-plated round spectacles, his face was rather familiar. The man groaned as he sat down beside him, putting his walking stick on the wooden planks beneath as he slid an ashtray where the ashes previously fell.
"Don't worry. We will take care of the dungeon crisis. Thornes had held relics for so long that we, the rest of us, weren't able to gain the necessary experience and power to explore the deeper portions." He hesitated for a second, "Perhaps we've been pampered by you guys."
The memories finally clicked. He was a good friend of his father and a great leader for his family. "I only heard the best about you from my father."
He put a hand on Lucius' shoulders, a hand that was oddly warm and calming, "Do forgive my descendants, I understand they were a little hostile to you."
"I am so sorry for what has happened to everyone… I still miss my old friend. I might not understand what it feels like to carry on the weight of an entire legacy…" he muttered.
Lucius bit his lips, trying to stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks, "Mhm…"
Robert shook his shoulders ever so slightly, "Let me take this burden off of you. Hm?"
"Thanks." His voice trembled with grief.
"Least I could do for an old friend."