MARKED BY DESTINY: THE DEMON'S CHOSEN.

Generally, people in this realm were ranked into five stages, with each stage becoming more difficult the higher one advances. They were the awakening stage, the bloodline stage, the adept stage, master stage and the transformation/ legendary stage.

Creatures usually awaken these powers at the age of fifteen and at average they advance two to four years later. At the moment, she had just recently turned sixteen a few months ago. Therefore she was perplexed on the reason why she was being rushed to raise her rank like this when it had barely been over a year since she awakened.

' It's all father's fault, he even used a royal decree to send me away. How despicable!'

She wasn't really angry about the training, okay she was a little bit annoyed but the major problem was that he didn't even tell her why he sent her out. He just gave out a vague answer that she'll understand in the future.

Maybe she was overthinking the whole thing but she felt that something big was going to happen and everyone in her family except her knew what it was.

That thing was the reason she trained harder than everyone else since she could remember, that thing was the reason she always felt different from everyone else even when she tried to fit in.

That thing was the reason that the places she could go to even in this continent were limited and it was still the reason that she was in this godforsaken forest.

So wasn't it unfair that she was the only one who was unaware of it when it was her life that was being affected by whatever it was.

While she was lost in thought,Casen stared at a certain little girl whose face displayed several emotions all at once. He could tell that she was clearly angry at the whole situation but he knew that it was for her own good.

Some things were just out of their control even if they wanted to change it.He turned his gaze towards the horizon and simply remarked while smiling. " The sunset is beautiful here." Before walking away leaving her alone.

It seemed like his voice broke her out of her thoughts because her eyes regained focus as she took looked towards the horizon. The familar red hue was almost gone welcoming the darkness. Night time was swifty approaching, it was time to hunt.

***

In the darkness of the night, Alexia ,now dressed in an enchanted black bodysuit, crept silently through the think crimson bushes tracking down her hunt for the night. Usually for battles she would don on her armour since it offered her better protection in these kinds of fights.

But she planned on staying her for a long time which was highly dependant on her tenacity and endurance. An armour would make her grow tired faster so she opted for speed and endurance against defense.

Alexia was really sick of this forest and the only way to leave here was to saturate her soul in essence or better yet advance to the next rank. And the quickest way to achieve all that was to hunt down a beast of a higher rank than she was. The higher the rank the bigger the luxstone and that was exactly what she needed right now.

In all honesty it was a very risky plan and there was a high probability that she would lose her life, but what was life without a little bit of risk, pain and failure. Emphasis on the pain.

Right now, she was going to go deeper into the forest, beasts of higher ranks usually stay closer to the center where hunters rarely venture. So that they could rest undisturbed in the day before going out to hunt at night.

Demonic beasts were also grouped into five ranks namely the martial, feral, savage, arcane and ancient rank. She had been hunting martial beasts since she entered this forest.

Beasts were usually stronger than other creatures due to their bulk and build, so even defeating a beast of one's rank could prove difficult depending if they were in the prime or apex stage.

So challenging a beast of higher rank especially alone could be considered purely suicidal and outright crazy. Beasts at the prime stage had powers suited to their rank while those at the apex stage had power higher than those of their rank should possess but had not met all the requirements to advance yet.

She reasoned that since she could defeat martial apex beasts then maybe with a little luck she could stand a chance in winning against a feral beast in combat.

Moving through concealed locations with the stealth and agility of a leopard, she sensed a powerful chilling presence and changed her direction heading towards it. Demonic beasts were creatures of darkness so she was sure that following this presence might lead her to a powerful beast.

As she approached the source of the presence, the darkness subtly grew deeper, her eyes lit up like two bright suns allowing her to see better.

Reaching the area where the darkness was densest, she lips curved into a grin, lying some meters in front of her was a stilll form seemingly frozen in the middle of thick swirling darkness.

As she carefully approached it she made out a figure of a wolf.

' They are really popular here I guess.'

It's size was smaller than it should be for a feral beast and it stood unmoving, it's hind legs twisted at odd angles. However she could hear faint breathing assuring her that it was still alive and the darkness swirling around it signified that it was a feral beast. Yet why did she feel so unsettled?

She increased her hearing perception, double checking in case she missed anything but she heard nothing alarming. Her intuition on the other hand warned her to stay back but the temptation in front of her was too great to resist.

An injured feral beast was right in front of her, it was such an easy kill that many would not believe her luck.

' Am I really going to let fear stop me from advancing? What's the worst that could happen anyways?'

Then a silent question crept into her head. 'What killed it and where was it now?' Gritting her teeth she answered back.

' That's the reason I should kill it quickly before whatever it is finds us !'

Silencing the voice in her head, she continued approaching the wolf. Knowing those questions asked by her intuition were valid, she decided to keep her guard up just in case of any sudden attacks. Though she believed nothing would happen, it was always better to be safe than sorry.

Her heart was beating nervously in her chest as her gut feeling grew stronger warning her of danger as she got closer to the frozen body of the wolf. The ground around the body suddenly felt more solid, she attributed it to her over cautiousness.

Once she was close enough she quickly lunged forward stabbing the wolf on her sword. Almost immediately a luxstone formed signifying it's death. She reached out holding it firmly in her hand .

Absorbing it's essence, her face was clearly showing her surprise. Where was the action, the danger, the fierce battle? Did she really just win like that ? Her eyes twinkled as she let out a wild laugh.

" Hahahaha! Didn't you say there was danger. Weren't you warning me? Is it fun being a coward?"

She could feel it, her soul going closer to the saturation point but something didn't feel quite right. Why did it feel like the stone of another martial apex beast instead of a feral one ?

' Maybe because it is and you're still in trouble mind you' the voice in her head sounded again and this time after it finished speaking, her ears picked up a new sound. Something was moving.

Gripping the hilt of her sword, she assumed a fighting stance preparing herself for whatever beast was approaching . Though they seemed close enough for her to sense them she couldn't really see anything abnormal moving in the darkness, everything was still and silent.

But one thing she noticed was that the darkness was still swirling around her, even after the death of it's master and the formation of a luxstone.

" Not ominous at all."

Just then without warning, the ground beneath her feet exploded violently throwing her off balance and unto the ground with a loud thud. Before she could process what was happening, something stabbed at her at an astonishing speed.

Her body reacted on instinct rolling to the side to avoid the incoming attack. The object narrowly missed her, momentarily getting stuck in the ground dangerously close to her stomach. In this position she could at least catch a glimpse of her attacker. The object had a curved sharp tip and barbed glossy surface, it looked almost like a stinger.

Finally freeing itself, the stinger rose and stabbed towards her again with greater speed than before. Jumping to her feet she hurriedly retreated, avoiding getting impaled by a hair's breath.

The stinger retracted allowing her to see the true face of her assailant. Giant black glossy razor sharp claws shrouded in darkness, a giant body with a resemblance to scorched earth, it's tail was long and curved ending in a venomous stinger that glowed with faint eerie light.

It's malicious green eyes were currently staring at her as it snapped a claw towards her. It was clearly a giant scorpion thrice her size and it was hell bent on killing her for snatching it's prey.

' Well at least I found a feral beast.'

Crouching to the ground, she narrowly avoided the claw. The thing about feral beasts that made them different from martial beasts was their increased strength and speed. She knew that she could not continue dodging but right now that was her only option.

Lifting herself up, she slashed at the other incoming claw, instead of causing any damages, she herself was grappled by the claw, her sword hadn't even left a mark on it's onyx shell.

She was sure that if not for the effects of the enchanted armour, she would have been split in half by the powerful claws of the feral scorpion. But not even the suit could save her insides from being compressed by the pressure.

Struggling in it's grip, she summoned fire in the center of her palms. Placing them on the claw of the scorpion, she hoped to weaken it somehow. The shell of the beast became slightly scorched not giving her the effect she wanted but at least she knew that fire could harm it better than her sword could.

At this moment, she was close to the scorpions mouth, it's claw like appendages eager to sink into her flesh. When she was close enough, she summoned her fire once more, this time allowing it to surround her blade. Carefully positioning it, she stabbed into the scorpion's right eye allowing the flames to spread.

The beast let out a deafening screech as it flung her away while experiencing great pain. Alexia flew through the air finally coming to a stop when her back violently hit the surface of a tree causing the latter to break.

Spitting out a mouth full of blood, she struggled to stand up, familiar pain welcomed her once again. Looking at the scorpion something clicked in her mind, if her guess wasn't wrong, this beast was called Thrakos.

She couldn't believe her luck, meeting such a fierce beast on her first attempt was noteworthy. Of course she knew that little stunt she pulled could never truly kill it but she was aware that she would enrage it more.

As if answering to her thoughts, the scorpion turned to face her with it's one good eye now filled with two emotions she was most familiar with, rage and madness. She sighed It was guaranteed to be a long night.