The Price of Power.

"Why wouldn't he?" Armand was sure that his brother would not refuse such a convenient opportunity to hurt him for the quick.

"Because of the prophecy. It was recorded in one of the Sumerian scrolls, Mark Teser heard only part of it since Clara hid many details from my mother. Even I do not know its full version. Amelia knew all the details, so she asked me to wait for her coming of age so that she had a chance to annul its strength, but a few days before her birthday, Marcus caught her. That was the day you met her."

Lina remembered that moment very well, because this was the first time that Amelia allowed her to come close to Armand and make sure that their paths did not cross with Marcus. If Lina knew that Marcus was going to kidnap the girl, she would not leave Amelia alone with him.

"According to the prophecy, a person who will be endowed with this all-consuming power will have to pay a high price for its use. And one of these conditions will be loneliness. If he has a friend or a beloved one, then death will be awaiting this person. Therefore, when I said that Marcus wanted to protect you when he misled you, I meant that.

He knew that if you were by his side, your life would be filled with pain and suffering. Therefore, he preferred that you hate him and avoid him.

Since, together with great power, Marcus is doomed to loneliness. Eternal loneliness until this world perishes."

Lina was silent, she said everything she wanted and now she was only waiting for what Armand would do with all this. She did not know whether she had acted correctly, but she too could no longer hide her true identity from her beloved man.

Armand poured the last glass of wine, drank it in one gulp and carefully set the glass on the table. The bottle was now empty, but, as he expected, the alcohol had no effect on him, and the counter of his desire to forget himself for a moment added another meaningless attempt to its six-digit number.

The man fastened the buttons on his shirt, straightened his clothes, and silently headed for the door. The girl remained standing still, she understood that in this situation she was powerless.

Armand turned the doorknob, "I'm sorry, all this was too unexpected for me, I need to be alone for a while," he opened the door, "Good night, Polina," said the man, without turning in her direction, left the room and slammed the door behind him.

He went down the corridor towards the stairs, as a loud voice called out to him, "Hey, buddy, where are you going? Weren't we going to have a great dinner?"

Armand ignored the man's words and went further down the stairs.

Daniel shrugged and looked at Corey in surprise, "What's the matter with him?"

"I don't know," Corey shook her head and straightened the hair of Ashley, dozing in the man's arms, "Come, I need to change her clothes after the pool."

"Um guys, you go ahead. Tell the rest that I most likely will not come," Nick waved his hand and walked quickly toward Lina's room.

The young man knocked several times on her door, but there was no answer, "Lina, open it, it's me, Nick." The door of the room clicked, and the girl's tear-stained face appeared behind the half-opened door. She looked at him with her blue eyes and sniffed.

It immediately became clear to Nick what had happened, "Now it's clear why Armand was so lost. Did you tell him everything?"

The girl nodded her head. The young man smiled, although she was many years older than he was, at such moments she resembled a teenager, "Let me make you tea, and you can cry on my shoulder if you want. How do you like the idea?"

"I ag-ree," the girl answered with a sob, let the guy into the room and closed the door behind him.

. . .

Armand went down to the first floor, music from the bar created a pleasant atmosphere for hotel guests. The man looked around the bar, "Hey man, do you have a beer?"

The bartender put the bottle of whiskey on the table and went to Armand, "Yes, sir. What do you want? Local, Czech, American-"

"Is there a German one?"

The bartender smiled, "Sir, you are lucky, just a couple of hours ago, we received a wonderful beer from Bavaria. We have canned bear and a beer on tap. Which one do you prefer?"

Armand thought for a moment and answered, "A can of beer, please. No, wait, give me two."

"Just a moment, sir."

The man with two cans of beer in his hands left the hotel and went towards the beach, the coastline was clean and well-groomed, as would the coastline near any luxury hotel would look like.

Here and there, couples huddled on the deckchairs, admiring the night sky in each other's arms. Armand hoped that their evening with Lina would be like this, but everything turned out quite the opposite.

He trudged along the coast to find a secluded place and think about what had happened. A couple of hundred meters later, he noticed a man's shadow, Armand's vision allowed him to recognize this man even at a great distance.

The man stood ankle-deep in the water, light rustling waves were washing his legs. He was staring into the distance of the dark horizon of the ocean as if the world around him did not exist.

Armand came closer and stopped behind him.

"Nice evening, isn't it?" that man asked, without looking back.

Armand grinned, he did not even doubt that this man had heard his steps and recognized him a long time ago already.

"How about a can of German beer, brother?"

Marcus turned his head and said with a smile, "With pleasure."