He was the last person anyone would have expected to die out there.
Ever since I can remember, my dream was to be the greatest mage in all of Khadein. I studied night and day, practiced spells until I nearly dropped dead from exhaustion, soaked up every bit of Master Wendel's teachings in hopes that I would be his prized student. The one to learn Excalibur.
He chose Maric. Maric, the foreigner, the Altean stranger with a "natural affinity" and a bright smile.
Bright, humble, golden, perfect Maric now lay dying at my feet.
It was pathetic, really. We saved the four noble sisters, I watched him shyly profess his love to Princess Elice...and then die when a rogue Earth Dragon ambushed him from behind.
This wasn't the first time he'd ever been caught off-guard, and every time I would snicker, so tell me again, how does a mage as brilliant as yourself get blindsided by a lowly thief? Now, though, I only felt an uncomfortable tightness in my chest at the sight of him.
"Maric..." Prince Marth's voice broke the uncomfortable silence; it was only the three of us now that the dust had cleared. I could still hear Princess Elice's sobs from outside the temple.
"I messed up," Maric said, smiling even as he bled to death. I knelt beside him, feeling a mix of emotions, anger being the strongest. His promise to Elice, our rivalry...how could he die now when I still had yet to beat him in a fight?!
"Get Princess Elice and the Ohm Staff," I snapped, but Marth shook his head and I remembered we'd already used it to revive a reckless knight earlier, I couldn't remember who.
Maric was going to die.
"Ellerean..." my rival choked, blood spraying from that stupid perfect smile. "Looks like you're the best after all. Tell Master...'m sorry..."
"Maric..."
"Marth...Elice, tell her I..."
He closed his eyes and breathed his last, and Prince Marth choked back a sob as he carried the body of his fallen friend out of the temple. I remained in that spot, kneeling in his blood.
I was the better mage now, but I didn't care anymore. My rival was dead, and my drive to be the best had died with him.