Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Jade stared at the sky darkening overhead. Though she had no magical compatibilities, she was able to tell that the storm was not mana induced and appeared to be a natural phenomenon.

After witnessing Lucius whip up a storm in the center of Spire Hollow, she could not help but immediately jump to the conclusion that he was causing this. However, he wasn't. Not only was there no mana in the air, the man in question was fast asleep and napping on Rena's lap in the back of the wagon they were riding on.

The side of him facing her revealed many of his scars along his neck. On the back of his neck were several severe burns and then there was a long, jagged scar from some sort of cut along his face and neck that continued underneath his armor. Rena seemed to catch her staring at his wounds.

Jade tried to apologize to her, but she simply waved her hand dismissively, "No, it doesn't matter. After all, it is a wonder that someone like him could have so many scars."

Rena paused and rubbed her lover's cheek gently. "This," She continued while beginning to trace the scar running down his face and front of his neck, "is from an incident outside of Lelvern. We faced off against a series of goblins much stronger than we were capable of at the time.

"We joined up with a cousin of mine who became an adventurer. One of his party members used an explosive crystal from Aedrider. The mana infused in the blast made it impossible to heal this scar."

Jade nodded along to the story as Rena explained in detail some of their early adventures. She could not help but smile at the parts Rena liked to focus on. Especially of interest was the part where he first confessed and also the part where she received the choker on her neck.

"What about the other ones? I've heard his back is littered with them." Jade asked.

Rena's face darkened. "He won't tell me the full story, but someone betrayed him and tried to kill him. All of those are from that. Though I suspect he gained a few more through his training and deployment after the fact."

Jade continued to listen to the rough explanation of events that Rena had been told by Lucius. Both women knew it was not the full story and that it had a lot of missing pieces. However, there was enough to at least get a general understanding of what happened.

"That sounds…" Jade started before being interrupted by Lucius shooting up off of his wife's lap.

"What is it?"

The man looked into the sky and began to sniff. "Smoke and burnt flesh."

Everyone tensed and watched as he looked and squinted at the sky. They followed his gaze as he pointed towards the capital.

"The storm clouds are covering it and the wind is blowing it the opposite direction of us, but there is no mistaking it. Something in the capital is burning." Lucius said calmly.

Desmond and Natali stood next and the carriage driver began to halt their wagon. Desmond reached over and threw a sack of coins at him to keep him going to the capital at all costs. Meanwhile Lucius simply watched the skies for anything strange.

Dragons were very rare creatures and tended to live in more mountainous areas. Their cousins were wyverns however Arcadios was not home to any breeds of wyverns capable of breathing fire. It was unlikely that someone was able to advance their army this far into Arcadios without anyone hearing about it, so whatever was going on was completely in the air.

Natali tightly held her hands to her chest in a sort of hopeful prayer. It was likely the girl was worried about her only other friend, the young Oracle. Desmond looked prepared to fight at a moment's notice and had a white-knuckled grip around his spear.

"It's coming from the academy." Lucius finally said while pointing out a terrifying sight.

As their vehicle rounded a bend, the walls of the academy came into view. The entire length of the walls were ringed in a giant wall of fire. They could not hear or see much else, but according to Lucius, he could hear sounds of fighting and shouting.

"Who would be stupid enough to try and attack the capital?" Jade questioned. "It's the heart of Arcadios and the center of all human nations… I doubt that any of the other union members would betray them without cause…"

"It's not. Only the academy itself appears to be under attack. There might be clashes throughout the city, but as far as I can tell, the only place they focused on was the academy… that's just a guess though. I don't see or smell smoke coming from any other part of the city, however the wind makes it difficult so we will find out once we get inside." Lucius interrupted.

They continued to watch in careful silence until they approached the gates of the city. As their cart pulled up to the stables, the guards at the gates moved to block their path forward. It was clear they had no intention of letting anyone inside. The exterior of the walls was surrounded by merchants and travelers who similarly were not allowed entry.

"Hold, the academy is under attack by unknown zealots. No entry is allowed until the situation is resolved." A small man squeaked.

Lucius raised his eyebrow at the guard and looked to someone else. However, it was clear no one else intended to speak to him or disagree with what the small guard said. Instead of simply joining the others waiting, like the guards thought their group would, Lucius grabbed the man in front of him by the shoulders and shoved him to the side.

"I am Lord Lucius Kane. Accompanying me are my wife, Lady Rena Kane as well as Lord and Lady Adler. Of course, we also have with us a direct servant of the Oracle. Allow us entry. Now." His eyes flashed brilliantly for a moment at the last word, which made a few guards take a step back.

"We have no way to confirm you are not involved with this incident. So just like everyone else, you will remain outside our walls until the problem is solved." A woman shouted from inside the guard station.

The woman's armor was a little more ornate than the others. Because of that, Jade deduced she was in charge of the men here. Her face was stoic and showed no signs of concern about Lucius's proclamation or threatening tone. Instead, she had a slight smirk of contempt.

"You know…" She sneered, "I love small moments like these… where I can tell nobles where to shove it. You aren't allowed inside the city at this time, Lord Kane."

The captain's voice dripped with venom and her lips turned from a sneer to a mocking smile. Jade was concerned about how Lucius would react, but he looked completely calm.

"One more time." He said slowly, "Let me into the city."

"No, I don't think I…"

As expected, the woman's final comment met dead air as her body flew into the air and rolled to a stop along the dirt. Left in front of where she was standing was Lucius who was slowly returning to a normal standing position from having punched the woman straight in the face.