Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"How go the preparations for the Senior Exhibition Tournament at the academy?"

Wally Carmichael was chatting with other heads at the academy when the question was raised. He simply raised his eyebrows because his department had only one person who could enter the tournament and there was no way she would because she would be glued to his great-granddaughter's side.

"Well, the preparations are doing fine, but we are getting a large influx of transfer and late term application requests."

"Oh yea, the war is over now, right?"

The conversation started to twist in a slightly more interesting direction all of the sudden. He expected the topics to be constrained to the event that he didn't even have students to participate in… however…

"Yes, now that the war is over, the Adventurer's Guild and Merchant Guilds have formally requested the Union nations to continue the practice of allowing Marked Ones to join their institutions."

"Yeah, it seems that the elven and beastman nations had begun and are keeping that practice as well. I take it the King is planning for Arcadios to continue the practice?"

"Not planning, he made the announcement this morning. Since then, we've received hundreds of applications for Marked One students. Plenty of transfer and foreign exchange requests from other countries on top of that…"

Wally found himself extremely interested. "Is that so?" He said, interjecting himself into the conversation.

"Yes… many are general studies, so if you want, you can fill out your class rosters with them. A lot are requesting other areas of study…so we might have to take some on as well… we are only planning on accepting first year applicants though."

Wally's eyes glinted with excitement. "Oh, I'll take a look at all the applicants for any course above first years as well."

The other two head looked at each other before shrugging and indicating for their porters to drag over piles of documents. "All yours, Lord Carmichael."

Wally eagerly stacked the documents on his desk and made them a priority. Many of the Second-, Third-, and Fourth-year aged applicants included with their applications, military records and achievements. Which only made sense considering that's where they would all have been over the last four years.

There were plenty of interesting applicants this year. Some had letters of recommendation on top of their records, which Wally found interesting. He had heard that Rena's father integrated the normal military force with Marked Ones when he took command. It seemed to the old man that it closed some of the animosity between the two sides, if only a little.

Wally mused on the thought. "What was that saying from the old stories… something like 'The bond between brothers in arms is forged in the heat of battle…' I think…"

Among the documents there seemed to be a lot of promising people, but there were a few specific ones that stood out. However, among them was one particular document. It was on a stationary that Wally had seen on occasion and recognized it instantly.

"Lord Carmichael, what is with your smile? Find a student with promise?" The other department heads chuckled among themselves.

"More than a couple. I dare say you lot are missing out on quite the number fantastic prospects."

"Remember, even if you find someone with a powerful mark, we already have longstanding rules before the war started that marks were not allowed to be used in opponents who did not also have a mark."

"I remember. Thank you."

The others returned to their work while Wally happily sorted through his letters. The pile of accepted applicants was much larger than the rejected ones. By the time he was finished here, he would have filled every open slot in his roster of classes. Finally, he would be able to be a proper professor!

After several hours of back and forth with the other heads, he finalized his selection list and then returned to his quarters. When he reached the main halls however, he saw his granddaughter and her maid waiting for him. Beside them were a group of guards.

Natali had a torn skirt and there was blood staining the white apron that lay over the top of it.

"My dears! Are you two alright?" He shouted, running over to check both of them for injuries.

Though the maid girl was technically just a servant of Lyrah, they were such close friends and had spent so much time with him, that he simply felt like adopting her as his other granddaughter. The same went for Rena of course.

"Yes Grandfather, we are fine. While in the markets, we found ourselves under assault by some strange lunatics." Lyrah said while patting his back.

One of the guards stepped forward. "Yes, there was a small incident in the market's main plaza today. Another of those… crazed cultists."

"What happened exactly?"

"Well grandfather, we were wandering the markets since Rena was preparing for the exhibition today. While there, someone shouted and then several people screamed. One man came running towards Me and Natali with a crazed look on his face and a dagger so…" Lyrah explained.

"I killed him." Natali finished quietly.

"I see, and you are not hurt, are you?"

"No… grandfather."

"Good, my dear. Please, let me know if either of you need anything after such an ordeal. Please, head up to our quarters and rest. I shall finish up with the guard. Natali, my dear, please take a bath and rest. I shall purchase you new clothes tomorrow."

Both girls smiled, hugged him, and excused themselves. When they were gone, the guard and Wally began discussing the details of the incident more thouroughly.

This was the third such incident in the capital in just as many months. According to the guards different cities all around the union had suffered similar situations, though no one is talking much about it. It was clear there was a pattern, but no one knew what to look for.

Dive into the story on m|vl em pyr

When talking with the families of the deranged, they all reported that their relative was perfectly fine up until that day. There was no rhyme or reason for the sudden change in behavior. Nor were there any similarities between individuals. The deranged included members of almost every social class and occupation.

The prevailing theory at the moment was that there was a Marked One that was influencing people's minds. However, that was not possible. As far as anyone knew, only one individual could do that and she had no way to be in multiple places at once.

The limitations on the assassin were two-fold. One: Shiyani was she could only target two individuals at a time. Two: she had to lay physical eyes on the target. Fact number two circled back to the prior issue which was her needing to be in multiple places at once.

"Did they say the same thing as the others?" Wally asked the guardsman.

"Yes. While most of the perpetrator's words were simply insane babbling, witnesses specifically remember him saying the words 'Throne of Creation.'"

"If only we knew what that was… Thank you good sirs. And thank you for bringing me my granddaughters."

"Worry not, Lord Carmichael. It was our pleasure to escort the next Oracle. By your leave, sir." The guard gave a polite bow before leaving.

Wally gazed into the distance trying to think about what it was these psychopaths were referencing.

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A/N: Interested in Discord?

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