Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

A little over a week had passed since arriving at Fort Sella. Each and every day was hell for Lucius, but he knew that his teacher, Kalivas was pushing him so hard because of his potential. Despite going to bed every night with sore muscles he never knew existed, Lucius relished in his growing strength.

Even though such a short time had passed, he already felt his mana capacity increasing. He could fight longer, use more Arts and cast more spells before running out of steam. The only thing he had not been allowed to practice with was his mark.

During his 'trial,' as Kalivas called it, Lucius had awakened something in his mark that triggered some sort of evolution in its abilities. When discussing the matter with the warrior as well as Mia, Renton, and Marie, no one had a clue as to what was going on. Never before had anyone heard of a mark undergoing any sort of change as they were the same from birth to death.

Yet, here he stood with a mark that no longer looked like a valley on his hand, but now took up most of his hand and wrist as though he had received a warrior tattoo from a tribe.

Grimm and Luz had been crickets too, which had been pretty usual. They seemed to only speak to him at times convenient for them and would never respond to his inquiries to them. Something that confused him when Grimm last spoke to him was that Luz could be heard mumbling in the background, but he sounded so far away.

It was disconcerting, but there was no way to figure out the cause if they would not speak to him.

Just as he had every day, Lucius was making his way through the fort from the lodgings they had been granted. His destination was the same as always, the gates to the fortress where Kalivas seemed to always be.

Before he could exit the gates though, he found himself blocked by Mia, Renton, and Marie.

"I take it that it is time to go?" he asked.

"Yes, we are to rendezvous with reinforcements at the valley near where we fought the Master Spearman. You have all your things?"

"Always."

"Good, let's go." Mia and the others turned around and exited the gates.

Kalivas who had heard the entire thing, as well as Kalliope who was standing next to him, stopped the group. "Leaving already?"

"Yes, we received orders to meet with our reinforcements and return to our mission. We thank you for the hospitality while we rested and resupplied, but we have overstayed our welcome." Mia answered.

Lucius eyed her carefully because she was being more direct than usual, but simply chalked it up to the loss of her friend Lynn. He remembered what it was like to lose his father, Wayne, so he could only imagine her behavior was related to that.

Kalivas nodded his head and gestured towards the wolf-girl. "Kalliope and her team will escort you to the rendezvous point."

"No, our orders were to cease joint operations. Our reinforcement group possess sensitive intel that we cannot share with even the Eroans. I am sorry." Mia said, firmly denying the offer of a guide.

"Hm, so be it, if these are your orders. Lucius!" the man turned towards him and clamped a hand firmly on his shoulder. "I wish to see you again in the future. You get closer every day to a breakthrough. Though I cannot use Channeling, I have seen it used and I can tell you are close. Return to me some day and I will ensure that you take the next step in your growth."

"Sir. It would be my honor." Lucius gave his teacher a stiff salute.

Kalliope stood still with an upset look on her face, but said nothing. She simply stepped forward and surprised him with a strong hug. It lasted for nearly a minute before he tapped himself out by patting her stiffly on the arm.

"If that's settled, we are off. Thank you all again for your hospitality." Mia gave a salute to the two beastmen as well before the party turned around and headed to their next destination.

"Lucius, I will be the scout for now. I can tell by the way you are moving that you have yet to recover from your training." Mia said as they had made it out of sight of the fort.

"Understood."

Renton and Marie nodded in agreement. Though they had strange looks on their faces. It seemed they also were worried about the leader's state of mind.

*****

"Understood, Commander Laris."

Mia woke up this morning with a communication from Commander Laris at Watcher's Retreat. It seemed that their reinforcements were on standby at a location near where Lynn had died in combat.

He also informed her of something else, something that presented her with a choice.

After Lynn died, they had spent a little over a week at Fort Sella. While Lucius was training day in and day out, the rest of the group simply rested, which gave her a lot of time to think and process.

One of the reasons she became a Runner was to avoid being taken to war, yet here she was anyway and it had taken one of the few people in the world important to her. As a girl she was ostracized like many Marked Ones were, and had no friends or family to speak of.

Life remained that way until she met the others and formed their adventuring party, The Marks. Now the three people that mattered most to her, dropped down to only two. She would do anything to make sure Renton and Marie survived this.

Commander Laris… or rather his leader, General Richard von Petra, knew this and they offered her a choice. Help them kill Lucius, and the three of the remaining members of The Marks could return home for the remainder of the war.

The 'reinforcements' that Laris had sent were actually a group of assassins hired to kill Lucius. Understandably, they did not take too kindly to his stunt at the battle that got them through enemy lines. Also, each and every progress report she provided to them was simply grim detail after grim detail.

Lucius had promised to behave and give her plausible deniability, but due to the nature of their mission, such a thing no longer existed. She knew of everything he had done and in great detail. Truth be told, she was terrified of him now and regretted asking to have him join their mission.

But was she ready to betray him to save her own skin? No, she wasn't… but could she if it meant saving Renton and Marie? That was a higher likelihood.

According to Laris' plan, she was to take over scouting duty and pick up a dead drop that the assassins had left for her filled with supplies that would be useful for their ambush. It seemed that the Commander and the General were not content with her simply leading him to the trap, but wanted her to actively participate.

Mia knew the decision that had to be made. It was better after all. For her, for her friends, and even for countless unnamed people that would have met the boy in the future. This was the right choice; the only choice.