Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Kalliope sniffed the air. Other than blood and dust, there wasn't much else around the area of interest. The blood was from their battle with a supply group that was trying to provide relief to Alorek forces outside Fort Sella.

A few weeks had passed since Alorek initiated their attack on the kingdom of Eroa and the human kingdoms simultaneously. Their forces were at least five to even ten times higher than was estimated thanks to their tactic of replacing a whole city of people with soldiers in plain clothes.

However, Fort Sella's walls were strong and the forces of the Gray Wolf Clan that manned it were both tough and tenacious. The first attack was quick and unexpected and they lost a large number of men and many of their scouting and vanguard forces.

When Alorek reached the walls, the fighting only intensified. It was the first time that Kalliope had seen such destruction and death in one place. Even she could not keep her hands bloodless, having made her first kill directly on the field of battle.

She remembered what it felt like, to take the life of another person. It was an enemy… a pawn of the king that killed her brother. It was either him or her, and she had no other option than to make it her. And yet…

The adrenaline in her body kept her focused for the rest of the fight. They had the advantage being the defenders on the walls, since the enemy had to approach the fort under fire, then either breach the gate or scale the walls.

Kalliope was stationed up on the walls themselves, as requested by uncle Kalivas, while he protected the gates with a force of his own, personally trained elites. He was not trying to keep her from fighting; on the contrary, he fully expected her to have to fight. He simply wanted to put her in a situation that gave the most benefit.

Five lives… that's how many she personally snuffed out of existence on her first day of battle. On the second day, she took ten more, then more, and more… Alorek would not stop its advance, trying to rely on numbers to overwhelm the strongest fortress in all of Eroa.

Everything they tried was in vain. Fort Sella still stood. Kalivas, Eroa's greatest soldier, still stood at its gates; defying the enemy's might and daring them to continue to try.

Currently, there was a lull in the fighting. The opposing armies watched each other carefully from across the battlefield. There were occasional skirmishes from different scouting parties, but no more all out battles had happened since the last one two days ago.

Kalliope desperately wished for the fighting to resume. She needed something, anything to distract her from the reality of her situation. Her new truth. The truth that she was the cause of death of another living person.

As she noticed before, the air smelled of blood, and though her hands were clean, she could not see past the imaginary stains that covered them.

Kalivas told her it was normal to feel this way. A warrior's first kill is almost never easy. Even for him, taking a life was a heavy burden to bear. His only advice was for her to remember that the burden of loss was worse, and that in this world taking another's life was often the cost of protecting those important to you.

Try as she might, reframing her understanding of the situation in that way did not erase the pain from her heart. Though, it did lessen it to some extent.

"Kalliope, Sir Kalivas requests your presence at the gates."

A grizzled soldier wearing heavy armor and wielding a large hammer approached her from behind and informed her of the request.

"Understood, I shall go to him at once."

The soldier gave her a stiff salute and took over her position as watcher. There wasn't much to see, aside from a sea of burnt corpses. One thing that all kingdoms followed in war was to burn the dead. Fighting against people was something they had prepared for, the undead, less so.

A massive beast of a man with jet black hair, black cat ears, and a black tail was standing just outside the massive metal gates of Fort Sella. He was joking with some of the soldiers standing guard with him about one thing or another.

Despite the morbidity of the situation, they did their best to keep up their spirits. Kalivas' ears twitched as he noticed her approached and he turned to face her with a comforting smile.

"Hey there, my dear niece." His smile stayed on his face as he did his best to use a comforting tone. "How are you feeling today. The quiet after battle is often the hardest to deal with."

"That is true, Uncle. Thank you for your concern, but it is a problem that I must solve on my own. What do you need from me? You requested my presence?" She answered with a smile.

Kalivas gave a nod of approval. "I'm assigning you to a special squad. You and a small team will be cutting around enemy lines. We have been in communication with the Five Kings Union and they requested assistance in this endeavor."

"Uncle?"

"We are trying to interrupt their supply lines. Without supplies, enemies often become desperate, and when desperate, you make mistakes."

Kalliope gave Kalivas a stiff salute. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, be careful and do not attack any human forces. It is possible you run into our allies; if so, work together. One last thing, they have a half-blood among their forces. They advised that we should avoid him if possible."

"How will I know if it's him? What does he look like? What is his name?"

Kalivas' face turned into a complicated expression. "He is called Lucius, and I do not know what he looks like. According to the human commanders, you only need follow the corpses to find that one."

"I will avoid him."

"On the contrary, they told us to avoid him. But if they made such a request, he must be powerful. I want to meet him, so I would request that if you can, make contact."

"But the humans…"

"Ignore them. You are a powerful beastman warrior. I doubt a half-blood will truly be a threat to you."

Kalliope could not help but sigh. What she imagined her uncle meant was that he simply wanted to satisfy his curiosity, and maybe even fight him. She gave a slight bow and returned to the barracks to gather her things.

Uncle had told her that her squad was already waiting outside the gates, she need only join them. It was unknown how long the mission would last, but he gave her a communication crystal so he could keep in touch with her.

She was also to deliver daily reports and check-ins to ensure her safety. Knowing that her uncle was worried about her made her feel warm. If he was watching her back, then she would make it through this war just fine.

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