Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Several dozen maids rushed around a large circular room. It was nearly a hundred feet in diameter and was filled with several dozen tables, all filled with chairs. In the center was a large circular table with only five seats spread around it.

The maids worked together to prepare the space for today's meeting, which would start in a short while. The kitchens had started to bring food out to the room and place them at the serving stations. Special meals would be personally cooked and delivered to the five individuals at the circular table directly, while other attendees would serve themselves from buffet tables.

Only the finest wines were selected to be served for tonight's meeting. Watching over this all was Commander Arturo Hiroth, a powerful warrior and leader within the Arcadian army.

The man stood about six feet tall and wore heavy-plate armor. Strapped to his side was a longsword, and on his back was a tower shield emblazoned with a golden eagle over a red shield. He had watched the preparations for hours, making sure everything was perfect for when his majesty and the guests arrived.

Arcadios was part of the Five Kings Union, a coalition of the five human territories united under a single council. The council was made up of the leaders of each nation and would make decisions together on when to go to war and how to enact diplomacy.

No outside kingdom could interact with any of these five nations without going through the Union in its entirety. The Union had been around for nearly a century and helped mobilize the human nations against any outside threat, like those presented by the Beastman Kingdoms and the Elven Kingdoms.

Individually, humans were weaker than beastmen and elves, but they outnumbered both races by a large margin and used their numbers to their advantage in war.

Arturo's brow furrowed at the news his liege had told him. Apparently, the beast kingdom of Alorek had been making hostile movements against its neighbors. The three beast kingdoms had a tenuous peace, but Alorek was always the one who pushed the lines of these agreements.

In fact, the last war that caused the formation of the Five Kingdoms Union was against Alorek, which had annexed the current nation, Eroa. If they were making waves again, it would likely not be good news.

"Commander, it is a pleasure." A voice called out.

Arturo turned around and was met by the beautiful visage of a woman with long, purple hair. It had subtle curls that fell along the middle of her back and framed her sensuous form. The commander had to swallow the lump that formed in his throat and calm the pounding in his chest.

The woman was none other than the leader of one of the Union nations, Lady Voltara al Famyn of the Wisteria Concord. Her beauty was such that she could begin wars if she offered herself as the prize to the winner. Thankfully, she had no such desires.

Lady al Famyn giggled at the commander's reaction. She was not so dense as to be ignorant of how others viewed her. "My apologies, Commander. It seems I caught you by surprise. Might I be the first guest to arrive? Where is his majesty Aleksander?"

Arturo's mouth flopped like a fish for a moment before he finally recovered enough to answer, "He is delayed my lady, however, he shall join us shortly. Might I escort you to your seat?"

"Why yes, you may." She giggled again while flashing her long eyelashes.

Arturo gulped again and steeled his will to avoid being charmed by the woman. She enjoyed playing with the hearts of common men because there were no repercussions like those of teasing nobility or leaders of allied nations.

He led her to her designated spot and pulled out the chair for her to sit in. As he did so, another few men walked in with their own entourages. They were the leaders of the kingdoms of Paede, Kainydd, and Docia. The kings found their own places at the table while their attendants and noble escorts dispersed amongst the room.

Several minutes later, the final leader of the Union entered the room. Normally, such men would receive announcements when entering rooms; however, other than the food, these meetings had very little fanfare. Instead, the leaders wished to keep things as business-like and direct as possible.

King Aleksander Verall von Arcadios took up his place at the final seat around the circular table. Arturo immediately moved to stand behind his liege, as a good commander should, and act as the king's bodyguard.

Every leader at the table had one or two guards at their flanks for protection. While interactions between the kingdoms were always amicable, one could never be too careful as the leader of a nation.

In particular, Lady al Famyn had to be careful since her position was an elected one by the powerful nobles of the Wisteria Concord. It was not an inherited position, being instead something that was voted upon by the noble houses of their nation. It was not uncommon for the representative to be assassinated by rival families for the purpose of triggering a vote.

The lady, though, was as cunning as she was beautiful. She managed to avoid such problems with ease and kept her seat for the last fifteen years.

"Fellow members of the Union, I thank you for your attendance today." King Aleksander began as the guest of honor's food began to be delivered to the table. "Today's meeting shall be held immediately after we enjoy our meals and our illustrious company. Thank you, and may the gods of Celestia bless our nations."

The king finished his short speech by lifting a glass of wine. Everyone in the room, other than the guards, lifted their glasses in response, shouting, "Cheers! Blessings of Celestia upon us all!"

Everyone immediately began a light conversation, doing their best to avoid the heavy topic to come. All of the representatives were aware of the content and purpose of the meeting, but for now, they simply enjoyed their time.

After a few hours, the food was cleared, and King Aleksander tapped his knife against his glass. It echoed throughout the room and gathered all eyes on him.

"Today we begin discussions concerning movements in the East. I now open the floor to Lady al Famyn."

"Thank you, Aleksander," the woman stated while she stood. I have informed King Aleksander of this already, but our spies in the East have confirmed that Alorek has been making concerning movements and aggressive posturing near their borders with Eroa. Despite that, we do not believe this to be a sign of future invasion to Eroa, but rather a warning."

"A warning in what way?" A random noble asked.

Aleksander stood to answer, "There are also movements at our own borders. The Wisteria Concord shares a small border with Alorek as well, and we have seen similar troop movements in that area. From our intelligence, we believe the troops gathering at the edges of our Union are three times larger than those near Eroa.

"We believe the Eroan border movements are a threat that the smaller nation should not make a move against Alorek or receive retaliation."

"Do you believe they will make their move soon?"

Lady al Famyn shook her head. "No, we do not. Alorek is aggressive, but they are not stupid. We believe them to be gathering allies amongst the tribes of the Verdant Jungle to the South. We also believe them to be seeking weaponry from the Elven nation Aedrider. Until they secure such support, we don't believe them stupid enough to invade any of our territories.

We are simply too well armed to lose such a defensive war."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"How long do we have?"

"What of our allies in Eroa? Will they really not move to assist us?"

The nobility began to panic and threw question after question at the council. Arturo grimaced because he understood their fear. A war against Alorek could be won, but it would result in countless deaths and an incalculable amount of damage to their nations' economies.

"Calm yourselves please." King Aleksander pleaded. "We have spoken to the Oracle. With what she said, we believe that the invasion will occur. We also believe it to be within seven years. Our own estimates put our best guesses at about five years from now at the absolute earliest.

"What I ask of all the houses of every nation, is to ready your warriors. Increase your training, improve your strength, increase your stores of food and stockpiles of weapons. Of course, gather any and all available Marked Ones to send to the front."

Lady al Famyn glanced at King Aleksander who sighed and nodded. Arturo was able to witness the interaction and steeled himself for the inevitable outcry of the nobility at their planned announcement. Arturo himself, was also against their plan because he thought it pointless, but if they truly needed to strengthen themselves, it was a good idea to focus on the weakest links.

Lady al Famyn stood and took a deep breath. "We also suggest that we return home and improve the quality and fighting abilities of our Marked Ones. The Arcadios and the Wisteria Concord are opening eligibility at all of our academies, training schools, guilds, everything to allow entry of Marked Ones. We must hone even the skills of our cannon fodder if we are to survive this upcoming war."

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