Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

A cloaked figure stands inside of a large tent with a table at its center. On the table, a map of the city of Alvora is pinned down. The figure appeared to be deep in thought and pacing around the edge of the table mumbling under his breath. Occasionally he would stop, move around a few pins that were on the map, then restart his pacing.

Covering his face was a plain, black mask with slits for his eyes and nose. Over his head was a sand-colored cloak. Under it all he wore dirty, leather armor that had numerous scratches and divots from past battles. Normally such heavy armor and coverings would be unbearable, but on the outside of his armor was a small necklace, enchanted to regulate body temperature.

Though every inch of the figure's skin was covered by clothing or armor while in the middle of the desert, he was probably the most comfortable person in the camp.

Watching him from the opening of the tent was another figure wearing similar style armor to him, but with additional metal plates affixed to it. She carried a sword on her hip and a shield on her back. Strapped to her thighs were a set of daggers.

She strode forward, seductively, and ran her fingers gently across the table until she reached the masked figure. Her fingers trailed up his hand and arm until her palm rested on his shoulder.

"Commander, are you not finished yet?" She whispered to the man.

"No. Planning takes time and effort."

"Aww, but you've been planning all day and night. I think it's time you rest." The woman continued to whisper with a pout on her face. "I know, how about I show you a few ways to…"

"Enough. I'll go and rest."

The woman pouted more, but let her Commander leave the tent without her. She then turned to the table and looked over the plans he had spent the last three days pouring over. Everything looked almost perfect. It was a simple matter to imprint the placement of the important locations in her mind with a few minutes of analysis.

While she was in the middle of doing that, two other similarly armored individuals ran up to the tent. "Vice-Commander! We have urgent news."

"Speak."

"Lady Tierga of Alorek took to the field. She cleared the Sand Wyrm migration with a single attack. When the damage is settled, the reinforcements will be able to advance towards Alvora."

"Understood. Thank you. Luckily it seems that our dear leader had prepared for such a possibility." She gestured to the map. In several places where there were no pins, there were several 'T's drawn in various locations. She took some of the pins next to labels of the letter 'N' and moved them next to the T's.

"You two, memorize this. Distribute it among our men."

""Yes ma'am!""

Both rushed out of the tent the moment they had memorized the map. Every member of King's Shadow was an elite warrior and thinker. Being able to memorize orders and battle plans was a tip of the iceberg. Even though the two that had left were some of the lowest ranking members, they were just as skilled and would be able to recreate the entire battle map from memory.

The Vice-Commander pressed her finger to a small magical device in her ear. "My liege, we are beginning preparations."

For a moment there was no response, then, "And your Commander?"

"Resting currently. He's been going for about seventy-two hours without rest."

"Understood. When he wakes remind him to do what you must. You know the risks, but I trust you both to get the results promised, Vice-Commander. No matter the cost."

"Yes, my king." The woman said as the crystal became silent.

Before leaving the tent herself, she grabbed her own mask from her storage ring, one like her leader possessed. It not only physically hid the face, but was enchanted with a spell that when active would add a blurry, shimmery effect to the user's body that hid their identities.

While it was not so grand as to change their facial features like some items from Aedrider, it was enough to make the wearer seem physically ambiguous.

The woman activated this effect and set of towards Alvora where they had a number of scouts monitoring the walls. Each team was lead by a member of the King's Shadow. It was time to move on the grand plan their leader had devised.

"No matter the cost… dangerous words, my king." The woman smirked.

*****

"This is the plan? Seriously?"

A member of the King's Shadow was looking at the orders he was handed. There was no doubt they were real because the messenger was the Vice-Commander herself.

Each of the Shadows stationed around the city were to infiltrate the city under the cover of night and don the guise of warehouse workers. Each one had been given a storage ring with a 'special resource' the commander had prepared for their mission.

When the resource was dropped off at key positions around the city, they were ordered to monitor the drop locations to ensure they were not moved or discovered.

The monitoring would only last until the Eroan army assaulted the city. When the battle horns sound, they were ordered to evaculate.

"What kind of… whatever, orders are orders." The man mumbled. His name was Horace and he had been a Shadow for a little over two years. It was only recently his unit had been switched to his current one.

When he heard about the transfer and that the unit was going to be acting within Alorek, he was honestly surprised. From everything that he had known about his order was that they operated throughout the kingdom as the king's eyes, ears, and daggers for anyone meaning to do harm to the royal family or the nation from within.

It was not within their purview to operate outside their own borders. However, despite his skepticism, he took the post with pride. Each day of the last several months had been an adventure. Horace was so busy that he barely had time to clean the blood from his blade between assignments.

It was exciting though. Having to figure out how to use his skills for espionage and assassination and mold them to a barren battlefield in the middle of a desert… it was new and new was fun.

This new assignment was a return to the norm though, so he would not get rusty when they inevitably returned home.

A few hours after being given his orders, night fell and Horace made his move. The scout team he was in charge of was ordered to return to the main line as the Shadows entering the city had communication crystals to speak to their superiors, so they would take over much of the monitoring of forces.

When Horace made it to the wall he cast a spell, "[Umbra: Shadow Walk]"

As long as he stood still in perfect darkness, he would remain invisible for the length of the spell. A moment later he scaled up the sides of the walls using special climbing claws attached to his armor. When a guard passed by he would hold and vanish from sight.

After almost fifteen grueling minutes, Horace finally made it over the wall and into the city. His first target was to locate clothing to blend in. For that, he headed to the residential district, dodging between patrols by hiding in alleyways. Horace needed to recast his Shadow Walk a few times before he finally located laundry that had been left out to dry for too long.

Next, he settled into a safe place tucked between some bunk houses and waited for the next day, where he would locate his designated warehouse locations. After that… he only needed to wait.

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