Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"Mistress, please." Natali whispered.

"Oh, come on Natali, can it with the mistress crap! We've known each other for our whole lives!" Lyrah stated.

She eyed her best, and only, friend with mild annoyance. As per usual, there was no reaction. Her face was as stoic as ever. Natali had a problem with expressing how she was feeling with both her words and her face.

Granted the words part was hard for her since she still struggled with her childhood injury…but that did not explain why she couldn't fix her face.

All Lyrah could do was sigh in resignation. They were currently sitting on the balcony of the Oracle's tower enjoying some tea together and chatting about the same things they always talked about, Lyrah's dreams and prophecies. She was still receiving training from her mother on how to interpret prophecies appropriately so she was not required to report any of them to the elders like her mother was.

However, if in the process of determining what the interpretation of a prophecy was they found out that it was important, they would still provide notice just in case. Unlike her mother, she was also still unable to purposefully trigger her dreams.

While neither of them could choose to receive a new revelation, their mark does allow them to see a previous revelation again at will. It was this along with interpretation that her mother was still trying to help Lyrah with.

"Mistre…Lyrah." Natali interjected. "Have you had any more of…those…dreams? You know…the ones about…him?"

Natali maintained her expressionless face, but she began to fidget in place a little and fumble with her hands. Lyrah could not help but squee in her own mind at how adorable her friend was.

"No new ones again unfortunately…you know I'm starting to get a little jealous…are you developing a crush on the broody bad boy? What are you going to do if you ever meet him?"

"I…don't know…" Natali whispered.

Lyrah smirked and sipped her tea. They were thirteen now and after all these years, her friend's interest in the boy had basically developed into an obsession. It would be a few years until it happened, but if her dreams were right, Lyrah already knew what Natali would do after finally meeting this strange boy.

"Never mind that now I guess…" She said with a dismissive wave of her hands. "How has training with your father been going?

"Mmm…good. I broke into the Beginner Rank yesterday. Father thinks at this rate I might make Intermediate before we are eligible for the Royal Academy. My mark pairs amazingly well with my Dagger Arts."

Lyrah had learned that Natali not only had Dagger Arts, but it was also found out she could use both water and ice magic. Unfortunately for Lyrah, she had no Compatibilities with any Arts or magic. Granted, Lyrah would never be required to fight anyone since she was the next Oracle, but it still made her pout.

"Mistress, you are pouting like a child." Natali pointed out.

"I am a child! And so are you!" she complained with her lower lip sticking out even more.

At this point, she was glad that Natali could still only communicate at a whisper level. Around two years ago, when Natali was around eleven still, she started being able to whisper a sentence at a time without pain. Now she could carry on hours long conversations, though increasing volume seemed impossible for her to do.

The moment she did try to speak any louder than a whisper, her voice would crack and disappear. Strangely, this did not apply to activation phrases for her Arts or her magic…

"Mistress…I believe it is time for us to return to our studies. We have delayed long enough."

"Noooo…I don't wanna." Lyrah whined.

"Mistress. If you wish to ever attend the Royal Academy, then you must keep up with your studies. You were lucky to be granted the opportunity to attend, where your mother was never able. Do make sure to take advantage of your circumstances and do not dither them away."

"Ugh…fine."

Both girls looked at each other and giggled before pulling out their notebooks and returning to studying their notes. Their current focus was on ancient religious history, specifically the Age of Strife. This was entry level knowledge that was required to be known by any potential student to any educational institution in the world.

From what Lyrah had learned so far, the Age of Strife ended over two-thousand years ago when the last Great Demon fell in battle. For five hundred years before that, the demons ruthlessly ruled over the other mortal races with an iron fist. The other races served one purpose, to be pawns in games of war between other demons, not unlike how Marked Ones are treated today.

Demons rose to power over the other races when they tricked the gods into blinding themselves to the events of the earthen plane. No one knows how they did it, but it was believed the demons had access to a power separate from the mana that empowered Arts and magic that the other races could use.

It was originally thought that the demons had gone extinct and were hunted down to the last being, but a few hundred years after the last Great Demon fell, and the last bastions of their civilizations had been overgrown by nature, the Marked Ones first appeared; children born with symbols of the demon's language permanently adorning the skin on their left hand.

The first children born this way had their hands removed, but the marks would return elsewhere on the child's body, only being stopped when the child themself was dead. Only at that point was it finally realized that some demons had to have hidden among the other races and spread their seed amongst the populace.

Soon the other races began putting Marked Ones to death at birth, but the number born continued to rise. Finally, it was decided that they could be put to use the way the other races were used by the demons; pawns in war.

"Do we really have to know all this Natali…it is sooo depressing to have to read all this stuff about our marks." Lyrah whined yet again.

Natali simply sighed. "Yes mistress."

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