Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Two women sat on a balcony sipping tea. One was an otherworldly beauty with long, blonde hair and silver eyes like those of the moon. She smiled throughout the conversation she was having with her counterpart, a kindly-looking woman dressed in a maid uniform.

Despite the smile, the blonde woman's eyes held a deep sadness that she had carried with her for seven years.

"My lady, I thank you for allowing me to enjoy tea with you again," Mylene said with a slight bow.

"Stop it, Mylene. You are my 'maid' in name only. In reality, you are my only friend, and as such, when it is just us, please just call me Adellia. How many times must I tell you?" Adellia groaned. Though she sounded exasperated, there was a slight tone of amusement behind it.

"I know my la…Adellia. It is a hard habit to break, though."

"Please, at least do it for our daughters if not for me," Adellia asked. "They do get along so well, and I would love for their parents to appear that way as well."

Mylene let out a small sigh and gave a wide smile. "Of course."

Mylene found out she was pregnant not long after Lyrah was born. Derrik and her were ecstatic about the news; however, she quickly found herself concerned about who would replace her when caring for Adellia while she gave birth.

It was only for a week or two at most that she would be away since Mylene was a commoner and a simple servant, but a lot of damage could have been done in that time. Especially so, given Adellia's state of mind.

Thankfully, that time had long since come and gone. Over the last few years, Mylene and Adellia had grown even closer, becoming the best of friends. Mylene would do anything for Adellia, including lay down her life.

When Mylene's daughter was just turning four, Adellia gave Mylene a warning that she had to return home right away. Of course, she listened to the Oracle without hesitation and headed straight home without delay.

When she arrived, smoke was coming from the windows of her home. Derrik and her daughter were nowhere to be seen. Instead, outside her home, a gathering of people was watching her livelihood burn away.

Without hesitation, Mylene ran forward and began to hear cries coming from inside the building. This made her dash wildly for the door and throw it open.

Smoke was billowing out of the windows and the open door, blocking all of her vision and searing her nostrils. The woman had ducked low to the ground and crawled along the floor to stay clear of the smoke.

She continued to search wildly for the source of the hoarse cries, which became quieter. After almost a minute, Mylene had located her daughter, who had been trapped inside. She was able to drag her outside and provide her with water and fresh air.

Mylene heard Lyrah's laughter, which brought her back to the present. She turned to her dearest friend, the savior of her daughter's life. "Thank you for this life, Adellia. Without you…just thank you."

*****

Lyrah sat and listened for her mother and Aunt Mylene to begin talking again. Once she had determined the adults were properly distracted, she gestured for her friend, Natali, to come closer.

"I had a weird dream again, Natali. The one about the scary man."

Natali's ice-blue eyes looked at her excitedly. Her silent friend never said anything, but she was always happy to listen to Lyrah's fun and exciting stories from her dreams.

"Yeah! I had another one. He was fighting people again, but he looked so little! And it looked like the other people were winning!" Lyrah explained in an excited whisper.

When Mylene overheard Lyrah telling Natali about the scary man from her dreams, she told her not to tell her mother about them ever. She was allowed to talk about any of her other dreams, but the ones about the man were only supposed to be told to Natali.

Natali loved listening to the stories about him, and Lyrah thought that Natali might have developed a little crush on him. She was always extra excited to listen to Lyrah's stories about him. Natalie especially enjoyed when Lyrah explained what his eyes looked like when he fought.

The first time Lyrah had a dream about him, she cried when she woke up. It did not show much in that first dream. The only thing she remembered seeing was a dark, scary cave. Even though she could not see them, she sensed monsters all around her.

In darkness, steps had approached her, but still nothing could be seen. Suddenly two glowing eyes lit up the darkness, one silver and the other a striking gold. When the man's face came into view, it was contorted in anger, like Lyrah had never imagined possible.

It was a look that seared into her very soul as if her existence was an abomination to the being who possessed them. If given the choice of falling into the darkness behind those eyes, or the ones of the monster-filled caves, Lyrah would have happily fled into the caves.

She would have other dreams about him occasionally, but none were as intense as that first one. Natali gently tugged at Lyrah's shoulders, trying to urge her to continue talking about her favorite character.

"Okay, okay! It was definitely the same person, but he was so little! And his eyes were different…" Lyrah began. She noticed Natalie's eyes begin to water because she thought that Lyrah would not tell her about him because his eyes were not the same.

"No, no! It was the same person, but his golden eye was not gold yet. It was gray! He still had one silver eye. Kinda like mine! Oh, and his hair was the same, and he still had the six sharp teeth, too, so I know it was him."

Natali's tearful eyes vanished, and she got up onto her knees to sit. She was completely engrossed in the story now. The excitable girl made Lyrah giggle, so she tousled Natali's snow-white hair.

"Anyway, he was in the woods, and he was standing next to this girl with really, really pretty red hair…"

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