Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Richard walked amongst his guards going through their basic training. Among them were a number of different age groups. Some were children as young as nine. This year's batch of trial participants was rather large and because of that, his forces had an influx of trainees.

The training groups were broken down from nine to eleven, twelve to fourteen, then at fifteen they joined training with the adults. Other than surviving the trials at age nine by entering the forest, the other factor that granted his domain the strongest soldiers in the kingdom was that their training began at nine and continued until they retired, deserted, or died.

Richard would not let even veteran warriors relax when it came to daily practice and maintenance. To relax your training was to weaken your senses and in essence dull your blade. One thing he was particularly proud of that he felt bore great fruit was to make sure the different training groups still trained at the same intervals so the young could learn from the more experienced.

"Attention! Your lord is present!"

With practiced precision, every person on the field ceased their movements and knelt before him with their heads hung and their weapons leaning against their shoulders. Looking at the perfection before him as everyone had organized themselves into perfect ranks gave him a sense of satisfaction.

Something about himself that he struggled with was appearances. He always needed to look the part of the noble. To be the perfect representation of nobility in the kingdom. To that end, Richard worked to build the perfect life, the perfect military, the perfect domain. Everything was perfect… or it should have been.

"Lucius…" he grumbled to himself as he glanced about the grounds. He then shook his head and called out to the trainees, "At ease, return to your drills."

Richard felt the urge to join in on some of the training so he would not lose his edge and moved to grab a practice weapon. Just as his fingers grazed the hilt, one of his servant staff came up to greet him with a curtsy.

"Lord Petra, you have a guest calling for you." She said while maintaining her position. "One Lord Carmichael has requested to speak with you."

Richard felt his hand twitch for a moment, then he turned around and thanked the maid. She bowed before him as he passed, then followed behind him slightly to the left. This way she could be called upon before or during the meeting if needed.

The two stepped into his luxurious parlor decorated with trophies of his achievements in hunting and war, along with a number of gifts he had received from foreign dignitaries. He had gifts from the royal family as well, but those were saved and held in his office for private viewing.

"Wally!" Richard said with a smile. He felt isolated recently after everything with the war, Lucius's survival, and his daughter's marriage to a Marked One. It was comforting to see a friend.

Instead of the old man's jovial smile and rambunctious personality, he bore witness to a refined gentleman with a well-maintained beard and perfect robe. Normally he was a little unkempt to suit his actual personality.

"Lord Petra." The elderly man said calmly. "I believe the proper greeting would be to refer to me as 'Lord Carmichael.' I assure you that I would prefer you pay me the respect I am due. Our families are of equal rank, so please use the correct manners."

Once again, Richard felt like someone had splashed him with a bucket of ice water. Yet another person had turned against him. After everything else he had gone through, Richard once again found himself more alone.

He straightened his face from the seemingly useless smile he originally had on it. "Apologies for my behavior, Lord Carmichael." He stated with a small bow. "How can I help you today?"

"I came to discuss Lord Kane with you."

Richard's back stiffened and he reflexively clenched his fist and teeth. "What, pray tell, do you wish to discuss about that man?"

"That man? I do believe that Lord Kane is your son-in-law, is he not?"

Blood leaked out of tiny cuts in his palms as he managed to clench even harder. "Apologies. You are correct. Lord Kane is in fact my son-in-law. It seems that I am still getting used to the change in our relationship. He was once a guard to my daughter, if you recall."

"I do." Wally answered. "I figured that since you and him share a connection as sacred as the vow of marriage between your families, that you should be more aware of his roots."

For a moment, Richard felt a sensation spread through his heart. It had been so long since he felt hope that he almost forgot what the sensation was…

"What is it that you have for me, sir?" He nearly shouted, his desperation for anything against the boy.

Wally's next words shattered what little else remained of his delicate psyche.

"I wanted to let you know, that since you are part of the family, that you should be aware that the Oracle, Lady Adellia, is my dear sweet granddaughter. By blood mind you."

Richard felt like screaming. He could no longer maintain his noble demeanor. The servant staff watched in horror as the perfect noble façade he constructed began to crack.

"As such, that would make Lucius my beloved great-grandson. I do not know how well you treat your own family, Lord Petra, but I look upon my own very favorably." Wally continued. Each word sunk into Richard like knives.

"I figured now would be a good time to let you know that while I am unable to make certain moves… I am not required to make any. I have two jobs in my position, and defending the honor of nobles is not among them. Take care to watch what you do from now on, Lord Petra." Wally finished before turning to leave the mansion.

When the great doors to his home slammed closed, Richard finally snapped.

"Ha….haha…hahaha…" Richard's laughter sounded foreign to everyone in the room, including himself, but no matter what he did, he could not stop himself from laughing.

How could he? The life he built for himself and his family went up in smoke. He raised a killer and failed to put him down. He raised a perfectly noble and beautiful daughter, and she chose to whore herself out to a Marked One.

Richard was given command over Watcher's Retreat, and he failed to do more than push Alorek back by a few miles. Meanwhile Eroan forces defeated their forces under the command of the same child he failed to kill… everything he had done to ingratiate himself to the crown… was taken away.

His prior successes meant nothing in the face of all his failures. All of it was one man's fault: Lucius Kane.

"Lucius… You will regret this. I will make you regret this as much as I regret choosing to kill your father instead of you. In fact, maybe I should have punished the whole family for the sins of the son."