Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Though the Varris Rebels were made up of primarily mixed-race citizens of the city. Several elven supporters stayed hidden amongst the purists so they could provide support in the ways of information and safe harbor in the event of emergencies.

Staven was neither of these. Rather he was a simple human whose only benefit was that he had exceptional skill with Light Magic. It was his only Compatibility and allowed him to focus on honing these skills and become a prolific healer.

A handful of years ago, he fell in love with a half-elf merchant who visited his home village in Paede and joined with her on her return trip. They had two lovely daughters and a young son now.

His entire family was considered a blight upon the city by the current lord, so Staven quickly joined up with the rebels to try and retake the home that he and his partner had built for themselves in the city of Varris.

At the moment, however, Staven found himself regretting his decision. While most of his assignments had been to heal any of their soldiers that returned from conflict, Kestis introduced him to a potential ally of their cause.

The person in question was a terrifying man. He was shorter than Staven by a few inches, but his very presence shook Staven to his very core. A featureless, black mask covered his face, leaving only his pupils visible from the outside. No matter how many times Staven tried to look at the man, that was the extent of his features that he could determine.

Any further attempts resulted in a wave of nausea and head pain.

Since it was a personal request from Kestis, Staven felt like he had no choice but to accept the request. He trusted their leader with his life, like almost everyone in the resistance did. Kestis even made the man, whose name was Wulf, swear to bring Staven back alive.

It took a moment of awkward silence, but eventually Wulf agreed to the request. This was enough to satisfy the man and off they went to perform whatever job it was that Wulf was trying to complete.

Their journey through the city streets started at just past midnight, where the guards had done their changeovers and were still waking up. It was also when there would be no bystanders out and about. Up until they reached the edge of the noble quarter, the trip had been rather uneventful.

Staven almost let himself think some dreadful words regarding the ease of their task, but stopped himself in time. Had he finished those thoughts, any gods governing fate might have decided to play a trick on them. Though superstition was often just that, it never hurt to play things cautiously.

Hitting the noble quarter was a rapid change. Dodging passing patrols became so frequent that the duo barely had time to breathe in between attempts. Their only moments of reprieve came when they ducked into alleyways and ceased their progression further into the district.

While Staven used these small pauses to rest and try and calm his nerves, his partner would vanish across the rooftops. Wulf provided no explanation for his disappearances upon his return either. Seeing as the man himself was not in a talkative mood, Staven made no attempts to break the silence either. That was, until the last stop.

"Your skills," Wulf asked without turning to look at him, "How developed are they?"

"I'm Intermediate Rank, if that's what you are asking." Staven replied with a shocked expression.

"Not what I meant. If a man loses his finger, can you reattach it? If a person receives burns or cuts, can you heal them to the point of perfection, or does it leave scars and bruising?"

The more in-depth line of questioning startled him for a moment. Why would the man need to know something like that now? Would it not have been better to ask before they left the slums?

Knowing that he would receive no such answers, Staven sighed and answered truthfully, "I can reattach severed body parts, but they won't be usable in anything less than a few days. Fingers… maybe inside of a few hours, but they'll be numb. As for scars and burns, I actually specialized in removing such features in my practice before the city went to shit."

Prior to everything changing, Staven ran a small clinic. He healed a variety of ailments and injuries, but through his time practicing, he found that he was especially skilled at removing cosmetic defects. The realization made him quite a popular clinic for women and nobles to visit. They tended to find visible scarring repugnant and paid handsomely to have them removed. Not that it mattered now.

"So even if the underlying injury is still causing issues, you can make the exterior look fine?" Wulf continued.

"In theory…" Staven answered carefully. He had no idea where this line of questioning was going, but had already decided to answer everything as truthfully as possible. He had never attempted such a feat as a healer, but it was technically possible with his skills.

Wulf gave a slight nod before waving him forward. Staven quietly approached and leaned around the corner of the alleyway that they had hidden in. Wulf pointed at a building where a few dozen elven guards were exchanging idle pleasantries before half of them continued down the street and the other half entered the building.

The building itself was nothing impressive. It was a simple, three-story townhome made primarily out of brick and stone. One thing that made it different was that it was as wide as two of the surrounding buildings combined. Guards being present in heavy-force as well as its larger size clearly showed what it was.

"Are you insane?" he said to Wulf in a strange combination of a whisper and a shout. "That is a guard station! It is the absolute worst place to try and take over! Have you lost every ounce of sanity that the gods granted you?"

"Shut your mouth and follow me." Wulf growled.

He was about to shout out in anger again, but a strange smell not unlike the air after a strong thunderstorm reached Staven's nose. Small flashes of light pulled his attention away from the featureless mask and down toward's Wulf's hands. From beneath the man's cloak, he revealed a set of gauntlets with long, talon-like protrusions.
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Between each of the armored fingers, small bolts of electricity danced violently, threatening to leap out and grab the human if he got too close to the source. It was clear that Wulf was threatening him and that Staven had no choice but to obey him in the matter.

Reluctantly he nodded after swallowing the fear rising in his chest. Wulf grunted and turned around, flipping his cloak over the dangerous looking gauntlets once more. After a moment of hesitation, Staven quickly followed as close as possible.

If they were to be seen, he figured he would need to be within quick reach of Wulf in order for him to keep the promise to Kestis about bringing Staven back alive.

Part of him wondered if he should have really listened to Wulf's threats based on that promise. However, he also quickly realized that Wulf only promised to return him alive. Under no circumstance did he agree to bring him back unharmed or uninjured. This realization made him gulp once more before continuing forward.

By the time the entry doors were within clear sight, the sounds of mild laughter poured out into the streets. Through the windows, they could see the movement of some shadows across the closed blinds. It seemed that some in the barracks had chosen to have a few drinks after their shifts before turning in for the night.

There was no way to know if this was beneficial to Wulf's plan or not, but they would soon find out. Without hesitation, the man pushed open the doors to the guard station. They were unlocked because no one believed that someone would be so brazen as to attack them from within.

Sleeping behind the desk in the warmly lit entryway was a young woman with soft features. Her head was laying atop a small pile of papers with her torso rising and falling in a stable pattern. As they approached, Staven noticed a small puddle of drool that had escaped the woman's lips.

Were it not for the scenario, he would have thought the woman adorable as she reminded him of his oldest daughter who slept in much the same fashion.

Wulf quietly reached his hand over the back of her neck and with a quick flex of his fingers, activated whatever enchantment was on the gauntlets. Electricity ran up the length of the metal and down his fingers before quickly jumping into the elf's body. She twitched momentarily, her eyes shooting open in a panic before rapidly shutting again.

The puddle of drool increased in size as she lay there, seemingly paralyzed, with her tongue sticking out. A small fire had sparked from the papers she was laying on, but Wulf snuffed them out before it could create too obvious of a smell. Strangely, even then, the smell of smoke from the tiny flame never reached Staven's nose, as if the stench of the enchantment's electricity covered it up.

"Hide in that cell. I will lock it. If anyone comes in, simply beg to be let out and rattle the bars. It will tell me that we have additional guests."

Before he could protest, Wulf shoved him into a small holding cell just to the side of the reception. It was clearly a temporary spot to place prisoners before they were processed for further confinement. He had no choice in the matter and simply did as he was told. At least from in here, if they were caught in the act, being held prisoner was plausible deniability…