Mark of the Chosen Read online

  “This cloak of flesh, this gift, will either render you weaker or stronger than those around you. Only time will reveal which burden you bear,” Bahrell offered to a confused Kao and more confused witnesses.

  Unsure of what the future held for him, Kao still managed to climb out of the pit a superstar to some and a reminder to others of what they would never be. Both extremes held the potential to be equally as dangerous under the circumstances.

  ~Mirena~

  Mirena peered up at the creature, towering over her with its tattered wings and sharp talons. She dodged its angry swats, but its claws slashed her arm. But she was still no easy target. She darted around the beast whose glowing red eyes burned with rage at the cat and mouse game. It landed several blows that knocked her to the floor of the poor trying to regain her footing. But she was still no easy target. Her opponent kneeled close, so close that its breaths tousled her hair. She ceased the moment plunging her hands in to the unsuspecting targets chest and prying its insides out with her bare hands.

  THUD! The limp and lifeless body tumbled to the ground. The blood evidence marked her victory. Although she was often underestimated because of her beauty, her validating victory set her apart as a fierce competitor, just as any of the others survivors standing beside her.

  Her body temperature shifted between burning heat and ice cold, and her transition was complete. The desires of all those around her felt like tiny pins and needles all over her body. But more importantly, she could sense the most powerful being in her midst, pulling at her like a magnet. The attraction was uncontrollable and it drew her closed to its source and she had to have him.

  The calls of the claimed and even the commands of Bahrell did not interrupt her exploration of her senses. An immense source of power gnashed at her senses, but she couldn’t determine its origin. The magnitude and force with which it called to her almost tore her apart as it played on her even more intense desire for dominion.

  It drew her to the center of the unnatural silence that had filled the pit. There stood Bahrell, Garro- clearly claimed of a clan— and to her surprise, an unchanged Kao. Surely being in the midst of these powerful wards of the darkness had set her gauge off.

  Only newly claimed, Mirena had already discarded the rules of sticking to her own clan. After all, she was beautiful, alluring, and her gift from The Unknowns had just made her more dangerous than imaginable. Not only could she read desires and seduce, but she could easily identify the most powerful targets. Being a girl in the legions of the dark just got a whole lot more interesting.

  ~Garro~

  Reaching up as the creature of the depths, with massive fangs and jowls, heat-radiating skin and two port holes for eyes, tried to swoop down and attack, Garro used his might to rip his opponent from mid-air. He took the abomination firmly in his grasp by its elongating teeth until they were spinning freely like a merry-go-round, then suddenly let go. It shrieked in pain as its body crumpled against the wall of the pit. The beast tried to stand which only resulted in a few staggering steps and head nods aimed at clearing the haze that resulted from its impact with the wall. It was clearly stunned, but Garro didn’t give it time to gain its footing. He leaped onto the dazed beast, planted his feet firmly on its chest, and pulled its screaming head from its body.

  The ultimate warrior, Garro emerged from the pit a victor, transformed by his bond to The Unknowns. Those who failed to survive lay motionless at his feet. The power and fierce fury coursing through his veins culminated into a deafening roar, inciting the calls of the other survivors in his midst. But the calls of the claimed were quickly swallowed whole. The celebrations stopped, replaced with stillness following Bahrell’s call to one the standing.

  Garro’s eyes followed the clearing that appeared like a red carpet leading directly to an unchanged Kao. Farwell “friend”. Garro took delight in what was surely the end of his unwitting rival. He scanned those who had conquered the pit at his side, feeling superior at his stature in comparison to theirs.

  His mental inventory was instantly interrupted when his eyes fell on Mirena, sleek, sinister, and the very definition of seduction, but to him she hadn’t changed much. Powers of The Unknowns aside, she was always a source of great vulnerability for him. In contrast, her greatest desire, even more than the lure of the forbidden, was strength and power. Both of which Garro had been graced with by his submission to The Unknowns.

  Although his claiming was effortlessly overshadowed by Kao, Garro felt more than a little bit of an advantage over him. Not only was his claiming marked by transformation, but he was now in a position to claim all of the victories that had eluded him before. And this time, Kao would not stand in his way.

  *** Six***

  “What do they know?” A voice inquired with menacing authority that seemed to echo from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Colossal wings emerged from the nothingness of Bahrell’s personal cavern, followed by sharp talons and finally a massive figure whose mere presence made the normal temperature in the Unknowns seem balmy.

  “Lord Seth! Mighty right hand of The Fallen One, Lord over sixty Legions-” Bahrell recited as he fell to his knees.

  “What do they know?” The question rumbled through the space unharnessed like a natural disaster.

  “N-nothing lord!”

  “You’ve told no one?” Seth questioned with evident skepticism.

  “By your orders lord, I did not.” Bahrell made the mistake of looking directly into the piercing, fire-red eyes that were fixed on his every reaction.

  Pacing from end to end of the dwelling that could barely hold his stature, his wings scraping along the top of the cavern, Seth peered down at a cowering Bahrell as if seeing him for the first time. “You withhold from me!” he said, part question, part warning. As he lunged forward and completely enclosed Bahrell’s throat within one clawed hand.

  “No…” Bahrell managed to eke out.

  Seth’s grip intensified, as if concerned that Bahrell would somehow free himself. “You know more than you’re telling, Bahrell. Don’t make me come for the tiny secrets trapped within your feeble mind. I assure you, I will not be gentle.”

  “My lord they do not know, but…” he paused, dangling from Seth’s grasp like the pendulum of a grandfather clock.

  “But?” Annoyed by the attempted deceit, Seth tightened his grip on the under lord known for his skills as a vicious warrior and his ability to hone these same skills in others.

  “But…there is a newling who may sense something.” Bahrell coughed out the words, afraid to do anything that could be perceived as an attack and hoping the information he offered would distract the powerful demon lord enough to prevent his annihilation. “She-”

  “She!” Seth interrupted.

  “Yes lord… a tempter.”

  “A simple lust demon? That can’t be.” His grip loosened, leaving Bahrell a victim of gravity.

  “Not just a lust demon. She, too, is of a “special” blood line.” Bahrell clenched his eyes closed and words that jerked from his increased trembling.

  Seth’s interests were more than a little piqued. He kneeled closer to Bahrell’s crumpled body. His dragon-like rage bubbled just beneath the surface as the heat intensified forcing Bahrell’s cowering eyes open.

  Even with Seth close enough to incinerate him from the inside out, Bahrell still worked to force out his next sentence. He was careful to choose the right words so that they would not be his last. “She is from the line of an oracle…THE oracle.” Bahrell corrected, hoping to buy his salvation. Seth’s eyes seemed to glow an even brighter red and rested atop a smile that would put the Cheshire Cat to shame. But this smile was far more ominous.

  “Three perfectly placed keys.” Seth muttered half out loud half to himself. “The time is near. I’m sure of it. When you are needed it will be evident,” he said before being swallowed by the darkness of the shadows, leaving Bahrell behind in a nervous stupor wondering what would follow.
r />   *** Seven ***

  Allisa stepped across the threshold into her apartment just as fatigue hit her like a tidal wave and the weight of her busy day seemed ready to crush her. Leaning on the door as it closed, she was unsure whether she was holding it up or if it was the opposite. Although she was grateful for the solace of her home, the call of her “to do” list constantly beckoned her. Unfortunately, Allisa was barely able to keep her eyes after teaching, researching, writing, and every other aspect of her life that made a twenty-four hour day insufficient.

  She placed the personal library of books she lugged around on the table near the door along with her keys, peeled off her scarf and jacket and draped it over the coat rack at the end of the hallway. Two more steps took her to her favorite chair, a brown recliner next to an end table, where she dropped her books. Before the fatigue completely consumed her, she pulled out hairpins and dropped them on the end table, then added her glasses. The trail of bread crumbs ceased at her bedroom where the lure of a night of rest invited her to forget her to do lists and research. Before she knew it she was the willing and loyal captive of her paisley comforter set and oversized pillows.

  A soothing slumber replaced the constant churning of her machine-like mind. On the brink of oblivion, Allisa was totally unaware of what was going on around her. She did not realize who or what was in her midst.

  Kao used every connection in the unknowns he could find to strengthening his connection to Allisa’s fear until honed in on her home, He timed it perfectly and waited patiently in the comfort of her home, concealed by the shadows as if he never left the Unknowns.

  From the initial CLICK-CLICK-CLICK of the door unlocking he observed as Allisa haplessly stumbled into the lion’s den. Kao moved in for the kill. He was so close that he could taste his impending success. Peering down at the finite human form, Kao reached into her chest, poised to complete his assignment with one simple motion. But as his arm sank deeper and deeper he quickly realized that something wasn’t right. This wasn’t normal. This…wasn’t human. And whatever it was now restrained him.

  Stunned by the unexpected tug of war and the force with which the unknown opponent fought against him, his freedom was short lived as he fell backwards into the shadows. A surge of power radiated through the room, leaving a still slumbering Allisa undisturbed, but fighting back the darkness that comforted Kao. He gathered his bearings, making it to his feet. But something was off.

  A constant ringing in his ears made it almost too difficult to hear his own thoughts. He tried shaking away the annoyance but soon realized he was down two senses. Rubbing and clawing at his eyes yielded no results. Although severely weakened, he would have to rely on his training now more than ever.

  Focusing on the senses still available to him, Kao stretched out his arms in the hopes that his palms and fingertips would graze a clue, anything that would reveal where he was. But even as the unwanted soundtrack accompanying his movement seemed to intensify, his explorations revealed nothing. No walls, no texture, no structure, no-one. Nothing

  So it’s no secret to wherever this is or to whoever brought me here that I am a warrior of the Unknowns. He reasoned as he realized that his wings now accompanied his every movement.

  “Your thoughts are poetic, demon. But that is in fact what you are…a demon.” A voice resonated around and through him. The resilient chime of his personal serenade disappeared. The aching silence left Kao fighting off the urge to panic.

  “Where am I? Why have you weakened me? Will you not allow me the honor of dying in a fair battle?” Kao asked of his captive.

  “You come seeking answers. But those are not the answers you seek. In your weakness you will see the unimaginable and hear untold revelations of your world. In your weakness, you’ll find strength.” The sing-song voice replied in riddle.

  “Who are you?” Frustrated, confused, and uncertain Kao wasn’t certain he really wanted to know the answer.

  “I am a Keeper; a Sage to some and an Oracle to your kind.”

  “What do you want from me?” He considered the likelihood that he was party to a case of mistaken identity.

  “It’s no mistake.” The Oracle’s response reminded Kao that his thoughts were not off limits. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  The last statement was more unnerving to Kao than anything that he’d experienced so far.

  “Why am I here?”

  “It is written: The one sent to devour will be consumed, as the Keeper’s vessel chooses no sides but heralds the truth of The Unknowns, the Forevers, and everything in between.”

  In that moment, with sight stripped away, Kao had never seen more clearly. He was not only set-up to fail, he was sent off to slaughter like a lamb. Plots of revenge wriggled in his mind as he considered the likely facilitator of his election for demise.

  “There is no time for that. The revelation grows impatient,” The Oracle declared while suspending a helpless Kao above the nothingness where he once stood. “Now see the knowledge of the Unknowns!” She called out.

  Searing pain traveled through Kao’s veins like the sting of an unwanted inoculation. Writhing and churning as if preparing to be turned inside out, Kao cried out as every word of the history of the Unknowns was branded onto his existence.

  Communing with the Oracle left him feeling more human and vulnerable. Surely this would be the method of his demise. Just as everything in him wanted to stop trying, stop fighting, and stop being, the familiar nothingness of the shadows comforted him.

  His hands trembled at the realization that his senses had been restored and the silence and darkness surrounding him was simply that of Allisa’s bedroom. He had been returned to the moment before he seized his victim. But this time he was armed with knowledge.

  Allisa’s, still surrounded by her paisley barricade, hadn’t moved at all. Her peaceful rest gave him pause as he replayed the words of the Oracle. Whoever had set him up and for whatever reason, he would not be a pawn. Leaving the Oracle’s vessel unharmed, Kao made his way back into the Unknowns, determined to exert his rage on a more deserving target.

  *** Eight ***

  The whispers of Kao’s fall from the fast track escaped through the Unknowns, cutting a path right to Mirena. Being at the mercy of the under lords was the worst possible position he could be in. First berated for being unchanged and now he faced punishment for failing to complete an assignment.

  No longer able to ignore the impromptu news updates spreading through the caverns faster than fire and the smell of sulfur, Mirena had to get answers for herself. Certain that a hearing of any kind would be difficult to hide, she made her way through the dark labyrinth that had become her home, maneuvering the caverns that she knew as well as the back of her hand, in search of a breadcrumb or any signs of a gathering.

  Embracing the abundance of shadows, Mirena moved down the hall where sounds echoes, bursts of laughter, and chatter flowed around her in the corridors like water. It sounded like a party, but the goings on in that room would feel nothing like a celebration to Kao. The stifling heat and thickness of the Unknowns didn’t slow down her quest to learn of his fate. But she had to be smart and invisible to ensure that the next hearing she attended was not her own.

  Mirena slowed her pace and carefully quieted her steps so the mouth of the corridor would not tell the secret of her presence. She slithered past the doorway leading into the cavern of The Shallows, then ducked to one side of the opening. Pressing her back against the wall and waiting for the cavern to tell all, Mirena was able to lean in just enough to catch a glimpse of Kao.

  He stood surrounded by elders, under-lords, and other high ranking leaders of the Unknowns, the faces of his scrutiny that had long hidden in whispers and assumptions.

  Garro joyfully addressed the crowd. He took advantage of the moment by citing Kao’s status as “unchanged” as a weakness to the Unknowns and called for his demise.

  Mirena’s lure to the power he wielded t
ransitioned into aggravation, disdain, and rage. But her voyage to the darker side of the dark side was interrupted as Kao’s intensity sliced through the chaos all about him.

  “You aim to demean me?” Kao asked Garro, his accuser, taking care not to play into his hands. That would prove a mistake in the midst of elders who would surely vote for his demise over a lesser punishment like a demotion.

  “Kao, why would I do such a thing?” Garro asked in a tone heavy with sarcasm and accompanied by a devious smile.

  Mirena sensed the tension and power colliding between the two even from a distance. But Kao’s strength quickly magnified by rage as laughter rang through the mock trial. The ridicule left Kao’s ears ringing, and it was clear that they had written him off the day he emerged from the pit clearly gifted but confined to a futile human reflection. None of them had reason to doubt his calling, or ignore his proficiency in any task he was given …until now.

  She weighed the severity of Kao’s situation, feeling more than just a desire to devour his power. Sadness overwhelmed her as she watched Kao grow impatient with the goings on. Would he lose his rank, the favor he held with some and all that he had worked so hard for? It was no secret that the process was biased and that this moment was all about Kao being torn down. But the Unknowns had a way of going too far. After it stripped away all he had gained, the focus would turn to the only thing left to be ravaged: his existence.

  Distracted by her concern for Kao’s future, Mirena was far less cognizant of the goings on around her. Suddenly, either by affects and impacts of her ability to allure, by the patrolling under lords’ skill, her presence was no longer a secret.

  The clutch of a gritty claw wrenched at her, a less than gentle reminder that sneaking into the realms of a hearing not only made her out of place, but also out of order.

  “Look what I found!” one of the elders called out, oozing an inappropriate level of joy.

  Certain that nothing good would follow, Kao turned towards the voice heralding a discovery. Instantly, the crowd spit out Mirena, who fell haphazardly at his feet.