Age Of The Marked: Year 719, 6th month, Day 7
Lavitz looked at himself in the mirror as he began to remove his facial hair, his razor slowly removed his blonde scruff, he was uncharacteristically shaken today and struggled in the simple act, a wave of exhaustion washed over him and he cut himself before plunging forward. Once his vision returned he looked at himself again, at one point he had been handsome, he placed his hand to the left side of his face, three years today, he thought as he moved closer to the mirror, three years since she died. He stared at the hideous scorch mark on his face, burned in such detail that you could see fingerprints, the palm of the hand placed right above his eye and fingers stretching back to the side of his head, he ran his hand across the scar, tracing out the absence of hair stretching across his head, he could have tried to grow his hair out to hide his scar, but showcasing it had proved to be better for him in the long run. Tears escaped his one good eye and he turned away. He placed his eyepatch on, seeming so small in comparison to the scar. He walked naked to his temporary quarters and put on his blues, he slung his crossbow over his shoulder and placed a quiver of bolts on his belt opposite his dagger, denoting the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, he placed his gauntlet over his left hand and adjusted the size, he then flung his dark green cloak over him and fastened it to the straps on the uniform, he placed Nicole's pin on the left shoulder of his cloak and left his room.
A crack broke the peaceful outskirts of the woods, where the targeting practice outpost had been built, by the striking of the target 80 yards from the Colonel, followed by a second and third crack, each half a second apart and less than an inch separated them all, he reloaded the tri-chambered crossbow, nearly the heaviest crossbow in the world, but accurate and allowed for three shots before requiring a reload, he released his volley into another target 70 yards from him with the same results. Private Salomao intently watched the marksmanship of Colonel Feld, even with one eye he was still the greatest marksman in the Hunters. Colonel Feld began to reload his crossbow again and saw the private gawking at him, the man was tall and lanky, had a semi-fresh cut above his right eye. In response to the being glared at, a scowl from his colonel appeared that threatened his entire career, he instantly snapped to attention, his left arm bending at the elbow and rising in a fist up to his shoulder, while his right found the dagger at his belt. “SIR!” Salomao bellowed, a crack breaking his deep voice, deeper than he would normally use. Feld found the man’s gaze fall to his face, then immediately snap back above his head. Anger filled Lavitz and he strode up to the man, a little taller than himself, but Lavitz’s size wasn’t height alone. He could hear the man shaking literally shaking, the rhythm of his breath erratic from panic, he smelled of sweat and dirt.
“Is there something wrong with my face? Private!” He growled through his teeth.
“Sir, no sir!” The man cracked back.
“Well then private, Salomao, why were you fucking gawking at it.”
“Sir, I’ve heard about you sir, I was wondering if it was true, uh, sir!”
Lavitz remained silent, reveling in the nervous private becoming terrified. He paced around the man until finally allowing the man to decide his own fate. “Well private, what have you heard so that I can set you straight!” He shouted into his face.
Then Salomao glanced at the Colonel’s face once more, before responding. “I heard you survived the demon’s marking sir, I heard that you are the best of the best sir, I heard that…” Bells stole the man’s train of thought as well as Lavitz’s attention.
War bells Lavitz thought, that could only mean one thing. He looked at his gauntlet, the crystal gauge on it was glowing as it began to hum. No, not another one, not today, I can’t handle it today, first the rock marked last night, now this? He hesitated as his hand began to tremble, he had a duty to perform, and this was it, it was all about hunting the Marked. He shook himself from his thoughts and straightened his posture. Everyone had fallen silent as all eyes had looked to him for leadership. “Listen up!” He bellowed, the sound of confidence disguising his uncertain feelings. “We have a Marked on our hands, follow your gauntlets, do not allow it to escape, we need it alive, but if you believe it will escape and have to decide to let it go or kill it, then you kill it with no hesitation, understood!” The question was rhetorical of course. He waved with his right hand as he looked to his gauntlet for a general direction and pointed with his right. “Onward!” He shouted.
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Lavitz ran, the trainees on his heels, trying to keep pace with him, most of them failing to do so. Each step he took he felt was through a mire of sorrow, the day she died weighing him down, his vision tunneling out until his autonomous body reached the fallen building, reality returning him to his body, thrown back with an ample amount of shock. He saw the collapsing building, he saw a woman and a child within, he heard the child crying out, and he saw it, the form of the demon shielding them both.
“Mommy! I can’t see, please mommy, are you okay, I can’t see!” Tears ran down her empty eyes the color of absolute darkness as her mother held her close. “Trust me darling.” She spoke in a strained terror. “That is a godsend.” She looked up to see the demon before her, it was blacker than midnight, so dark in fact that all color around it seemed to turn to a drab grey, it seemed to float there, just a head, torso, arms, and a tail, the head seemed to be eyeless and mouthless, but making it even more terrifying, the imagination picturing what could be rather than what couldn’t, its torso broad and menacing with small fins running down what should have been its spine, its’ arms strong and massive ending in claws longer than any finger should be, and the tail stretching into Tsel’s shadow, no, it was her shadow. The shadow had one hand on the ground while its other arm shielded a mass of rubble from the collapsed building from the two of them.
He heard his company each stop abruptly when they came upon the Marked child and its demon. So young, so very young, she could not be more than six, and yet she conjured this, this demon into the world, and in broad daylight. He had hunted Shade Marked before, but this, this was so far beyond that, even scrunched up as it was, it was more than five times the size of a man. “Colonel Feld, what do we do?” The panicked voice of private Salomao pierced through. Suddenly his wits returned and he looked to the taller man. “We wait, the Marked is on high alert, if we go in now it will demolish us all, wait for it to return and we will go from there, understood?” His confidence spilled through his words and he raised his crossbow in a defensive posture. About half of the patchwork company yelled a resounding ‘Sir’ around him and mimicked his stance, as others returned to their senses they fell in line.
It took a few minutes for the stone to finish falling from the demon in the middle of the small town of Doruv, the city of stone and wood seemed to simply stop while the demon remained. As the last bit of rubble rolled off the mother held her daughter to her tightly, the both of them crying together, her mother trying to calm her daughter, unaware of the creature her daughter had become. After several intense minutes the demon began to slowly shrink as it sunk down deep into the child’s shadow, reforming itself into the tiny reflection of the girl.
Lavitz approached the pair, signalling his subordinates to follow, but to keep their distance. Once he reached them he knelt down. He could feel the pain in the woman as she realised what her daughter was, she was torn, between the love of her gods and the love for her child, between her fellow man and a mother’s instinct to protect her offspring with all she was. He saw the conflict, in seven years of being a Hunter this was the hardest to deal with, the law was clear that all Marked are inhuman vile beasts, but when the beast was a man fleeing for crimes against all mankind was not the same, at least to Hunters as it was when a child protects herself and her mother from a falling building. He placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing her and their eyes locked. She broke the stare first to turn to her child. “Sweetie, this man is going to make you better okay, he’s going to fix your eyes and our house and then he’s going to bring you back to me, okay sweetie.” The lie stung, and he and her mother both felt it eat into their souls, but the child trusted her mother, and although still sobbing, managed to nod her head in acknowledgement. He picked her up and began to walk back to the Hunter’s steadhold, the other Hunters deadly silent as he walked past them. She would be executed in two days time.