Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Her job as the Oracle was to protect the kingdom. Every vision she had and every piece of advice she gave was for the sake of protecting the kingdom. Sure, she was not treated as well as she could have been, but her life is not what she would call bad. She had a place to live, a place to raise her daughter and a very good friend.

When she turned her head towards the very friend she just thought of, she found herself reminded of the one time that she did not act to save the kingdom. The night Lyrah was born she had a vision of the Arcadios\' fall. She had never had the dream before, but when the elder attended to her and she was given a chance to reveal it… the Oracle remained silent.

Since that night, she has never had that vision again. It was something for which she was grateful because it was one of the most terrifying ones she had, but she also felt… sad that she could not see it.

Adellia looked towards her daughter, who was seated closer to the railing of their box seat. The girl\'s eyes were fixated on someone. There was no emotion on her face. No interest, no anger, no curiosity, no happiness… it was simply a blank expression in the truest sense of the word.

She thought about saying something but instead chose to follow her daughter\'s gaze. As she did so, her own eyes rested upon a figure standing in the crowd. Had Lyrah not been so laser-focused on the figure, Adellia would never have seen them. They wore dark, leather armor and a hood.

She could not quite make out what was under the hood, but even if she could see beneath it, she was much too far away to discern any facial features.

"Lyrah, my dear what are…"

"Did you know that father was here, mother?" the girl interrupted.

"I\'m sorry?"

Lyrah turned to look at her, the blank expression gone from her face as it had returned to its normal cheerful tone. "Father! He\'s here in the capital. I believe him to be only a few boxes away from ours. Shall we meet him?"

Natali coughed to hint that the young woman should calm down. In public, the Oracle was to maintain a certain air of aloofness while also remaining kind and approachable. At the moment, Lyrah was exhibiting none of those behaviors.

Adellia could not help but smile. She had missed her antics now that she was no longer in the castle, but staying at the Royal Academy. "I think we can make time to see him later this afternoon, however, I think it would be a little too improper to meet with him without an acceptable pretense."

"Oh, I suppose that makes sense, mother. Are you enjoying the event?"

She pursed her lips. "Um… I think I might enjoy singles fights later more than this. You said you had a friend in that brawl yes?"

"Yes! Rena! She was the red-headed mage that was in the final three!" Lyrah squealed in excitement.

"I see… you have quite formidable friends." Adellia said with a smile while glancing at Mylene and Natali. Mylene smiled and rested a hand on her shoulder as an acknowledgment of their friendship.

"I think you will find this evening to be quite entertaining, Mother," Lyrah whispered.

Adellia paused. Something about the tone she used was strange, but when looking at Lyrah\'s face it was unchanged. "Did you see something?"

"I just mean that the contestants in this tournament are quite interesting. Win or lose all ten of the fighters will be attending the banquet at the end. I cannot wait to meet them!"

Adellia looked back at the arena which was currently being cleaned and fixed by a team of Water Magic and Earth Magic users. Occasionally a shimmer of light would flicker across the air, showing where the barrier was. It was quite an interesting sight compared to the alternative she saw. Had Alorek won the war, things would not have been so jovial.

She found herself momentarily haunted by visions of a future that didn\'t come to pass but shook her head to clear it and replaced her expression with the neutral, approachable one that she had perfected.

"I hope to speak to your dear friend at the banquet tonight."

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"Oh! If she loses in the main tournament, I invite her here to sit with me. I already got permission from Grandpa Wally. He said if the king didn\'t like it, he would take care of it. She\'s strong, but I don\'t think she will win. So you will see her soon!"

Adellia found herself simultaneously surprised and not at the amount of forward-thinking her daughter was capable of. Like a bull in a fine china shop, she raged forward without regard for the potential damage…

"Well, whenever I meet her, I will be glad to do so…"

"Oh! And she knows about Grandpa. He adopted her and Natali as his granddaughters!"

She felt her eye twitch at the old man\'s audacity. He seemed rather careless about spilling state secrets…

"Is that so…"

"Yes! Oh, I can\'t wait to introduce her to Father! It will be so exciting. What would she think when she finds out that…"

"No, no, no!" Adellia hurried to her daughter and covered her mouth with her hands. "You mustn\'t, Lyrah. Gods… Grandfather had rubbed off on you too much. Be careful with that information, silly girl."

Though her mouth was covered, Adellia could see with Lyrah\'s eyes alone that she was grinning ear to ear. What was she going to do with this girl…