Months before.
The children of the Layian village finally felt safe. The mysterious masked boy in purple armor had saved them, just in time. Unfortunately, they all lost their families in the Legion's attack. Now they were all orphans.
They fled for months, Captain Jaex hot on their heels. Until, after so much time covered by anxiety, they managed to make their pursuers lose their trail.
Elian became the older brother of the orphans. Everyone trusted him, respected him, and looked up to him. The masked boy took care of them and defended them. He was the first to wake up and the last to eat. Only until the last child had a plate of food, Elian would take a bite.
He had been given the mission of the eon: to care for the children of Layian. And he had to fulfill it. He did it gladly, not out of obligation, not out of fear of becoming a spectre.
Elian had learned to love each one of those children. He learned to love little Narla's smile, Golin's pranks, Mayerla's sarcastic comments, Ton-ton's kind eyes.
It would hurt to lose them. If they died… Elian would be devastated.
That sunny morning, the Layian children were training hard. Elian had ordered that they all be trained to fight. Sooner or later they would meet the Legion and Captain Jaex again.
Almost everyone had that fire in their eyes. They learned fast.
'Jaex will have a hard time,' Elian thought as he watched the boys practicing their attack and defense moves. All lined up in a vast gray meadow.
Everyone kicked and punched the air, synchronized, in unison.
"Form pairs," Elian ordered, "we will do one-on-one combat."
The children nodded and proceeded to form pairs.
Elian had learned to fight thanks to an old friend of his mother: Talon; A demon with long horns and skin full of brown hair.
"And you don't have a partner?" asked a voice behind Elian. The masked boy turned around and his heart jumped at the sight of Katan.
"Do you want to be my partner?" Elian asked.
"I would love to," Katan replied, smiling broadly, "but on one condition."
"Which one?"
"Take off your mask. I want to see your face."
Elian hesitated for a few seconds, but then removed his mask. He looked at Katan with his gray eyes filled with light and the beast boy blushed.
"Happy?" Elijah said.
"Very."
The two rehearsed their attack and defense moves. Elian threw a fist that Katan blocked, then Katan attacked him with a kick, Elian evaded it and subdued his friend with a grab that made him lose his balance.
It didn't seem like a fight, it seemed more like an elegant dance. A dance in which both dancers executed each movement with complicit looks.
They didn't look like fighting partners, they looked like two lovers sharing an intimate moment. It seemed like they enjoyed every second and it seemed like they didn't want it to end.
After minutes of training, they both fell exhausted and Elian announced a break for the other children as well.
Elian and Katan lay on the gray grass, limbs outstretched, staring up at the multicolored sky.
"Elian," the beast boy spoke, "why do you never talk about yourself?"
"What do you want to know?"
"Where do you come from? Where is your family?"
"My mother died," Elian replied, bluntly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Katan said in a choked voice.
"It is fine, it's not your fault. My mother was a horned demon. She found me in an ancient temple in Lemuria. She was walking around the place, looking for berries in the trees, when she heard a cry coming from the ruins. She came closer… and found me lying on the ground, crying inconsolably. I must have been at least a year old, more or less."
Katan listened intently to the story.
"She fed me with milk from one of her animals. She took care of me as if I was her child. As if I wasn't human, but another one of her race. She could leave me alone, to my fate, and let me die. However, she saved my life and dedicated hers to taking care of me. We lived together in a cabin hidden in the woods. No one ever found us."
"Is that why you wear the mask?" Katan asked.
Elian nodded slowly. "I use it because I am ashamed of my human face. I never felt like one of them. Inside, I was always a demon, like my mother."
"I understand…"
"I miss my mother," Elian said, his voice breaking.
Katan gently took Elian's hand. And Elian allowed it. He felt good. He felt a warmth in his stomach that rose to his chest. He had never felt anything like it.
"How did you become a Marked one?" The beast boy asked, not letting go of his friend's hand.
"It was after I lost my mother," Elian replied, eyes moist. "I went to the ruins of the temple where she found me and a purple light surrounded me, then I was surrounded by lightning everywhere. It was as if I had been transported to another dimension. In front of me, a cat-shaped eon appeared. It was gigantic and had a metallic horn sticking out of its forehead. He gave me my Treasure and the mission to go to Layian and rescue the children who managed to escape."
"Did you rescue us because the eon commanded you?"
"Not exactly," Elian answered. "I would have done it with pleasure. Didn't care if the eon commanded me."
Katan nodded and squeezed his friend's hand.
"It was the happiest day of my life," Elian said. "Becoming a Marked one meant that I could finally fight for my race. I could finally fight humans."
"Thank you," Katan whispered. "Thanks for everything."
Elian looked into the eyes of his friend. They were silent, staring at each other, until he said, "I won't let anything bad happen to you."
***
In the present.
The world was filled with purple lightning. In front of Elian, a giant feline materialized, with white fur and purple spots, with a metallic horn protruding from its forehead. And a silver mane that fell down his neck.
"You failed the mission I gave you," the eon's voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Elian lowered his head, resigned. "I am ready to receive my punishment."
He would agree to become a spectre. That was the consequence of having allowed the children to die. And he would gladly accept it.
"No," pronounced the eon.
"What?"
"I'll give you a second mission."
"A second mission?"
"You will liberate the sanctuaries, along with the water, the earth user, and one fire user and another wind user."
***
Elian woke up in the middle of a small makeshift cabin in the middle of the forest. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the wooden boards.
It took him a few seconds to fully wake up and then the full stride of reality crashed down on him.
Katan was dead. He was gone forever. The end. Final point. He would never come back. And Elian couldn't do anything to bring him back. And the children… all… massacred. Little Narla's smiles, Golin's pranks, Mayerla's sarcastic comments, Ton-ton's kind eyes would never come back.
What a horrible thing. Why? Why had that happened to them? The children hadn't hurt anyone.
Elian just wanted the kids to be alright. He just wanted them to be safe. And he had failed. Not only the children, but the eon that assigned him the mission.
'Damn humans,' Elian thought and turned around on his makeshift "bed" of long tree leaves.
Certainly, humans could be too cruel.
Nahuel had built a small cabin. Well, it was more like a wooden tent than a cabin. It only served to protect from the rain and keep the heat inside.
Elian had been there for days while he recovered. Physically he felt better, but emotionally… it hurt and it hurt a lot.
'Katan...'
The day before, Elian wanted to return to the camp in the rocky area, to retrieve Katan's body. Nahuel tried to convince him not to return to that place. The Legion could be waiting for him. It was dangerous. However, Elian returned, despite his friend's warnings. When he arrived, he almost knocked the air out of his lungs when he saw that there was no body left. Neither Katan's, nor the other children's. Where had they gone? The humans must have taken them.
A fire burned within Elian as he imagined Katan's body in the hands of those dirty humans.
'Damn…damn…DAMN!'
Back in the cabin, Elian took his Treasure out of his pocket and stared at it.
"System," he spoke, "to become more powerful, must I free the shrines?"
'Everything I wished for shall be mine...'
That seemed SO amazing.
"Even… bringing someone back from the dead."
'Katan...'
Seeing him again was what he wanted most in the world. Well, as much as killing Jaex.
"Which is the nearest shrine?" Elijah asked.
***
Yaima watched her Treasure, while Nahuel explained to her many things that she didn't know about being a Marked One.
"You can spend Rakna points to upgrade skills," said the boy.
"System, display my stats," Yaima ordered.
A small hologram showing a stat table projected from the small blue sphere.
[YAIMA – WATER USER
ATK: 90
DEF: 170
MAGIC-300
SPEED: 120
Stamina: 250]
"I have mor… more magic points than you," the girl pointed out.
"Yes. You have to keep your role in mind," Nahuel explained. "You are a mage."
"Mage... An... And you?"
"I am Shilder. There must be other Marked Ones out there as well, with other roles, such as: berserker, paladin, rogue, or lancer."
Yaima nodded slowly and looked at her Treasure.
"On… what should I use my points on?" She asked.
"Whatever you want," Nahuel smiled. "It's your decision."
Nahuel was SO friendly. She felt very comfortable and safe with him. When she was next to him, she felt a pleasant warmth on her chest. She had never felt this way.
'What should I spend my points on?'
"You can spend them on increasing your attack," said a voice at her side. The girl turned around and saw Gabu, staring at the hologram with statistics.
"Why?" the girl asked.
"Because it's the lowest stat," the furry creature argued, "so you'll be more balanced."
"But," Nahuel chimed in, "if you invest in magic, you'll be much more powerful in that stat."
What to do? Attack or magic? Or maybe speed or stamina?
"System," the girl spoke, "what does the magic stat represent?"
"And what... what... what's the difference with the attack?"
Yama nodded. 'I understand…'
"I… don't know how to fight…," the girl said. "I think... that I should increase magic."
"Magic?" Gabu seemed to be disappointed.
Nahuel put his hand on Yaima's shoulder and she blushed. "That's okay, it's your decision."
The girl smiled and nodded.
"System. Invest Rakna points in magic," she ordered.
[MAGIC: 300>>>>307]
"Well done!" Nahuel gave her a thumbs up.
Then, Elian left the cabin. It was the first time he had done so since they discovered that the bodies of the children and Katan's had been taken. His face looked haggard, sad, tired, and paler than usual as if he hadn't slept for days.
"Hey, buddy!" Nahuel exclaimed, excited. "It was time already! Good to see that you have decided to go out and get some sun."
Elian didn't answer and walked toward them.
"We have to go," he said, his voice confident.
Nahuel and Yaima looked at each other's faces.
"Go where?" The boy asked.
"We have a mission. We are Marked Ones after all," Elian replied.
Yaima remembered that Nahuel had explained that to her days ago. They were marked and had to liberate the shrines. If they succeeded, they would become gods and whatever they wished for would come true.
However, if they didn't fulfill the mission... they would become spectres. That was a punishment worse than death.
"Well, I guess you're right," Nahuel scratched the back of his neck. "At some point, we had to march and fulfill our mission as Marked Ones."
There was something that worried Yaima and it wasn't just that the journey was dangerous and that the Legion was after them. Nope, none of that. It was that liberating the shrines represented the destruction of human cities.
The girl didn't want to destroy anything. She just wanted…mmm… what did she want? If she fulfilled the mission, what wish would she fulfill?
At first, she thought that she wanted to go home. However, her life at "home" was not a happy one. In fact, she was quite miserable.
"Which is the nearest shrine?" Nahuel asked.
"Kamsara," Elian answered. "And to get there, we have to go through the Kraimer port."