"What do you think you're doing Aramin," Skyler spoke in a cold yet calm tone of voice.
The stranger standing next to Marcus, Aramin, shifted his gaze towards Skyler. Some in the crowd felt a shiver run down there spine when they felt the gaze of the man shift to their direction, and were unable to move from where they stood. Although, that only held true for all except Skyler and Mia, whom Skyler stood in front of to shield from the person's oppressive gaze.
Skyler herself wasn't completely immune to the gaze but mustered enough strength to speak. Knowing this, she cut right to the chase and didn't waste time with any formalities.
"That boy beside you was about to go berserk and we both know it," Skyler stated coldly.
"And according to his highness's decree, all omens presumed to have gone berserk are to be put down immediately," Skyler spoke whilst raising her spear towards Marcus.
Aramin looked down towards Marcus as if to examine him further after Skyler's statement.
Directly after Aramin's gaze left them, the crowd separated from Skyler and Mia and looked towards Marcus as well. When they registered what Skyler had said, their faces changed from confusion to a mixture of fear, rage, and distrust. Though they never actually trusted Marcus, a berserk omen was something no one wanted.
The crowd instantly hopped on Skyler's bandwagon as they started shouting at Marcus.
"A berserk omen?!"
"Kill it! Kill it before it kills us!"
"Yes burn it! Do it now!"
"Burn the omen! Send it back to hell where it belongs!"
Numerous profanities and hateful remarks continued to rain down upon Marcus as he looked at the angry mob in front of him, but of course it hardly effected him at all.
'Hmm. Is that all?'
Marcus wasn't hurt by the people's remarks to have him killed or burned. The way he saw it, this was normal human behavior, at least in regards to anything related to omens. After all, he'd been through much worse. A few curses here and there wasn't going to move the needle much for Marcus.
Although, throughout this entirety of all this, it seemed the mob had forgotten about the man who stood next to Marcus. Once he finished observing Marcus he shifted his gaze back towards the two women.
The crowd was no longer in his direct line of sight, but even then, they still felt an immense pressure from his presence alone. They immediately stopped shouting and started to regret their previous actions.
A mob mentality was truly fearsome.
"Berserk huh," Aramin spoke inquisitively. " I wouldn't call it that just yet; don't you think it's too early to make that judgement."
Aramin continued to hold onto Marcus's shoulder while waiting for Skyler's reply.
"Don't play me for a fool Aramin. You and I both felt and saw the aura that he emitted earlier.
"Its dangerous for him to be around others."
Marcus, whom they were talking about, didn't appreciate being spoken of like he wasn't present, but he held back on commenting. He figured there was a time to talk and a time to be silent. Right now, he needed to be silent.
"Dangerous," Aramin spoke in a questioning tone. "Is that what you all think too?"
Aramin shifted his gaze to the crowd around him.
To them, it felt like Aramin glanced at each individual present within the mob. It shouldn't have been possible considering the size of the crowd and how close they were to one another, but somehow they just felt like he saw through each and every one of them, and that he had.
Because of this, no one dared to speak up at the question asked, and Skyler started to grow angry. Not at the fact that none of the crowd said anything because she didn't expect nor did she want help from them to begin with, Skyler was angry because she felt Aramin was throwing his weight around to protect the omen next to him.
As such, she was barely able to control the fierce emotions welling up.
Marcus observed this as he stared at Skyler, who had only taken her eyes off him because of the man beside him. Just going off her near-indecipherable expressions and actions thus far, Marcus was perplexed as to why she was so adamant about killing him.
Of course, Marcus knew that omen's were seen as nothing more than an infectious blight to others and this treatment was, in some twisted way, normal. However, Skyler's visibly concealed anger and persistence about killing Marcus seemed to be more... self-driven.
It was almost as though, she had a personal vendetta with Marcus.
'No, not me in particular. She just really hates omens.'
Marcus wasn't able to conclude anything else with what little information he had.
As a result, he didn't spare Skyler another thought and continued to observe the two's discussion.
Skyler exhaled a long and deep breath to calm herself down further before continuing to speak. Having her mind clouded with anger would get her no where, so she tried another approach.
"Patriarch Aramin," Skyler spoke respectfully.
'So he's a patriarch huh?'
"I would like to apologize for my earlier disrespect and hope that you can disregard the previous matter."
Skyler began to bow towards patriarch Aramin to display her sincerity. It was neither too submissive nor was it too abrasive. It was just enough to show respect towards Aramin while also maintaining her own self-confidence and image.
Aramin did not acknowledge Skyler's efforts, nor did he shun them. He only kept up his stoic expression and waited for Skyler to continue.
As a patriarch of one of the six families of Uceris, Aramin was not to be taken lightly by any of those beneath or on the same level as him. As a patriarch, he was allotted a certain level of respect not even the king of Uceris could trample upon, same as any of the other five patriarchs. This was in part due to each of them possessing a considerable force that supported the kingdom and to lose any one of them would considerably weaken Uceris as a whole. However, this didn't even mention the primary reason for this, which was that each and every one of the patriarchs were all ridiculously powerful.
After lifting her head back up, Skyler began to speak again as she looked into Aramin's silver colored eyes without an once of fear present on her face.
"However, I must still insist that you allow me to handle the omen before things escalate."
Skyler hadn't given up on 'handling' Marcus, and Patriarch Aramin raised an eyebrow to Skyler's comment this time.
"Escalate? How so," Aramin spoke in a challenging and playful tone.
To this, Skyler didn't show any visible reaction, but it was easy to guess how the woman felt about the Patriarch's childish actions.
This caused the tension in the air to become suffocating and the crowd that'd stayed to watch was now starting to regret doing so. Even Marcus wasn't one hundred percent sure what these two were going to do, but he was sure who'd win in a fight and that was Aramin.
Although, this didn't make Marcus feel any better.
Though he appreciated being on the winning side for once, he disliked being powerless in a situation that involved his own life and death. After all, he had no say in the matter. As far as he was concerned, that choice was left up to the man beside him, and he hated it.
This feeling of powerlessness was one he'd felt too often and for too long, and he'd been trying his best to not feel it again but here he was again stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Marcus closed his eyes beneath the blindfold and inhaled a long and deep breath.
'Fine, if the world wishes to drag me to hell,' Marcus thought while opening his eyes. 'Then I'll take as many as I can with me before that happens. '
At that moment Marcus opened his eyes to observe the cold and callous world around him, and in that moment he resolved himself to do something, anything about the situation he now found himself in.
He refused to be helpless again.
He'd wait for an opportunity to present itself and make his move as soon as it did, and if no opportunity came, he'd make one himself.
And Just like that, Marcus's previous nonsensical feelings of helplessness were wiped away and instead replaced with a cold and calculating resolve.