Mark of the Chosen
~An Asunder Story~
By
T.W. Colvin
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PUBLISHED BY:
Mark of the Chosen
Copyright © 2013 by Tar’kesa Colvin (also credited as T.W.Colvin)
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Cover Design: T.W. Colvin
Image(s) Credit:
Copyright Ig0rzh/Dreamstime.com
Copyright Terrence Colvin
Copyright George Kroll/Dreamstime.com
Copyright Seleznyov/Dreamstime.com
Copyright Frenta/Dreamstime.com
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Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Teaser: The Taking
Connect to the Author
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*** One ***
The conference goers were brimming with anticipation as they poured into the auditorium. It was an event that attracted all kinds. So Kao grabbed a program and dove into the sea of growing people. He smiled and shook hands like any other attendee waiting for the conference to officially begin.
Kao was still focused on finding his prey, as he made his way to the platform adorned with a podium and a row of tables and chairs beneath a large projector screen where his quest pulled him to the backstage area. There nervous assistants made last minute preparations and event organizers fluttered around with papers in hand against the ticking clock.
Speakers and “personal encounter experts” organized speaking points while gauging the rumbles of the growing crowd. All of which worked together to create the right balance of organized chaos Kao needed to gather intel.
“Dr. Freeman,” a woman’s voice called.
“Please, call me Allisa.”
The exchange drew Kao’s attention. He settled into the shadows of a small corner occupied only by a bookcase with his program as a prop to in his attempt to appear to be another nervous speaker preparing his lines.
“Allisa,” Sara corrected. “The session should be starting soon. Everyone is buzzing about you joining the panel discussion today.”
“Hopefully I won’t disappoint.” Allisa offered a smile before continuing. “I have so much I want to share.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine. Just pay attention to the monitors near the stairs leading to the stage so you can hear your queue during the introduction,” Sara instructed.
Allisa nodded. Her shoulders relaxed, and her heart rate slowly calmed as her fleeting moment of composure escaped with Sara’s departure.
Kao watched Allisa mouth the words on her note cards. Though he was a few feet away, her anxiety churned away, working as her undoing washed over him like a pure adrenalin shot. A small stream of stage fright rapidly developed into an overwhelming, fast-rushing waterfall of fear.
Kao fed on her distress, which strengthened him and increased his certainty of conquering her. This is gonna be too easy.
Allisa’s trembling hands almost jugged her note cards. Shutting her eyes, she took a series of deep breaths, and closed thoughts and emotions that were clearly working against her.
“I invited fear in, and I can command it to leave!” she uttered to compose herself.
It was a simple reminder that had never failed her, and in this instance, it caused Kao’s indulgence in her unrest to be short lived.
So focused on taming her unruly nerves, Allisa hadn’t even noticed the rumble of the sound monitors.
“…Dr. Frederick Weiss, Parapsychologist.” CLUNK- CLUNK-CLUNK.
She opened her eyes just as another panel member trudged up the stairs and onto the stage. Apparently, her personal pep talk had come just in time.
“…And last, but not least, please join me in welcoming Religious Studies expert, Demonologist, and author of ‘Calling on Your Inner Archangel’- Dr. Allisa Freeman, to today’s panel discussion.”
Allisa took one last calming breath before climbing the stairs towards the barrage of applause calling to her.
Kao emerged from the comfort of darkness that had rendered him invisible. Like any good hunter stalking his prey in its natural habitat, his eyes locked on Allisa even as she settled into her place. Although still not evenly matched, the margin of her weakness steadily declined.
The task, previously considered menial, now so much more. Was he being set up to succeed or to fail? Whatever the answer, he had clearly underestimated his opponent…all of them.
*** Two ***
As Kao awaited his orders, like he had done many times before, he stood tall, with perfectly kissed skin and eyes that pierced whatever they fixed upon. His muscles tensed as the commands echoed through the darkness. His infallible human semblance offered a sharp contrast to the realm and beings all about him, an effective and invaluable tool on his missions.
“Do you understand your assignment, Kao?” Garro bellowed. His jowls trembled as his words rumbled from deep within.
“Of course!” Kao growled, struggling to hold any additional words prisoner behind his tightly clenched teeth. His thick tresses ruffled as the sulfur-heavy air slogged heat, discomfort, and anguish from one end of the Unknowns to the other.
Even in the middle of a world constantly consuming itself by fire and bursting at the seams with the lost and forgotten, Kao stood at attention. He appeared human, but his dark wings, menacingly set at attention, served as undeniable evidence of a far more sinister existence.
“Good, then get it done. And don’t disappoint,” his leader commanded.
Kao peered straight ahead as the under-lord, smaller in stature but higher in rank, stepped right into his line of sight.
“After all, you are the great Kao,” he further taunted.
Kao remained silent, but he wondered if his teeth could withstand the pressure of trying to keep his mouth shut amidst the obvious challenge. His wings trembled slightly, as if enjoying a breeze, but no wind blew in the depths of the Unknowns. This motion, easily mistaken for fear, served as an indicator of his attempts to tame his warrior’s instincts. Eyes still set forward, and his expression like stone, Kao could not react the way every inch of him was trained to, and wanted to. How embarrassing it would be. The irony…a demon with such a success rate passed over as under-lord and now unable to control the very urges used to drive meager humans to destruction.
No longer newling-spawn, the tension between the former sparring partners stifled the air like inhaling smoke. Even in silence their battle for control rang out louder than the screams of the damned. The brewing tempers made the lost spirits roaming about the caverns uneasy, driving them to search more diligently than usual for the peace that had long ago escaped them.
The commands had been given— carefully conspired efforts to devour some and trap both the willing and foolish in the dark nothingness of eternity. The troops were reluctant observers of the power struggle and could only shuffle restlessly in place and groan at the prolonged banter. .
Kao primed his rigid muscles and stood tall, never breaking his gaze from his leader until finally the standoff ended. Garro, not slight in build either, walked away followed by the minions, who filtered out of their formation and scurried off like ants to a picnic eager to carry out their orders. But Kao, fuming from the incident, stayed behind alone replaying the scene in his head.
“He’s weak, jealous, and can’t handle t
he power.” A feminine voice, sultry and devious, cut through his increasing anger. “He’s no under-lord; he’s a fairytale imp, obsolete and inadequate. Of no comparison to the leader you would—you will—be,” she corrected. Her words caressed his savaged ego, and opened a gateway to a full seduction.
His overwhelming, insatiable hunger for…her swallowed his rage whole. His senses heightened at every inflection of her purr-ridden encouragement. The shadows slowly parted like curtains revealing the star to her adoring fan. Sleek skin, red hair, green eyes, and properly placed curved accessories emerged, illuminating the thick darkness—an illusion. A simple trick designed to give the victims exactly what they want.
“Mirena, what are you doing here?” He tried to extinguish the desire drawing them together like magnets. “You’re not supposed to be here. You can’t be here!” he clarified as they had been warned about the clan rules and consequences of fraternizing.
Mirena, unconcerned with the rules, moved closer and breathed him in like catnip. She pressed against him, which gave her insight on exactly the physical form needed to produce her desired results. When she found that Kao had always been fond of her true form, her skin transitioned from blistering flesh to cool, smooth scales against the strength of his chest. Her willingness to trust him enough to take off the mask, let her guard down, and be vulnerable made him want her even more. “How about a bite of the apple,” she said in jest. Her lips turned blood-red and eyes remained emerald but now completely reptilian.
Mirena’s limbs slithered around his body. Her sights never left her prey, and her embrace constricted his movement. Far more alluring to him, but forbidden just the same.
“Stay away!” he snarled, disgust firmly set on his face. He untangled himself from her limbs, the effortless lure spun by the skillful purveyor of lust that had ensnared him.
Kao walked away, leaving the offer of momentary recklessness behind, to consume and be consumed by the darkness. Serving in the lower ranks of my clan with Garro as my under-lord, I don’t want to know what’s worse than that? He considered the sentence he could receive for such a mistake since his current position left him again fighting to prove himself, and again clawing his way out of a hole.
He knew better this time. He knew the nature of the beast. It wasn’t worth the risk.
*** Three ***
Bahrell peered down at the underlings still shrouded in human likenesses. The future all herded together, undeveloped and waiting.
Senses heightened, Kao wondered what would become of them. His thoughts interrupted by a gruff voice.
“Here is where you will learn, grow, spar.” A gruff voice interrupted Kao’s thoughts. “The weak are quickly destroyed by the strong.” Bahrell called down into the literal pit of hell now housing the “would be” warriors. “True forms and undeniable gifts will be revealed for those who survive.” The elders gathered around the mouth of the pit, evaluating the new talent soon to join their clans. They seemed small, either by illusion of the depth of the pit or the actual stature of the young demons. It was more likely due to their lack of strengthening from inciting human destruction, but they were drinking in the goings on. Growing restless in the small space, tension brewed all around them. Undoubtedly a fight to the death was on the horizon.
“Those standing beside you are not friends. This is not some trivial trust exercise. Only trust your orders,” Bahrell imparted with the future of his lords’ vision at stake.
Kao stood anxious at the base of the pit now blanketed with hundreds of restless bodies generating the heat of damnation. With them, he was unconcerned. He looked left, then right, to Garro and Mirena. They seemed familiar, but knowing that it didn’t matter now.
The rise and fall of Bahrell’s voice washed over the crowd, pulling, churning and calling the darkness out of neophytes and elders alike. They all hung on to his every word, newlings awaiting the command releasing them to find out who and what they were. They were prepared to fight to unearth the special attribute that kept them from the Forevers and an eternity of turmoil, but was valuable enough to allow them an existence even if it was in the army of the Unknowns.
“Once you received your spawning mission, you will be released to your clan. With your clan, you will hunt, fight, and destroy. Fraternizing with other clans is the end of you! Make no mistake; your clan is your clan. You belong to it and it belongs to you,” Bahrell said, glaring at them. “And never forget -- You are not human. You are better than them. You will outlast them. You will destroy them!” His words ignited clan war cries from the observing elders and put the underlings on alert.
“Come Forth!” Bahrell commanded. His voice, his power, his gift caused several cavern doors around the pit to dissipate. Howls and shrieks poured from the hollow openings, and they erupted into the pit as a fierce battle cry. Rumbles bounced off the floor and walls, causing them to shake as the something or something’s charging drew near.
Ultimately, this was a trust exercise. A test faced by each of the underlings to trust their unknown skills. And at its end, all would see just why these prospects had been claimed by the depths of the Unknowns.
*** Four ***
Struck by the irony of being under a deadline in his line of work, Kao still had a job to do. Always an above average warrior of the dark, he rose to the challenge of every assignment. He had overtaken the fearless and the foolish: those who believed angels and demons only existed in the ink of long forgotten pages and those who didn’t believe in anything. But this assignment was different. He couldn’t categorize Allisa Freeman as either foolish or fearless. Allisa understood past the shallow exploration of human theology, both limited and defined by a PhD in Comparative Religion.
His mind teetering on the edge of a rabbit hole of thoughts, Kao couldn’t help but wonder how she had been armed with such knowledge; a knowledge that eluded so many others while skewing his success rate by thousands. And furthermore, why? And why now? But his exploration into the how of it all was short lived as he again focused on the task at hand.
Just any approach to claiming this victory for the Unknowns would certainly not do. And since he had already lost favor in the depths, he couldn’t afford to draw this out…or fail, for that matter. He needed to be precise, and he had to act now.
He returned to the empty auditorium where he first encountered his target and found himself wandering from one end of the room to the other remembering the intensity of Allisa’s fear trying to connect to her essence and scavenging through the tiny traces of her that had settled about room. His mind aligned, realigned, and eliminated data he had gathered while observing her. As he knelt in the place most saturated with her weakness, he could have easily been mistaken for a man calling on the Forevers. But his goal, far more sinister than a humble plea to the powers of Forever, was to consume anything that Allisa’s fear could reveal. With all of his senses active, he envisioned her fear building. It culminated and emphasized her humanity.
The very idea of such limitations stirred Kao’s disdain for humans, but the results of the instant replay were minimal at best. Her fear yielded nothing more than the obvious – she was a human who experienced fear. It was clear; the bloodhound had lost the scent.
His reading of Allisa had gone strangely hollow. The sense of someone or something else lingered. It lurked in the space now devoid of the hustle and bustle of conference attendees and facilitators. It solidified his belief that he’d missed something. Unquestionably he lacked some detail relevant to the grand scheme of things…something that would help his assignment make sense.
The details never mattered before, but they could make all the difference now! Though his orders clearly demanded that Kao kill - not study, not question, not tether to the unknowns - but kill Allisa Freeman, he still found himself for the first time, less inclined to follow orders and more inclined to get answers. But before he could make progress in either direction, he had to find Allisa.
*** Five **
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~Kao~
Dust and darkness concealed each of the fierce warriors in the pit as they quickly mastered their skill securing their survival. Kao ripped through the last beast and was catching his breath even its body collapsed in twain. It was official; he had conquered the pit like a true dark warrior.
“Reveal yourselves!” Bahrell commanded, anxious to see what fruit he’d borne. The herd of newlings, though thinned from the exercise and liberated from the confinement of the pit, stepped from the darkness at their leader’s command.
Kao didn’t feel any different, but his brothers in arms had changed in the midst of battle. Mirena, an illustriously-scaled seductress, pulled at his every desire even standing in the middle of the broken, battered, and decapitated collateral damage; Garro, with thick skin and slanted brow, now donned the head of a boar adorned with razor sharp horns, disjointed legs, and hooves of a bull all joined together by the torso of a man, and culminating into a level of unpredictable rage bubbling just below the surface.
The array of forms emerged, each declaring their clan lineage. Winged instruments of torment taking the form of lust demons, rage demons, and everything in between stood revealed, solidifying their submission to the Unknowns and the clan for which they had been claimed. All except Kao, who stood with flesh unchanged, not visibly claimed by any clan or for any purpose.
Grumbles spread through the onlookers like the wave at a sporting event.
“Come forward!” Bahrell roared. His voice cut a path through the newly transformed demons and singled out Kao.
Bahrell examined the flesh covered demon standing before him. His skill could not be questioned, as he had survived all that was thrown at him. He placed his hands firmly on the shoulders of the enigma as if verifying that Kao was in fact real and standing there.