“… It’s good to finally put that Castle behind us. Honestly if I saw one more needle…”
 
As he and his party walk back into town, Marcus very deliberately doesn’t look back over his shoulder. Behind them, looming on the hill like always, is Camilla’s Castle. Meanwhile, the town before them hasn’t changed one bit either, despite it having been two weeks since the… ritual to blend Marcus’ two Jobs had taken place.
 
Two weeks since he’d very nearly died to that Vampire Hunter. Two weeks since he’d had a rather trippy experience in his own soul with both the Dark Lord and Destined Hero Jobs taking on the visages of his parents. Honestly, it might have been his own fault. In hindsight, maybe he should have kept his weird experiences to himself. Telling Camilla all about how he’d directly spoken to the Dark Lord and Destined Hero as though they were people instead of simply concepts… it had lit a fire in the Vampire’s eyes that hadn’t died down for the past fourteen days.
 
It didn’t help that Camilla had conscripted his party members into supporting her efforts to keep him in her Castle either. Despite her rough treatment of them during the procedure, the fact that it had all worked out for the best and that Marcus had never felt better… it had scored Camilla some serious points with Roka-Ra, Erised, and even Angelina.
 
In the end, all Camilla had to do was tell his party that she wanted to keep him under observation for a little while in the event of instability issues. She’d even gone so far as to claim that she wasn’t sure whether or not his Jobs would stay melded going forward, or whether she would have to perform the procedure once or twice more in order to make it a permanent affair.
 
… Privately, Marcus suspected that to be complete hogwash. Technically, what Camilla said was true. They’d never combined the Dark Lord and Destined Hero Jobs before, so it was fair to say that they didn’t know what would happen next. Would the Jobs stay blended? Or would they break apart after a time?
 
Marcus knew the answer to that question, of course. He’d known from the moment he came back to himself. He WAS the Destined Lord now. There was no seams, no puzzle pieces. This wasn’t a game. It was his own damn soul. He could feel it, just like he had felt that his job was the Dark Lord from the moment he’d been Awakened in the Chapel all those months ago.
 
He was the Destined Lord, and could feel the power of both Jobs combined into one coursing through him. He’d never felt stronger, and there wasn’t a doubt in Marcus’ mind that he could take on any challenge that came his way at this point. As just the Dark Lord he’d been nearly unstoppable. As the Destined Lord? He was sure there wasn’t a single challenge in the entire Holy Empire that he could overcome.
 
But still, Camilla insisted on her tests. She insisted on her experiments. On two whole weeks of observation. And of course, his party members had betrayed him… and done their part to keep him distracted as well. When he wasn’t with Camilla in her laboratory getting poked and prodded, he was always ‘attended’ by one of his women in some way or another. They kept him very… busy to say the least.
 
It was a little surprising that Camilla had never joined in, but Marcus had ultimately come to terms with that. In the end, he’d chalked it up to the ole orcish instincts acting up like usual. Making him feel like he was entitled to sex with every interesting woman he came across, just because they got a chance to see him in action.
 
Camilla wasn’t like that. She wasn’t like his party, or her fellow Dark Generals even. The woman was an ancient Vampire who had been alive for thousands of years, and yes she was drop dead gorgeous but that didn’t mean she was going to fuck some whelp like him. It was fine though. Ultimately, he had his party to keep him company. To keep him… satisfied.
 
Of course, if he’d truly wanted to, he could have left at any time. Camilla, Marcus felt, wouldn’t have stopped him. And his party couldn’t have stopped him, not if he’d made the decision. And yet… he’d stayed put. He’d let them convince him to get poked and prodded by the Baroness of Thornswood for a good two weeks straight. Why? Well, it was actually quite simple… he still hadn’t known what he was going to do.
 
Marcus was the son of the previous Dark Lord and Destined Hero. He had a serious pedigree going on. But that didn’t change the fact that he was also just some orphan from the Capital before all of this started. He hadn’t ever had any aspirations of being a leader. Certainly, he’d never wanted to be a conqueror. And yet… after seeing people like Lord Graham and Commander Williams abuse their authority, he wasn’t sure he could sit still any longer.
 
After what he’d saved Roka-Ra from back in the Capital, Marcus knew he couldn’t just stay out of politics. It didn’t work like that. He couldn’t… simply let things be. And so, after two long weeks of being experimented on, of copious amounts of sex with his women, and of thinking about what he wanted to do… Marcus had finally set out, having come to a decision. He was going to return to the Capital… and he was going to make things right. Singlehandedly, if he had to.
 
But first…
 
“Hold on a moment girls. Need to go say goodbye to Beth before we leave.”
 
Angelina, Erised, and Roka-Ra all exchange glances at that. In the end, it’s Angelina who speaks up.
 
“Should we… join you, Marcus?”
 
Flashing her a grin, he shakes his head with a snicker.
 
“Not planning on it being that kind of goodbye, I promise. Just a quick in and out. Maybe a peck on the cheek, that’s it.”
 
Another round of exchanged looks between his party members. If Marcus didn’t know any better, he’d say they had no faith in him, at least in this regard! Indeed, Erised crosses her arms over her small chest and pouts.
 
“Fine, but we reserve the right to come in after you if you take longer than five minutes milord.”
 
Chuckling, Marcus nods his head good-naturedly, waving them all off as he makes his way up the steps and pushes into Beth’s tavern. In the two weeks he’s been away, it hasn’t really changed or anything like that. And yet… it feels a little nicer now that he knows the true nature of Thornswood… and its ruler. Camilla is an interesting person to say the least, but she’s not evil. Of that, Marcus is certain.
 
Making his way over to the bar where Beth stands, he smiles as her eyes light up upon seeing him. He’d sent her a quick message of course, letting her know he was okay… but this WAS the first time since he’d been shot in the chest that Beth had laid eyes on him, he supposed. As such, it wasn’t all that surprising when the innkeeper raced out from behind her bar and all but threw her arms and legs around him. His hands go to her thighs, lifting her up into the air and holding her aloft as he sets himself like a tree and roots himself in place.
 
Beth, for her part, grabs him by the face and kisses him soundly for several long moments. They’re the center of attention in the moderately busy tavern, but Beth doesn’t seem to care. Frankly, neither does Marcus. He kisses her right back for as long as she can take it, until finally she has to pull back for breath. Only then does he grin at her and chuckle.
 
“You should know, the others gave me five minutes to say my goodbyes before they come in after me. Almost like they don’t trust me to stay safe while I’m alone anymore.”
 
Beth’s cheeks puff out at that, even as she loops her arms around his neck and then unloops her legs from his waist. Standing on her own two feet again, she still holds him close as she sighs.
 
“Maybe they’re right… I can’t believe you almost died in my arms, Marcus…”
 
Shrugging his shoulders, Marcus grimaces.
 
“Hazards of the Job, I suppose.”
 
Beth just gives him a look at that pun, before shaking her head.
 
“I’m glad you stopped by before leaving actually. Someone from the Capital is here to see you. They’ve been here for two days.”
 
Marcus’ eyes widen at that. His first instinct is that Elsenthia has come looking for him. But he quickly squashes that and instead realizes it’s probably someone from the Church. Bristling, he very carefully doesn’t look around.
 
“Where are they?”
 
Beth, sensing his change in mood, bites her lower lip.
 
“She’s in the back corner. Behind me to the left, under the stairs.”
 
That causes Marcus to jolt. She? Could it be Elsenthia after all? A feeling of hope wells up inside of him, as he finally disentangles himself from Beth and slowly begins making his way over. That hope ends up dying a quick death when he lays eyes on the woman who’s actually waiting for him however. He doesn’t recognize her. But she’s not Elsenthia, that’s for sure.
 
Looking back at him is a nondescript human woman, her face blank and expressionless as she sits there, arms folded in front of her.
 
“I heard you were looking for me?”
 
“I was sent to find the Destined Hero. To deliver a letter for him from the Queen.”
 
Marcus’ jaw clenches at that. From the way she’s looking at him, he gets the impression that she already used the Identification Sign while he was busy with Beth. It doesn’t matter which one she used either… both return the same thing now. ‘Destined Lord’. Still…
 
“That’s me. Not sure I care about what the Queen has to say, however. Her daughter, maybe. But Queen Lisanna?”
 
Marcus had had lots of time to go over his return to the Capital in his head after having to flee on the night of the banquet all those months back. He’d come to a handful of conclusions. One, Elsenthia was blameless. She was just as horrified to learn the truth as he was. But her mother… and the Holy Pope? Both of them were in on it. He knew that now. From the way Queen Lisanna had looked so disgusted when she’d handed Roka-Ra off to the Church, to the way Serafina had spoken about Divine Justice. They knew. They were complicit.
 
“Nah. Don’t think I care much for what she might have to say.”
 
The Queen’s messenger, far from getting indignant and outraged at his disrespect, actually smirks ever so slightly. And then takes out a letter anyways. Before Marcus can reject it more strongly, she speaks once more. Her words rock him back like a physical blow.
 
“Then you will be happy to hear that the Queen I speak of is not Lisanna Layla Leliana, but her daughter. Elsenthia Seradina Leliana. Her mother has returned to the Higher Plane. Elsenthia is now Queen of the Holy Empire. Though of course, her coronation will not take place until the end of the month. It’s all outlined in the letter.”
 
For a moment, Marcus just stares. Then, he’s tearing open the letter like a man possessed. Elsenthia was to be Queen? Her mother had returned to the Higher Plane? He quickly begins reading the missive that Elsenthia has sent him… and is even more blown away than he had been previously as he reads about the Princess’ exploits.
 
While he was busy running back and forth across the Empire in order to figure out what the fuck was actually up with his Jobs, Elsenthia had been… putting in some serious work. Things had dramatically changed back in the Capital. Not only Elsenthia going to be Queen, or already was Queen but not actually coronated yet… but also, she’d replaced the Holy Pope with a doppelganger apparently. Serafina had been deposed.
 
For a moment, Marcus has to admit… he’s not sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, Serafina had been… she’d been incredibly supportive of him every time they’d met. But that was predicated on her belief that he was the Destined Hero, right? He didn’t know how she would have reacted if she ever found out that he was the Dark Lord.
 
More than that, he knew how she was willing to treat prisoners. How she’d almost let Roka-Ra be… be executed in such a grotesque and horrific fashion. She was the Holy Pope. Even if it had all been orchestrated by others in the Church, she’d known it was going to happen. She’d been ready to let it happen too.
 
The more he thinks about it, the more he agrees with Elsenthia’s decision. Serafina needed to go. She couldn’t be allowed to continue on as she was. She’d made too many mistakes, grown too comfortable in the midst of the corruption she’d been surrounded by. Elsenthia had made the right call.
 
Though, as he reads more of the letter, Marcus finds himself further caught off guard. Near the end of the letter… is an invitation. An offer, really. Elsenthia explains that officially, the coronation was set for the end of the month to give nobles from the far reaches of the Empire a chance to attend and swear their fealty. But unofficially? Unofficially, it was set at the end of the month so that she could offer him her hand in marriage.
 
If he says yes… if he agrees, then they will marry before the coronation and he will be her peer rather than simply her husband. They will be equals… King and Queen in truth, not just in title.
 
The offer is everything Marcus had decided was necessary over the past two weeks. It might not have been what he wanted, but he knew he was going to have to do something, maybe even take over, if he wanted to stop the abuses of power he’d encountered on his journey. And yet… it all felt a little anticlimactic, didn’t it?
 
Before he can even properly process that feeling, the door to the tavern swings open and familiar voices fill the space.
 
“Marcus! We told you five minutes did we not?!”
 
“And we even gave you ten!”
 
“Who is that, anyways? Where’s Beth?”
 
Marcus winces as his party walks up behind him, the letter still in his hands. Right… he had promised. Tch. But this changed things. It changed everything.
 
However, just as he’s turning to tell them about Elsenthia’s letter, he finds the words caught in his throat as Angelina properly catches sight of the messenger’s face and goes wide-eyed, pointing at her.
 
“Marcus! That’s the Pope’s Shadow! Her most trusted a-agent! I only saw her once, when her Holiness first assigned me to your party, but I-!”
 
What?! Whipping around, Marcus’ hand falls to his shortsword. Was it all a trap? Was the letter a lie? Had Elsenthia been forced to write it, or even been replaced like the letter claimed the Holy Pope had been replaced? His earlier thoughts about this being someone from the Church come raging back to the forefront and he bristles as he glares down at the nondescript messenger.
 
At seeing his sudden hostility, his women don’t hesitate to go for their weapons as well… only for the so-called Shadow to stand up and lift her hands into the air in surrender.
 
“Peace. I do not serve Serafina. I never did.”
 
And then… right before their eyes, her human guise melts away. Marcus’ eyes widen as he takes in the demonic visage hiding underneath. The fully matured demoness standing before them looks… quite familiar to him, oddly enough. He just can’t quite put his finger on it… until he hears Erised’s choked up voice behind him, the lithe demon assassin saying only one word.
 
“… M-Mom?”
 
Ah. Right. That was it. That was where the familiarity came from. She looked like an older version of Erised.

-x-X-x-

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