Marked by Bane

*SLAP*

If the sting in my left cheek wasn't enough to awaken me, then the whiplash from my swiveling head certainly was. Still feeling groggy, I belated opened my eyes and found a pair of angry eyes burrowing into my skull. I blinked my eyes to refocus my sight and capture the facial image; soon, my mind connected the mental image to my memories—it was Bishop Canterbury!

"Are you awake now, imbecile?" the bishop asked with pure malice in his tone of voice. His voice was surprisingly calm in spite of his furious expression. "I don't care how you managed to pierce through Lord Bane's divine illusion. What I DO care about is how you cavalierly risked his anger and jeopardized the entire town of Tregome in the process. You are naive and you lack wisdom and judgment; you are unfit to rule anything, much less the Kingdom of Merlin. Until you learn to practice discretion, I am rescinding your privilege to carry the truth stone," he continued. The bishop held out his hand.

The sting of his condemnation felt like a punch in my gut. It hurt even more than the hard slap across my cheek. I quickly pulled the necklace from my neck and passed the relic back to the bishop.

When the angry man saw the relic, however, his face turned visibly white. "What happened to the truth stone?" he demanded to know.

I took a moment to search through my hazy memories. "When Lord Bane brought me to his home in the Plane of Fire, he took the necklace from me and dipped the stone into the flowing lava. It changed slightly as you can see," I explained.

The bishop slowly shook his head. "It shouldn't be possible to change the character of a relic," he half-whispered to himself. Still holding the relic by the red string, the cleric slowly touched the surface of the swirling stone with his index finger. SHOCK! Bishop Canterbury quickly withdrew his finger. "Lord Bane has corrupted the relic," he announced with an angry look at me. "He has infused enough Chaos into this relic of Order, and now the diametrically opposed forces are fighting each other within the stone. I am returning the stone to your care, Initiate. I advise you not to allow our Brothers to examine it closely; they may correctly link the change in the relic's character to your association with a God of Chaos," he said.

I squirmed and finally realized that I was seated in a chair in the bishop's office. From the surroundings, it appeared that Jasla had returned me to the very location from which her father had brought me to his home world. I also realized that I was wearing my borrowed white robe and my shoes, but nothing else. Thankfully, my robe, which covered my shoulders down to my ankles, hid my lack of clothes underneath.

"I assume that you consulted with the Grandmaster of your dojo regarding Bane," he guessed. Upon my affirming nod, he continued, "I advise you not to mention the presence of Lord Bane in Tregome to anyone else."

"Yes, Your Eminence," I replied obediently.

The old man stared at me for another moment. Suddenly, his eyes were lined with worry. "Were you branded by Bane?" he asked quietly.

I answered by simply showing the brand on my left forearm.

The cleric winced upon seeing the marking. "You have been marked," he announced and sighed deeply.

"What does the mark do exactly?" I asked nervously.

Bishop Canterbury started pacing back and forth in front of me; it was painful to watch him move while wincing at the pain in his hips. "The mark is similar to your Kissed by Lady Luck blessing, but it is more permanent in nature. The brand shows the other demons that you have been claimed by Lord Bane and that you're under his protection," he began his lecture.

"But isn't that a good thing?" I interrupted. "Since Lord Bane is a Demigod, doesn't that mean that the other demons will leave me alone?" I queried.

The old man stopped his pacing and offered me a faint smile. "While it's true that the lesser demons will leave you alone, especially those who have sworn allegiance to Bane, his vast number of enemies and rivals will see you as fair game for attacks," he explained.

I groaned aloud at my predicament. In other words, I upgraded my enemies from wererats to demons!

Bishop Canterbury patted my right shoulder reassuringly. "It appears that your fate is to attract attention—wanted or not," he grinned. "The only thing you can do now is to continue your character development and become stronger. If you desire to become Merlin's Successor one day, then you will eventually need to bargain with the demons, too. And to do that, you need to draw their interest and attention. With the brand on your body, you're halfway there. In the meantime, I will cast a long-lasting illusion to conceal your brand from the Brotherhood. If anyone in the Church of Britannia finds out that you have been marked by Lord Bane, you will be accused of being an agent of Chaos and burned at the stake," he warned.

My eyes bulged wide at the warning as the bishop returned the relic to me. I looked at it more closely. A caption above the cross read, "Truth Stone of Order and Chaos." A red fire swirled within the stone. I quickly concealed the stone under my white robe.

The bishop's left hand hovered over my brand and he quickly muttered a prayer under his breath. "Lord Bane will return soon. Is there anything you wish to consult with me in this remaining time out of his presence?" the cleric asked when he withdrew his hand.

"Yes, Holy One. I have two questions. First, are you serving Lord Bane voluntarily or are you under magical compulsion to do so? Second, what activities would you recommend that I engage in, while in Tregome, to gain more experience?" I asked.

Bishop Canterbury smiled broadly in approval. "Perhaps, we will make a wise man out of you yet, Initiate!" he praised and then his face turned serious. "Lord Bane revealed his presence to me shortly after my arrival in Tregome. Apparently, he has an informant within the Church itself and learned of my appointment to the position of Bishop of Tregome. Believe it or not, this frontier town is important to the Gods of both Order and Chaos. In his own way, Lord Bane seeks to ensure the survival of the town. If he truly wanted to destroy Tregome, he could simply create a portal linking the town to the Plane of Fire and send in an army of demons to overwhelm our defenses. I'm fairly certain that his hand was behind the plot to invade Tregome with wererats but he knew that the presence of the were-creatures would be discovered sooner or later," he lectured.

"Wait!" I interrupted. "You mean to tell me that Lord Bane purposely sabotaged his own plot?" I asked in bewilderment. It didn't make any sense!

"The Demigod is regarded as one of the most capricious gods in existence," the bishop replied. "Furthermore, it is a fool's errand to seek to understand the ways of a Chaotic God. Don't give Lord Bane too much credit, though. He is more of an opportunist than a plotter."

Poof! Suddenly I smelled rotten eggs and heard a sound, "Kekeke."

The demonic form of Lord Bane appeared in the middle of the room. He waggled his right index finger at us. "It's not polite to gossip behind one's back, especially when that person is me," he grinned. The Demigod's eyes glowed red but he didn't appear to be angry at us.

"I hope that you have recovered from your trip to my torture chamber, Larry. I need to take you down to the dungeons before the other town folk becomes suspicious of your prolonged absence. The sun will set soon," Lord Bane said. He cast his divine illusion and the young Enab returned to the room. Enab opened the door and waited for me to leave.

I offered a deep bow to the bishop and quickly walked through the door.