Beginnings...

"As the heavens cried, not of rain, both of the roars of thunder and rage of lightning, stood a man in all his aura, exuded a sense of vengeance. Grovelling at his feet was a more older man, who seemed to have been the victim of the vengeful action of the earlier man. The older man then said; "The order of supremacy will never be shaken. The gods will have your head!". The man who was obviously of a higher tier of power then stretched his hands towards the older man and uttered words not known to man. Accompanied by those words were barrages of lightning from the dark clouds which engulfed the surrounding area... And then I woke up from the dream and say my MARKER, said a boy who was well into his teenage age while pulling his shirt down, exposing his chest which hosted his MARKER... (markers are markings said to have been engraved on the earlier men of the WORLD, the ANCIENT ONES by the gods as a sign of gratitude for their involvement and effort in 'The Battle of Realms'; a war between darkness and light, demons and gods. Apparently, the ANCIENT ONES sided the gods in this battle and assisted in the victory of the deities. As a result, the order of supremacy engraved a marking on the ANCIENT ONES which gave the host a piece of the power of deities. They were the first set of 'VESSELS'. This markings we're passed down through generations, with a variation in power concentration, thus the term markers came to be. Some manifests from birth, while some manifests from an encounter with a deity, mostly through dreams)

...He fed off the feeling of cluelessness engulfed in the eyes of the recipient of his seemingly ' weird dream'. One of his audience went in for a closer look at the marker. "Uche, are you sure this is a legitimate marker? Because markers in ur case appears when a person sees a vision of themselves dinning with the 'unseen' God's, not you who-knows-what dream. And markers are coloured with gold strips, but yours is completely black", he said as he attempted to touch the spot at which Uche's marker had appeared. "If it is not a marker, then what is it?", Asked Uche rhetorically while pulling his shirt back up. "I think Shegun here is just jealous because his marker is way passed his expecting age", said the other audience of Uche's dream with a sense of humor. "Shutup Tobey! Who asked you?!", Shegun voiced out attempting to whack Tobey on the head. Admist their fun squabble, a loud voice aired out; "BOYS!" Heard from a distance, they all stared running towards the direction of the voice. "Hurry, boss is calling on us", said Tobey who was slightly ahead of them. They then burst into an old looking house which was quite large which was where the voice came from. At their arrival, they were fronted by a couple of other you get boys. At their forefront was a man who was well into his 40s, whos weight was his burden. He was sitted on a creaky chair which anyone could tell was suffering from carrying that much weight. The boys inside the room with him were his servants/trainees who he took in to prepare them for when they will manifests their markers and to mature the already manifested ones. The house is known as the 'Marker-Bearer Centre' which was headed by the FATMAN. "As you all know, the 'Grand Selection's which occurs every decade where a batch of marker-bearers are taken by the vessels to render their service to the gods with their powers and undergo training for demon hunting, as a form of appreciation for the power the gods had bestowed upon us all. Well this decade, our center of marker-bearers have been chosen for the Grand Selection. All those who wears a marker, old or new will leave everything behind in this mortal realm and will be taken by the vessels themselves to go to offer their services to the gods in the 'Temple of Deities'. Everybody's screams erupted as soon as he finished speaking, for this was the first time ever that their center was chosen for the Grand Selection. Well some of them who have not manifested their markers yet fell short of the requirement were sad and angry at their own incompetence, especially Tobey and Shegun. On the contrary, Uche was excited beyond compare because he made it by a cat's whiskers.

Later that day, some time before the vessels were scheduled to arrive, Uche was sight-seeing for the last time before he goes away (anybody chosen may not return to the realm of mortals for quite a long time). But really, there was almost nothing to see in their small town. It was as if the sun always slept In the face of their town, leaving the dark clouds, day in and day out. All he could do was watch the plants die slowly. Even though their world was governed by the order of supremacy, the Seven Seated gods; Oükü, god of fire, Arya, god of war, Irishirishi, god of dark arts, Ikuku, god over Spirits(a caster), Oyii, god of the frosting heavens, Egbe, god over reality, and Shööku, god of lightning, it still seemed like it was founded by tight fitted shackles. Their world was a god-blessed place, at least not until the Battle of Realms. After that, the sun shut its smile to the world and was hovered by dark clouds daily. Either way, Uche felt nostalgic at the moment and was sure going to miss his small town. He later then went to meet up with Tobey and Shegun. All the boys who met the requirements were gathered outside their center. Small in their number, they all positioned in a queue. Tobey and Shegun were close to the queue so Uche was with them. Although they were unhappy, they still cheered Uche on as he was about to go. "Don't worry guys, I will tell you about my experience when I get back. With robes made from the garment of the gods, I shall cloth thee"; said Uche in attempt to lift their Spirit, because it was quite obvious to him that they were sulking. "Is that supposed to be poetry?"; Said Shegun with a smile. "You have always been a sorry excuse for a poet"; Tobey followed up. It seems that Uche's attempt had gone through. Their convo was interrupted by a loud noise, which sounded like the blast of numerous trumpets. This was a signal that the vessels had entered the realm of mortals. Uche immediately ran to join up with the queue. His mouth hung open at the first sight of the six vessels who had came. It was his first time seeing them up close. "Weren't they supposed to be seven vessels?"; Uche thought to himself. Although his amazement clouded his curiosity as he marvelled in their Glory, even though their faces were covered with a silky Vail. Admist the screams which uproared at the arrival of the vessels, of not only the selected boys, but of almost everyone in their town who gathered to withness their arrival, the six vessels uplifted their hands and uttered strange language, similar to what Uche heard in his dream. In hearing those words, Uche's mind was shrouded in curiosity of why a vessels would speak in the same language as the man in his dream. The vessel's ritual wouldn't let him think through it tho. At the blink of an eye, Uche found himself lying in a vast dark space. Beside him was a man with spikey blonde hair clothed with a red cloak. Uche knew he was one of the vessels because he had the crest of one. The man's whole aura emitted immense heat like the furnace of a consistent Baker. The man stood Uche up saying; "your marker shall be of direct service to the gods. Follow me for the completion of your ritual, bearer of the 'BLACK-sign marker". Even his voice was like that of a fire breathing dragon. Uche knew from all this that the man was DUKE, the VESSEL for OÜKÜ, the god of fire. Uche remained silent as a result of the intimidating pressure DUKE'S presence was giving off. Duke walked him to a point where things were visible. They walked passed a bridge-like structure made out of floating relics with a low in-depth. At the end of the bridge was a statue of a man structure, bounded by chains with its mouth hanging open. Uche began panicking because he knew that this was not the normal procedure of the ritual given to an average marker-bearer. "Where are you taking me to?!" He cried. The grasp Duke had on him was everly so firm, so struggling and breaking free was not an option. Duke's silence and unwavering stiff expression increased Uche's panick attack and kept him on edge.

He was forcefully bounded by the chains that laid next to the statue. Uche's struggles were fruitless. Duke then laid his hands on Uche's head and uttered those strange words repeatedly. The only thought that roamed in Uche's head was that he was undoubtedly being used for a sacrifice to a god. His screams got louder as Duke said; "we shall make a vessel out of you, you BLACK-sign marker-bearer! You shall be placed under atonement for the sins that tainted your linage by ur ancestors by serving directly under the gods as a vessel, just like me. But this statue must deem your marker worthy of hosting the immense power of a god, for vessels are marker-bearers with high concentration of God tier power. If your body can't host this power, your chest will be plunged by this chained statue which serves as ur judge". At this point, the atmosphere was more tensed as a power surge gathered at the base of the opened mouth of the statue. In a split second, it was forcefully released to Uche's marker, going straight through his chest. Apparently, he was not up to a vessel's level. "A failure I see. Seems we will be short of a member in the next decade"; Duke said as he turns to walk away in disgust. Uche's eyes started to fade away and his screaming seized. With blood gushing out everywhere, he drops dead right next to the "Judge"...

TO BE CONTINUED