The next day Marcus woke up to feelings of regret. Maybe, this desire to be a Blade is a harmful obsession. How does one move beyond something so important, and reduce life to something so undesirable as a lack of happiness? Marcus decides to leave before his mother awakes to purchase flowers for her, somewhat hoping that the surprise would make any future conversations a lot more easy-going. As he gets dressed, he remembers that his mother's favorite flower is the Stargazer Lily, and that he can get them across town at the flower shop on the east side of town. A long trek, but worth it, Marcus leaves the house with out his mother noticing.

Marcus boards a bus near his home, and promptly pays the fare. He always liked sitting right in the middle of the bus, as it was right next to an exit on the bus that didn't force him to walk all the way back to the front of the bus. The bus wasn't particularly crowded at this point, you typically didn't have people on the bus this early in the day on a Saturday. Yet, right in the middle of the bus was a mother and her highly animated son.

"Mom, remember yesterday, the demons had no chance!", the boy said while mimicking a sword slash.

"Yes Carter, please sit down while the bus is moving.", the mother said with exasperation.

As Carter continued to jump around in the aisle and make sword motions and sound effects, Marcus smiled. It's hard to not put himself in those shoes, and feel the excitement that the little boy was conveying. Eerily familiar all the way down to the annoyed mother. This wasn't just a catalyst for great memories, this pushed Marcus to a place of wanting to make sure he could protect this future Blade. He saw himself, and wanted to protect both his, and the boy's dream.

Marcus' destination is approaching, and as he goes to ring the bell to stop the bus, the rambunctious Carter rings it first. The doors barely open as Carter runs off the bus waving his imaginary sword, with his mother struggling to follow. Marcus exits the bus, and looks at the two running down the sidewalk, and finds himself smiling again. The flower shop is nearby, but he finds himself more determined than ever.

Marcus quickly purchases the lilies and makes his way back to the bus stop. While walking Marcus passes a park with people in bright green coats surrounding the area. Marcus approaches a woman wearing a bright green coat holding a sheathed sword. There appears to be lots of activity behind her, focusing on what is happening behind her is difficult as it appears to just be a series of flashing lights.

"What's happening here?", he asked.

"Please stay back, there is a training exercise for Rune Blades taking place in the park.", the woman answered.

"Rune Blades?", he asks with a stupefied expression.

"Yes, we are a clan of Blades that specialize in magic. Today we are practicing in order to ensure that we are prepared for everything.

Marcus gazes out into the park and is finally able to focus on the action in the distance. There are multiple people in bright green coats, who appear to be firing blasts of light from their hands. It's almost as if they were casting spells. Bewildering to Marcus, as he's always thought of blades as sword wielding warriors, not as magic wielding wizards.

Just then, Marcus noticed that there is a demon present encircled by the small group of Blades. The demon dazed from the flashing lights and blasts, seemed to be completely lost as it began to sway from right to left. Then one of the Blades drew their sword and with one quick swipe eliminated the demon. Marcus' mouth fell open, in awe of what he just witnessed. While he had seen it before, he wasn't prepared to witness a demon slaying in this moment. Especially as more people began to gather around the park.

"Was... Was that a demon?", Marcus asked the woman standing guard.

"Don't worry, we have the ability to summon weak demons. We only do that for training.", she said and immediately paused her thought. "Never mind, I probably just said too much."

"You guys can summon demons?", Marcus inquired.

"More like draw them out, but I've said too much. Please clear the area."

As Marcus contemplates what possible difference there is between the two statements just then a man walks by with an interesting sword already drawn. It looked almost like a bladed whip as it was extended. The man flicked his wrist and snapped his blade into something that looked more like a broadsword. The man also dressed in green, had a more distinct look than the others. His Green robe touched the ground and he had this bright yellow stone on the hilt of his sword. This reminded Marcus of that day when he was twelve, it was similar to the hypnotic yellow light he saw back then.

"Sir, would you mind moving along, it's pretty dangerous here.", the man said while adjusting his glasses. "Melody, could you please gather your team mates and construct a shield?"

Before Marcus even got a chance to reply, the man had walked away, and the woman began gesturing wildly with the others that were near. Their arms went up straight up in the air, as they drew circles in the air with their hands and brought them back down quickly. Just then this water like bubble surrounded the area where the others were training, and it instantly became extremely difficult to see what was happening. As people continued to be ushered away, Marcus decided that he needed to head home.

Marcus in all his studies had no idea, that there were different houses in the Blades or magic. Now he fights the crazy amounts of thoughts running through his mind. How many houses are there? What do they do? Magic? Like rabbits and hats and stuff? What does all this mean? Marcus rushes home to speak to his mother and continue his studies into this mysterious cult.

As Marcus enters his home flowers in hand the smell of bacon permeates the air. It must be waffles, bacon and eggs, his favorite breakfast. As he walks into the kitchen his mom glances at him and back to the pans on the stove.

"Where have you been?", she asked. "I almost ate breakfast without you."

"I picked these up for you.", Marcus says as he lays the flowers on one of the near kitchen counters.

"What did I do to deserve these?"

"What made you make my favorite breakfast?", he replied.

"I guess we both felt bad about the last conversation, huh?" she said while setting their breakfast on the dining room table.

Marcus sat at the table and stared at the plate of food his mother just set down. While it was his favorite, he suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. He didn't know how the impending conversation would happen, but he wasn't ready for a conversation like yesterday. He stared into his mother's eyes only to realize that she was already locked directly on to his eyes.

"Honestly, I just can't lose someone else to that cult.", she said assertively. "Not again."

"Mom, I understand. I really do, I don't even know how to join if I wanted to. I saw them today and realized that I don't know as much as I thought I did."

"Marcus, you were in danger!?", she said with a worried look on her face.

"They were training, nothing serious.", he said in a calming tone. "You asked me to sleep on it and I have, and I can't do anything else mom."

"Look, I understand that you want to do this, and I'm starting to believe that no matter what I say, I can't prevent you from doing this.", she said.

"I'm going to do this, I have to."

"Well then promise me that you'll be vigilant. I need to know in my heart that you'll be okay.", she demanded.

"You made me who I am, you know I'm prepared.", Marcus said with a smile.

Marcus stood up kissed is mother on the forehead and ran off to his room not having touched his food. Contemplating how one should feel in this situation, did he 'win' or is he drifting down a path that he's been warned not to follow? How does one reconcile a decision so huge? Only time will tell with Marcus, but there's a new challenge for Marcus now, and he's more determined than ever.

Marcus entered his room and immediately went to his computer. Now he had to determine who these people are, and how to find them. The Blades have a bulletin board online that they maintain with the federal government, that helps drive awareness towards attacks and areas around cities that have been cordoned off. Marcus surmises that the best place to start would be there. Perusing the bulletin board, he uncovered a forum in which people could discuss things that they saw around town that would best be brought to the attention of the Blades and government.

The forum seemed to have threads upon threads of content regarding sightings and fans, but nothing of consequence to this pursuit. How exactly does one become a Blade? Why is this so difficult? What are they hiding? Then Marcus stumbles across a sighting thread that specifically mentions a group of non-blades that appeared to be engaging in training. Marcus decides to reach out to the author of the thread in a private message to inquire about what exactly the person saw. Marcus knew he needed to speak to a Blade directly, but training exercises don't happen like they did in the park all the time.

It didn't take long for the person who was responsible for the post to contact Marcus back. This anonymous person makes him a little nervous, but they seem to have some insight that not many others have. The anonymous responder explains that, this sighting was indeed a training exercise, and that it appeared that the Blades were going to start doing something official to allow citizens an easier way into the group. The anonymous poster also stated that they were training on their own to eventually try to meet up with the Blades when they were ready. The stranger agreed to give Marcus the latest location known for training. It turns out that the location is the Fountain City University football field. Looks like Marcus is headed off to college after all.

When Marcus arrives at the football field he sees a small group of people on the field, couldn't have been more than twenty people. Far less than what would have been expected given what it meant to be there. As Marcus approaches the group on the field, he finally takes notice of the giant obstacle course around them, the course has many different obstacles that look daunting. As he began to get lost in size of the obstacle course, a person in a bright red coat comes by and snaps him out of his daze.

"Are you here for the trials?", the man asked.

"I am, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.", replied Marcus anxiously.

The man smirked while tugging at his jacket. It appeared to be to small for a muscular man his size. He had to be over six-foot, six inches tall and pure muscle. His menacing appearance made Marcus nervous, and the giant axe strapped to his back didn't make him feel anymore at ease either.

"We should probably do a better job of advertising this if we want the best to show up.", the man said. "My name is Robert, I'm a member of the Crimson Blades, and you'll be working with me today."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Marcus", Marcus said still battling anxiety that borders on fear.

"Great! Join the others, as we need to get started because this will be a long day for you.", Robert said as he smirked once more.

Marcus began to walk over to the next group and overheard Robert telling another Blade to block off the area, and to not let anyone else in. As Marcus approaches the group, he sees a wide variety of individuals there. Men and women of all shapes and sizes standing on the track that surrounded the football field. Outside of the looming obstacle course, there was still this feeling of walking into the unknown, but this was exactly what he knew he was signing up for.