It was early morning and Callad had begun to experience an unusually warm and peaceful winter day. The sun had managed to finally break through what had seemed to be constant cloud cover and, though it shone with weak light it had been the very thing Grayd needed to raise his spirits. He had headed toward the building that was home to his office, whistling and with a new found spring to his step. That is until he approached the area and spotted several of his warriors standing guard. As Grayd's deep aqua blue eyes took in the appearance of his guards, their perfect and crisp uniforms and their faces carefully composed to show their professionalism, he felt all his worries bearing down on him again. Mostly they were his concerns about the safety and wellbeing of all his people and his world.
With the Marauder's out there, Grayd knew nothing was safe and as lands began to be destroyed by the Marauders, so too was a part of Mare's future. Grayd entered the building and slouched down the familiar halls to his office, no longer whistling or with any spring in his step but shrouded with the same depression and fears that seemed to constantly dangle over his head. It was his job to keep the people and their world safe. Grayd held all the responsibility in Mare, as he was ruler of the land.
Grayd had been born in to a long line of Mare blood that had held the throne and so he had taken his rightful place as Mayor with the death of his father over two decades ago. Grayd's personal assistant and head warrior, Array, stood straight backed and silent against the far wall in Grayd's office. Array watched with critical eyes as Grayd entered the small room and headed for his desk with his shoulders hunched. Grayd's expression was showing a frantic concern that Array now expected to see daily.
Array was well used to Grayd over reacting to any situation, but this time he knew Grayd had every reason to worry. The Marauders were gaining in strength and numbers rapidly and it was with great fear that they had heard of Web. Web was an unknown quantity as yet. Nobody was quite sure about just how strong the demon was but all of Callad's warriors knew from the frantic calls of help they had received just before the destruction, the smaller town of Nomarr and all its inhabitants, both warriors and citizens had been wiped out by Web alone. It seemed that if Web decided on a whim that something bothered him, he would set out alone to deal with it.
The other concern they held was if Web was training other demons in his destructive skills to create an army of Marauders that would well over power the previous army. This was a fight that Mare had not faced before and one that could destroy their world and all but the demon inhabitants. Array knew that this is what was scaring Grayd the most. It had been Kore that was solely responsible for the attack on Callad that had killed Grayd's father so long ago and therefore both Grayd and Array were well aware of Kore's intentions to take over Callad. By using Web's power to wipe out towns in a single afternoon as well as the support from the rest of the Marauders; the only thing that was standing in the way of them taking Callad was their knowledge of how strong in numbers the warriors surrounding the city were.
From what he had found out from the few warriors that had survived the war that had caused the death of his father and those warriors that were working undercover in Malice, Grayd also suspected that Kore held some fear of the return of angels to Callad. Grayd was aware that Kore had managed to capture an angel, but he also knew that the demon had only joined the fight after the Marauders had weakened it first and many of them had fallen before Kore had finally shown himself. Grayd had no idea what had become of the only angel that had tried to protect Mare. He hoped that whatever had happened, it had been quick and painless.
There was another problem that Array had picked up on but never mentioned. He knew that in amongst the fear, Grayd was furious at what had happened and so Array was concerned that Grayd's anger would over power his common sense and he would set out to destroy Kore and Web himself. As Grayd took his seat behind the desk and was just about to open his mouth to ask about any news on demon activity, Array spoke first, knowing his position so well that he was often able to predict what Grayd would say before he said it.
