The vision that seized Eldric, the All-Seeing, was not one of clear portent, but a chaotic torrent of images that left him trembling and incoherent. He spoke of children with eyes like smoldering embers, of symbols burning like brands into their irises, but he could not say who they were, where they could be found, or what they were meant to do. The vision was a puzzle box without a key, and the mage, for all his enhanced inner sight, could not decipher it. His warnings to the cabal were fragmented, desperate, and ultimately dismissed as the ravings of a mind broken by the cosmic backlash.
Meanwhile, the consequences of their actions became undeniable. The Violent Moon cast its malevolent gaze upon the land, and the Dungeons of Despair continued to vomit forth their horrors. The populace, reeling from the inexplicable dual-calamity, looked for answers. The initial confusion curdled into a low, simmering fear, and that fear began to seek a target. Whispers turned into questions shouted at city guards and local officials: "Why is this happening? What are the High Mages doing?"
Panic set in among the Architects. Their grand ambition had curdled into a world-ending catastrophe, and the blame was inching perilously close to their door. They needed to control the narrative, to redirect the rising tide of fury before it washed them all away.
In a secret conclave held in a chamber still stained with the silvery residue of the Grim's lifeblood, Archmage Kaelen laid out their only path to survival.
"The world seeks a cause for its suffering," he declared, his voice cold and pragmatic. "We must give them one they can comprehend. We did not break the world, we fought a malevolent cosmic entity, a 'Grim Reaper' who sought to end all life. Its final, vengeful curse is what assails us now. But a new evil has arisen to carry on its work."
They seized upon Eldric's confused prophecy. They twisted it, forging a lie from the fragments of his truth. They declared that the "Angel of Death" had not been defeated, but had instead sown a final, vengeful seed into the world before his banishment. He had left behind his progeny children tainted and marked by his dark power, destined to finish what he started.
A coordinated message was crafted and dispatched via arcane means to every loyal Superior Mage across the Ten Kingdoms. The order was clear: disseminate the official truth.
The Official Decree of the Architects of Eternity, to be read in all public squares:
"People of the Ten Kingdoms, hear the truth! We have been engaged in a secret war against a primordial entity of death the Soul Reaper. In a great battle, we managed to sever its connection to our world, but at a terrible cost. In its dying breath, it unleashed the curses you see now, the Violent Moon to poison our minds and the Dungeons to spawn its legions.
But its malice did not end there. It has hidden among us its chosen heirs children marked with its sigils. These Marked Ones are not victims; they are conduits. Their very presence strengthens the curses! They are the signal that draws the monsters from the depths! They are the reason the moon's light burns!
Do not be deceived by their innocent appearance. They are the final weapon of the enemy. Your survival, and the survival of our world, depends on their identification and containment. Report any child bearing strange eye markings to your local authorities immediately. This is our only path to salvation."
The effect was instantaneous and catastrophic. Fear, once diffuse, now had a face. The populace, desperate for an explanation and a target for their pain, latched onto this narrative with terrified fervor. In each town squares, Superior Mages who had not been part of the grim capture send out apprentice mages with some knights, stood before the people, their faces masks of grim authority, repeating the planned message verbatim.
A farmer, clutching his sick daughter, would approach his local authority. "Is it true? Are there demon children among us?"
The mage, following orders, would nod solemnly. "The Architects have confirmed it. We must be vigilant. The safety of the many outweighs the fate of the few."
Eldric the All-Seeing, present in the kingdom and tending to the sick when the curses struck, was now used as the ultimate validation. "Even the All-Seeing foresaw this!" the mages would proclaim. "He warned us of the marked ones! We did not understand his visions then, but now their terrible meaning is clear."
The lie was perfected. The very hope that Elian had tried to seed into the world was perverted into the ultimate symbol of fear. The Marked were no longer a potential key to salvation, they were a lock on the world's tomb, and the Architects, the self-proclaimed saviors, held the only forged key. The hunt had begun.