The Oathsworn

by Liandra Jake

  "It was nice for you to join us." Hunter said from behind him.

  "You really belong in this Guild you crazy bastard." Nate said over the radio.

  "I was planning on using the ropes, but I guess that was better." Arend replied. A large eruption of flame sent the field back into chaos. "Time to have a little fun!" Arend said as he started shadow boxing.

  Arend ducked down as Hunter whipped around and kicked a man sneaking up on Arend. Hunter gave him a thumbs up before calmly walking towards an upcoming mob of green uniformed people. "Nate, think you could give me a hand?" Arend asked as he hopped into the mecha's open palm.

  "Why of course!" Nate replied as he catapulted Arend into an upcoming platoon of green uniformed men.

  Arend leveled half of them with a sharp kick. He cleaned up the rest with a quick flurry of punches. "So who are they?" Arend asked

  . "Neon Shadow. They're a Guild that steals technology from others. They heard about Rusty's Drive and tried to steal it. Right now he's out running their helicopters in his car, headed for backup." Nate explained.

  "Arend! Look out!" Kronth exclaimed. A large spiked hammer was coming down over Arend's head.

  Something incredibly large and fast flashed by, picking up Arend. Kronth grabbed the man around the neck with her whip and sent the man spinning into the ground. A large wolf was holding Arend in its mouth. Its ears were covered in a thick, hard substance, along with the front of its fore and back legs. With three tails and V shaped pupils, it was obviously one of the monsters that roamed the land.

  Its thick tongue and sharp teeth felt odd on Arend's back. "Drop him." Kronth ordered from in front of the beast. On command, the wolf opened its mouth and dropped Arend on the ground. "Thank you!" Kronth said with a smile, petting its muzzle.

  "Twas a pleasure my dear." The wolf replied. "What?" Arend said from the ground.

  "Hmm?" The wolf and Kronth asked.

  "He can talk?" Arend asked with a surprised look.

  "No!" I have a special earring that lets me understand the monsters I bonded with." Kronth explained.

  The wolf bent down to Arend and sniffed. "You surely are not a Beastmaster." The wolf said.

  "Then how can he hear you?" Kronth asked. Arend got to his feet.

  "I think his eyes will answer that question." The wolf replied.

  "What does that mean?" Arend asked.

  Kronth tilted his face towards her. She took a step back. "Arend…Your eyes… They're golden." Kronth said with a shocked look.

  The wolf turned to Kronth. "It seems the Orenth inside my body has an effect on his eye color." The wolf said.

  A man came running up with a large hand gun. The wolf flashed forward and sent him flying with his tails. "My name is Oragè. I'm one of Kronth's friends." The wolf said, introducing himself. He then proceeded to romp around and wreak havoc on Neon Shadow.

  "How long are you just going to sit there?" Kronth asked as she took out a man with her whip.

  "Huh?" Arend asked.

  "Get going!" She exclaimed, pointing to the crowd of reinforcements across the field. Reluctantly, Arend ran towards them. Hunter showed up beside him.

  "Nate, enemy reinforcements are moving in." Hunter said through a mike on his headphones. "Rodger that. I've got my own worries about the ones coming from the west." Nate replied.

  "Shit. Any news about Rusty?" Hunter asked.

  "No, but Vladd's group should be arriving soon." Nate replied.

  There was a deafening explosion. Arend cringed and covered his ears. "All this for just a Drive?" Arend asked once the ringing stopped.

  "It's also a show of power." Hunter replied. Something exploded next to Arend.

  "I suggest we take them down as soon as possible." Hunter said as he charged through right before a carpet bomb of explosions went off.

  "Fuck that shit!" Arend exclaimed as he picked up a large rock. He threw it as hard as he could at the line of Neon Shadow members. It bounced off the skulls of two men before colliding with someone's chest. Arend threw a never-ending flurry of rocks at the advancing Neon Shadow. Soon they began hiding behind large chunks of concrete to avoid Arend' rocks.

  Hunter glanced around to check on him and when he spotted him, said "So lame." With a disappointed started to walk in his direction when someone knocked him unconscious from behind.

  "This is so boring." Arend said as he waited for his foes to look out from behind their cover.

  "Let me fix that for you." A man said from behind him. A large boot clipped Arend across the chin and sent him flying back. Rubbing the red mark on his face, Arend sat up to face his opponent. Standing six foot six with wide shoulders and heavy limbs was what looked like a man with a boar's head.

  He snorted. "Dragon's Den must be desperate if they were willing to take you in." He said with a laugh. Arend didn't reply; he was busy fighting the urge to piss himself. "What's with you? No snide remark?" He asked, tapping Arend's leg with a boot. Arend flinched and started to crawl away frantically. "You're a bloody coward!" He exclaimed when he saw the fear in Arend' eyes. As he lifted a foot to follow, Arend scrambled to his feet and sprinted in the other direction.

  "Chh… Waste of time." He grumbled as he turned away from Arend' shameful display.

  "Arend!" Nate called through the radio. "Arend what's wrong!?" Nate repeated as Arend continued to the Guild's building.

  In his haste, he ran into Rusty, who was running in the opposite direction. "Hold it turbo!" He exclaimed as he grabbed Arend around the shoulders. "What's wrong?" He asked. When Arend didn't reply, Rusty handed him off to the man with the Mohawk.

  Rusty pulled out a hand radio. "Nate, what the hell is going on? Arend isn't saying anything." Rusty asked.

  "I don't know! The last thing I heard was Hunter and him charging off." Nate replied.

  There was a long string of curses and something bumped a microphone. "I have a guess." Hunter said as he got to his feet. "Arend said he is mortally terrified of Changed and Possessed."

  "He must have met one in the field." Nate suggested.

  "Watch him Cris. I gotta go take care of something." Rusty said to the man with the Mohawk. Cris nodded.

  Rusty ran back to his car. Cris pulled Arend aside to the wall next to the doorway of the building. "Can you talk yet?" Cris asked. Arend brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them. "I guess that would be a no." Cris said. After a few moments of awkward silence, Cris spoke again.

  "You do know that you're not the only one afraid of Changing right? I was scared myself for most of my life, until Axis came up with a serum that can prevent it."Cris said as he looked towards Arend.

  Arend glanced over at Cris. "And what about Possesion?" Arend asked.

  "That only applies to things with a Matrix. It's the only way the corrupted Orenth can build up. " Cris replied.

  Arend glanced down at his chest, placing a hand over his heart. "But I do." Arend whispered.

  "That's a common misconception. Artificial organs and the like aren't built with Matrices."Cris said.

  "Mine's a special case. It was from the time of the last Great War. The Matrix built around it is what causes the discoloration of my eyes and my hair; it constantly drains my body's Orenth to fuel itself. " Arend explained.

  "Then you should be fine. The serum will protect you from changing, and because of your heart, you can never be Possessed. The constant drain would suck out the stagnant Orenth before it can do any damage." Cris explained.

  Cris handed Arend a set of five vials full of a thick orange substance. "They're orange flavored. A vial will last you about 40 hours." Cris stood up. "I better go help them. Come join me when you're ready." Cris said as Arend downed one of the vials.

  A loud siren blasted across the field. A heavily armored helicopter passed over their heads. A ring of heavily armored vans and a few riot tanks created a tight net around the field.

  "Are any of you seriously injured?" A man in full riot gear with the letters SNSD s
titched onto his chest asked. They shook their heads. "Alright then, stand back." He said as he continued forward to help round up the Neon Shadow members.

  "Who are they?" Arend asked.

  "Sareville's guardian force. Their Guild is known as Silver Napalm. This would be the entire Sentential Division. Hence the initials, SNSD." Cris explained.

  "I would never expect such a kind description from you." A man said as he walked up. Unlike the others, his face wasn't covered by a mask. The letters SNSD were stitched in silver instead of the yellow that all the others were.

  "That's right, Scevin, I forgot you got that promotion. I guess it wasn't important enough for me to remember." Cris replied.

  Scevin twitched. "I guess you're too ignorant to read the paper often enough."

  "Watch it private, you wouldn't want your stuff to go missing while you're busy up on that horse." Cris replied snicker.

  "I'll be going now before you two children begin to slap each other." Arend said as he ran off to find Hunter.

  "The new guy is going to get himself in trouble." Scevin said. Cris nodded with crossed arms.

  Arend turned the radio on. "Yo Hunter! Where are you!?" Arend asked. He got static as the only reply.

  Nate came running up in his mecha. "The radio was shut off. Hunter said he had to take care of some business and ran off once SNSD showed up. You know who they are right?" Nate asked.

  Arend nodded. "Yeah, Cris told me." Arend replied.

  "I've got to help clean up this mess. Kronth said she'll take care of your tour when she's ready." Nate said quickly.

  "How will I know when that is?" Arend asked.

  "Arend." Oragè said from behind him. As Arend turned, Nate went running to help clear some rubble.

  "Oh." Arend said when he saw the wolf. Oragè bent low to the ground.

  "The Mistress is waiting for us." He said as Arend climbed on. Oragè spun around and ran towards the front of the Den building.

  -Hero?-

  "How did you and Oragè meet?" Arend asked.

  Kronth had just told him who he was going to see the most often in the Guild, twenty out a measly total of thirty eight. "I met him a few years ago while I was wandering in the Great Stone Plains." Kronth replied. "That was before I became a desk girl and one of the member managers." Kronth lifted a part of the round counter at the center of the first floor of the Den building.

  "Where are we going now?" Arend asked as he followed Kronth.

  She opened a door in the large pillar the counter was built around. "Where you're going to spend the first four months of your time here." Kronth replied as she started down a large spiral staircase. The staircase curved sharply before opening into a massive underground complex. It was a large dome that was centered around the large pillar that the staircase spiraled around.

  Gigantic Light Korvan were attached to the ceiling of the dome. Their intensity was matched to the sun's location so people below could tell what time it was. A small city was built around the pillar. The street was a continuous spiral outward from the bottom of the pillar. Seven main streets cut through the spiraling street to seven sets of holes around the edges of the dome. Numerous street lamps were set up with weak Light Korvan. Thick wires stretched out into the city from the very top of the dome and a few feet down from where Arend and Kronth were standing.

  "Welcome to the Nest; carved from an old subway station and with new railroads added, it contains everything a Guild member would need. This is what Dragon's Den is really known for. All the Syndicates in the city use this as a main hub for supplies and transport. It is also the only reason our Guild can still function with as few members as we have. Here we will find you a weapon and some new clothes." Kronth explained.

  An artificial wind blew and shifted her hair. She glanced over at Arend, who was still looking at the city. "Why do you carry that bag everywhere? Most men usually go with a backpack or lots of pockets hidden in their jackets." Kronth asked.

  "I like to keep my stuff close at hand. A backpack is harder to organize and a jacket would get in the way of my work." Arend replied as he tugged at a wire that ran over his head.

  "Careful, those used to supply electricity before we could set up generators throughout the city. It took a lot of time and workers before we finished the dome and made the new railways." Kronth said.

  "Do they go where we're going?" Arend asked.

  "No. You are not sliding down these wires, ever." Kronth replied sharply, recognizing the look in Arend' eyes.

  "Fine fine!" Arend said as he raised his hands defensively.

  "Let's get going." Kronth said as she walked down the stairs. Arend followed close by. A soft, cute voice filled the air.

  "Blue Blue!" It called out. A white, fluffy dragon floated around the corner. Its wings twitched occasionally, keeping it in flight. Unlike normal dragons, it had a coat of fluffy, white fur covering almost all its body, the exception being the grey webbing of it wings.

  Its wing span was about twice its height, with a few long, fingerlike ribs supporting the webbing. They too were covered in the white fur, ending a few centimeters after the webbing. It had a tail with a line of grey fur that looked like a Mohawk running up from the tip and up the spine, disappearing under the red mail cap it had on its head. It had a pair of fox-like fur covered ears were perked up around the sides of the hat.

  It was around three feet tall, with foot long stubby arms with four fingered hands. Its torso was about a foot long, a grey spiral of fur was on its belly. It had large, three toed feet that connected to its body by two massive thighs. They were by far the most muscular out of any of his other body parts. When it saw Arend and Kronth, it hurried over. Its tail waved back and forth as it floated over to Kronth.

  "Blue Blue!" It cried triumphantly.

  "It's nice to see you Corenden." Kronth replied.

  "You have some mail!" It said cheerfully as it pulled a bundle of envelopes from its bag.

  "So can he talk?" Arend asked.

  Corenden tilted his head. "Yeah, it's not just us." Kronth replied as she looked through her mail.

  Corenden floated sideways over to Arend, his head still tilted.

  "It's mostly letters about yesterday's member influx as well as resignation from all of them because of the attack from Neon Shadow." Kronth said as she shuffled through each one, reading the first few lines of the letters.

  Corenden scratched his head and stared hard at Arend. After a few seconds of thinking it over, he tackled Arend.

  "Ack! What the hell!?" Arend exclaimed.

  Corenden was perched on Arend' shoulders with his legs resting around Arend' head. Corenden's tail thumped gently on Arend' back and he whistled cheerfully. Kronth was laughing.

  "Care to explain this?" Arend asked grumpily.

  Corenden bent over Arend' head to face him. "We need to get you a hat!" He exclaimed cheerfully.

  "I think he likes how you look." Kronth said as Corenden dropped his hat onto Arend' head. Arend couldn't see it, but Corenden's hair matched Arend' in both color and style. Kronth stifled a laugh.

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's get going." Arend said grumpily as he brushed past Kronth. Kronth laughed under her breath as they walked down the staircase. From there, Kronth led Arend to a dilapidated shed in an empty dirt field at the edge of the city.

  "So what is this place?" Arend asked. A clash of metal on metal reverberated in the air.

  "What the hell was that!?" Arend exclaimed as he ran towards the shed.

  Arend lost contact with the ground as Corenden lifted him into the air. "You're rather light." Corenden said as they passed over the shed.

  "Yeah, do I look like I would be heavy?" Arend grumbled.

  On the other side of the shed a group of about five people were watching two sparring with large swords. Corenden set Arend gently on the ground and hovered at his side. As the two clashed once more, their blades shattered and sent chunks of metal flying in all directions. The last two feet of
one of the blades was headed straight for Corenden and Arend. Acting on instinct, Arend pushed Corenden down and kicked the flat of the blade as hard as he could.

  It embedded itself in a rock a few feet to their right. "That was a little too close for comfort." Arend said as he released the pressure on Corenden's head.

  "You okay over there?" One of the men who were sparring called.

  "Aye!" Arend called back with a wave. As they walked over, Kronth rounded the corner. Arend walked over to the sword embedded into the rock. He tapped it with his knuckle. "Stainless steel? No wonder it exploded." Arend said.