The Oathsworn

by Liandra Jake

  Arend didn't glance away. "You're my target; now stop trying to distract me." Arend said as he charged at Ace. Ace tried to jump up, but King jumped on top of him and held him down.

  Arend brought the full force of his remaining blade on Ace's right foreleg. It landed with a crunch, cutting halfway through the bone even though it was unsharpened. Ace let out a loud yelp and catapulted King off with a pair of blue Orenth wings. Something spun past Arend, striking Ace's wounded leg. It snapped off along with a chunk of muscle and sinew.

  Duke stepped back. "Like it or not, we're going to help." Duke said as Nojeski drove his katana between Ace's ribs, like he had with King.

  "I guess becoming infamous and causing so much trouble has finally come back to haunt you." Arend said before bringing his sword down on Ace's head. It skittered off his skull to one side, lopping off an ear.

  "So you can all hurt me, but you forgot something." Ace said as a ring of light surrounded Arend.

  From above, the leviathan was casting it down from its mouth. "She'll take you all to hell with me." Ace said as the circle suddenly encompassed the entire coliseum. A shrill whining filled the air as the light intensified.

  "The Light of Judgment." Nojeski said as he gazed skyward. There was the quiet rumble of a small engine.

  A large black motorcycle jumped over the stands of the coliseum. It pushed people aside as it drove down the stands. It landed with a sharp turn on the coliseum floor. A peach-haired man pulled out a long barreled hand gun. He pointed it up at the leviathan. A single shot rang out and the light sputtered. The leviathan let out a pain filled cry and fell from the sky into a nearby valley.

  The peach-haired man holstered his gun and hopped off his bike. A pair of red goggles that resembled Rusty's covered his eyes. A light coat of peach stubble covered most of his chin. He had a light blue jacket zipped up halfway. A red shirt could be seen under it. His blue jeans were ripped at the edges and his knees. He had a black belt looped through them.

  Two other belts held his gun and a sword at either hip. The sword was only the outer edge; it was missing all of its inner metal, only having the spine and blade of the sword. A pair of black steel toes stepped across the dirt as the man looked around. Everyone but Arend stared in awe at the man, even King and Ace. Corenden slowly drifted down from the sky with heavy breath.

  Kronth gave him a dark look as he landed next to Arend. He gave Arend the grey ring before passing out onto Arend' feet. Arend slipped it onto his left hand. "Who's that?" Arend whispered to Duke. Duke looked like it was going to explode from the look he gave Arend. The peach haired man walked towards Arend. He pulled off his goggles to reveal two-color eyes.

  A red left and a blue right. He put his goggles in his jacket. "Everything alright here?" He asked Arend.

  "Just peachy." Arend replied.

  The man paused briefly before letting out a burst of laughter. "It's not quite the idea of 'peach fuzz'."Arend said with a chuckle.

  He let out a brief snort before smiling. "You're cool! You're the only one not worried about who I am." He replied.

  "Why should I? You're only a man." Arend held out his hand. "Arend Myshcell."

  "Faulken Miachet." He replied, shaking Arend' hand furiously.

  "Now if you don't mind, I have something to finish." Arend said as he turned to Ace.

  "Hold on!" Faulken said as he pulled out his gun. He tossed it to Arend.

  "That will at least end it quickly for the both of you." He said as Arend looked at it.

  "It's better than a broken sword." Arend said as he sheathed the Dragon Drive. He spun it in his hands a few times. "I really like your setup. Simple and yet effective. The Korvan really have quite a lot of Experience." Arend said as he popped open the chamber.

  "You're a Kruxsetter? Think you could explain the Experience thing a bit?" Duke asked.

  "It's quite simple; the use of the Korvan gets more efficient the more you use it. And trust me, It can really compound with this kind of setup." Arend said as he pointed the gun at Ace.

  "Seems a fitting end." Ace said as Arend pulled the trigger. A shot of white light spiraled out the end of the barrel. It literally erased Ace's body from the earth. Severed limb and all, leaving only a spot of charred earth.

  Arend stared down at the gun. Faulken slowly took it from his hand. "Yeah, I'll make sure to never let you use it again." Faulken said as he put it back into his holster.

  "So now what?" Nojeski asked as he sheathed his katana.

  "Rebuild the village then head home." Duke replied.

  "Nope. Not me. I'll be finishing something with King after I take a nice long nap." Arend replied as he laid down next to Corenden on the ground.

  "Uh, Arend?" Duke started.

  "Nope. As of right now I'm dead to the world." Arend replied as she shut his eyes.

  Something heavy stepped on Arend' chest. Oragè had placed a paw onto Arend. Kronth jumped off his back. "Why are you here?" She asked Faulken.

  "Leviathan." Faulken replied.

  "Fine; we need to talk later." Kronth said, returning her attention to Arend. "You do know what you did here today will forever put you in the history books right? Kronth asked. Arend waved a hand.

  "Eh, I don't care. The more famous people will attract more attention. I'll just be forgotten in the hustle and bustle." Arend replied a he tried to push Oragè off.

  Oragè held firm. Kronth glanced over at King, who was sitting patiently. "So what about you? It's not like you can just sit and wait." Kronth asked King.

  "I can wait as long as it takes for this to end." King replied.

  "What does that mean?" Arend asked, looking over.

  "I've done horrible things Arend, to you and the people of this village. It's time for it to end." King replied.

  "So you're going to help rebuild the village?" Arend asked.

  King blinked. "I think he meant to die by your hand." Oragè said.

  "Well that's stupid! If he wants to make up for what he did, he should help those he caused pain to, not die and take the easy way out." Arend said as he pushed Oragè off.

  "It's harder than you think earning that level of forgiveness." King said solemnly.

  "Then face it with all you've got! Hell, without your help, I wouldn't have been able to face Ace." Arend said.

  "Arend, we can't have a Pendragon that has done what he's done running around Dragon's Den." Kronth said.

  "Kronth, we've all done things in our life that we regret. Move past that. Besides, if he gets out of line I'll kick his ass!" Arend replied.

  "Then there's only one thing you can do." Nojeski said. "Arend needs to prove he can take on King in any circumstance."

  "So only hand to hand?" Arend asked as he cracked his knuckles.

  "Sounds good to me." Faulken said.

  "Are you crazy!?" Kronth exclaimed.

  "Let's go King." Arend said as he walked to the only place that wasn't damaged or full of people. Arend tossed his hat and bag back at Kronth. He threw his half broken sword to the wall. "Let's do this!" Arend exclaimed as he started shadow boxing. "Bring it on!" Arend shouted as he taunted King.

  The shadow of a smile passed across his face before he charged at Arend. Arend dived to the side, rolling and charging at King. King slid slightly as he turned around, before pouncing at Arend. Arend rolled between King's forearms, punching King in the soft spot of his belly. Surprisingly, King was lifted off the ground slightly. Arend ducked as King hopped away.

  King turned back to Arend, who was swaying back and forth slightly, his fists up in front of his face. His eyes glowed the same color as King's. "

  You're just as dangerous without the sword." King said.

  "You did say I was part Pendragon." Arend replied before charging again. King jumped back as Arend brought a leg down where King used to be.

  The ground cracked under the impact. 'I'm not going to hit him with these.' Arend thought as he continued to attack King. Arend stopped. King watched fro
m a few yards away. Arend brought his leg down as hard as he could. A large chunk of rock shot into the air. Arend whipped his leg around and sent the rock flying at King's head. It struck King in the center of his skull. He shook his head. A stream of blood stained the fur where it struck.

  King tried to run at Arend, but he curled to the left and fell over. "I take it I win!" Arend said with a grin.

  "Yeah, giving a concussion tends to do that." King retorted from the ground.

  "Satisfied?" Arend asked, glancing over at Kronth. She nodded with a grumpy look on her face. "Now to sleep!" Arend said as he fell forward.

  -Hustle and Bustle-

  Arend let out a loud snore. As usual, he was sleeping in his bed, spread eagle. He had only woken up to eat or relieve himself. Jenifer said it was from the multiple shifts in his Orenth when he was in the mountains. No one minded it until he did it for a week straight. Kronth and Hunter were watching him sleep from the foot of his bed. Kyrel walked up with a broom stick. He poked Arend' face with it.

  "Stop that!" Kronth snapped, grabbing the broom stick from Kyrel's hands. Arend snorted.

  "A little lower…" Arend mumbled as he rolled over. Kronth raised an eyebrow. She poked the middle of his back. "No, lower." Arend said as a grin spread across his sleeping face. Hunter took the broom stick from Kronth. He brought it down as hard as he could on Arend' ass.

  "AHH!" Arend shouted as he shot up. Rubbing the sore spot, he looked over at the three standing at the foot of his bed. "What The hell are you doing?" Arend asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Get dressed. You have some work to do." Kronth said as she dragged Kyrel down the stairs.

  Hunter poked Arend' bare chest before running after Kronth. "Okay. That was weird." Arend said as he rolled out of bed.

  He showered, got dressed and ate breakfast. He was wearing the same clothes from before, only except for the black shirt, an orange one with a red circle. 'Where does he find these?' Arend thought as he glanced down at his shirt. Like before, the red circle eluded him till he pulled the shirt on.

  "Remind me to call you when I need a place to party." Faulken said as he popped out of the trapdoor.

  "To bad I don't have a phone." Arend replied.

  "Have you checked the news yet?" Faulken asked as he plopped down on Arend' couch. "Nope." Arend replied.

  "Why?" "Because you're on it." Faulken replied as he turned the T.V on.

  [… He was seen taking on two different Pendragons. One of which was The Black Monster. From eye witness accounts, they are named King and Ace, the latter being that of The Black Monster, who was eradicated by Dragon's Den's newest member, Arend. The power of the attack came from Faulken's weapon, though in all truth, he didn't need it.

  [The other Guild members were upset they were unable to fight them themselves. Rusty, the member of Dragon's Den who made the emergency call, stated that he had no idea how well Arend could handle The Black Monster. When pressed for more interviews, Kronth, one of the well know counter girls, had this to say:

  ["As much as I would like Arend to provide on this, he is currently unable to do so because of complications from that day. I however can answer questions as well as others involved in the incident."

  [Shortly after a brief interview, Nojeski of the Shadow Clan, from the Guild known as The Hallows of Nojorn, disappeared with his apprentice. King, the remaining Pendragon has been put to work repairing the village that he inadvertently destroyed. Duke, an S Ranked member of Dragon's Den was assigned to watch him until the work was finished.

  [Oh? … Well, it seems we have breaking news. Draken Faukue has a few words to say about this story. …

  ["Due to the nature of his accomplishment, I would personally like to meet Arend; to award him the Title of Shadow Hunter and bump his Rank up to C. If his skills are more than Pendragon hunting, his Rank should be increasing soon. I look forward to it Arend."] He saluted with a limp three fingers.

  [In other new…]

  "Who is Draken?" Arend asked.

  Faulken threw the T.V remote at Arend' head. "The head of the coalition of Syndicates. He's the one who says how many members we can have, as well as whether or not we remain a Guild." Faulken replied angrily.

  "If you don't even know that, I guess I'll have to give you a crash course as of now."

  [X]

  "What can you tell me about Arend? How long has he been in your Guild?" King asked as he dragged the final block of stone across a valley.

  "His trip here was his second day. Other than that, I don't know much." Duke replied from his back.

  King let out a chuckle. "That's a Myshcell all the way."

  "What about you? How do you know so much about his family?" Duke asked.

  "I'm over nine hundred years old. I've met a few of them throughout my time." King replied as he started up the sheer cliff that led to village.

  Duke grabbed King's fur as he climbed straight up. "So you were there for the last Great War." Duke said.

  "Yes, and it was the bloodiest of them all. The century of different species killing each other ended when they all clashed over Myayutio." King replied darkly.

  "Myayutio?" Duke asked.

  "The homeland of the dragons. Let's just say, they do not like our petty squabbles." King replied.

  "I didn't know dragons actually existed. But you know, I have an ancestor that was a Great General. We still have his uniform from the fall of Kakan." Duke said.

  "I was there. I watched as the city was burned and listened to its citizen's cry out before their death." King replied.

  Duke tightened his grip. "This is the last block. After we're done here we'll head to Dragon's Den." Duke said.

  King picked up his pace. 'I can't believe I have to live like this. Under the thumb of a human who barely even realizes his potential. Regardless of how he feels, I shouldn't still be alive. How long will he make me live with this guilt?' King thought as he climbed over the cliff's edge.

  The village needed to cut the final block into pieces in order to repair the damage to the castle. With a quick swipe of his razor sharp claws, King cut the block more than three fourths of the way though. The villagers easily cut what King's claws couldn't reach. King was soon unharnessed and he and Duke left the villagers to their work.

  King and Duke quickly made their way down the mountain. "Are you sure you don't want to rest a bit before we head out?" Duke asked from alongside King.

  "I can rest when we get there." King replied.

  [X]

  "Where the hell have you been!?" Kronth exclaimed as Arend and Faulken exited the elevator.

  "I was explaining some things to Arend." Faulken replied.

  "For almost two hours!? Draken has been waiting for you two!" Kronth exclaimed. Her face was noticeably flustered.

  Arend shuffled over to the bar. He dropped his head on the counter and let his arms fall slack. "At this point I don't really care. You can only cram so much when your heart's not in it." Arend grumbled.

  "You can mope later; right now you have somewhere to go." Kronth said as she dragged Arend to his feet.

  "God damn it." Arend grumbled as Kronth drug him down into the Nest. "You seriously need to find a faster way to get down there." Arend said as he followed Kronth.

  "Shut up." Kronth snapped, spinning around. "I'm not in the mood for your lip." Faulken made sure to follow Kronth from far behind.

  When they stepped out from the pillar, Arend' jaw dropped. The streets of the city were jam-packed with a massive crowd. When they saw Arend and Kronth emerge from the staircase, they let out a loud cheer. "You're fuckin' kidding me. I am not dealing with that." Arend said.

  "Grey Heart!" Corenden called out as he flew around the building.

  Arend raised a hand, but slowly lowered it when he saw the flock of Floxes following behind him. Each one had a unique size and fur markings. "Some of my friends wanted a chance to see you." Corenden explained as he landed on Arend' shoulders.

  "Hey Corende
n, any chance of getting a lift over that headache down there?" Arend asked.

  "Are you crazy? PR like this only comes a once in a lifetime." Kronth said as she grabbed Arend' arm.

  "No! I don't like this kind of attention!" Arend exclaimed as he pulled back from her. Corenden slipped of Arend' shoulders when he jerked back. He hovered slightly outside the railing. "If I'm well known, that should be enough. Besides, a long walk down a staircase isn't our Guild's style." Arend continued before climbing up onto the railing.

  "What the hell are you doing!?" Kronth exclaimed.