Oathtaker | Chapter 1 - Among the Dust

  There comes a point where a person endures so much that Death becomes somewhat of a mercy to those. That the promise of oblivion with no promise or certainty on what happens next is enough for a person who deals with so much.

  The same can be said for Makoto, whose life has become a downward spiral for him.

  “Finally…” He whispered in a low voice as slowly he felt the coldness take his body and his eyes slowly slip into darkness.

  He had lived a fairly unremarkable life.

  Divorced parents at age 9 leading him to live with an emotionally abusive family. A loner in elementary up till college, resulting in a revolving door styled relationships. Even at work he was mostly viewed as a background figure with many even forgetting he was there.

  Girlfriends? Not a chance, he was interested in two women but one disappeared before he could make a move and another cheated on him.

  By all accounts, Makoto was a loser with nothing worth noting.

  In fact, this could even be counted as a wish granted as he was finally free. He wanted to do it far earlier but the guilt of leaving what’s left of his family only gnawed at him caused by years of brainwashing and emotional manipulation that left him unable to decide against them.

  As he lay there his body was a broken mess after a vehicle related accident, he can hear the faint sound of an Ambulance blaring in the distance indicating that it was nearing and yet despite his broken state, his lungs filling with blood, his vision getting even more blurry while his body is under immense pain. For the first time.

  Makoto was truly happy.

  The rest was somewhat of a blur all things considered, one moment it was pure darkness but then later on he found himself being in the arms of a larger woman. Her skin was beautiful olive while her dark brown hair was a tangled mess as her silver blue eyes stared at him happily as she held him in her arms, what stood out was a pair of wolf-like ears poking out of her dark brown hair.

  She spoke in a language unfamiliar to him, but the way she spoke to him was a mixture of happiness but also caring like a mother to her child.

  She called out to someone out of his field of vision, for some reason he can't seem to move his body leaving him somewhat confused. The woman extended him as though handing him to someone, he felt a pair of strong but gentle arms wrap around him as he looked up to find a man staring at him.

  The Man had silver hair slicked back and gray eyes as looked at him happily but slowly realization had dawned upon him.

  He had died but he had assumed a new life elsewhere. In other words, he had just reincarnated.

  ‘Good grief,’ He said as he tried to voice his disappointment. ‘I wanted to stay dead!’

  He continued to cry but the couple, who are likely his new biological parents, was glad to see him now.

  [The Nightfall Expanse]

  [Sentralis]

  [04-27-5 After Nightfall]

  18-year-old Mark Grauwolfe, walked through the dunes of the Nightfall Expanse. He kept the muffler on his face up to hide his face as he slid down the dunes into a half buried building along the dirt and sands. He was not here for any particular reason, just to scavenge for some random parts that he needed for something.

  The building he wandered into was an old Before Nightfall Era barracks, if he could find what he was looking for there then perhaps the months he spent on the ruins would be worth the dust getting all over his clothes but the search would be worth it.

  He spotted a glint in the dirt as he hurried towards the dirt as, with his bandaged and wrapped hands, dug through the dust as he finally pulled out a dust covered sword that is still in its scabbard itself.

  A smile crept through underneath the muffler as he wiped the dust off of it as he saw the blade, it was an old Imperial Steel Sword resembling that of a single edged sword with a notable crossguard that curved upwards along the while the blade had a faint white gold color to it along the words in Imperial Script where if translated meant a Prayer, a prayer that once told the time it came from.

  ‘May the Sun forever shine upon us.’

  Mark smiled faintly as he felt his eyes moisten when he saw that line as he swallowed hard, he traced a hand through the blade and true enough he felt the warmth of the morning sun along the steel. It was a nostalgic feeling to run a hand through the blade, he proceeded to remove the muffler around his neck and gingerly wrapped it around the blade as it was the most important thing in the world.

  After everything that has happened, it might as well be that.

  “Found one at last.” He muttered as the hairs on the back of his neck flared up as at the same time he felt the click of a Handgun being aimed at the back of his head.

  “Seems like we have ourselves a Scavenger,” Mark heard the muffled voice of a young woman. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

  “The same can be said for you don’t you think?” Mark responded back as he immediately threw sand to the unknown assailant throwing her off guard as he immediately sprinted his way, instead of a way out, he instead sprinted deeper into the ruins in hopes of escaping her.

  ‘I spent months trying to find one,’ Mark thought as he entered the labyrinthian set of ruins. He spent months scoping out the place so he knew the place like the back of his mind. ‘I just need to take a turn and–’

  To his shock, he found himself the young woman from earlier, her desert outfit fluttering in the wind but behind her were a pair of black energy wings as though she was practically floating in the air with her sword in hand ready to strike him down with a decapitating strike.

  Upon instinct, Mark immediately extended his left hand as he felt the cold sting of metal around his left arm as a set of golden chains coiled around his left arm and blocked the attack as sparks flew from it.

  This was then followed by Mark wrapping another set of chains around his fist forming makeshift brass knuckles as he punched her in the face, partly damaging her ballistic mask causing it to crack and also resulting in sending her flying back to a nearby wall.

  Taking the opportunity, Mark ran further deeper into the ruins. Unlike before, he knew each corner and turn but given his growing panic, he was trying his best to at least lose her.

  Even if it meant getting lost himself.

  “Get back here!” He heard her call out with her voice getting closer and closer.

  ‘Those wings of light she made earlier, must be the reason why she’s being able to keep up.’ Mark thought as he opened a door but to his shock it was a ledge for a fall several stories deeper into the ruins. He looked at any nearby ledge he could at the very least jump towards or swing to using his chains. ‘Oh no.’

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “You there!”

  He turned around to find her flying towards him once more but her ballistic mask was visibly falling apart thanks to his earlier punch but she was not holding her sword implying she lost it during the chase. And with the speed she is going through and possibly her lack of knowledge through these ruins.

  There was only one end with one result.

  “Wait st–!” He raised his hands in surrender but it went exactly as he had predicted.

  She ended up tackling him as both of them started freefalling into an abyss with both of them screaming realizing they are falling to their deaths with the last thing he remembers was extending his hands as he wrapped his arm around her and a chain manifested again but everything went dark.

  Mark found himself dangling with a chain around his arm as he was able to embed the chain on a nearby post on an open floor while holding one woman in his arm. And given the every present shoulder pain he was experiencing, this meant his backpack was still on him meaning he did not lose the Sword.

  ‘Oh that’s a relief,’ Mark thought with a sigh of relief as he looked around with the dim lighting. Fortunately he can see a lot better in the darkness due to training and he can spot a nearby ledge that leads to a hallway. ‘If I hurry, I can rappel down and get there.’

  With only one hand, he tried to quickly get there but the chain snapped causing him to hit the ground with a thud causing him to let out a pained groan as he tried to use his backpack to cushion the fall. Unfortunately his backpack was not filled with anything soft so he had no other choice to make sure that the young woman did not end up falling the wrong way.

  ‘I think I dislocated something,’ Mark thought as he looked around and gently placed the woman to the ground while he popped his shoulder back into place as he let out a pained grunt. He looked at the unconscious woman earlier and looked at his belongings for the time being.

  Fortunately most of his belongings were intact despite all that tomfoolery, some were damaged and among them was his phone. He let out a sigh as he looked at his phone which was already cracked and the screen won’t turn on.

  To his luck, the sword was still in the backpack so it’s not much of a problem.

  “Now what do I have to do with you,” Mark commented in a low voice as he looked at her.

  Mark tried to set up a small makeshift camp as he pulled out a few important things to keep them warm in the cold night here at the Expanse. Or Mark suspects the place to already be dark, normally nights at the Nightfall Expanse are colder than most places and given that the place was starting to get cold then this meant that it’s already night time.

  With no other options, he might as well camp here to avoid getting lost otherwise he'll run into something he shouldn't.

  ‘Better do something about her,’ Mark thought as well as he turned to the conscious woman as he reached into his bag and pulled out a set of rope. He didn't want to get her to attack him on sight the moment she woke up so he might as well play it safe.

  After setting up a small camp using a small heater and preparing some food, he heard the faint sound of groaning as he turned around.

  “What happened? Where am I?” He heard her speak as he turned to find her tied to the wall and was clearly confused.

  “Somewhere in the ruins that's for sure,” Mark replied, looking around as he walked towards her. “I will untie you, but promise you that you won't try to kill me. It's a pain to carry a corpse all the way to the exit.”

  “Brave words from someone who spent the last hour running from me,” She said confidently, almost mocking.

  “If I wanted to fight then the outcome would have been different, very very different.” Mark responded as he went on the other side and undid her bindings.

  “You hungry? I got some rations here, should be enough for us to stave off hunger until we can wander out.”

  “I'm not–”

  Growl!

  She went dead silent as she avoided his gaze, even underneath her cracked ballistic mask he can tell she was embarrassed from that ordeal.

  “I want one…please…” she said in a low voice as Mark smiled as he reached into his bag and handed her a ration. It was a white lie, the Rations he had were for a solo trip, not enough for a duo to go wandering around.

  In fact that was his only ration.

  He watched her turn around and take off her hood revealing her beautiful bluish white hair that was tied in a cute bun and her back was turned as she took off her damaged ballistic mask to hurriedly eat.

  “No need to rush, nobody's taking it from you.” Mark said with an amused smile as he reached into his back and pulled out another glow stock and activated it.

  “Do you…know where we are?”

  “Basement Level Four is my guess,” Mark replied waving his glow stick to the wall that had the words Basement Level Four. “Well shouldn't be a problem so long we don't get even more lost.”

  “From what floor did we fall?” She asked putting her mask and hood back on and turned to him, despite the dim lighting of the setting, she had beautiful crimson eyes that almost glowed faintly in the darkness.

  “Probably second, I remember hitting my head for a moment before catching you.” Mark said, recalling the headache he got from waking up moments ago.

  “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tackled you then.” She said with a low voice.

  “Don't be, neither of us knew that door led to a drop.” Mark responded as he stood up as he looked around. The two sat there in awkward silence, Mark was never a social person so he'd rather just sit in silence than anything else to be honest. But as he did so, he realised something about this place.

  “I think I know where we are.” He said standing up as he looked around and grabbed a glow stick.

  “You do?”

  “Yeah if we head this way, there should be a flight of stairs that lead to the surface.” Mark stood up as he pulled out a flashlight. He wanted to use this as a last resort since getting batteries for this is very costly.

  “What were you doing in this place anyways?” She asked walking towards him as they both looked onwards to the dark corridor and they began walking.

  “Grave Robbing mostly,” Mark shrugged. “Found something I needed so I took it.”

  “That's pretty honest of you to be honest.” She asked with an amused look. "You're not even gonna ask my name?”

  “Nope, once we get out I'm going to high tail out of here.” Mark responded as they followed a flight of stairs with their footsteps echoing across the halls.

  “You're not afraid of me taking you in? I'm a Ranger, you know.” She said almost like she's bragging about it rather than threatening him to be honest.

  “And arrest the man who helped you out here when he could have left you for dead a while back?” Mark responded in a rather amused tone as he glanced and noticed she stiffened a bit realizing the implications of what she said. “That doesn't hold well on the reports later you know.”

  “I suppose exceptions can be made,” She immediately backpedaled as Mark let out an amused scoff.

  “I'm assuming you saw me enter here, that's why you went after me?” Mark said as reached the upper floor.

  “That's right, they marked the place as an orange zone after all. Going further is the red zone and deeper into the Nightfall Expanse.” She said, almost as if she's worried. “I was gonna warn you but I immediately saw you pick up that Imperial Steel Sword and I knew you weren't a Last Light Mourner on a Pilgrimage and just looking for a quick cash grab.”

  Mark simply kept quiet on that as they walked in silence.

  “What, you're not going to deny that?” She asked with a confused tone.

  “I don't have to justify that,” Mark responded almost coldly. “I have my reasons.”

  “How mysterious of you,” She said sarcastically as he glanced back to find one hand on her hip. “Are you in some kind of Quest?”

  “Yeah sure let's go with that.” Mark responded quietly.

  The two continued their way in silence with the occasional banter on certain topics but none were impactful all things considered. Eventually the two of them arrived at the surface and the two found themselves staring by the horizon of the gray almost black sands of the Nightfall Expanse and farther beyond they can see spires and hulking masses of stone that clearly show that they were once ruins of a great nation.

  “It's tragic isn't it?” He heard her whisper in a low voice. “It’s only been five years since the Nightfall Cataclysm.”

  “Yes, it’s very…unfortunate.” Mark simply admitted in a low voice, he quietly tapped on her shoulder to get her attention.

  “Head in that direction, that should take you to the nearest outpost.” Mark said pointing westward, lugging the backpack over his shoulder and pointing southward. “I’m heading that way, don’t follow me. Helping you out of that ruin instead of leaving you in exchange for a blind eye is a fair deal right?”

  He didn’t wait for her response, in fact he just gripped the strap of his backpack and proceeded to walk away almost in a hurry.

  “Wait!”

  Mark stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around.

  “I need to know your name,” She called out to him.

  “Mark,” He told her and continued walking. “Mark Grauwolfe.”

  “I’ll remember that, I promise we'll see each other again!” She said, for a brief moment he felt a bit of nostalgia in those words.

  ‘I promise! We'll see each other again!’ were the words of a nine year old girl in another life before never seeing her again in that life.

  He remained silent and just kept walking away.