Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 908: An Eternal Oath ()

At first, he was still. No indication of movement. Sitting in his thoughts...tranquil, undisturbed, like the world didn’t exist around him.

Maybe it didn’t.

She’d always wondered where his mind wandered at times like this. What memories plagued his heart? Of all the terrors that made up his past...of all the pain that fueled his rage, what was that one thorn in his heart that he could never shake off?

That one memory his mind constantly relived, twisting the wrath even deeper, like it hadn’t already overwhelmed everything else.

For her, it was that moment. Sitting by the one she called sister... that treacherous moment.

She’d relived it so many times now, it was more her present than her current reality could ever hope to be.

Sometimes she wondered, if a piece of her had stayed stuck in that moment, knowing it would be the last ray of happiness she would ever know.

For Mykael, what would that unrelenting memory be?

What memory did he live through whenever he sat by the edge of the cliff, like one seeking his own death, yet restrained by a life he didn’t want.

"Mykael!"

He’d heard her call. That, she was certain of.

Would he answer? Acknowledge it? That was a different story altogether.

She didn’t think he would. Truth be told, she didn’t have the slightest inclination of what he would and wouldn’t do.

Mykael was a man who lived only by his own rules. He existed purely to be guided by them... governed by them.

No one came too close. No one could get across the walls he’d built around the devastation that was him. No one truly knew his thoughts, his motivations.

No one knew...him.

At least not anyone that still lived.

He turned then, slowly. Like no urgency in the world was worth moving even a beat faster than his characteristic pace.

Not even his own life. Not even the literal end of his existence, in this reality and any other that would come after.

He’d long accepted his fate, she realised. Perhaps even anticipate it.

She couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

Celeste made the final climb. It was then she forced her feet to a stop, right at the distance she’d come to know was all he allowed.

How many feet was it again?

She knew his rules like the back of her hand. Knew what pleased him and what displeased him. She’d lived for the former.

But tonight...was different. Tonight, she couldn’t remember.

Her feet were moving before she could stop them. Across the limits he’d set for centuries, and when they stopped again, she was barely a few paces away from him.

She stopped then, and waited. For the wrath she knew was to come. The fury she’d feared to face for this long.

But how could he know, she was never truly scared of the consequences. Of death, even.

There would be time, she had told herself.

She was wrong. There was no time.

"There has to be..." Her voice fell short, knowing the absurdity of the words she was about to say. Yet she said them.

If not now, when?

"There has to be another way." Her tone was barely above a whisper.

She’d never sounded so frail her whole life. She was of the Dark Fae. The tainted...she didn’t think herself capable of it.

He regarded her for a fleeting moment. Barely a few breaths worth. Then his attention returned to staring over the cliff, like he couldn’t waste a moment of the time he had left doing anything else.

The preparations were complete. She’d sensed the essence of sorcery close by as she made the climb.

Tonight, Mykael would cease to exist.

There was only now...this moment.

"The Fae archives possess many strange methods. As old as time..." She was grasping at straws now.

Still, he didn’t turn. Instead, he hummed.

That tune she’d heard him hum to himself a thousand times before.

She didn’t know the words. She didn’t know what it meant to him. But it was the only piece of the past he allowed himself, other than his name.

"This has never been attempted before. How can you even trust..." She drew in a sharp breath, and then exhaled shakily.

"How can you even trust that sorcerer will keep to his word? Will you give up your life for nothing? Will you abandon your cause for a mere slim chance of his return?!"

He stiffened.

And she knew she’d said the wrong words.

The silence stretched for a long moment, and finally, he said, "Do you know... the words to this tune?"

His tone was calm. A stillness she didn’t think was possible for a man with his history. Somehow, he’d found it. His own version of peace in the midst of all the chaos.

She didn’t reply. He didn’t expect one.

"I do not." He murmured.

He tilted his head, his hair falling over his shoulders.

"I never did." He says lightly, gaze far away.

"He must have hummed it a thousand times. But he never said the words...so I do not know them." He paused briefly, and then carried on with his humming.

Celeste’s fists clenched. His words... she wished she didn’t understand their meaning. But she’d known him long enough to decipher his riddles.

He didn’t know the words... because all he knew, was given by him.

She bit down on her lip harshly enough to draw blood.

She knew then, what memory his mind relived enough to drive one insane. The memory he could never break out of... she could picture it, in this moment, like she had been in those halls herself... said the words herself...

~~~~~~~~~

"Your oath, battle lord."

"I desire it. But it is yours to give, and yours alone. It is not one that can be claimed, or demanded, or required of you."

"With our kin bearing witness, a King does not make requests, but to a few men. And from then, they shall be to him, as his own blood...as himself. Flames eternally bound."

A King knew only command. Order. Anything other than that was weakness. Weakness...was death.

But for this cause and this cause alone, could the King make a request.

This was the greatest honour any one dragon lord could be given. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The call...to the King’s guard.

The words for each King was different. But the oath itself was the same. Eternally binding.

"Will you give it to me? What I desire? Your blood for mine. Your flame for mine. Your oath for mine. Live as one...die as one."

Before all the watchful eyes, he stepped forward and drew near the dragon throne. Beyond the limits all others were bound to abide.

There, he bent the knee. "My blood for yours..."

He drew his blade, slitting his wrist. The thick red liquid blossomed quickly, dripping around the foot of the throne.

"My flame, for yours."

A strand of flame pulsed to life, hovering over his outstretched hand.

"My oath... for yours."

He bowed then, head dropping low. For this would be the last. Beyond this, he would stand...as one second only to the King.

"Live as one...die as one." He muttered the final words solemnly, an oath that could never be undone.

"Rise, Mykael... My brother. My life is yours, as yours is mine."

"So long as one of us still draws breath, the other lives within."