THE BLACK SCYTHES

Kalen's pov

"Kalen, it's time"

Felix stood behind me as I looked in the mirror, the man visible in it was looking both familiar and unfamiliar, the clothes i wore were even more impressive that the ones I wore on my inauguration, although not as embellished their brilliance shone through how much simpler they were. If during my inauguration I was to look dauntless and unshakeable now I looked awe inspiring and a being worth pledging loyalty to, a vastly different visage than the mercenary I was until recently.

I turned to look at the one man I was completely sure I could trust and asked

'how do I look'

his smile was filled with pride as he said

"Reagal"

I made a sour face as I replied

'I was going for disinterested'

he laughed a bit as he said

"well its too late for that now, and I don't just mean the clothes, over the last week you made sure to meet with each of the recruits at least once learning their names their histories and why they want to work for you, they've all pegged you as the type show a lot of interest, especially in your men, our numbers keep swelling simply due to that rumour"

I shrugged as I said

'I was simply conscious of spies'

"sure you were"

he said smiling wryly

"just so you know not all Don's show such concern"

I sighed with resignation seeing that he didn't buy my excuse

'sure, so they're all outside?'

"yep"

I could sense the impressive aura's of the young men and woman I had chosen as my top 4 but I still asked the question trying to make small talk to ease my nerves.

Felix caught on to my apprehension, his eyes twinkled as if remembering something pleasant before he spoke

"remember Lucas's face when you informed him that he had made it into the four"

I recalled the memory and caught myself smirking as Felix continued

"he tried to play it off as if he wasn't expecting it at all, with fake stuttering and gasping while making an expression of suprise, and he did it in full veiw of the whole guild as if expecting us to believe him"

a slight smile played on my lips as I spoke

'he began muttering about how he wasn't expecting this and how it was such an honour. His tone was so sincere I'm pretty sure some of the newer recruits believed him'

"yeah"

said Felix practically laughing at this point

"why did he stop anyway, I could have sworn he would have gone on for several more minutes"

'that's because I whispered to him that if he didn't shut up I'd send him into the nearest wall'

"oh so that's why he looked so scared"

'yep, you know Jess really doesn't like him'

"you think"

he said sarcastically

'no, I mean, it's like she's constantly anticipating the moment he gets his shit recked'

"well he can be annoying"

'yeah but that's too much work for someone who's simply an annoyance, like why can't she just ignore him, do you know what she said to me when I threatened him'

Felix was wiping tears from the corner of his eyes by now

"please do tell"

'you should probably make sure to smash his head in too'

Felix's laughter seemed to die as I said those words, as if contemplating something nasty before he said

"you know, those two are going to be working together a lot aren't you worried"

'about what?'

I asked puzzled, just like Lucas Jess had also made it into my elite 4 as such would be second only to me in the guild provided she increase her level, all three who accompanied me and Felix had made it in, although there were a few recruits who were stronger than them right now after surviving the ordeal all three of them discovered they had achieved realisation and quickly went into meditation all leaping quite significantly in strenght, within a few months they could even reach the 10th teir, plus after surviving a battle with a Don even if one was to account for the fact that he was holding back all three of them had resumes that guilds of well established Don's would fight over, their future potential and current accomplishments made it easy to select them for the 4

"you don't think she'd be likely to purposefully let Lucas get into a lethal situation, right"

I was about to reply with a simple Duh but the words got caught in my throat. After a second or two I uttered the words

'Miss Mallie'

to which Felix nodded, Miss Mallie was a mercenary we grew up around, we weren't really close with her thankfully but we knew the story of how she got dismissed from Trident city guild. Miss Mallie was in a party with a man who she had a physical relationship with, when it was rumoured that he was seeing someone on the side due to him having been seen with her in the city at night she was livid with rage, instead of confronting the man however she waited until they took a job together and ended up in a melee with a bunch of kobolds. There are some onlookers who claim she didn't do it intentionally but they're others in disagreement all that matters is that her mace ended up smashing into his thigh, when confronted Miss Mallie said nothing in her defense only showing some reaction when told that the woman her boyfriend was seeing was in fact his sister, Miss Mallie already had a history of violence against other mercenaries so the guild had no choice but to dismiss her wishing her fortune in another branch on the continent, I and Felix heard this story when we were children but what really scared us was who told us the tale. Mrs King, Lorains mother had called us both along with her daughter to give us the full gist of the tale, after speaking she ended it with

"and that boys is why you should never anger a woman"

even with that I hadn't felt much from the story but a 10 year old Felix beside me was positively frightened, with a shaky voice he asked

"a....ar....are all women like th...that"

she smiled as she said

"ask your friend"

simultaneously we turned to Lorain who faced us as well, she had come down with the flu a week prior as such we decided to stick by her instead of playing outside like usual that was also why we were here listening to stories, she looked the same except a bit pale with droopy eyes but when she turned she was wearing a smile, one totally unlike her usual one, while normally she would radiate positivity this smile had eerie feel to it but was also quite familiar, I suddenly remembered all the times my dad had skipped off work to go play and my mom would catch him, he'd try to defend himself about how he had been working for so long or how he needed a break but once she wore that smile he'd give up right away. Father swore on his scythe that he was stronger than mother but would never raise objections once that smile came up, I never saw them fight but I simply assumed he was lieing as when I posed the same question for mum she'd smile coyly and ask me to guess but now that I think about it, now that I have all these pieces what if dad was stronger but mom was scarier for other reasons. With that realisation I silently swore to myself to never mess a woman's feelings

"Loraine's smile that da..."

Felix caught himself before he could finish, typically the damage would have already been done and I'd be come over with a feeling of longing, of sorrow of regret, but instead. I replied

'I will never ever, ever cheat'

I said with a wry smile, Felix took the bait and replied

"you won't get a chance if you don't put yourself out there"

at those words I found myself chuckling. We continued to talk, we talked about our lives our adventures and whole host of other things, after a few good minutes Felix asked

"you better now?"

I had calmed my laughter yet still held a slight smile on my lips as I answered

'Yeah, and thank you'

"my pleasure Don Kalen"

'lead the way right hand man'

Felix walked towards the door opening it with grace, behind it I saw Lucas Desmond and Jess all trying to act as if they hadn't been listening in on us. Lucas looked especially pale while Jess had a slight smile, one that still scared me

'Gentlemen and lady'

they each took a knee and answered in unison

"Lord Don"

Lucas at the forefront spoke first then Desmond then Jess

"your host awaits you, your blades"

"your shadows"

"your support"

Felix joined them he himself on his knees

"and all that have pledged their lives to you"

watching Felix kneel brought me a host conflicting emotions I found my mouth moving to ask maybe even beg him to stand, but then he raised his head and showed me his face, it was one of pride and resolution with a tinge of

:don't screw this up:

and with that the words died

'my banner is your, my pride is yours where I walk you must follow, when I am slighted you must feel rage and when I am in pain you must feel agony, do you swear it?'

"We swear it"

'to whom and in the presence of who'

"I swear to you and in the presence of my sword"

said Lucas

"I swear to you and in the presence of my bow"

said Jess

"I swear to you and let my axes bear witness"

said Desmond

"I swear to you on the weapon that resides in my soul"

said Felix

I raised my head to look forward and replied

'well said, I accept your Fealty,.....let's go'

I began walking and only after a bit of time had passed did they rise to follow me, through the halls passed dozens of empty rooms they walked their gait full of pride and their black military style uniforms with silver accents displaying a level of awe to all who would see it, but there was no one here to do so, no members no maids all signs of life gone from the Manor, in all but one place, we moved purposefully towards the grand hall, towards hushed whispers and uncertain lives, towards my men.

To the average onlooker the doors seemed to crawl open, spreading apart at the pace of a snail but to me even without the aid of mana it was all to quick,

:too fast:

I thought before chidding myself, that was just my anxiety speaking as I wore a mask of calm pride. All the men and women present instantly whipped their heads towards me, standing at the edge of a podium in a room fit for a king to host a splendid ball, but one look at the occupants would tell you if any one here cared for dancing it'd be the dance of death, good thing too as we weren't here for dancing, they were all dressed stalwartly, matching military uniforms like the ones my four wore cut between what was functional for warrior's, what was functional for mages and what was functional for magic swordsmen. Black with white accents, white instead of sliver signifying rank, I caught multiple stares, mostly at me marked with awe, the rest at my attendants with obvious jealousy, the thought of that was amusing to me which in turn brought me comfort.

STEP

I moved with purpose

STEP

STEP

STEP

the only sound audible in a room filled with hundreds were my own footfalls, my own ungraceful footfalls and it almost made me falter, it almost made me a magic swords man who had reached the highest level awaked an Arcanum and defeated a Don lose his footing and fall face first into the ground, until I heard it

"are you gonna embarrass yourself, or have you forgotten that you're the most important person in this room"

it was a message sent straight to my mind and I knew who sent it, Damien had claimed he would miss the service as getting up before 9am was more than his intoxicated mind could handle but it seemed he was lieing, there were a million things I could say to him, where are you hiding?, why did you lie?, YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!!!!, but instead I chose something simpler

'shut upppp'

dragging the last part in a tone a child would take in an argument he was loosing I sent him the telephatic message, I could swear I heard muffled laughter coming from somewhere within the crowd but I ignored it, that wasn't what was important right now, I didn't even need to catch myself, I had hallucinated the fall, but I didn't let my embarrassment show on my face as I walked towards center stage in front of a crowd who would pledge their lives to me.

'Warrior's, Mages, and both, what did you come here for'

I could sense shock rippling through Felix's body luckily he didn't let it show on his face as he was standing right behind me, we had gone through several renditions of my speech but none of them sounded like this

'did you come here for glory, did you come for money, fame or adventure'

I could hear a few excited murmurs amongst the crowd, it seemed like my words tickled the fancy of a lot of people present so when I spoke next they all exclaimed in shock even greater than Felix's

'if so'

I bowed, a 90 degree bow that shook the crowd to each and every man's core, Don's do not bow under any circumstance

'I'm sorry, I truly, deeply apologise'

as I rose I was faced with a myriad of expressions, confusion, incredulity and even hints of despair, some probably thought the rumours of me being a mad man obsessed with slaughter were true

'I did not call you all here for things like that, I called you all here because I was looking for people who want to do good'

their frowns of confusion only deepened as I spoke

'that is all I want,... you will get your glory, you will get your riches and adventure will be with you every step of the way, all i ask of you as you use my name is that you be a force for good, in any form, in any way, as much as it takes'

I waved my hand before turning my back to them, and with that all of the doors in the room opened

'leave now if you want'

1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 then 4 then 5, an entire half hour passed and I turned back to face them, all 600 were still here, all of them accounted for and on all of their faces awe inspiring resolve, I looked to them as if I hadn't expected any less and spoke in a commanding voice

'Kneel'

they all went down on one knee as if it was their purpose, as if they shouldn't have been doing anything else

'From this day forth you shall all be known as the Black Scythe's and I, your head'

"WE PLEDGE OUR LOYALTY TO DON KALEN, HEAD OF THE BLACK SCYTHES GUILD AND THE ONE WHO LEADS US TO GLORY WEALTH ADVENTURE AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, TO RIGHTEOUSNESS"

I looked up to the ceiling amist the shouts conveying loyalty and diligence before whispering

'Loraine, I'm doing good aren't I'