Oath of Dawn

{Meer Calendar, 18 June, 1 Year Before the Demon War}

{Bog Forest, 03:51 AM}

A white mist enveloped the orc tribe's encampment.

The knee-deep white mist could even freeze an adult's bones.

Even so, there was the sound of nocturnal animals looking for prey.

Predatory birds, cuckoos with sharp eyes that pierced the thick white mist.

Poisonous insects, walk proudly across the wet Bog forest ground.

Profound bats, hanging with their open red eyes while watching the creatures of the Bog forest.

No living creature dared to stay awake in the Bog Forest at night except for them.

The thick mist was like a blanket for them.

The dark night without light was warmth for them.

The night was their world.

The night was their kingdom.

The night was their domain.

But unfortunately.

The predatory birds stopped squawking, as they widened their eyes.

The poisonous insects stopped walking, their legs rustling.

The snickering bats stopped dangling, their wings flapping.

A young orc stood in front of his tent.

Beside the young orc was a torch, not to warm his body, but only to give a signal.

A sign that the night was not only theirs,

A sign that this white mist wouldn't be able to penetrate their thick skin,

And a sign that the dark night would not be able to blind their red eyes.

The orcs would invade their night.

Moku smirked, yesterday afternoon after the Palaka fight, he ordered all orcs to wake up before sunrise and when the white mist was knee-deep.

The orcs' faces paled because they knew that Moku would lead them to perform his usual moves until they fainted.

However they had no choice, it was the chief's order so they had to respect it, at least before any new orcs challenged him for Palaka.

Palaka for the title of chieftain could only be done once a day, this was to prevent orcs from performing cowardly acts such as continuously asking for Palaka until the opponent was exhausted.

So whether they liked it or not they had to obey Moku until tomorrow before they challenged him.

Moku wanted to be the strongest. But those who wanted to reach the pinnacle of life would know that there were many pebbles in the road.

Moku wanted to become a Ku and create the strongest army, which would later help him get rid of the pebbles.

Moku spent all night racking his brains on how to train the other orcs to quickly become strong. He didn't even touch the five human women.

Moku simply ordered the orcs to move them into his warmer tent. Moku also cooked meat and looked for fruits for them to eat.

After that Moku ignored them.

Today was a big day for the orcs, as Moku wanted their tribe to rise again from adversity.

There was the sound of approaching footsteps, Moku didn't turn around, he kept his eyes on the stars in the sky.

One by one the orcs came. Neither of them spoke.

The orcs just stared at their new chieftain in admiration.

The reason?

An orc who was bigger than the other orcs looked at their chief with admiration that surpassed the admiration of other orcs.

He didn't even understand why he was still alive.

The other orcs also thought the same, Goku's wounds during the Palaka match were beyond help. His head which seemed to be detached from his body was only stuck because there was flesh and skin that had not been cut off.

But Moku miraculously connected Goku's head and body until they were whole again, only with some wood and cloth tied around Goku's neck.

'Is he a Shaman?' the orcs asked silently.

If indeed Moku was a Shaman then this was the best news for the tribe.

Moku saw the faces of the orcs and understood what they were thinking. He opened his mouth.

"I'm not a Shaman!" Moku's low voice was heard by all the orcs.

Moku had never treated someone with a broken throat, but he had treated an arm fracture. Moku just hoped that they had the same principles and treated Goku.

Moku used Goku as his research material on the orc's regeneration ability against fractures. It seemed that his research this time also yielded satisfactory results.

Goku's throat bone slowly connected, and after a night of rest, he was able to walk again. Maybe in 2-3 days, Goku will be able to fight again.

Moku wanted to do research on decapitated orcs. To his knowledge, the brain could still survive 4-6 minutes without oxygen.

Could a decapitated orc still be saved if its severed head was successfully reattached?

But Moku didn't want to behead his tribe members as soon as he became chief. 'Maybe another time' Moku thought in his heart.

The sound of approaching footsteps stopped.

All the orcs had gathered, perhaps curiosity made them willing to come. Moku then opened his mouth.

"Do you know why we never gave our tribe a name?" Moku asked.

When Moku's question sounded, the faces of all the adult orcs turned grim.

Moku and the other 6 young orcs didn't know the name of their tribe. Even though this was an orc tribe the orcs did not give it a name to distinguish it from other orc tribes out there.

Instead, the adult orcs just called it 'this tribe' and 'the tribe'.

"Can no one answer? I'm asking you adult orcs!" Moku asked once again.

He looked at the group of adult orcs who were just looking down with increasingly grim faces.

Seeing that his question remained unanswered, Moku became furious. In fact, he already knew the reason.

He didn't get to know this from one of the adult orcs. The adult orcs thought Moku was crazy so they didn't even want to approach him.

He knew the reason from a Goblin.

"If you don't want to answer me, let me answer—"

The adult orcs were shocked. Moku ignored them and continued his story.

"20 years ago,

We had more than 20 tribes each with a different name and more than 50 orcs.

One of the tribes even had a wise Shaman.

The shaman became a doctor, judge, and teacher to the young orcs.

We lived like kings, and we ruled the outer quarter of the Bog Forest.

The orcs who were proud of their strength felt like they were the strongest.

The weak bodies of humans were also unable to withstand their blows.

Humans to them were only prey.

Every month, orc warriors would descend from the mountain and hunt for female humans.

They came home with food, iron weapons, and women.

When they came home, they were warmly welcomed.

They came home like heroes.

The orcs cheered, jumped, slapped their chests, and danced.

It was the same as what you did yesterday afternoon."When Moku spoke up to here he smiled.

He looked at the pale faces of the adult orcs and the young orcs who were smiling proudly and then he continued his story.

"However, were humans really that weak?

Were humans really our prey?

or are we just meeting weak humans?" Moku smirked.

This rhetorical question made all the adult orcs bow their heads in shame. The young orcs also began to feel that something was wrong.

"What do you mean Moku?" Mige, a young orc, asked.

Hearing that question Moku laughed, a sneer on his face.

"HAHAHAHA!! Of course, humans aren't weak.

Strong humans were waging war with the elves. So they didn't have time to eradicate pests like orcs.

It was just that the orcs never knew that.

They kept attacking and attacking.

They felt strong just because they were able to kill farmers.

They felt powerful because they were able to rape village girls.

They felt that they were heroes just because they were able to bully the weak.

A 'Pest' is the most appropriate name for an orc!" Moku's voice resounded loudly throughout the camp.

The faces of the adult orcs lowered, their hands clenched into fists, and their teeth chattered. They wanted to go against Moku's words but they knew it was the truth.

But the young orcs didn't feel the same, they just felt that Moku was being rude by insulting their ancestors.

"Moku! Take back what you said! How dare you insult our ancestors! You think you are strong because you defeated Goku, I can too! Wait until I—" Kagan shouted with a red face.

Moku interrupted Kagan, not because his voice hurt his ears but because he hadn't finished his story yet.

"Until the humans sent their troops.

The troops that I mean is an army that only consisted of 3 humans.

They called themselves Mages.

and do you know what happened?

They did pest control.

It was not a battle or a war, instead it was just pest control.

The pests died and what remained of them is what you see in this tribe.

They made this tribe, but they felt too proud to forget the name of their old tribe. So that until now they couldn't give this tribe a new name" Moku's voice sounded scary.

Moku's face turned serious again. When he first heard this story, Moku thought it was a goblin folk tale.

But as the goblin was saying it seriously it looked like he wasn't lying. Moku could never imagine how 3 humans could slaughter more than 1000 orcs. It was beyond Moku's logic.

The faces of the other five young orcs also looked serious, they were very surprised and hoped that Moku was just lying. But the adult orcs, who had remained silent, crushed their hopes.

"Can you tell me how it happened?" Moku asked politely, he also wanted to know the detailed story.

Goku as a former tribal chief wanted to open his mouth, but a hand grabbed his shoulder, it was Boku. Boku stepped forward and stood in front of Moku.

"You really want to know what happened, kid?" Boku asked in a deep voice.

In contrast to Goku, Boku had a smaller body, his gaze was as sharp as a sword, and his forearm muscles were hard and big.

Moku felt that when fighting with weapons, Boku was more dangerous than Goku. Moku looked into Boku's eyes and nodded without saying anything.

Moku was a tribal chief, so he tried not to show his weakness in front of his tribe members. Boku then started speaking.

"You're right it was neither war nor combat, it was pest control.

On that day, exactly 10 years ago.

I was a young orc like you, we young orcs were always thinking about wars.

We always imagined being a valiant and brave orc fighters.

We always imagined that when we grew up we would come down from the mountains and plunder human settlements.

Our tribe was the only tribe that had shamans.

Goku and I were the strongest young orcs in our tribe. We both had the opportunity to study directly with the shaman.

We thought that we would become the strongest orcs and be able to fight to our heart's content.

But that day, a small shadow appeared to fly over the sky of our tribe.

It was a human. I still remember it like I just saw it.

The man flew through the sky like he could walk on a cloud. He was wearing green robes. In his hand was a strange wand that gave off a blue light. On his neck was a necklace made of gold.

The shaman who was near us whispered 'Mage'.

I didn't understand the meaning of the word but three seconds later I found out.

The man raised his hands to the sky.

[Wall Fire Circle]

Without saying anything the Mage cast his spell and lowered both his hands.

and then.

A wall of fire encircled our tribe, confining us within the tribe. I turned to the Shaman.

His face was pale and his lips were trembling. '2 constellations' was what he muttered.

From afar, a figure was rapidly approaching. It was our chieftain as well as the strongest orc in the entire tribe, Guntor.

'Shaman, what should we do?' he asked when he arrived in front of us.

'evacuate all the young orcs, me and the other adult orcs will get in the way of that mage' the Shaman replied without taking his eyes off the Mage who was standing in the sky.

'All right. Boku, Goku, take the other young orc and get out of here!' Guntor's orders.

'Ku, we also want to fight, he is alone, this human will die by our hands!' Goku answered with burning eyes.

'Do not be stupid! it's a Mage with two constellations, you guys will just die and annoy us—' The Shaman didn't finish his sentence before the Mage's voice sounded.

[Lightning Sword Fall]

The mage swung his wand as if he was hitting something, and within seconds dozens of blue swords were formed and counting.

'4 constellations' the shaman's voice cracked, his body shivered with fear, his face turned white, and his eyes bulged. I looked up at the sky and I saw 

The blue swords that already numbered in the hundreds.

As the blue swords covered the sky they began to fall very quickly.

The last thing I remember was the Shaman and Guntors squeezing our bodies together and the sounds of pain and explosions coming from all over the tribe."

Boku's face darkened, his head lowered, and his eyes reddened, he remembered the Shaman and Guntor who sacrificed their lives to save them.

Goku who was behind him had tears in his eyes, like the other adult orcs.

"After we woke up, the mage was gone, leaving the orcs' charred corpses behind. The adult orcs and young orcs all perished, we were like an anthill doused with hot lead.

Only me and Goku survived. We saw our tribe burned to the ground. You know what charred orc meat smells like? haha," Boku laughed tiredly.

"We also found other young orcs that survived because of the sacrifices of adult orcs in their tribe. Zalthu, Viggu, Gul, Olru, Xago, Yagnar, and Vakgar all the adult orcs you see here are survivors of the extermination.

We gathered and went deeper into the forest. We also promised not to enter human territory again. The humans couldn't get into the forest, and they couldn't see through the white mist. They also did not know where the dangerous mutated animals live.

We founded a new tribe in the safest place, our small numbers, and our young bodies made our days very difficult.

We didn't name our new tribe, not because we were arrogant and didn't want to forget our old tribe.

We didn't name it because a tribe with only nine orcs didn't deserve to be called a tribe.

We didn't name it because we were ashamed, we could only live after sacrificing all the orcs in our old tribe.

We didn't name it because we didn't feel worthy of being an orc ourselves.

But we survived because our lives were given to us by all the orcs of our tribe at the cost of their lives.

But unfortunately.

Orcs are monsters that only have one gender. Gradually we too will age. Without the young orcs to continue our lineage, the extinction of the orcs is only a matter of time.

But God didn't just let us go extinct.

Humans were e cruel and greedy creatures. They even enslaved their own people.

To avoid surveillance, these human slave sellers would enter the Bog forest in search of shortcuts. Some of the slaves managed to escape but ended up getting lost in this forest.

That's how we found your mothers, they were slaves who would be sold like meat in the market by their own people." Boku looked up at the sky, he seemed to reminisce about their hardships and despair when they survived the extermination.

"Moku, I know you are strong, smart, and brave. But you must never invade human territory!!

You never know how strong they are. We're just flies in their eyes!" Boku gritted his teeth in frustration.

Moku looked at the group of gloomy adult orcs. There was no ferocity, bloodlust, and orc-like courage in the story.

Just a bunch of creatures trying to survive, the world was unfair to them, they had no mana flow and they only had one gender.

Their strong bodies and regenerating abilities were just like trash power in the eyes of mana species.

They were like rare creatures that were almost extinct but humans still hunted them because they were considered dangerous.

They were sharks, hunted because they were considered dangerous with their sharp teeth and scary faces.

They were crows, stoned because they were considered bad luck with their ugly voices and black plumage.

They were disgusting creatures, trying to live even though the world wanted to destroy them.

They were Moku.

and

Moku were them.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!

Moku laughed loudly. He seemed to want to destroy the gloomy faces of the grown orcs and the sad faces of the young orcs.

He kept laughing until he ran out of breath.

"hah hah hah hah" Moku caught his breath again.

He smiled cheerfully, looked at his people, and spoke loudly.

"My brothers.

My name is Moku.

I am your 'Ku'.

I'm not a pest.

I'm not a weak creature

I was born to be the strongest!

I was born to jump higher than a flying bird!

I was born to beat mountains to shreds!

I was born to run through sound!

I was born as an orc.

I was born a fighter.

I was born to die in battle!

I was born to make a sea of blood and mountains of corpses from my enemies!

I was born to make all living things in the Meer continent remember my name!

The name KuMoku would be frightfully narrated.

The name KuMoku would bring nightmares into their sleep.

I was born to be their fear!

I was born to be their nightmare!

AND I WILL!!"

Moku's scream was like summoning the warrior soul within every orc.

The sun seemed to have just woken up from its sleep and eavesdropped on the young orc from behind the shady trees.

The white mist started to shake, feeling the light coming.

The young orcs trembled as they held their screams and the adult orcs gritted their teeth.

Moku opened his mouth again.

"This morning, under the rising sun and above the white mist that drifted away—"

The sun opened its eyes.

The white mist stood up.

The orcs' bodies stopped shaking.

"I name you the Dawnmist Tribe and I SWEAR!!—"

The sun sat and looked up.

The white fog was moving slowly.

The orcs raised their heads.

"I will make the orcs the ruler of the entire Bog forest!—"

The sun was standing.

The white fog was walking faster.

The orcs' breaths choked.

"I WILL MAKE THE ORC RACE THE STRONGEST BEINGS IN THE MEER CONTINENT!"

"YEEEEAAAAAAAAAHH!"

The sun smiled brightly.

The white mist ran away.

The screams of the orcs echoed.

That morning, under the light of the morning sun and the drifting white mist.

A young orc made his oath and promise in front of all the remaining orcs.

The oath will be known as the 'Oath of Dawn'.