Oath of the Archers

After that fiasco, I finally arrived at the Owl's Den and gave my report to the Overseer; I didn't have much energy to do much else. I simply walked into my room and fell into my bed. Although my body was tired, my mind was racing. I kept thinking of everything I might have handled differently about the situation so things didn't end up like this.

My expression must not have been the best because as soon as Vetrix walked in and saw me, she remarked, "Well, this is a sight; I never thought the great Farrin Vaelinwood could even experience sadness."

"Oh shut up, Vetrix!" I responded.

Instead of granting my request, she continued to press. "What… did your girlfriend break up with you or something? Or maybe you ate some bad Owlbear."

"It's none of that nonsense," I sighed and rolled over, trying to block her out.

"Then what is it? Just spill it already. I'm dying here!" Vetrix pleaded.

"My brother," I looked into her eyes. "I saw him tonight."

She quickly stood up with a surprised expression. "Farrin!" She shouted, "You know we're not supposed to talk to anyone from our past. It is against the creed."

"Vetrix, I know, but thugs were mugging him in the street." I sat up. "They were going to kill him. I couldn't just stand there and do nothing." I tried to plead my case to no avail.

"With your skill with the bow, you could've taken them out from meters away. There was no need to expose yourself. It's not our job to intervene in these situations. That's the whole point of the city guard, to protect the capital's citizens."

At that moment, I stood up, coming eye to eye with Vetrix. "Now you and I both know that all the guards in this city are in the pocket of the Black Hand, even if the guards had gotten there in time, which they wouldn't have. They wouldn't have done anything to stop them."

"Oh, great!" She exclaimed, raising her arms. "So not only did you expose yourself, but on top of that, you've got yourself involved with the city mob as well. You must be on a goddamned fiery streak of madness, huh?"

With that, I walked out the door, slamming it shut as I crossed the exit. 

After a short walk, I became exhausted, so I walked back in the wee hours of the morning to get some rest. The following day, I woke and made a B-Line to the canteen for breakfast before the common rabble scooped up all the goods. I became lost in thought as I ate my toasted oats. As much as I hated it, Vetrix was right. I had broken the number one tenet by making contact with my brother, and if the Overseer were to hear about it, there'd be hell to pay. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you look at it, I didn't count on him spreading the word due to Corpus' reaction to our sudden meeting.

If the Black Hand's thugs didn't beat him sober, I don't know if he'd even remember seeing me again. I decided that maybe some training would get my mind off of the situation. Making my way to the archery range in the lower keep, I saw Darius along the way.

"I haven't seen you since you left for Stormfall Keep Farrin." He leaned in and gave me a weird side hug. "Has it been two months already?"

"It's good to see you as well, brother." After our brief exchange of words, I made my way to the archery range.

It's times like this I get lost in thought. Sometimes, it really does feel like the Faceless were family. Making it through the trials together and entering the academy simultaneously really bonded some of us; of course, leaving all of our previous families behind helped. Dismissing that thought, I went to the Yard where we would practice.

"Finally trying to get that 300-meter shot down with the war bow, huh?" Darius shouted at me. 

"Something to work toward, I guess," I replied absentmindedly.

"Only one member of the Faceless has ever achieved it," Darius remarked as I walked towards the Yard.

"Guess I'll be the second," I replied, grabbing a bundle of arrows as I walked into the expansive range. For this occasion, I brought the war bow my father had gifted me before leaving for the academy.

__________________________________________

As I reach for my father's bow, I get lost once more in the memories of the time.

"Don't forget to account for the wind, Farrin."

"I know, Dad!" I yelled back in defiance. I pull the longbow string back as I raise it to eye level. As I exhale, the longbow string slides against the skin on the tips of my fingers, letting loose the knocked arrow to sail through the air, firmly planting itself in the fleeing deer. The deer falls; it lets loose its last few living breaths as I approach. My dad then hands me a heavy knife.

"Nice shot, son," He said with a smirk.

I looked at him and said,  "I told you I had the shot, Dad, and with this weak bow. When are you going to train me with a war bow, Dad? I've been old enough and leave for the academy in just a few months; I have an entire heritage of this. Give me an edge, Dad. I thought you wanted me to be a ranger, too. I'm embracing my Elven gifts, unlike some people."

My eyes dart to Corpus and our mother training in advanced sword techniques. My dad looked at me with pain in his eyes.

"I'm so proud of you, Farrin; you stayed strong even after seeing how us elves are treated here." He paused and placed his hands on my shoulders, looking me in the eyes. "Come with me… I was planning on giving you this as a parting good luck gift anyway."

I followed my dad to his office in the house. I had been here many times before and hadn't seen any bow. As he sat at the piano, used much more as a centrepiece than an instrument, he pressed several keys, and a hidden doorway opened behind the bookcase. We descended a stone staircase into a medium-sized room. In the centre of the room, there looked to be a shrine. An ornate war bow was in the shrine's centre; the limbs were silvery oak wood with bronze, or golden streaks inlaid within the timber and curved Damascus steel blades protruding from both ends, resembling a double-ended spear. 

"Farrin, this … is a war bow, your war bow. From now on, I'll teach you as an Elven Ranger; however, there's a catch. A serious one; this oath is a soul-binding curse. Long ago, a witch cast a spell, cursing all the users of this art. I can only teach you the skills of an Elven Ranger if you swear the oath."

He gave me this serious and stern look as if his life depended on this action. "Dad," I paused, "I'm ready."

He placed his hand on my shoulder again and told me to meet him in the woods at midnight. The day went as usual, as if nothing had happened earlier. I couldn't sleep, wondering what could possibly be in the woods at midnight. The time finally came; I went into the woods to track my father. The man put me to the test. Everything he had taught me before, he put into practice. He backtracked multiple times through swamps and rivers. He then faked his tracks and further tried to cover them up. I had to track him nearly 3 kilometres into a restricted military-science zone. Somehow, at the end of it, I met him at some weird temple that seemed so out of place for the village compound.

As he approached, he stood and began to clap. "I knew you could do it, son." Next to him was a small knapsack. Behind him stood a large marble temple building with dark slate shingles. The cathedral was adorned with two prominent steeples on the front and back passageways. My Father smiled a big smile as I walked toward him, drenched in mud and wet from the swamp. Luckily, he had brought a heater and a spare pair of clothes in his knapsack. He told me to hurry and change so we could start the ceremony. Before, I had thought it was some type of joke or hyperbole. I thought the oath was just a myth, but the more I thought about it, the more real it became. I mean, we seriously crossed into a restricted zone. As we walked through the temple, we passed through countless intricately designed wall carvings and statues. The artwork lining the walls was beautiful. The depictions of war were eloquently done. As we walked through what seemed to have been a type of church or cathedral, there was repeated artwork of a woman wielding a bow and arrows.

Finally, we made our way to what must have been the main room; the seating around an altar in the middle of the expansive hall looked to fill at least a hundred audience members. As my father led me to the altar, I stood under a glass dome in the centre. The crown let a single beam of moonlight glow radiently down on me, casting a shadow.

"Farrin Vaellinwood VIII, you have successfully passed the Serpent Scout portion of the Elven Elite Ranger Corps. You have previously passed the Eagle Scout portion of the Elven Elite Ranger Corps. To proceed as an official Elven Ranger, you must recite The Creed of the Corps. Bear your soul to the Goddess Gaia Armeena and hope to be granted the power of her chosen rangers. Do you, Farrin Vaelinwood VIII, hailing from The Clan Hendu -o Gaia, Count of Wesa Alora, wish to bear your soul and lifeblood to the Goddess?" 

All of a sudden, the moonlight got a lot brighter around me. An unknown power urgently raised me into the air as my shirt sleeve seemed to burn away.

"Yes, I wish to bear my soul to the goddess!" I declared, shocked at my situation. After my proclamation, I felt a searing pain travel throughout my body. The pain wrapped around my arm, burning strange runic symbols across it. As fast as the pain came, it dissipated. I was left with these runic symbols imprinted on my skin in the shape of a snake dropped as if it were a dive bomb by an eagle attacking its prey. I was stunned as I tried wiping at my arm like it would disappear. Soon, my dad walked toward me and lifted his sleeve; the same symbols were also on his arm.

"It's permanent, son, as I said before. It's a soul-binding oath that you can't break. If you do, you die."

"Oh my god! I thought you were just telling me to be serious; I didn't think this was actually some soul ritual. What happens to my soul!?"

"Shush, your soul is fine. Just listen to me." He grabs me and sits me down. "Son, listen, you can only ever rely on your powers in order to take a life. No ifs, ands, or buts. That's how we practise now. You have to kill something every time you use your powers."

"O-ok. I-I can do that."

And so we practised and practised from morning till night, day after day, week after week. Life was a living hell, and every few weeks, Dad and I went on 'trips' for me to test out whatever skill he was teaching me. I learned I could do miraculous things, only thought capable of the gods themselves. They became known as spells, and I soon learned what the hall painting of the church was depicting. Eventually, my training ended as my father told me there was nothing else he could teach me. There was absolutely nothing I wasn't prepared for when it came to being a ranger. I am officially the youngest and, sadly, the last recorded Elven Elite Ranger Corps member.