“I was murdered by those I loved, the Gods themselves banished through Nimon’s black arts, and my people, from the lowest to the highest, suffered for it…”
Ashrag paused, her enormous bulk hovering before me, her pedipalps each longer than my legs, twitching uncertainty, even as her fangs shook with repressed anger and a need to lash out.
“Who…Who are you…?”
“I am Jax, Lord of Dravith…” I said, swallowing hard, before going on. “I am Amon’s descendant, and I claim his Oaths as my own.” I said the last at his prompting, but I knew it was going to be a mistake.
I was right, as my meagre mana reserves bottomed out instantly, and the world shook, light erupting around me as my world vanished, and I fell backwards into darkness, a single notification filling my vision:
You have resurrected the Oath of Imperial Allegiance!
Due to lack of mana and territorial control, Oath range is limited to six miles radius. Eleven (11) Imperial Citizens have been found inside this territory, and their Oaths have become active, tied to yourself as Lord of Dravith and Scion of the Empire.
“I swear upon pain of death, to faithfully execute all that the Emperor decrees. I swear upon my soul that I shall stand for the Empire when it calls. I shall be strong when the weak need me, generous when the poor are at hand, and merciless when my fellow citizens are threatened. I shall worship the Gods of my fathers, respect my elders, and raise up my children to stand tall.
I am an Imperial Citizen. I claim the right to call upon the Legion in my hour of need, to hold those that wrong me to justice, and to be avenged if I cannot be saved.”
Those who swore the Oath in truth can now sense your location and are pulled to you by its Power.
You have taken your first step on the Path of Imperial Right. Be wary, for there can be only one end in sight: you must rule, or you must die.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I woke slowly. The first thing I could feel was pain, horrific pain that filled my body. I felt it roaring through every bone as they screamed with agony, their marrow pulsing.
I groaned, straining, and felt myself shift slightly before my restraints stopped my movement.
I struggled weakly, pulling against whatever held me, and I felt a sticky strand that caught the suddenly exposed skin on the back of my left wrist.
As I coughed and forced my eyes open, I realized that the ceiling high overhead was moving as I was carried along, before sagging to one side, as the creature carrying me began to descend a wall, carrying me effortlessly downwards.
It took a while for any of it to make sense, my mind pulsing crazily with pain, but eventually I focused in, seeing a blurry patch close to my face that shifted and moved.
It resolved suddenly as it moved closer to my face to examine me, and I jerked back.
A bright red and black spider the size of a Pitbull was squatting on my chest, staring at me from dozens of jet-black eyes.
“What the…” I snarled, trying to back away. I realized that I was webbed down, and my instincts flared, I opened my mouth, about to try to bite the spider, before it could bite me, when Amon spoke.
Wait…
I froze. The usual madness that filled his voice was gone, leaving only a bone deep weariness, and somehow, that one word carried a sense of hope as well.
She is no threat to you, scion of my line.
“Can you hear me?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.
I can, Jax.
“Well this is freaky as fuck, but right now I’m about to be a spider buffet, so…”
The Children of Ashrag are no threat to you.
“Clearly you missed the fight, then…”
I saw some of it… I think… the world is different, and I lose my place in time on occasion. We don’t have long, Scion, so listen well.
“Okay…”
Be silent.
The voice carried no anger, but it was full of authority, and I froze again when it commanded silence, the sarcastic comeback dying in my throat, the words never uttered.
We have no time but the present. Listen if you wish to survive. Ashrag felt her Oath become active to you when you took my Oaths as your own. Your mana was too weak to claim all my oaths, and if it weren’t, you’d be dead from the shock, so be thankful. For now, just accept that those nearby who swore to the Empire have had their Oaths called upon. They can feel you, can sense your lineage, and are compelled to come to you, to serve you. Ashrag feels aggrieved, abandoned, and ill-used, but she recognized the truth of the Oaths becoming active. She will not harm you or allow another of her brood to do so. If you would claim more from her, it will be on you…
“Look, I don’t know what the fuck just happened. I just know that I feel like I was hit by a fucking bus, and you’re spouting shit I don’t understand. So, any chance you could run through that again in English?... Hellooo… Amon? …Fuck.”
I groaned as I felt Amon’s presence vanish, and I tried to sit up again, only to collapse a handful of seconds later when it was obvious that I couldn’t move. I flexed my hands as best I could, feeling the surrounding webbing pull at the skin.
I could feel the heat of the spider under me, the long coarse hairs that covered its body, and the shifting chitinous plates that lifted and dipped as it clambered down the wall.
“Anyone there?” I called out weakly, and I felt the spider under me freeze momentarily before continuing, but
