Erdush strode out of the cave, eyes locked onto his disobedient grandchild.
Abner, having nowhere to run, only sighed as he braced himself from his grandfather's verbal dressing down.
"I thought I told you, You can't be here."
Erdush spoke as he strained against his cane, which the Lion tried his best to ignore. Instead trying his best to defend himself.
"I'm here to support my brother, just like Nira is."
The lion gestured to the distracted mother of the hydra, her eyes still being looked at the cave's entrance. Erdush grew annoyed as Abner tried to drag Nira into this argument.
"I have no say in what the Fury can or can't do, I told you not to come anywhere near this place!"
Erdush yelled, his sudden burst in volume brought on a serious coughing fit.
Abner grew indignant at his grandfather's anger, especially when it came with the cost of his worsening health.
"Grandfather, I have every right to be with my ailing brother. I refuse to sit idly at the camp while Adder tries to repair his weary and frayed mind!"
Abner paced around his grandfather exactly like the king of beasts, anger and worry blinding him.
"Im allowed to be here, as it is my right as a brother to worry about Adder's condition!"
Erdush strained against his cane as his coughing continued, but Abner failed to properly notice his grandfather's worsening condition. Something which even Nira started to grow nervous at the old man's worsening condition.
And before Abner could continue to defend himself, he watched as Erdush, still coughing, finally stumbled.
Abner's rage vanished, and was replaced with ice cold horror. Abner was unable to move, as he watched his grandfather stumble than fall, the herald of justice trapped in place.
The old man's flimsy body, seeming to lose any sense of balance, fell backwards like a mighty tree finally crashing to the forest floor.
As Erdush fell, Adder bursted from the mouth of the cave at great speed, tearing through the caverns with complete abandon.
Catching the old man with a seemingly practiced and honed precision, Erdush seemed to had gone limp and unresponsive.
Adder gestured to his mother and unresponsive brother before speeding back to the cabin.
The Lion followed his serpentine brother, running as fast as the two heralds could go.
…
Abner sat next to the unconscious Erdush quietly, his head held down as he stewed in fear and self hatred. Adder's room was once again turned into a sick room, a grueling heart breaking quiet blanketing the room. Erdush laid still on Adder's bed, his weightless and haggard breathing being the only sign of him still being alive.
Abner had been with his grandfather the entire time, having not left his side for the last two days.
"I'm sorry…"
The young lion said softly, his mighty slouching figure remained unmoving.
Abner lifted his hands and covered his face, him trying to hide his face and shame.
The lion jolted by his brother's hand grabbing his shoulder, Abner turning to his equally somber brother.
Adder then crouched next to the lion, his deep crimson eyes staring off into space.
Abner sat back up right, and turned to properly face his brother.
"You knew this would happen."
Adder's eyes immediately sharpened, but the rest of his body stayed still.
"Not… I did not… could not remember every detail, but grandfather, mother, and I knew for a little under four years."
Adder croaked out, expecting his brother to be furious but the lion's anger never appeared.The lion and the snake then stewed in the rooms, crushing silence, Abner trying his best to come to terms with what had been confirmed and its ramifications.
"How?"
Adder instantly turned back to his brother at his question, bracing himself against his brother's fury.
"How could you live with it, haunted by an endlessly ticking clock?"
But once again the lion's anger did not appear, Adder finally broke into tears.
'Truly the herald of justice.'
The Serpent thought, as he grabbed his brother into a hug that would kill any normal man. Both Heralds finally break into tears, sad and terrified about the fate of their grandfather.
"You take one tiny fall, and the family almost crumbles under its own weight."
The two turned to the grumpy and awake old man, before rushing to his side. The old man sighed, knowing that his grandsons still had a lot of growing up to do.
…
Adder sighed as he looked at the resolute stare from his grandfather, raising an eyebrow at the brazen old man. It had been a week since Erdush's tumble, but the old man was stringent on helping his grandchildren in their growth as warriors or more specifically paladins.
Especially when it came to their oaths, the most prominent way to increase a paladin's abilities and strengthen their holy power. With even the Heralds themselves, they needed every method and advantage when dealing with the first traitors, the False Seraphim.
Oaths worked by putting on a restriction on oneself, while gaining a massive improvement to one's physical capabilities along with improving the purity and density of divine power. Erdush's own oath was the Oath of the Celibate. Which gave him power by denying himself true heirs.
Though Oaths weren't truly infallible. With ways going around one's oaths usually being a paladin's greatest trump card.
Oaths like the Oath of Peace, which stopped those who took it from taking on the offensive. Took on the roles of leadership, using their increased mastery of holy arts to heal and empower their troops while never lifting up a blade.
For Abner though it was obvious, The Oath of Kings. The oath created by Sardoll himself, any other oath paled in comparison. But for Adder, things weren't as clean cut, especially due to Abner being the only one who could take the Oath of Kings.
Meaning that the serpent king would need to search through hundreds of different oaths to try and find one that would fit. But Erdush, that old man already knew the one his serpentine grandson would take. Even if Adder could not understand taking that one over everything else.
"The Oath of the Salient?"
Adder repeated the oath's name out loud, making sure to put enthusiasm on every syllable as he spoke.
Erdush only nodded in a careful and clear motion, reiterating that yes this was the oath the serpent should and would be taking. This infamous oath encompassed the ideal of true transparency, with the restriction of losing the ability of telling any sort of lie.
When fighting an opponent one would need to make their moves clear and obvious with no room for trickery.This was mainly done by shouting and the names of their attacks and showing their opponents how their moves and abilities worked.
As you can tell The Oath of the Salient, was an famously unused oath, with many would call the Oath were meant for the stupid and the suicidal. Which did not help that the increases and boosts that came with the oath, did not help boost the oaths worth.
"What about the Oath of the Warrior?"
Adder said carefully, trying as hard as he could to find a compromise with his famously stubborn grandfather. The Oath of the Warrior was similar to the Oath of Salient, with the oathtaker never being able to refuse a duel and similar properties with the Salient.
While the oathtaker was still able to lie, a critical necessity for the Serpent King in Adder's personal opinion. But the old man who patiently listened to his grandson's suggestion only shook his head not even a second of thinking.
Adder could not even be surprised about his grandfather's stubbornness about this, but the Serpent King would find the reason for his grandfather being fully set on one of the worst oaths of all time.
"Grandfather, out of all the many oaths used by Salem and the many left forgotten by all but a few, why would this oath be the one for me?"
Erdush at this grandson's question straightened himself, meeting Adder eye to eye. Putting his aged hand upon Adder's shoulder before speaking.
"Becuase it's the only Oath the Serpent King would ever take on."
Erdush spoke in a tone Adder had never heard the old man take on before, it was theatric and a little bit esoteric. The old man smiled as he saw his grandson's confusion and dumbstruck by his own actions.
"To many, serpents are nothing but creatures of lies and sweet deception, when they lay eyes on you they will see not Adder, but the Serpent King. And they need to know that the mighty Serpent King has happily given up the Serpent's greatest tool of whispering sweet lies. Will only make you stand out, and allow others who will never see you as human will look down on you for this loss. Which you will use to your advantage."
Erdush had by now put both hands on his grandson's shoulders, as he spoke in a way he had not in years. Lifting himself up towering over the Serpent King, who was enraptured in what his grandfather spoke of. This of course was the old man's intention, knowing that if he explained to Adder in the way he would with Abner. He knew that he would have a better chance convincing an actual snake to stop eating rats.
So the old man instead placated his youngest grandson's love of the theatrical, trying as hard as he could to copy Adder's mannerisms when he was transformed and for the first time in his life tried to be crazed. He was shocked by his own zeal as he spoke to Adder, maybe his memorable performance was due to the fact that Erdush knew that Adder needed to take this oath.
Adder wherever he would go, would already have an uphill battle when it came to trust and doubt, to many he would not be seen as human. So many other bearer families ended dead, insane, or tortured by their very existence. Erdush refused for either his grandchild or the herald of judgement to have such a fate.
The Serpent King needed to rid himself of the ability to lie, and this Oath allowed him to so that he could never lie. Oaths worked by searing the sacred promises words onto one's flesh and very soul, leaving behind a scar like no other, and no way to fake it.
Of course there would always be naysayers, especially around people like Adder, but taking this oath would be enough. Enough to make people whisper, enough for those who would wish a competent Serpent King dead to shake their heads and ignore the idiotic serpent not wanting to waste their time.
And when Erdush looked into his enraptured and confused grandson's eyes, he saw it. A look that did not belong on a herald, his eyes like deep crimson pools with his slit pupils so focused that they were now thinner than the width of a pin, eyes that contained pure pride fuelled avarice. It was here that Erdush's strength started to fail him, Adder grabbed onto both of his grandfather's arms and spoke with the tone of a hundred starving serpents.
"How do I take on this Oath?"
…
Adder sat in a similar position when he would take on his mental training, he sat outside in the same ritual site that the ritual that helped him reawakened. He felt the Basilisk stir within himself in excitement, both the prisoner and the warden excited to take on their oath.
Of course the Serpent KIng still had reservations about giving up the ability to lie, but what his grandfather spoke about had ignited something in Adder that made him need to take this Oath. Adder took a deep breath as he condensed his divine power, in preparation of the Oathtaking.
Abner and Nira stood close by the ritual circle, with Erdush sitting on a chair next to Abner. Of course both Adder and Abner objected due to their grandfather's condition. But the old man complained and vehemently spoke about the impotence of him being there and his need of getting fresh air. The chair being a compromise that Erdush complained about up until Adder entered the ritual circle.
Then the moment came, his divine power reached the desired potency in which Adder started his oathtaking. Adder was engulfed in a blinding silver light, seemingly transforming into a silver star to his audience.
"My tongue knows no lies…"
Adder's divine power that radiated off of him slowly rose slowly condensing into hundreds of thousands of glims.
"My heart will only hold the truth…"
The glims slowly formed behind the kneeling Adder, forming a looming presence behind the Serpent King.
This caught the attention of Abner, who immediately turned to his grandfather to see what to do, this made even the staunch Nira nervous. But the ever stoic Erdush only shook his head, before urging the two of them to continue watching.
"My enemies shall only know me at my best, my presence impossible to ignore…"
The entity made up of divine power slowly took on a coherent form, though its identity wasn't truly shocking for the three witnesses. A massive three headed serpent, which slowly started to coil around the ritual circle.
"My actions always clear, my attacks impossible to miss or unheeded…"
The titanic multi headed serpent, halted its movement each of its heads staring right at the Serpent King, as if waiting for something. Snakes and serpents of all shapes and sizes started to join the three headed serpent.
"I will stand against the tide, unbroken, unmoving, shining, noble and ever Salient!"
The three headed serpent crashed onto the kneeling Adder, creating a near blinding amount of light in the surrounding glenn. Both Abner and Nira could not help but be worried about Adder's well being. But the surrounding light almost immediately dissipated revealing the still kneeling Adder.
The serpents took it as their cue to disperse back into the glen and surrounding forest, but Nero slithered his way to his lord before climbing and wrapping himself around his shoulders.
Adder smiled as he felt his Oath sear and burn into place. Before getting up and walking over to his beguiled witnesses, the Serpent King unaware of what had transpired while taking his oath. As Adder stood before the three members of his family, his grandfather chuckled.
"You did good, Adder, you did good. Though I would suggest taking a look at your Oathmark."
That made Adder pause as he grasped the mirror his grandfather handed him, checking on his Oathmark. Oathmarks were exactly what they sounded like, the words of the oath taken scared into their flesh. Sometimes depending on the Oathtaker, sometimes the Oathmark would have a little embellishment, like styled letters or spread out in a knot like pattern.
But on Adder's chest laid the illustration of a massive three headed serpent, with the oaths words imposed over the mighty serpents visage. Adder stood there completely still for a little too long before laughing. The image of his crimson eyes, Nero laying across his shoulders and now this massive visage of a fearsome three headed snake, Adder couldn't help but announce.
"Im not the serpent king for nothing!"
He said as he ushered his family home claiming he was starving, in truth he wanted to enjoy the last few weeks with his family as it is. Knowing soon that they will all have to part, with his grandfather's time coming to a long dreaded end.