Chapter 7 Oath Of Dawn
[Meer Calendar, 18 June, 1 Years Before Demon War]
[Bog Forest, 03:51 AM]
A white mist enveloped the orc tribes encampment.
A 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 pierce the thick white mist.
Poisonous insects, walking proudly across the wet Bog forest ground.
Profound bats, hanging with open red eyes watching the Bog forest creature.
No living creature dared to stay awake in the Bog Forest at night except for them.
The thick mist is a blanket for them.
The dark night without light is warmth for them.
Night is their world.
Night is their kingdom.
Night is their dominion.
But unfortunately.
The predatory birds stopped squawking, their eyes wide.
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 is 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 will not be able to blind their red eyes.
The orcs will 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 they had to respect it, at least before any new orcs challenged Palaka.
Palaka for the race for the chieftain can only be done once a day, this is to prevent orcs from doing cowardly ways such as asking Palaka in turn until the opponent is exhausted.
So like it or not they have to obey Moku until tomorrow and ask Palaka at the same time Moku asks Palaka.
Moku wants to be the strongest. But those who want to reach the pinnacle of life will know that there are too many pebbles in the road.
Moku wants to become a Ku and create the strongest army, which will later help get rid of the pebbles.
All night Moku racked his brains on how to train 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 cooks meat and looks for fruits for them to eat.
After that Moku ignored them.
Today is a big day for the orcs, Moku wants 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 that 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 connects Goku's head and body until they are whole again, only with wood and cloth tied around Goku's neck.
'Is he a Shaman?' the orcs asked silently.
If indeed Moku is a Shaman then this is 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 hopes they have the same principles and treat Goku.
Moku uses Goku as his research material on the orc's regeneration ability against fractures. It seems his research this time also yielded satisfactory results.
Goku's throat bone slowly connected, after a night of rest he was able to walk again. Maybe in 2-3 days Goku can fight again.
Moku wants to do research on decapitated orcs. To his knowledge the brain can still survive 4-6 minutes without oxygen.
Can a decapitated orc still be saved if its severed head is successfully reattached?
But Moku didn't want to behead his tribe members when he just became chief. 'Maybe another time' Moku said in his heart.
The sound of approaching footsteps stopped.
All the orcs had gathered, perhaps curiosity made them willing to come. Moku 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 is an orc tribe but at least they gave it a name to distinguish it from other orc tribes out there.
But 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 his question unanswered, Moku became furious. In fact, he already knew the reason.
He knew it wasn't from one of the adult orcs. The adult orcs who thought Moku was crazy didn't even want to approach him.
He knew it from a Goblin.
"If you don't want to answer, let me answer—"
The adult orcs were shocked. Moku ignored them and started to continue his story.
"20 years ago,
We have more than 20 tribes each with a different name and more than 50 orcs.
Even one tribe had a wise Shaman.
The shaman became a doctor, judge, and teacher to the young orcs.
We live like kings, We rule the outer quarter of the Bog Forest.
The orcs who were proud of their strength felt they were the strongest.
The weak bodies of humans were unable to withstand their blows.
Humans are only our prey.
Every month orc warriors would descend from the mountain and hunt for female humans.
They came home with food, iron weapons, and women.
They come home and we warmly welcome them.
They came home like heroes.
The orcs cheered, jumped, slapped their chests, and danced.
It's the same as what you did yesterday afternoon." Until here Moku smiled.
Moku looked at the pale faces of the adult orcs and the young orcs who were smiling proudly. Moku continued his story.
"However, are humans really that weak?
Are humans really our prey?
or are we just meeting weak humans?" Moku smirked.
This satire made all the adult orcs bow their heads in shame. The young orc began to feel that something was wrong.
"What do you mean Moku?" Mige, a young orc, asked.
Hearing that question Moku laughed, Moku's face turned mocking.
"HAHAHAHA!! Of course humans aren't weak.
Strong humans are waging war with the elves. They didn't have time to eradicate pests like orcs.
It's just that the orcs never knew that.
They kept attacking and attacking.
They felt strong just because they were able to kill farmers.
They feel powerful only because they are able to **** village girls.
They feel they are heroes just because they are able to bully the weak.
'Pest' is the most appropriate name for an orc!" Moku's voice sounded loud 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 not with the young orcs, they felt that Moku had been rude to insult 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 consists of 3 humans.
They call themselves Mage.
and you know what happened?
They do pest control.
Not a battle or a war as you think,
p
The pests die and leave only what you see in this tribe.
They made this tribe, but felt too proud to forget the name of their old tribe. So that until now they can't name this tribe with 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 the goblin was telling it seriously 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 has a smaller body, his red eyes stare as sharp as a sword, his forearm muscles are hard and big.
Moku feels that when fighting with weapons, Boku is more dangerous than Goku. Moku looked into Boku's eyes and nodded without saying anything.
He is a tribal chief, Moku must not show his weakness in front of the tribe members. Boku started to talk.
"You're right it's neither war nor combat, it's pest control.
On that day, exactly 10 years ago.
I am a young orc like you, we young orcs are always playing wars.
We always imagined being a valiant and brave orc fighter.
We always imagined that when we grew up we would come down from the mountains and plunder human settlements.
Our tribe is the only tribe that has shamans.
Goku and I are 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 is 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 saw us through his 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' Shaman replied without taking his eyes off the Mage who was standing in the sky.
'All right. Boku, Goku, take another 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 like hitting something, within seconds dozens of blue swords were formed and counting.
'4 constellations' the shaman's voice choked, his body shivered with fear, his face turned white, his eyes bulged with trembling. I looked up at the sky.
The blue swords already numbered in the hundreds.
As the blue swords covered the sky they began to fall very quickly.
The last thing I remember is the Shamans 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, 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, as were 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. Promise not to enter human territory again. The humans couldn't get into the forest, they couldn't see through the white mist. They also do not know where 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 doesn'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 are 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 are slaves who will 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 fly in their eyes!" Boku gritted his teeth in frustration.
Moku looked at the group of gloomy adult orcs. There is no ferocity, bloodlust, and orc-like courage in the story.
Just a bunch of creatures trying to survive, the world is unfair to them, has no mana flow and is only made with one gender.
Their strong bodies and regenerating abilities were just like trash power in the eyes of mana species.
They are like rare creatures that are almost extinct but humans still hunt them because they are considered dangerous.
They are sharks, hunted because they are considered dangerous with their sharp teeth and scary faces.
They were crows, stoned as being considered bad luck with their ugly voices and black plumage.
They are disgusting creatures, trying to live even though the world wants to destroy them.
They are Moku.
and
Moku are 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 they were frightfully narrated.
The name KuMoku that they tell by bringing 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. Eavesdropped on the young orc from behind the shady trees.
The white mist started to shake, feeling the light coming.
The young orcs trembled holding 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 his eyes.
The white mist stood up.
The orcs' bodies stopped shaking.
"I named 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 orc the ruler of the entire Bog forest!—"
The sun is standing.
The white fog was walking faster.
The orcs' breaths choked.
"I WILL MAKE THE ORC RACE THE STRONGEST BEING 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'.