⌶ Oathbreaker ⌶

One | The New Guy

As snow laced the skies and the air was beset with an ancient chill, the world remained quiet, as though it was waiting for a spectacular event to come into fruition. A young boy, brown-skinned with ringlets of dark hair, crept along the sidewalk, keeping his head low to avoid the bitter unfriendly winds. His glasses rimmed with gold kept the expression in his eyes concealed, for the snow had fogged them. 

It wasn't long before he bumped into a figure. 

The object was immovable, as though it was lodged to the Earth itself. The boy's mass was no match for the stranger. Embarrassed by the impolite action, the young boy mumbled an apology underneath his thick scarf. 

But no, this would not shake the tall thing standing before him. This was a different matter entirely. The boy could not dismiss the feeling of fear and curiosity. "Um, excuse me, sir."

The man did not budge at the words being spoken to him. This is when the boy took the situation in his own hands, opting to move around the man. But strangely, this seemed to awaken the odd man. "You wouldn't happen to be Charles, would you?" 

The question struck the boy, and he couldn't help but feel the need to respond. "Not to be rude, but their are plenty of other boys named Charles. I'm definitely not the Charles you're looking for." he answered confidently, but he was still scared. He didn't know this man, why would he be looking for him? but maybe the man was looking for him. It was a strange situation.

"No, you're the Charles I'm looking for. I have orders to bring you somewhere. Grab my hand."

Charles raised his eyebrow as high as the heavens would allow him. "I don't deal with strangers." he stated. He began to continue his walk, and quickly to avoid any other conversations the man might want to have.

But, this would be the wrong choice to make. 

The man's heavy hands grabbed at Charles mouth, covering it to muffle any unnecessary noises. A flurry of snow seemed to cover the frantic movements taking place.

Panic seeped into the boy's eyes.

In a matter of a second, the two disappeared. Both of their traces fading into the snow storm.

-

His eyes opened quickly and he jumped up in response to the new environment. He was in a large bed. The room was decent looking and many various items laid on the dresser to the left of him, one of them being his glasses. 

Panic settled into fear now. He had been kidnapped, and the daylight outside was slipping into darkness. Charles stood to his feet while thoughts raced through his head. But he couldn't help but come to one idea: he was going to die.

Grabbing his jacket from the chair in front of him, he peeped into the hallway of the large ominous mansion. Clusters of signs crowded the walls, all saying clever things, or declaring a title. FeatherGrave one of the signs read. 

Charles had done his research. It was one of the Thirteen Houses, with FeatherGrave being the third house. His fear jumped to curiosity. He was in a house, but not a normal house. A house that held a "family" of magic users. He was in one, and he was very excited. 

He had always wanted to study magic, but his parents completely outlawed it.

He continued his trek down the long hallway, but he stopped, for he had heard a door shut behind him. Coming out of one of the many rooms was a girl. 

Her skin was light, and her hair was short and brown. Headphones were fit snug around her neck. She was cute, but there was a dangerous spark within her deep eyes. "What the fuck are you doing? Who are you?" she questioned fiercely. 

Charles stuttered in thought. "U-um. I was taken here by some man. I swear, I'm not creeping around!"

The girl walked quickly to him, almost angrily. "Listen, the Housemaster isn't accepting any new people. Wherever you came from, you better fucking leave." she said with ferocity in her heart. Her words were so harsh to Charles' ears that it was beginning to offend him. 

"Your attitude is really unneeded!  I was kidnapped and brought here. Kidnapped!"

The girl smirked. "Aw, did I make you mad? I'm sorry." she flippantly said, flipping her long bang which shifted to the right of her face. 

 Charles shook his head in disbelief. He never would've imagined meeting someone so rude.

Just then, the same door had opened, and another girl stepped out. Her skin was pale and her hair was as black as the void of space. She wore a sweater and jeans. "Ana, what's going on?" she asked with concern, not enjoying the verbal clash that was taking place. 

"Sam, this guy's saying he was kidnapped and brought here. If he thinks I'll believe that shit."

"You know, he could actually be right. The Housemaster is looking for new members, so he sends out the Golem to collect members. Apparently, he's resorting to kidnapping to get more members. How desperate can you get?" Sam explained, denting Ana's behavior. 

"Oh." was all she could say. Not even a sorry was said.

Charles smiled at Sam. She was someone he could get along with. 

"Samantha, Ana." a masculine voice called out. It belonged to a man of white hair and blue eyes. He was definitely older than the three teenagers, but he appeared just as young. "I see you've met the young man." he punctuated his chipper statement with his smile.

Charles became angry. "You're the guy who kidnapped me! I'm someone's child, you know that, right?"

Before the man could respond, Ana stepped in. "We're all someone's child, dumbass. And you still have a choice. You can stay or fucking go bye-bye."

"I don't think I was talking to you." Charles stated with an assist of his middle finger.

Laughter escaped the Housemaster's lips. "You two make an interesting team." 

But then, his blue eyes hardened like steel. "I didn't kidnap you without having a reason. You're important. The Thirteen Houses are doing the same thing. They're looking to create Sages of New."

"Sages of New?"

"Have you heard of the Sages of Old? They were the original masters of magic. Their blood passed down to a handful of today's magic users."

Charles pondered in thought. Was he one of these people?