by Brandon Chen
“I would expect that is a lot of Guardians then.”
“Correct.”
Ares frowned. “So, if there are so many Guardians, how does Zahir expect to get remotely close to Ahriman’s body?”
“He has several Magi accompanying him as well as the force of Persia, a great united army of all its conquered nations. They have hundreds of thousands of soldiers and plenty of mages to distract the Guardians while Zahir goes for the body. He will then harness Ahriman’s power and be able to eradicate the remaining Guardians on his own.”
“Thousands of men will die to get him there.”
“In Zahir’s eyes the sacrifice is worth it.”
Ares closed his eyes and breathed through clenched teeth. “I’ll stop him. Thank you, Ramses.” He looked to the dying man with pitiful eyes. “Your name doesn’t sound Persian. Where are you from? Why are you helping me?”
“I hail from a faraway land to the west. The Persians came and conquered our nation. I became one of the king’s personal Magi because it would yield benefits such as the protection of my family. We had been told that you, Darien, were the one who murdered the old king and queen of Persia. As a result, many defeated nations not only blamed Cambyses for their misfortunes but they also blamed you for giving your uncle the throne,” Ramses wheezed, closing his eyes hard as he felt a sharp pain rage through his shoulder. “When I heard Zahir claim that he was the real culprit behind the Persian rulers’ deaths I knew that I had to help you, true Prince of Persia. It is Zahir and Cambyses’s fault that my kingdom fell. I hope that you’ll bring a stop to their madness so that the nations of eastern Dastia do not have to suffer as we of the west have.”
Ares nodded, a gentle gust of wind blowing through his hair. “What does your name mean?”
“Son of Ra.” Ares stiffened at the mention of the name. “That is one of the many gods of the sun. It is one in particular that my people worship for he has brought our crops fortunate weather and our people hope even in dark times.”
Ares raised an eyebrow. He? Ra is a male? Then again, it was said that gods were allowed to change their appearances if they wanted. Ra had taken the form of Aleysha and had granted him this incredible power. He smiled at Ramses. Now the supposed “son” of Ra was helping him once more. Ra, you’re everywhere, aren’t you?
Ares turned around and began to walk away from Ramses’ body. “Amon, grab Ramses and make sure you’re careful with him. We’re going to bring him to Yuusus to be treated,” he called over his shoulder to the rock golem. Amon snorted in agreement and stomped over to Ramses, picking up the injured Magus in his hardened hands.
Ramses laughed, perplexed at his current situation. “I never would’ve imagined that one of the gods of war would’ve decided to spare my life after I meant to harm him. I was under the false impression that all of the gods who represented war were merciless. I’m surprised that you haven’t left me to die, Lord Ares.”
“Shush,” Ares murmured, sliding his hands into his pockets as his spear exploded into a puff of smoke, vanishing from sight. “I’m not like the other gods that you’ve heard about,” he said with a slight smile as he began the long trek back to Yuusus.
Taking a Final Leave
“How is it possible that we can’t find ANY ancient texts of Ares? Are you trying to tell me that none of the civilizations of western Dastia worship this god? They haven’t even heard of him? So, what is he? Just a random ghost that appeared out of nowhere?” Cambyses boomed, slamming his fist against the arm of his golden throne as he gazed upon dozens of frightened scholars from many different nations. These scholars had the sole job of searching through their nation’s texts to find even the slightest mention of a god named Ares. There was nothing. In all of western Dastia, Ares was unknown and had no worshippers. “How many damned gods of war could there possibly be? Mithra? Anhur? Odin?”
“M-Milord,” a scholar said quietly. “There are thousands of gods that exist. Just as there are many humans that exist, there are many gods as well. The nations of western Dastia might not worship this supposed Ares but he might be from a kingdom from the east or maybe even another human settlement from another unknown continent! Or even another world! Milord, we don’t have enough information yet but….”
“Have this insolent fool killed,” Cambyses ordered Zahir, who stood at his throne’s side.
Zahir clicked his fingers and the scholar suddenly burst into hot flames that ate away at his deteriorating flesh. The Magus smiled sadistically and folded his arms again as the room listened in horror to the dying scholar’s screams of anguish.
Cambyses slammed his palms against both arms of his chair as he stood up, bellowing loudly through the throne room so that all of the scholars could hear. “There is no information that is outside of our empire’s grasp. Now find out Ares’ origins or I’ll have all of your heads! I want information on where his worshippers live and then I want them all killed!” he screamed, his face red with fury. He slumped back into his throne and waved the scholars off. The men all fled the room with haste, eager to get as far away from the Persian monarch as possible.
“You handled the news of the fall of General Shazir’s army a lot better than I thought,” Zahir admitted. “You’ve only killed one man so far. That’s significantly better than the Hayashi clan genocide that ensued after you found out Ares slaughtered your army of one hundred thousand soldiers in the Lost Sands several years before.”
“I didn’t expect Shazir, Ramses, and Amam to fall so easily. Fifty thousand soldiers stormed towards Yuusus and they weren’t even able to reach the city. How pathetic. Think about how that makes our empire look, how it makes me look! I would have Shazir executed for his poor leadership but he’s already dead. You shouldn’t have killed him so that I could have the satisfaction of decapitating him myself,” Cambyses growled.
“Oh, milord, you know that would’ve only resulted in the leakage of classified information,” Zahir said. “Our armies are searching the Lost Sands for Ahriman’s body as we speak. We will be informed within a day of the discovery of the fault in which his body is buried.”
“Good. Now, you said that you have information regarding Ares. Tell me what you know. It’s clearly much more than whatever the damned scholars know so far. This god is apparently a ghost that no one of Dastia has heard about,” Cambyses grumbled.
“Well, milord. It is still a possibility that the scholar, whom you blatantly had me execute, was correct. Perhaps Ares is of another nation to the east or even of another continent.”
The Persian ruler rolled his eyes.
Zahir then explained everything that he witnessed during his confrontation with Ares, not leaving out a single detail. Cambyses’s eyes were widened with surprise and disbelief as he heard the Magus’s story.
“Ares is Darien? Then that must mean that he isn’t a god at all! We know that Darien is an ordinary human.”
“No, he is a god, and a powerful one at that,” Zahir said. “I expect that he became Ares after being granted godly powers from the Lost Sands, similarly to how I will harness the power of Ahriman. That would explain how he managed to survive his exile.”
Cambyses reached up and rubbed his temples. “So the original Ares must’ve been killed by some unknown means and Darien was lucky enough to stumble across the deity’s corpse and harnessed Ares’ power, huh? Interesting. How does one take the powers of a fallen god anyway, Zahir?”
“You must drink their blood.”
“So Darien drank the blood of the dead god, Ares. I did not know that boy had it in him to submit to cannibalism in order to survive. He must’ve obtained the magic by accident,” Cambyses insisted.
“Perhaps,” Zahir murmured, the corners of his lips twitching into a sly smile. “Anyway, I’ve come to a recent conclusion that perhaps we should pull back a majority of our soldiers from the Lost Sands once we have discovered the fissure.”
“And why is that?”
“Yuu and I will de
part for the Lost Sands tomorrow morning. Once we find the fault, we’ll only need a small force of soldiers to help harvest Ahriman’s power.”
“But what about all the Guardians that you were previously worried about?”
“I have disregarded them as a threat. Just trust me, milord. I will handle this. Have you ever had a reason to doubt me?”
He left, leaving Cambyses puzzled. The Magus walked out of the Persian castle into a lush, green courtyard, where he found his apprentice awaiting him. “Yuu, what are you doing here? I thought that you were to help the scholars in searching for the origins of Ares.”
“He does not exist within our texts. The scholars are wasting their time,” Yuu said. “No matter how much this king believes that the knowledge is within our grasp, it isn’t. He is a worshipped god from somewhere else.” He adjusted his metal gauntlets and looked at Zahir with his cold, turquoise eyes. “What of Ares? Did you come to a conclusion as to whether or not he is Darien after all?”
“He isn’t,” Zahir lied calmly.
“Is that so?” Yuu’s eyes lowered and he sighed, as if disappointed. “So then, what’s our next move?”
“We will head to the Lost Sands tomorrow,” Zahir said, walking past his apprentice, his eyes gazing across the prosperous city of Persepolis. “After battling Ares I have come to the realization that I’ll need Ahriman’s power in order to fully crush this unknown god of war.”
Yuu raised an eyebrow at his mentor, surprised that Zahir was admitting to someone else’s strength. “Was he that overwhelming?”
Zahir recalled the aggressive, beastly look in Ares’ eyes when he had changed personalities. He nodded. “He was.”
Yuu shrugged and turned to walk away back in the direction of the castle. “Fine, then. I’ll head off to inform my family of my departure. Hopefully this venture will not be as treacherous as the rumors say. The Lost Sands is the pinnacle of danger in Terrador.”
“But our hardships will be worth it in the end, Yuu,” Zahir called to his apprentice. “Gaining the power of a god will enable new opportunities for the two of us, and will open doors that have always been closed to ordinary mortals. With the invincible strength of Ahriman, we can bring even the infamous Ares to his inevitable end.”
***
Ares carried Ramses in his arms as if his weight were nothing, the man’s blood dripping all over the ground as he was carried to the Luxas Mansion. The god walked through the large front yard of the estate, his eyes trained on the closed front door of the house. The sun’s heat sizzled the boy’s skin and the air was thick and humid. Ares expected his face to be soaked in sweat but, surprisingly, only a few trickles of perspiration rushed down his cheeks.
Amon stomped through the land behind Ares, being careful not to step on any of the corpses, people, or buildings as he slowly and carefully eased his way around the perimeter of Yuusus and around to the Luxas manor. The golem plopped down on the flat, open, yard of the mansion and sat, awaiting Ares’ return.
Ramses saw many horrors as he was carried through Yuusus and he couldn’t help but feel guilt ripping at his heart. At one point he had to close his eyes when he spotted a woman sobbing over her deceased child’s body, cradling the corpse’s head in her arms. Ramses wondered why he had even joined the Persians on their conquest when he knew what it was like to be a victim of their destruction. Was it that he wanted to be the one wielding the power for once? Maybe that was it. But in the end, there was no satisfaction to be obtained from being the dominator. The feeling was the same as being the dominated. Emptiness.
Kira opened the door of the mansion for Ares and frowned when she saw Ramses. “Why did you bring this man here? He’s a Persian.”
“A Persian who regrets his decisions,” Ares said, walking into the home. “He’s given me information and I believe he deserves a second chance.”
The inside of the house was made of fine wood that one wouldn’t find anywhere in western Dastia. A chandelier of glistening diamonds hung from the high ceiling, which had a circular window carved into the top. Sunlight flooded in through the window and refracted silver light off of the chandelier and onto the walls. There was a stairway several feet in front of the entrance that spiraled upward towards the second floor with a white mat cascading down the wooden stairs. Past the stairway was a living room where Tetsu lay on the floor on his back, his eyes closed.
Aleysha was kneeling at his side, pressing a soft, bloody, cloth to his burn wound. The mercenary dipped the white cloth into a wooden water basin, making the towel sopping wet with cool water. She grasped the cloth with both her hands and wrung it, squeezing water back into the water basin before pressing the towel back to Tetsu’s injury.
Sitting in a leather chair before a blazing hearth was a man, with curly grey hair, wearing a golden crown. He glanced over his shoulder, which was tightly wrapped in a green robe, spotting Ares in the doorway. His wizened face was wrinkled from age and he wore a long grey beard that rested on his chest. His ears were bedecked with an amalgam of luxurious golden earrings.
The man smiled and stroked his wispy beard, turning back to face the flickering fire of the hearth. “So you are Ares. I’ve heard much about you. Rather, not so much about you yourself, but of your ancient tales.”
Ares raised his eyebrows as he walked forward with Ramses still in his arms. “Ancient tales?”
“Several centuries ago, a foreigner from another continent in this world arrived to Dastia. He came with others who settled in eastern Dastia. He brought with him a pantheon of new gods that he worshipped in his old land. You were one of them. Ares, the god of untamed war. Yet you are not nearly as barbaric or manly as I had originally imagined you from your tales. You’re a mere boy.”
“A boy who can make this building crumble with a snap of my fingers,” Ares growled.
“Calm yourself, Lord. I do not mean to insult you; I am merely puzzled, for you are not as the tales portray you.” The man leaned deep into his leather chair, the fires of the hearth reflecting in his dark eyes. “I am the king of a faraway empire known as Luxas. I believe that you’ve met my Magus, Kira.” The king rose to his feet from his chair.
“We are acquainted.”
“In my empire, you are one of the many gods that we worship when we head off to war. You and Athena….”
“Look, I don’t know who that is and—”
“Just hear me out, please,” the lord said, facing Ares. “The Persians, as you saw today, threaten the existence of eastern Dastia. I offer you my army, Warlord Ares, so that you may protect eastern Dastia from the tyranny of Persia. All of my soldiers will be at your disposal.”
“I am not interested,” Ares murmured.
“Tetsu has spent the past several years forming diplomatic relations between the nations of eastern Dastia. After Persia demonstrated its aggression and attacked Yuusus without warning today, it wouldn’t be hard to have the entire united army of the eastern nations at your command. You could battle the Persians and bring them to justice. All of the glory will be yours. My people and many other nations will worship you out of respect rather than fear and—”
“I am not interested in leading an army. I’m not interested in glory. And I don’t care about how many worshippers I have,” Ares snapped, silencing the king immediately. He placed Ramses down on the ground beside Tetsu and exhaled, standing tall. “I will be leaving for the Lost Sands with haste. I do not believe that the Persians will be returning for Yuusus anytime soon. Eastern Dastia will be safe for the meantime.”
“Where will their troops be focused then?”
“The Persians are searching for a way to grant their head Magus, Zahir, the power of their Persian god, Ahriman. With that power, he’ll be able to stomp out the nations of eastern Dastia with ease. It won’t matter whether or not there’s an army of you, because he’ll slaughter you all.” He turned around and began to walk towards the door of the mansion, ready to leave. “The Persians will be sending their me
n into the Lost Sands to search for Ahriman’s power. I will go and stop them. No army of yours will help; you’ll only slow me down. Though I encourage you to assemble yourselves anyway; you never know what’s going to happen. But I will not be responsible for the lives of your men. I am no warlord.”
The king of Luxas stared at Ares’ back and sighed, an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness swooping over him. Leaving the fate of eastern Dastia to Ares was a hard thing to do. He watched as Aleysha got up from her brother’s side and rushed after Ares.
“I’m coming with you!” the mercenary exclaimed, snatching her sword and shield off of the wall. She wrapped her orange scarf around her neck and dashed past Kira, who stood stunned. Staggering out onto the lush grass of the manor’s yard, she watched as Ares continued to walk away with his hands jammed into his pockets.
“No,” Ares said simply, without even bothering to turn around to face Aleysha. The god walked past Amon, who stood up with his giant eyes gazing at the female warrior who followed Ares.
“You’ll need help where you’re going! If you’re going to face Zahir alone….”
“What are you going to do?” Ares declared harshly, looking at Aleysha from the corner of his eye. “Swing that silly sword at him and hope that it’ll cut him down? Bash him with that flashy shield of yours? He’ll incinerate you before you even get close to him. This is a fight that is out of your league, Aleysha. This isn’t one of your childish mercenary contracts. I’m a deity, I’ll be fine. But you won’t. Turn back and tend to your brother. Let’s go, Amon.”
Amon groaned in a complaining tone.
“She’s not coming with us,” Ares murmured. “It’s always been the two of us anyway. That’s the way it should stay.”
