God of War, Ares: Guardian

by Brandon Chen

  “Is that so?” Cambyses murmured. “In the past few weeks that you’ve been absent we’ve been cut off from some of our fortified units to the east. Do you know anything about that?”

  “No,” Ahriman said with a casual shrug. He wasn’t worried. Whatever it was, it would be crushed by his almighty power. “I’ll handle it on my own time.”

  “I originally believed that it was Ares slowly defeating our Persian units that were sent east to conquer lands on the way to eastern Dastia. But if he was in the Lost Sands combating you, there was no way that he could be in two places at once,” Cambyses muttered. “The scouts that we’ve sent to find out what happened are too slow, and if there were any real threat they surely wouldn’t return in one piece. Perhaps you ought to take a look.”

  Ahriman’s face contorted into an annoyed scowl. “I ought to take a look? Have one of the other weakling Magi do it. Don’t waste my time.” The god turned away from the king, ready to leave the throne room. He was weary after having traveled from the Lost Sands. He’d been testing out his godly powers without much restraint. He felt depleted and wanted to sink into his comfortable bed and fall into a deep slumber.

  “Zahir, how dare you turn your back on your king?” Cambyses boomed and Ahriman stopped suddenly. The king gulped, realizing that he might’ve made a mistake raising his voice to the god. But hadn’t this god pledged his allegiance to Cambyses? Then why was he feeling so unbelievably terrified? A chilling sensation shivered through his spine and his mouth became dry as a desert, his hands squeezing the arms of his throne.

  Ahriman glanced over his shoulder with a glare that would make armies flee in fear. The intensity of his stare made the king sink back into his throne, his hands quavering nervously as perspiration streaked down his cheeks. The god’s violet eyes coruscated and he cracked a tiny smile across his lips. “Cambyses, you’re funny. You’re a king amongst humans. But now I am a god, a being beyond you. Learn your place, otherwise the next time you try to talk down to me, I will dispatch you. Our vision of a united continent does not need you in it, mortal.” He turned away and continued to walk towards the exit of the room.

  Cambyses watched as Ahriman left the throne room and lowered his eyes. The soldiers that stood like statues around the perimeter of the throne room all shifted nervously, not really sure what to make of Zahir’s sudden rebellious behavior. Cambyses knew that he could no longer control Zahir. Now that he had become Ahriman, there was no way for the king to physically restrain the god. The king had gone from the player to the pawn. Cambyses bit his quivering lower lip lightly.

  The doors of the throne room opened once more and the king glanced up to see Sahad, Jafaar, and Bator all sauntering into the room, dragging Tetsu’s bloody, limp body behind them. The mercenary was unconscious, with pieces of a broken vase jammed into his flesh. Streaks of blood trailed behind his body as he was dragged across the throne room and tossed to the ground before the Persian king.

  Cambyses watched as the three Magi bowed before him. The king swallowed the rock in his throat and sat up straighter, giving his Magi a nod of approval. At least he still had these subordinate mages. “You’ve captured him. Good. What of the search for Ramses and his family?”

  “Still unsuccessful, milord. We’re working as swiftly as we can. The city is massive, and they could be hiding anywhere. We’ve put out a bounty on their heads to give the citizens an incentive to have them captured. The greedy bastards of the lower cities will find them in no time, milord. I can ensure you that,” Sahad said, his head bowed to the ground.

  “Make sure you don’t disappoint me. Take this broken toy to the jail and schedule him for execution tomorrow. Oh, and bring him a final hearty meal. He was a friend of my nephew. I think he deserves a proper last meal,” Cambyses said with a wave of his hand. “Don’t bother returning to me until you’ve found Ramses and his family. Now, leave me. Except for you, Bator.”

  Bator blinked, staring at the ground, still kneeling before his king. He heard the fading footsteps of Jafaar and Sahad as the two Magi left the room. Saluting his king by striking his fist to his chest, Bator nodded his head nervously. “Yes, milord?”

  “I want you to go and scout east of Persepolis along the main roads. We’ve lost contact with a few of our dominated territories to the east. I believe that a threat is coming and I want to know exactly what it is we’re up against,” Cambyses explained. “With your speed, you’re the best suited to scout ahead and see what threat lies to our east. Just make sure you get there and come back in one piece.”

  “Yes, milord,” Bator said with a swift nod of his head. “I want to ensure you that you shouldn’t be concerned, milord. The Persian army has returned from the Lost Sands. If there is a threat, then they’ll surely be defeated by our army.”

  “I am aware of that. Thank you, Bator. I just want to know who has the audacity to challenge the Persian Empire.” Cambyses snapped his fingers and closed his eyes, waving Bator off. “You may go.” The king watched as the new Magus fled the room hastily, and he exhaled a breath of warm air, tapping the back of his head gently against his throne. Now, what would he do about Ahriman? The god was becoming uncontrollable. At the rate things were going, Ahriman would deem Cambyses useless and would kill him. This could’ve been Zahir’s plan from the very beginning, to use Cambyses to give him the resources he would need to claim Ahriman’s power. And now that Cambyses had fulfilled his role, he was no longer needed. The king shut his eyes. Things were not going as planned.

  ***

  Ramses led his wife and child down into the Royal Jail, entering the dark hallway of the prison. Shadows crept along the walls and torches illuminated the corridor of the jail, revealing rows of cells on both sides of the hallway. Kira stumbled down the stairway after Ramses and his family, quite puzzled as to why they were down here. She was pretty sure that the Royal Jail would just lead to a dead end. But the Magus simply followed Ramses, expecting that he knew what he was doing.

  The cells were stuffed with starved political dissidents of Cambyses. They didn’t even lift their heads when they saw Ramses’ family walking in the hallways. Instead, they stared blankly at the ground as if they were all lifeless undead. Their eyes reflected hopelessness and dismay, the life torn from the distraught prisoners.

  “Where are we going?” Kira whispered, listening to Persian guards hastily dash by in the corridor above them. “We’re sitting ducks here!”

  Ramses pressed his index finger to his lips and shushed Kira. The mage frowned for a moment but soon saw that the Persian Magus was making his way to the far end of the hallway of the jail. Ramses extended his hand outward and there was a creaking noise as the bars of one of the cells suddenly forcefully pried apart, revealing a skinny opening. Ramses squeezed himself through the opening and nodded for his family to follow him.

  Kira wasn’t exactly sure what the man was doing but she followed Ramses’ wife and child through the opening and into the only empty cell in the Royal Jail. She watched as Ramses placed his palm to the cold stone wall of the cell. The moment his palm touched the stone, the wall groaned and collapsed in a heap, revealing a small stairway that descended into pitch-black darkness.

  “You have a staff, right? Light the way,” Ramses said with a nod, indicating that Kira should go first. When he saw that the Luxas mage was hesitant he reassured her that it would be safe. “Only certain Magi are able to unlock this opening. Trust me, there’s nothing down there. We need to hurry through.”

  “Daddy, I’m scared,” Ramses’ young son whimpered, wiping his face with the sleeve of his golden linen shirt. The child had black hair in a bowl haircut and couldn’t have been older than six.

  “There’s nothing to be scared about, Riza. I am here to protect you no matter what,” Ramses promised with a genuine smile. He got down on his knee so that his head was level with his son’s. He patted Riza’s head gently and smiled. “Just stay close to Mommy. When she tells you to, close your eyes. You ca
n do that, right?”

  “Yes,” Riza said quietly.

  “Alright,” Ramses winked at his son and stood up, nodding to his wife. He turned back to Kira. “Let’s go.”

  Kira’s wooden staff illuminated the way with a gleaming white light that beamed from the tip of her weapon. Descending the ominous stairway, she found that they were being led into an underground pathway that traveled underneath the castle. She led Ramses and his family through the dark, silent, pathway for an hour without a single occurrence. No one spoke a single word or made any noise besides the tapping sound of their footsteps.

  As Kira walked, she wondered whether or not Tetsu had made it out alright. He was already battling one Magus, which was difficult enough. Surely other Persian soldiers and possibly other Magi would end up leaping into the fray. Would he still be able to leave the battle unscathed as he usually did? Kira’s heart pounded and she swallowed hard, knowing that she should trust Tetsu. He said that he was going to meet us in the city. Has he ever broken a promise, Kira? He’ll be fine. Nevertheless, she couldn’t stop worrying. Her heart was racing, for some reason she didn’t feel positive about leaving him to fend for himself.

  Kira’s eyes fluttered when she realized that she had bumped into a metal ladder, completely lost in her own thoughts. She glanced up and saw that the ladder led to a wooden hatch. Where did that opening lead to? Well, wherever it was, it was probably better than standing around in this underground tunnel. The mage gripped her glowing staff in one hand and began to climb up the ladder slowly, careful not to make a lot of noise.

  The Luxas Magus pressed her palm to the hatch and pushed it gently, silently opening it. She winced as she was suddenly overwhelmed with the acrid scent of manure. She scrunched up her nose and scanned her surroundings, realizing that she was in a small wooden building filled with dozens of horses and tons of hay. Clambering out of the underground tunnel, Kira helped Ramses’ wife and Riza up the ladder. “Where are we?” Kira asked as Ramses climbed up behind his wife.

  “A stable, obviously.”

  Kira narrowed her eyes. “I managed to figure that much out.”

  Ramses turned and groaned when he saw that there was a young man in the stables with a pitchfork, staring incredulously at the intruders. The stranger was wearing ripped, tattered clothing along with a hat knit from red straw. “Wait…!”

  The man pointed his pitchfork at the infiltrators, tiny bits of hay clinging to the metal. His hands were shaking and his lips were quivering as his knees rattled against one another. “W-What are you doing here? How’d you get in here?” the man demanded, his teeth chattering as if he had just taken a dip of a lake of ice water. He didn’t exactly sound too confident. Clearly he had never threatened another human before.

  Ramses took a step towards the boy. “Look—” The man jabbed out with the pitchfork, nearly stabbing the Magus. Riza cried out and Ramses reached up, touching his throat, retreating several steps backward.

  “Don’t take another step closer!” the young worker yelled.

  Kira gently placed her staff on the floor, her eyes never leaving the man. She held her hands in the air as she slowly inched forward towards the stranger. “We mean no harm, I swear. We just escaped from the Persian castle; the Persians are after Ramses and his family. That’s the honest truth.”

  “R-Ramses? The Magus?” The young worker tilted his head to the side and examined the cloaked man before him. “The infamous mage? But why would the guards be after someone like you? Don’t you work directly for the king?”

  Ramses shrugged. “I guess Kira doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut.” He darted a disapproving glare in Kira’s direction. The female mage shrugged. “I don’t work for the king anymore. Actually, currently Cambyses wants me dead.”

  “Speaking about keeping their mouth shut.” Kira coughed.

  The young farmer lowered his pitchfork and smiled. “Wow. So you’re going against the government then?”

  “Yes. You don’t seem particularly fazed, boy.”

  “No, I’m excited! This is great, I’ve been trying to support my grandma but the government has been taxing me like crazy. I can hardly afford to feed myself, let alone buy expensive medicine for my sick gran. I believe that she’ll pass soon with the way that things are going,” the young man said quietly, lowering his eyes. “Something needs to be done. The poor are only getting poorer, if that’s even possible. If you’re truly against Cambyses then I’ll help you.”

  Ramses smiled. “Hm, I thought that the underground tunnel led to an abandoned warehouse. They’ve changed this into a stable?” He looked to the young man. “Do you have somewhere we can stay to lay low? The guards will be searching hard for us for the next couple of days. I have money to compensate you and….”

  “Yes, of course,” the young man said, motioning for the party to follow him. “Just, er, make sure that you aren’t seen. We need to make a quick cross through the main road of Persepolis to get to my place. Guards might spot ya if your heads aren’t down. Just stay with me.”

  Kira and her party followed the young man out of the stable and across a patch of dirt towards a road in Persepolis, which was packed with hundreds of people. The civilians were wearing fine silks with an assortment of various colors. There were also many slaves lumbering around on the streets. Her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Bator sprinting down the street with a squadron of guards, barreling their way through the crowds of Persians.

  “What’s your name again?” Kira asked the young man.

  “It’s Cassim,” the farmer said.

  “Right,” Kira looked to Bator, who was noticed by practically everyone in the area. “That man is going to recognize us. We need to—”

  “I’ve got it,” Ramses said, snapping his fingers. In an instant, the entire party became invisible. To the ordinary eye, Cassim was standing there on the side of the road alone. Ramses dropped his tone to a whisper. “Stay perfectly still until the Magus passes.”

  Bator was dashing through the road on his way to leave the city, his eyes trained before him. Suddenly, he sniffed the air and came to an abrupt stop, halting right in front of Cassim. The Magus held up his hand and his guards stopped at his side as he eyed the innocent farmer boy for a moment. He caught a slight whiff of magic in the air. “Could that be Ramses?” he murmured aloud. “They’re nearby.”

  Kira felt a bead of sweat forming on her brow and she swallowed lightly, watching Cassim. The young man had a staid look on his face and bowed his head in respect to Bator. The Magus paid the young farmer no attention. He seemed unable to pinpoint where he was sensing the magic.

  “Bah! I have other matters to attend to. Guards, start by searching this area for Ramses. I have to make my leave,” Bator grumbled and continued to trudge down the street. The guards scattered about, beginning their search for Ramses and his family.

  Cassim exhaled, as if he had just been holding his breath. “Alright, let’s get out of here. I’m feeling far too nervous. Quickly, follow me.” The invisibility spell faded, but guards had already left the area to search nearby homes. It was easy for the group to melt into the massive crowd of Persians that occupied the streets.

  Kira weaved through the crowd, keeping her eye on Cassim and his giant pitchfork, afraid that she might get lost in such a populated city. Within five minutes, they had arrived at a small hut that looked like it could house three people, at the most. The rickety old building hardly looked stable, and the wood was moldy. Not to mention that the roof was made of straw. The hut looked like a giant pile of kindling.

  “It ain’t much, but it’s home,” Cassim said as he opened the door. The farmer’s home had a total of three rooms. There was one bedroom, one living room and one bathroom. The bathroom was a hole in the ground and it stank of excrement, just like the stable. There was a basin filled with water and a couple of leaves next to the hole. The common space was an empty room, with no furniture. The bedroom consisted of a hard bed that look
ed like it was a plank of wood with multiple blankets to cushion its hardness. A mat was placed on the ground beside the bed where Cassim slept. On the “bed” was Cassim’s grandmother, an old, weary, woman who looked as blanched as a ghost.

  The decrepit woman’s face was wrinkled from old age and she seemed extremely frail. She raised her hand as Cassim entered the house and her entire arm was trembling. Kira thought that she was convulsing, judging by how much she was shaking. Sweat was racing down her face as if she were outside in the baking hot sun, and she wore some ragged clothing that looked like it hadn’t been washed in months. Her clothes had apparently once been white, but were so caked in dirt and grime that they looked brown.

  Kira rushed to the grandmother’s side immediately. “By the gods, you weren’t kidding when you said your grandmother was sick.” The Magus reached out and touched the elderly woman’s forehead. “She’s got a raging fever and several other symptoms of illness as well. Ear infection too by the looks of it. She’s weak. Very weak.”

  “I know,” Cassim said softly. “I don’t have the money to buy medicine to treat her. Eighty percent of my earnings go straight to the government. The rest are spent on food and medicine. But the medicine I can afford can only ease the pain. It won’t cure the illness. I don’t know what to do….”

  “We can help,” Kira said. “We can probably afford the medicine your grandma needs. Ramses, you can sell some of that jewelry of yours to get some spare change, right?”

  Ramses looked at the gleaming rings on his fingers and sighed. “Yeah.”

  “Alright. We’ll go to the market and grab the medicine once things calm down,” Kira said with a smile at Cassim. “Don’t worry, we’ll help you out. Thanks for letting us hide here.”

  “No, thank you so much for being willing to help my grandmother,” Cassim said with a lively grin.

  “Hey Daddy, isn’t that the guy who wanted to save us?” Riza said, pointing through the bedroom window.