《Ares The God Of War》 Chapter 1 - I Need Money!!! "Why are the demons attacking again after all this time? " A man said with a stressed look on his face. "I don''t know, but we may need ?ssistance with this or It could become a problem." Another man chimed in. "You''re not suggesting what I think you are." The first man said with a stressed look "We''re going to need him if we want to get out of this predicament." "But didn''t he betray us long ago? Why would we go crawling for his help!" The other man clapped back. "I don''t know If you''re new but with all his power he is one of the strongest if not the strongest God out there!" While the two men were arguing they heard a girl''s voice. "Stop it now!" The girl was beautiful, elegant, and dignified. She had a powerful aura around her. When she said stop they immediately did. "I want you two to get your best men, send them to earth and bring him back here, we need him. *** "Hey Aries, wake up, how long do you plan on sleeping?" The sound of soft and gentle voices could be heard from a girl, trying to wake Aries up. "Ugh." Aries was disgruntled by the fact he had to get up."After all this time I thought you would learn, but you''re still being stubborn. I guess you leave me no choice." The gentle-sounding female left the room but came back a few moments later this time with a bowl of water in her hands. "Since you love sleeping, I guess you wouldn''t mind sleeping with this!" At that moment all the water from the bowl fell upon Aries, leaving him soaked. Like someone with bad allergies, he did not react well to it. But she didn''t back down and Said "I wouldn''t even be here if you had paid your rent over the past three months, I could''ve kicked you out the first time you did this but No!" She was looking at Aries like he was the most pathetic person she had ever seen. She then continued. " The first time you didn''t pay, I was In a good mood and feeling generous, so I let it slide. then I guess you took advantage of that because you did the same thing the next month, but once again you caught me in a good mood, but today is different I want you out NOW!" Although Aries was angry he couldn''t say anything about what the landlord said because it''s all true, he''s broke. Just as he was about to leave the girl spoke again, " You know if you want to stay here, you could just sell me that sword, I''d let you stay as long as you want." The girl seemed to be referring to a sword that Aries was carrying on his back. Aries'' face immediately turned sour. The sword was black with a hit of purple, comparable to the color of a midnight sky. The girl wanted the sword because it looked like it was worth a lot of money, she must''ve thought Aries would sell it to her cause he needed a place to stay, but his next response surprised her. " I would never sell this." The girl''s face was showing clear disappointment. " Why won''t you sell it?" To this Aries said, " because it was a gift from someone special, I wouldn''t trade it for the world." The girl sighed realizing his unwillingness to sell it, then told him to leave. " I wonder who gave him something so good, I should have tried to take it when he first got here." The girl said with a face full of regret. "I was kicked out. I can''t believe it, where do I go now!" Deep in thought about how he could get some money, he was startled by an old lady yelling " Someone help me, that man took my purse!" As she said that Aries saw a man run past him with a purse. Aries didn''t really care so he was just going to leave, but as he walked away the lady yelled again "please someone help, I''ll give you lots of money if you do!" Aries turned back immediately with greed filling his face. Blinded by the chance of getting riches, he took off with the speed of a sports car in the direction the man went. Luck must be on my side, Aries thought gleefully. He continued running as fast as could, but he noticed something strange. The man was running just as fast or maybe even faster than himself. "Humans have evolved much more than I could imagine." *** Aries lived in heaven most of his life, but 300 years ago something happened and he got into a conflict with them. He tried his best to fight against them but in the end, he lost and was kicked out. When he came to earth he noticed he had arrived in the United States. He quickly realized that to do anything you needed money, for a while Aries was a homeless man living on the streets. During his homeless period, he traveled around a lot, looking for ways to get quick cash or possibly a job, along the way he got to learn many things about Humans. They all have something called abilities. These abilities could vary from electricity, fire, Teleportation, Or the ability to move things with your mind. There are many different types of abilities, all Humans get one once they turn 16. Most people only get one ability, but some people get multiple, and those people are at the top in this world. The most someone had was 10 abilities, his name is Han, and is the supposed strongest man alive, he also lives somewhere in America but no one knows where. Aries usually wouldn''t care about things like this, but since he might be staying here the rest of his life he might as well learn what he can. Aries kept bouncing from place to place saving as much as he could each time, then three months ago he finally got a place to stay in Florida. Although It wasn''t the nicest of places, it gave him a roof over his head¡­.That was until now anyway. *** Aries had been running after the man for a while at this point and was starting to get tired, but didn''t give up because he needed money and the man was finally slowing down. He figured the man was getting tired as well, so he continued running only hoping that the old lady wasn''t lying. Chapter 2 - Demonic red eyes 15 minutes later Aries finally catches up with the man in an alley. Aries was relieved because felt fatigue starting to run through him, and saw the man on the ground covered in sweat. when Aries walked up to him, he started acting justified. " Hey man what''s your problem, why did you take that nice lady purse." Although he was saying this, he was secretly thanking him for the opportunity he got. The man didn''t say anything but he did turn to look at Aries then they locked for a sec and when they did Aries saw the man''s eyes, the moment he saw them shock filled his face. The man''s eyes were glowing red. Aries might not care if normally because it might just be part of someone''s ability, but when he saw them he recognized them from one thing and one thing only, demons! Aries was now watching the man intently, keeping his head on a swivel. He wondered what was going on and if it was a mistake. "What are you?" Aries asked, hoping to get an answer from him. "That was a little rude how you phased it, but If you must know I am a demon, I ?ssume you already know that though." This confirmed the suspicion Aries had, simultaneously giving him more questions. The demon sounded dignified, almost like a noble person or a person of high status. He had an intimidating aura. He seemed like the type who would look down on others if they weren''t equal or above him, in terms of power. "It was only a guess, but what is a demon-like you doing on earth?" At this point Aries wasn''t even thinking about the old lady''s purse or the money, only worried about this demon in front of him and if he should attack or not. "What I''m doing here should not be your main concern, you should be concerned about your life because if you break it with two fingers, and if you don''t answer my questions that very well will happen to you," The demon said with an intimidating tone. "Ask away," Aries said in a casual tone, not about the situation he was in. From examining the demon he estimated that their strength should be similar. He believed that the demon was underestimating him. Aries also wanted to see if he could find out more information about this demon and its purpose on earth before fighting it. "How does a human-like you recognize that I''m a demon?" the demon said with a confused look, curious about who this man was. " Your eyes." "My eyes, what are you talking about?" The demon was wondering what he meant. "I guessed you were a demon because of your eyes. I read many stories and in all those stories it was said demon eyes always glowed red, but I didn''t think they were real. It was only a fictional story, after all, then I saw you." Of course, Aries was lying he never read such stories, he only knew that because when he was living in heaven demons tried to attack many times and he was always on the front lines so he got to see them up close so when he has seen this demon he recognized it, but wasn''t fully sure because it had been so long. " Where did you get that sword?" The demon said, pointing at the sword. "Someone gave it to me, Why?" Aries said "Because I sense power coming from that sword, and that power only reminds me of one thing, the heavens. The question is why do you have it" The demon said with a demanding tone. "Now why would I do that for you?" Aries said smiling, he figured that the demon wouldn''t give him any answers so he thought it would be pointless to continue talking. "Because like I said, I could end you with ease, if you don''t believe me I could help you find out." As the demon said this he unleashed more of his power, to seem more intimidating and his eyes were glowing brighter. Aries noticed this and thought, This wasn''t going to be an easy fight. Still, he didn''t back down and said " what makes you think you can crush me so easily." Aries said with confidence. "Well if you are that eager to die, then by my guess!" As the demon said that he ran towards Aries trying to attack. Then Aries quickly unsheathed his sword to block the hit, he tried to attack back but I was blocked by the demon. A hint of shock could be seen on the demon''s face, but he tried not to linger on it and attacked again, but once again it was blocked by Aries. Half an hour later they were still fighting, both sweating profusely, not making much progress on hurting their opponent. "It seems I''ve underestimated you, but it doesn''t matter if you die either way!" The demon was shocked that Aries was keeping up with him but still believed that he could win. "This battle is far from over!" Aries also didn''t believe he''d lose but this fight was going on for too long and it wasn''t looking good for him, he didn''t think he could last much longer. Chapter 3 - Heavenly guards Ares wasn''t looking good, he thought that the demon was strong, but not this strong. The demon currently had the upper hand. Ares was doing everything he could, but it wasn''t much. If he had all his original power he could''ve killed this demon before long ago, unfortunately, he didn''t and was struggling. Ares also hadn''t fought anyone while he was on earth so he was quite rusty. The demon also seemed to notice this and used it to his advantage mustering all his remaining energy to attack harder. Ares wasn''t able to block these attacks, he was on the brink of Collapsing and the heavier attacks didn''t help. Ares thought he should try and retreat. Ares was ashamed of himself. Ares the legendary God of War, had to retreat. Ares then tried to run in the direction he came at full speed, but unfortunately, he was unable to escape the demon and was cut off. The demon attacked again and when Ares tried to block, his sword was knocked out of his hands. The demon raised his hands to attack again " It''s over for you!" Ares realized that he was too exhausted to do anything and could only accept the attack. The great God of War. Once thought of as one''s the strongest God''s being taken out on earth, by a demon of all things. When Ares had Lost all hope, he heard voices of people in the distance "Exterminate the demon." When Ares looked carefully at the people, he saw 4 people wearing golden armor. Ares '' face was one of Disbelief, What are the heavenly guards doing here? Immediately Ares recognized them from the Distinctive armor that they have. The heavenly guards are always the first people sent if someone was attacking heaven. Many people want to be heavenly guards because it could give you lots of respect and benefits. The long and short of it is that the heavenly guards are very important figures. They are also in a position not many people get because of the requirements and the strength it takes to be a Heavenly guard. Ares didn''t understand what was going on or why they were helping him but he didn''t reject it. The demon looked simultaneously shocked and horrified by the arrival of the heavenly guards "How could they be here!" The demon then tried running away scared to fight but was kicked back by one of the guards. The guards started to attack the demon from all sides. The demon wanted to fight back but fear was taking over his body, rendering him unable to move. Even if he did fight back, It wouldn''t have mattered. The guards'' strength combined was too much for the demon to handle. The demon now looked like a child getting bullied by the older kids. Ares had a lot of thoughts running through his head right now. He looked at the whole situation weirdly, even though he was being helped by the guards he wasn''t very happy. Ares had long since been kicked out of heaven and banned from ever going back, so why would they be here helping him. He thought they may have a different motive for helping him. Ares and the heavens didn''t have the best of relationships, not wanting to find out what would happen after the fight he wasn''t keen on sticking around till the end. Ares looked for the right time then took off, faster than people could track. Ares was still exhausted and every step was painful, but he didn''t stop. Not knowing what they would do to him after they killed that demon. *** In a dimly lit room, two people were sitting around a table. The man who said looked quite old and had a calm look on his face, but the man sitting across from him was not as calm "What do you mean! We just got orders to send our men to go and retrieve Ares, Aka the traitor!" The angry man seemed like he was about to go on a rant, so the old man quickly injected himself and said "young man, do you know what happened?" The old man said. "Didn''t he get spotted doing something with a demon?" The other man said "That is correct, now do you think he did it?" The old man said "Of course!" "But why." The old man said again Annoyed by the old man''s nagging, he said "would you get to the point already!" The old man sighed and looked up as if he was Reminiscing, then he said "You weren''t alive when Ares was here so I''ll tell you what happened 300 years ago." The angry man had calmed down considerably and was very interested. The man had read many stories and many people told him that Ares was treacherous to heaven. "As I said before, Ares was one of the strongest God''s and in his prime, he could even rival the ruler." This greatly shocked the man and reasonably so because The ruler, as his name implies, rules over God''s. He is very well respected and many people think of him as the strongest God, so for Ares to be able to rival him is impressive. "As you may know the ruler also has a daughter, Mystic." The old man said "Of course!" The other man said passionately, everyone knew her. Not only was her father the ruler but she also has incredible beauty. Almost every guy wants to date her. Every guy who had the balls to go to mystic was immediately shot down, she doesn''t seem interested in anyone romantically. "Mystic didn''t like anyone until Ares came along. He seemed to quickly sweep her off her feet." "It was amusing to see the girl who never liked anyone fall in love so quickly. They both liked each other a lot¡­.. But unfortunately, the ruler didn''t like Ares at all." Chapter 4 - Forbidden love The old man continued, saying " Before The Ruler had Mystic, he was very immature and reckless, even after he met Mystic''s mother I still didn''t change. I''d say he got even crazier, doing everything he could to impress her, but as soon as Mystic was born his whole world changed." The other man was kinda embarrassed because he valued himself as a person who knew a lot but after talking with this man he felt like an ignorant child. The man was still shocked by the fact that Ares and Mystic used to date, but the idea of The Ruler being a reckless person was hard to wrap his head around. The Ruler was known for being calm and stoic, so for him to be reckless is hard to believe. "The Ruler loved his daughter and was very overprotective. The main reason all the young men are afraid is that her father, Ares, was different. It''s not that he wasn''t afraid of The Ruler, it''s just that he loved Mystic more than he was afraid." The old man said, then he continued "The Ruler was not happy about this at all. He was afraid that his daughter was getting taken away from him and didn''t like Ares because of it. In this case, The Ruler was being a bit immature. He was also in a dilemma because he wanted his daughter to be happy but he didn''t like Ares." "Ares and Mystic dated for a while and The Ruler didn''t enjoy any of it, he wanted them to break up....then when Ares caught with a demon, he was happy because everyone would now look at Ares as a traitor, meaning that Mystic has to break up with him." The. an old man said. "Can you tell me specifically how he got caught with a demon and why?" At this point, The other man completely calmed down, because he wanted to learn more about the past. "A half-hour later he was found walking with a demon, nobody knew who saw him why he was with a demon but it seemed like nobody cared. More and more people started to talk about it and more and more believed that he was betraying them. In my opinion, I feel like it was very Illogical and that many of them weren''t thinking straight. I don''t think he was with a demon, I think he was framed. Even if he was with a demon, Ares at least deserved to explain why he did it." The other man thought that this old man was alive when this all happened, or else there was no way he could tell this story as if he was there. The old man looked down with a sad face as it seemed like he remembered something unpleasant "After a while of people talking about it The Ruler Made an official statement, basically he said that Ares would be branded as a traitor and banned forever and if he failed to cooperate they would have to use force, it''s sad to think about. Just before everyone thought he was a traitor, he helped them fight against demon attacks many times but after one bad thing they forget all that." The other man then asked "What afterwards?" listening closely to what the old man had to say "After The Ruler made that statement, Ares declared war against heaven. Everybody thought he was crazy and arrogant and overestimating his power. The Ruler kept his word and sent out many of his men to go and attack Ares, The Ruler must''ve also thought Ares was being arrogant...but when the soldiers arrived they were quickly overwhelmed and easily defeated.. Ares was ruthless." Chapter 5 - God Of War The other man was now feeling bad about the things he said about Ares. Although Ares really might have been with a demon, after hearing this old man talk about Ares the man also believed that Ares deserved an opportunity to explain himself. "When The Ruler heard all his men were so easily defeated by Ares he was still calm and he predicted something like this would happen, so he immediately sent many more soldiers to apprehend Ares." "Do you know how many soldiers were sent?" The other man said "1000." The old man said The other man was greatly shocked wondering if The Ruler was going overboard, then he asked "what happened when the reinforcements arrived.'''' "Ares is the God Of War for a reason. When the reinforcements arrived they quickly surrounded Ares trying to overwhelm him and make him surrender.....but they would soon find out that it would be them being overwhelmed. Ares was calm and didn''t have any fear, the soldiers tried to attack simultaneously but once again Ares wasn''t afraid. He declared War on the Heavens because he thought that he was being framed for something he didn''t and I''m sure he wouldn''t have done so if he wasn''t confident in his power." The old man said "It was almost like everyone was moving in slow motion because nobody could hit Ares dodging every attack thrown at him. When other people heard that The Ruler sent 1000 soldiers to attack Ares they also thought it was overboard and that it was unnecessary, but when Ares also defeated the 1000 soldiers single-handedly it shocked them. The Ruler was also shocked by this, he hadn''t even sent them out that long ago and they were already defeated." At this point, the other man wasn''t that surprised by this. He heard many surprising things as he was listening to this old man, but it was still crazy to think Ares could go up against 1000 people simultaneously, just imagining it made him shiver. The old man continued "The Ruler was not happy about this. He realized that he underestimated The God of War''s power, so in response, he sent 10,000 soldiers. Some of them were kinda scared of going to battle against Ares because they heard how he easily defeated 1000 soldiers, but They were more scared of opposing The Ruler so they went anyway." The old man then had a complicated look on his face and said "I don''t know what she was doing.... the whole time Ares was being attacked she didn''t do anything. I think The Ruler or Ares told her something because she never tried to stop anything that was going on, it was very strange." The other man also thought that it was strange that Mystic wouldn''t do anything and thought something was going on. "It was a long battle once again many people thought it was over for Ares, but he proves them wrong again. Although he didn''t come out unscathed, he wasn''t very injured." The old man said "Don''t tell me after that The Ruler sent even more soldiers." The other man said a little worried "No he didn''t...but what he did send was much worse...he sent the 10 Commandments." The old man said The other man thought he wouldn''t be very successful anymore but he was mistaken. The 10 Commandments were a group of 10 people handpicked by The Ruler. Each of them has the power of a God, they are the personal guards of The Ruler. The other man feared for Ares. The other man knew that he couldn''t go against one of the 10 Commandments and forget all ten simultaneously, and although he was a little worried for Ares he was also deeply invested in the story and what would happen next. "When The 10 Commandments arrived at Ares'' location, just like the soldiers they surrounded Ares giving him no way to escape. The fight was brutal, each of them was attacking Ares from all sides. The fight wasn''t looking good for Ares...but it also wasn''t looking good for the 10 Commandments." The old man said The other man was starting to believe nobody could defeat Ares. He wished he was told this before today, many people told him that Ares was a traitor, that he didn''t deserve to be honored, the other man didn''t understand why people were trying to cover up the history of Ares. Even if he was with a demon and did betray us the other man felt like that was more of a reason to mention Ares, almost like using him as an example...but there was none of that, it was very strange. Then he asked "How was Ares banished from heaven? every time he fought he won, he even beat all the 10 Commandments alone, I can''t see anyone beating him!" When the other man said this, it left a strange face on the old man. He seemed hesitant to speak but eventually, he said " The Ruler thought it was time to go deal with Ares himself when he was stopped by Mystic who wanted to go for him. At first, The Ruler didn''t want her to go because he felt like she might try to help him escape or escape with him, but Mystic was being very stubborn and wouldn''t let up so in the end he caved in and let her go." The old man wasn''t finished as he said "I don''t know what was going on with Mystic or why she chose to go but when she got there the scene made her change. I don''t know If I mentioned this but this whole time all the battles have happened In a very large field, it was also In an area where almost everyone could see what was going on so of course, everyone wanted to see the fights I only know this because I can only tell this story because I was one of the many people watching Although the other man didn''t say anything he was secretly questioning the old man (How do you forget to mention where the fight took place, that''s one of the most important things!) The old man continued "Mystic saw lots of soldiers on the ground and wondered if they were dead but to her surprise, they were all alive, Ares could''ve killed all of them but didn''t. She also saw Ares covered in blood and he also looked very tired. Just by looking at Mystic, you could see she didn''t want to do this, but for some reason she still did.. Ares had a terrible look on his face, he was already hurt physically but the fact that Mystic was there hurt him way more." Chapter 6 - A Traitors Return "Ares didn''t want to fight Mystic so he put down his sword and tried to surrender but before he could Mystic attacked him. Although Ares didn''t want to fight, he realized that if he didn''t at least defend himself he would be much more injured than he was." The old man paused for a second then continued, "Ares was definitely on the defensive side, while Mystic was attacking relentlessly. While I was watching the fight I saw the look Ares had on his face, it was clear to all of us watching that Ares wanted the battle to end....it was quite sad." The other man felt bad for Ares, and the situation he was in. First, he was accused of something he might not have didn''t, secondly, everybody who he had been protecting turned on him without even batting an eye, thirdly The Ruler sent thousands of his most powerful men to capture him, and lastly, to put the cherry on top, the girl he loves went out to fight him as well. It seemed like a truly pitiful predicament. The other man also thought that Ares was stuck between a rock and a hard place, he doesn''t want to fight Mystic but he also doesn''t want to be captured or worse. The old man then said "The fight had not lasted very long as Ares was already tired from all the previous fights and Mystics relentless attacks didn''t help. Both of their swords were clashing at ferocious speeds, it was quite the spectacle....but like I said it didn''t last long. Ares had so far done a good job at blocking the attacks Mystic was throwing at him, but unfortunately one of the attacks had gotten past his defenses and it created a nasty gash on his ?h?st. Mystic then carried Ares out of the field with a dismal face." After processing the whole thing The other man asked, "Did Ares survive?" "He survived." The old man said looking at the other man weirdly "What do you mean.'''' the other man said curiously The old man paused for a moment and looked at the other man helplessly, he sighed, then he said "If you knew anything about The Gods, then you would know that every time a God dies, they would be reincarnated." The other man began to feel embarrassed and remarkably idiotic because everyone is taught that at very early ages. When a God dies they will always reincarnate, as long as at least one human believes in them. The reason the old man said Ares isn''t dead was that, if he was dead then Ares would have already been reincarnated. Looking at the other man''s confused face, the old man, almost as if he was reading the other man''s mind, said "If you''re wondering why Ares wasn''t killed, then you may never get that answer. The only people who may know are The Ruler and Mystic, good luck trying to get that information, anyway I''m not sure how Ares survived, or why he was kept alive, all I know is Ares was sent to earth and we have to have to send our men to retrieve him." The other man wanted to ask more however he didn''t because he realized that it had gotten pretty late and the man wanted to go home. Not wanting to stick around any longer, the other man got up from his chair and began to leave, but before he left he said "You should have told me that story a long time ago, I almost hated a man I wasn''t even familiar with, so thank you." "No problem kid, now go home and get some rest, get ready to pick out your best men, because the God Of War is coming home!" The old man said with excitement. *** At the present Ares was still running for life, but he knew with the pain he was experiencing now he couldn''t run much more. Ares felt like he had run far enough, nevertheless, he continued running just to be safe. As he was pushing through the excruciating pain, he suddenly became really weak and didn''t know what was going on. Ares had fallen to the ground, still confused about the whole situation. As he was laying on the ground, looking up at the sky, a big burly man with shiny gold armor came within his peripheral vision. Once again Ares immediately recognized that this man was a Heavenly Guards. He wanted to escape, but unfortunately the pain he was experiencing rendered him in a paralyzed state. Moments after the burly guy came more Heavenly Guards came and surrounded the Areas. One of the men picked up Ares and placed him on one of his shoulders. Although Ares could not move, he could still speak, so he tried to ask them some questions. "What do you want for'''' before he could finish his sentence, one of the Heavenly Guards hit Areas in the back of his head, knocking him out. The Heavenly Guards continued to walk holding Ares when they suddenly disappeared into thin air. Feeling drowsy, Ares was slowly opening his eyes. He scanned the surroundings and found himself in an unfamiliar location. He also noticed that he was on an unnaturally large bed. Ares got up from the large bed and surveyed the area once more. Similar to the bed, the room was also exceptionally large, he also noticed that the room had many luxurious items, Ares thought this was strange because he never owned anything like this before. The room wasn''t illuminated very well so Ares looked for a light switch. After looking around the room he couldn''t find one, but he noticed that there was a closed curtain in the corner. Ares walked up to it and decided that this was the best way to get some light in the room. Ares opened the curtain slowly, not wanting to hurt his eyes from opening it too quickly. The whole time Ares had been wondering how he got here, what was going on, and where he was...but as soon as the curtain opened, Ares became baffled at what he was seeing. "NO WAY!" Ares was shaking uncontrollably, "How did I get here!" Ares was in a state of shock, he was in a place he never thought he''d see again...he was in heaven. Ares didn''t know why or how he got here, but he did know he wanted to leave. He tried to remember what happened before, "I was fighting a demon...then some Heavenly Guards appeared...I ran away, but they caught up with me...what happened after that?" As Ares was trying to wrap his head around the entire situation, he heard a door opening. He saw 5 men walk into the room, they all had shiny gold armor, Ares figured that they were Heavenly Guards. He was about to ask the men some questions when one of the men spoke. "Hurry up and get ready.. The Ruler wants to see you." Chapter 7 - Ares was startled by the man''s announcement and tried to ask them some questions, but they ignored him completely. Ares was about to try again when one of the men spoke, "He said get ready now!" This person seemed very impatient. It looked like he didn''t have a fond impression of Ares, but Ares didn''t seem very angry about what he said (I can''t blame them for acting this way, after all, they think I''m a traitor.) Ares was still on edge about why he was here. He wanted to find a way to escape but knew he had no chance of getting out of this, so he did what they said and got ready. While Ares was getting ready, he was wondering why The Ruler of all people would want to see him. He even went out of his way to send Heavenly Guards to get him. Ares started to think of logical reasons as to why he was here when he remembered the demon he encountered and thought it might have something to do with that. Ares thought that the whole thing was unusual and weird because before that time he never came across a demon on Earth. (I couldn''t even sense that he was a demon when I was chasing him. What would a demon need on Earth?) As questions were swirling in his head, Ares was so deep In thought, he didn''t realize that he wasn''t moving. One of the men became tired of this and was about to go do something when an old man''s voice could be heard. "Stop!" The soldiers immediately put their hands on their heads and saluted this old man, "Good morning sir!" They all said in unison. Ares didn''t know who this person was, but It looked like he was very respected among these men. The old man walked right past the soldiers as if they were invisible and only focused on Ares."Wow, I never thought the day would come, it''s an honor to meet you!" "Umm¡­.who are you?" Ares felt kinda embarrassed and uncomfortable. "Pardon my rudeness, my name is Reki and I am In charge of these soldiers!" Reki seemed proud of what he said, almost as if to show off for Ares. "...Well it''s nice to meet you...Reiki, if you don''t mind can you tell me why I''m here?" Ares hoped this man had some answers for him. "I do know why you''re here, it''s unfortunate that I can''t tell you, but when we visit the ruler he should be able to answer any questions you may have," Reki said Ares wasn''t behind this at all, considering that the ruler was the one who ordered the banishment on him. Ares was disgruntled and it was obvious just by looking at his face. Reki noticed this and tried to calm him down, "I ?ssure you that The Ruler is a changed man, please relax." Ares still didn''t care so this made Reki a little nervous. Reiki didn''t know what to do when suddenly he thought of something, "Mystic will be there as well!" After a moment of silence, Ares spoke and said "Are you serious?" "Yes, yes that''s what I was told!" Reiki said "Fine, now get out so I can put on some more clothes." Ares seemed much more open to going after Reiki said Mystic would be there. "Alright, you got it, we''ll leave immediately, come on guys." Reiki and his soldiers then exited the room. When They all left, Ares started thinking about what Reiki said,(Will Mystic be there, no way right? I don''t know if I could handle that yet.) Ares ultimately decided to stop worrying and dressed. *** When Ares was finished, he stepped out of the room. He looked around, unaware of his location. Ares wasn''t sure where Reiki and the others went, but he also didn''t want to go look for them, because he knew he would get lost. Realizing he had no choice, he went and searched for them. Ares walked down this hallway that seemed neverending. As he walked, Ares took a closer look at his surroundings, and they were amazing. The hallway had beautiful paintings on the walls, and on the ceiling, there were chandeliers Ares could never hope to afford. "Oh sorry I wasn''t paying attention." Ares apologized "It''s alright, don''t worry about it." Ares didn''t linger too long and left After Ares already left, the man was watching him and thought, (How is he up here, it''s only available for the higher-ups, who is he? Well guess it doesn''t matter, now where in which room is Ares staying in again?) Chapter 8 - After the exchange Ares had with the stranger, he thought about what to do, (Even if I continue, I''ll just be walking aimlessly, It''s been nearly 300 years since I''ve been in heaven, everything looks so different.) 10 minutes later walking in the endless hallway, Ares finally found a set of stairs. Feeling relief he was about to go down, but before heading down, he heard a voice of a man. Ares turned around and was surprised at what he saw. A man was running at Ares yelling at the top of his lungs. "HEY, YOU, STOP!" Confused, Ares started looking around for other people, but there wasn''t so Ares looked back at the man approaching him. Even from the distance, Ares was at, he could see that this man was exhausted and sweating profusely. Ares was tempted to leave because he didn''t know anyone, and even though he hasn''t been in heaven for a long time, he still might be recognized by a few people. But amongst all the concerns, he stayed. He only remained because he thought that if things went awry, he could escape if necessary. "Thanks....for waiting" The man was breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath. "Now...tell me...are you, Ares? Ares looked the man up and down before saying, "Who are you?" wanted to play it safe, and didn''t want to reveal his identity to anyone. "My bad... You can call me Louis, and I''m sergeant major of the Heavenly Guards." As Louis said this, he pulled out a badge that showed his credentials. Ares took a closer look at his badge and was surprised. Everything Louis said was true. This surprised him because becoming a sergeant major of the Heavenly Guards isn''t easy and required you to be extremely powerful to get there. "That''s interesting," Louis said with a face full of curiousness "What''s that supposed to mean?" Ares thought that Louis''s reaction was strange "Well, you''re different than I imagined." Louis gaze still hasn''t left Ares face "Is that a compliment?" Ares was wondering if Louis just dissed him subliminally "That''s not important, all we need to do is leave," Louis said, completely dismissing Ares''s question. "What are you talking about?'' Ares said "We need to pay a visit to The Ruler." Subsequently, Ares recalled the moment Reiki told him the same thing and was back querying about his locations. "If you''re taking me to him, then I can''t go. Ares said "I didn''t mean to send the wrong message, what I meant was, I already have someone taking me, so you don''t have to trouble yourself. I was just looking for him.'''' Louis stared at Ares peculiarly and said "If you don''t mind me asking, who is this person?" "I don''t know who he was, however, if I remember correctly his name was Reiki." "Are you being serious?" Louis said with a worried look. "Yes." Ares looked at Louis and thought (Why does he look worried? That old man was weird, but he didn''t seem bad.) "That old geezer, what is he doing?" Louis said to himself while looking down "What''s the problem?" Ares said Louis swiveled his head back to Ares and said, " Well, the problem is, he wasn''t supposed to be here, he should''ve been waiting at the palace with The Ruler, however, he''s a huge fan of yours so I presume he snuck off to meet you." "Reiki did appear to be a supporter of mine, but I still don''t understand how that''s a concern." Ares didn''t believe that what Reiki did was an issue unless he had a high rank in the Heavenly order. "Anyway, I got off track, like I was saying earlier we need to hurry and proceed to The Palace," Louis said hastily "Before that, shouldn''t we look for Reiki, I only told him to wait outside my room while I got changed." Ares still didn''t want to leave, in case Reiki was still nearby somewhere "If I were you, I wouldn''t worry too much about it. Although Reiki is pretty strange, he''s been around longer than I''ve been alive, he knows this place like the back of his hand." After Louis said this, Ares seemed convinced and was ready to go. As they were finally leaving, Louis appeared to have a boost of energy and said, "Alright, Great God Of War, are you ready to visit The Ruler!" In response, Ares stood there in silence for a moment before saying "I''m ready, let''s go." Chapter 9 - Ares and Louis were nearly out of the building. when Ares said, "Wait!" Louis turned his head. He had an annoyed expression on his face as he was bored of Ares, constant staling. "What?" Not wanting to wait around any longer, Louis spoke with an annoyed tone "Shouldn''t I put something on my face, you know, because people might remember me?" Ares believed that people would still remember who he was. Louis stared at Ares, and had a weird face, as if he told the most hilarious joke ever, "Hahahahaha, you don''t have to worry about that. Trust me, no one will recognize you, Hahahahaha, ever I didn''t recognize you, you don''t have to worry about a thing, HAHA. My apologies, my apologies, that''s just too ridiculous." "Shut Up!" Ares felt his self-esteem take a hit. At this point, Louis was on the ground laughing. "Didn''t you want to leave! Let''s go!" Ares was flustered, but when he began considering everything that happened in the past, he thought this might be for the best. ( I guess if people don''t know who I am, there''ll be fewer obstacles that I''ll have to deal with.) After a while, Louis finally quit laughing and composed himself. "Alright, ready." Ares stared at Louis annoyed and said, " I''ve been ready for a while now! You were the one who wasn''t ready!" "I''m sorry ok, I''m sorry. You don''t have to yell." Ares pondered about it for a moment, and said, " Fine, you right, I shouldn''t have done that. Now can we go?" "Yes, yes, we can go." Subsequently, they left. Once Ares and Louis stepped out, their eyes were subjected to the most beautiful scenery. (I forgot how amazing this was...If only I nothing happened back then.) "Oh man, my bad, sorry I bumped you. I gotta go, but you have a nice day." Ares was perplexed, it''s been a while since he encountered such a nice person. "Uhmmm, thanks." Ares didn''t know what to say. By this point, the nice guy had already left, and Ares was left with his thoughts, (Last time I was here, people were so quick to switch on me, it''s been a while since anyone acted kindly to me.) Louis seemed to have noticed how Ares was feeling as well and said " Times have changed, we aren''t the same people you previously remembered." Ares didn''t respond, he just kept to himself and thought about what Louis said, ( Have people changed? I doubt it.) "If you doubt me, then I''m sure you''ll change your mind soon enough." Ares turned his head with confusion, ( Did he just read my mind ?! ) *** After a while of walking, Ares and Louis finally were at the base of The Palace. " It''s a beauty, isn''t it!" Louis seemed very enthusiastic, and happy. Louis completely dismissed this comment and followed up by saying, " I''ve only been here once, but I will remember that for the rest of my days. I never thought I would get another chance to come, much less with THE GOD OF WAR!" "What are you doing? Why are you yelling." Before Ares said anything else, he looked around to make sure no one was in the area. After he checked and saw that the coast was clear, he said " What if someone overheard you." "You certainly are old aren''t you. If you know anything, then you should know that nobody is permitted to come anywhere near The Palace, unless they have appropriate approval from The Ruler himself." "Oh...you''re right, I forgot." Ares was embarrassed, ( Am I getting old? ) As Ares was healing his pride, someone appeared in front of them. "The Ruler is ready to see you, please follow me." Ares examined the guide and noticed they were a girl. She looked very beautiful, but Ares didn''t care too much, however, Louis was the complete opposite. ( He''s gawking at her way too much, he''s practically oozing from his mouth. ) "She is the prettiest lady I''ve ever seen in my life, you think me and her would be a cute couple." Ares responded by saying, " If you knew anything, then you would know that, The Ruler''s guide has to continue to sever The Ruler until death, meaning, you and her couldn''t be in together." Louis''s goofy smirk drastically changed. Louis turns his head to Ares with a peculiar face. "What do you mean?" "Well, when I met you I thought you would be more of a professional type, but now I''m wondering if you have split personality disorder?" Ares said jokingly Louis suddenly had a serious face and said, " That''s not funny. you know people struggle with that a lot, you shouldn''t jok--" "Oh My Gosh, you''re one of those," Ares said. "What are you talking about, one of what?" Ares stared at Louis and said, " You''re the type of person that can''t take a joke, No wonder you can''t get girls." "What do you just say?!" Louis was almost at the point of anger. Ares noticed this and swiftly took action. "Look, I''m not trying to be rude, all I''m saying is, you should live a little looser. If you act like this for the rest of your life, then it wouldn''t be any fun." "..." "...." "What''s so funny," Ares said with a stern look. *** Ares and Louis were still bickering at each other when they bumped into the guide, "We''re here." "Supreme Ruler, The visitor is here." The guide said Ares and The Ruler were staring at each other intensely, Louis could feel their energy levels increase to almost a suffocating amount. ( W-What''s going on. ) "Thank you. Now please escort Louis out of the room." The Ruler spoke in a very articulate manner, but it also seemed sinister. "Yes sir." As Louis was walking out of the room, he looked back at Ares and thought, ( I wonder why there was such bad energy between them. ) Louis and the guide finally left and shut the door behind them. Now Ares and The Ruler were alone. Chapter 10 - Whats going on? The tension between Ares and The Ruler was palpable. "Like I said, what do you want!" Ares was full of anger and had no patience The Ruler didn''t look slighted at all, it was the complete opposite. "HAHAHAHA!" The Ruler randomly started laughing uncontrollably. "What''s so funny?" (I had to keep my calm coming here, but after seeing the person who dragged me out of my home forever, I can''t just sit around and do nothing. ) The Ruler noticed this as well and began laughing again, " HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I advise you don''t try anything stupid before you regret it." Ares wasn''t very alarmed by The Rulers remark, '''' I don''t need you to worry for me.'''' '''' Please don''t misinterpret me, I wouldn''t care if you dropped dead right now." The Ruler said Ares looked The Ruler up and down, " I don''t care about what you think. The only thing I care about is why you brought me here...back to the place that kicked me out, back to the people who despised me after someone accused me of betraying them. all I want to know is why?" "..." "..." Ares was getting tired of the silence and said " What is-" "The demons began attacking us again." The Ruler''s tone immediately switched. "What!!!" Ares was extremely shocked, " I thought they would''ve learned their lesson after being defeated so many times." There was still a lot of animosity between Ares and The Ruler, Ares''s was now more focused on the subject at hand. "What do you mean?" "You''re gonna be the one to take care of it." The Ruler said casually "..." "HAHA, that''s funny. Me, take care of it, HAHA. You don''t make any sense, why would you want a traitor to handle matters so serious?" Ares did not take The Ruler''s answer seriously at all. " I don''t recall giving you a choice. You''re going to do it whether you agree or not." Ares felt disrespected by what The Ruler said and responded. "What makes you think you could order me around!" "Haha, you know, the funny part, I can." As soon as he said that, Ares fell to the ground. "Huh." ( What''s going on, why can''t I move. ) The Ruler got up from his large throne and started walking towards the paralyzed Ares. " I ?ssume you don''t know what''s going on, so I''ll tell you.'''' " 300 years ago when you foolishly tried to fight back against me, you should''ve known how it was going to play out." Ares struggled to breathe as he was being pressed against the ground, but he still managed to utter something out, " I...had...to try, GRHHH, I...couldn''t just sit back and do...nothing." "What...does...that have to do with...what''s happening?" Ares said "I''m glad you asked! After you tried to fight back against Heaven, you were badly injured, Mystic brought you back to the Palace in her arms. She went up to me weeping and pleaded that I would help you." "..." ''''..." The Ruler broke the silence by saying, " I didn''t want to help you at first...but I love my daughter more than anything so in the end, I helped you, for her. But I never told her how I helped you." The Ruler was smirking at Ares and continued. " I took you away from her and started to perform the operation on you" "Grh!" Ares tried to speak, but it hurt too much when he did, so all he could do was listen to what The Ruler was saying. "I understand that you may have a few questions for me, but before that, I''ve got a question for you." Ares was still in pain but was curious about what The Ruler wanted to ask. " When you got exiled to earth, did you ever feel weaker than in Heaven?" The Ruler said, smiling mysteriously. Chapter 11 - Aki As The Ruler and Ares were in the room, The Rulers guide and Louis were waiting outside. The hallway was deathly quiet, so Louis tried to break the ice. "Sooo, what''s your name?" "..." "..." "Uhmm, excuse me." Louis thought that she didn''t hear him because her face never changed. "..." "..." Once again, she didn''t even acknowledge Louis. ( Is she ignoring me!?" ) Louis wanted to create some talk, but she kept a straight face the entire time. ( She''s probably just being professional, she does work for The Ruler, after all. But at least tell me your name. ) Louis tried to convince himself that she was just doing her job, not wanting to hurt his vanity. Louis wanted to ask if they would stay there until Ares came out. But figured she wouldn''t respond, so he just stayed quiet. ( I guess I''ll just sit down. ) As Louis was sitting down, he heard the sound of footsteps. He immediately got up, curious about who this was. The hallway was dimly lit, so Louis couldn''t tell who it was. As the person came into light, Louis was able to make out their features. Louis noticed that this person was a man. He looked about 6ft tall and muscular. Before Louis got to say anything to the man, The Ruler''s guide greeted the man. "Hello, sir, How are you?" "Hello, Amanda, I''ve been good, thanks for asking." The muscular man also seemed very elegant and proper. (What!! How does he know her name! Of course, it''s the good-looking guy!) After he finished talking, he turned and looked at Louis. "Hello there, I don''t think I''ve been acquainted with you yet. What''s your name?" Louis froze for a second. Before saying, "Uhmmm, my name is Louis. What''s yours?" ( What am I doing? Why does he make me nervous? ) " Apologies for not introducing myself. My name is Aki. Nice to meet you." Louis froze, once again in shock, " Wait, what did you say your name was?" "My name is Aki." Louis was in utter disbelief. ( There''s no way right. There''s no way he''s THE AKI! The Aki from the 10 commandments!! ) Aki saw Louis''s reaction and started laughing. "Haha, I get that a lot. Please don''t overreact." Louis was speechless. ( Please don''t overreact! Your one of the 10 commandments, the personal security for The Ruler himself! How could I not overreact! ) While Louis was in shock, Aki turned his attention back to Amanda, " I heard we have a guest today." "How long has it been since he arrived?" Aki asked. " It hasn''t been long since Ares arrived at the palace. Why do you ask, do you need to discuss something with the Supreme Ruler?" Louis looked at the two talking and thought, ( How many times has he come here? The way they speak to each other makes it seem like they''ve been acquainted for a while...Does that mean she met the other 9 commandments? ) "No, no. I just wanted to see Ares after all this time, but it looks like I was too late. Amanda, please send condolences to the Ruler and Ares for me." Amanda smiled, " You have my word." Aki smiled back, " Thank you, now I will be on my way." Aki was about to leave when he saw Louis in the corner of his eye. " Oh, my bad. I almost forgot. It was nice to meet you...Louis, I hope to see you again," "Uhmm, Thanks. Likewise. Louis tried to keep a straight face, but he was inwardly questioning him. ( Did he almost forget my name? ) After Aki said his goodbyes, he turned around and left. Louis watched as Aki disappeared into the darkness. ( That was not how I expected my first meeting with a 10 commandment to go. ) Aki continued walking down the long hallway. At this point, nobody could see him or hear him. He was currently smiling to himself, " I''m excited, Ares.. I can''t wait to see you again." Chapter 12 - Key Of Insanity As Ares was deep in his thoughts, the Ruler started talking. "As I said, when Mystic asked me to help you, I agreed. Your wounds weren''t hard to heal. After I finished healing you, I was going to banish you to earth, but since you betrayed us, I thought of something more fun." Ares looked at the Ruler, concerned. ( What did he do? ) The Ruler seemed amused as he continued, "What I wanted to do, required The Key Of Insanity." "What!!" Ares was shocked, and rightfully so. The Key Of Insanity is a magical item. It can take away a large portion of magical energy from a person. It can also take away from a group of people if they are all within The Key Of Insanity when it activates. They''re rare, and only five have ever been discovered. Nobody knows where they came from or who made it. Ares started thinking about all of them and immediately put the pieces. ( He stole my power... ) As Ares realized this, anger filled his blood. He then tried to get up off the floor. The Ruler saw that and thought it was a foolish effort. "You should give up before it''s too late. The more you struggle, the more pain you''ll have to go through." Ares didn''t listen to what The Ruler was saying and continued trying to get up. The Ruler didn''t believe Ares could stand up. "I thought you put the pieces together already. Even at full power, you could b?r?ly resist my magical pressure. What makes you think it''ll be any different now." "Grrh." Ares continued to struggle, but he didn''t give up. "GRHHH." ( Fight the pain. ) Ares was slowly but surely getting up from the floor. The Ruler was quite surprised by this. ( How is he resisting my magical energy? ) Using all the power he could, Ares was now standing up. Although he was wobbling, The Ruler was shocked he was able to stand. But it also impressed him. "I should''ve expected something like this from the God Of War. But what was the point of that? I hope you don''t think you can fight me in that state." "Where..is it?" At this point, the ground started to crack from the pressure. The Ruler looked at the Ares with confusion. "What are you talking about?" "Where is The Key Of Insanity?" Ares was starting to look pale from resisting the pressure. "HAha." The Ruler laughed for a moment before reaching for something behind his throne. "I had a feeling you would ask for The Key, so here." Then The Ruler tossed a small object on the ground. Ares looked over at the area he threw the small object. He looked back at The Ruler and asked a question. "What..is..that?" The Ruler looked over at Ares and casually said. " It''s The Key Of Insanity." ( ...There''s no way he''d just give it to me. ) Ares wasn''t convinced that The Ruler would just give him something so valuable, even if he did ask for it. Ares wanted to go over and check it out, but when he took one step, he collapsed on the ground. Ares couldn''t withstand The Ruler''s magical energy. ( Damn it. I shouldn''t have done that. Now I can''t move. ) The Ruler saw this and started clapping. *Clap* "I''m surprised you were able to hold out for so long. Let me stop that for you." As soon as he said that, Ares felt the pressure ease up. Ares tried to move and noticed that there wasn''t any more pressure holding him down. Ares was relieved that he could move again without feeling pain. ( I can finally move normally again...I feel sore all over. ) Before getting up, Ares laid down for a minute, recovering from his soreness. Eventually, Ares got up and walked over to the small object. Ares picked the object up and examined it. ( I''ve never seen a Key Of Insanity before. I wouldn''t be able to tell if he was lying or not. ) After examining the conjectured Key Of Insanity, Ares asked The Ruler a question. "How am I supposed to activate this? I heard rumors that say you only have to touch it, but if this is The Key Of Insanity, then I guess they weren''t true...Unless you lied to me." "You really think I would go so low and lie to you?" "Yes, I do. But besides that, you haven''t answered my question yet." "Well...you could believe me, or not. What I gave you is the actual Key Of Insanity, but it''s only one piece of the original Key Of Insanity." "..." "..." Ares was confused. "What do you mean, it''s only one piece?" The Ruler was silent for a moment as if he didn''t know how he should answer. "When I used the Key Of Insanity on you, I then banished you to earth moving around erratically, and I couldn''t do anything about it. I was trying to get control of the Key, but I couldn''t get hold of it. I didn''t understand what was happening." Ares wanted to interject but didn''t know what to say, so he stayed quiet and listened. Curious about what the Ruler was going to say. "After a while, I was starting to consider asking for help. But then, all of a sudden, the Key Of Insanity completely stopped moving. When I used the Key Of Insanity on you, it was the first time I''ve used one, so I ?ssumed everything that happened was normal...but then another problem arose." Ares was curious but didn''t know if should trust what The Ruler was saying. "I started seeing cracks in the Key Of Insanity and it began acting erratically again...and you may not believe me, but the Key Of Insanity...broke the ceiling of the palace and created a huge dark cloud full of magical energy." "..." "..." "..." After a moment of silence, Ares burst into laughter. "Hahaha, you''re right.. you really expect me to believe the Key Of Insanity formed a dark cloud made of magical energy. Yeah right Chapter 13 - Dark Cloud Ares continued laughing, and The Ruler didn''t try stopping him. He just let Ares laugh before he said anything else. "Hahaha." "..." "Can you let me explain? Or, are you going to keep laughing?" Ares'' face shifted. He looked at The Ruler, irritated." Why would I even consider listening to what you have to say? You haven''t exactly been truthful to me in the past...But I''ll at least let you finish telling me about this lie." *Sigh* "...Like I was saying...the Key Of Insanity formed a massive cloud of magical energy. I was concerned about what was happening outside and how people were reacting to the dark cloud. When I ran out of the palace, It seemed to captivate everyone''s attention. Then the 10 Commandments ran up to me, asking me what was going on. *** "Sir, what''s going on?" "Uhmm, I don''t know what''s happening, but try to get all the civilians away from the area just Incase whatever''s in the sky is harmful." Aki looked at the Ruler and was concerned. He had a face that he''d usually never show anyone. He was worried. "Ok, sir." Aki was right about the Ruler being worried. The Ruler didn''t want anyone to find out this was his fault, so he made everyone leave. Not because he cared for everyone''s safety. ( There''s no way anybody would suspect me. But I''d rather be safe than sorry. ) It was almost like they were in a trance. "What are you doing! Get out of here!" No one was listening to the 10 commandments. This was abnormal because they were very well respected and trusted among the Heavenly lands, so it was strange. Aki was wondering what was going on. ( Why aren''t they listening...I bet it has something to do with the thing in the sky. ) After Aki noticed that the reason everyone''s ignoring the 10 commandments might be because of the Key Of Insanity, he thought of an idea. Aki looked around and grabbed the person nearest to him, and ran as far away as possible. After running for a while, Aki looked up at the sky and noticed they weren''t under the dark cloud anymore, so he turned back to the person he had with him. When Aki looked back, he saw the man trying to get back to the dark cloud. It was easy for Aki to stop the man, so he tried to ask the man some questions, wanting to know why he was acting strangely. "Hello, what''s your name?" The man seemed very disoriented and off-balance. He was acting like he didn''t know how he got here. "What''s...going on...how did I get here?" "Well, hmm, I am Aki from the 10 commandments, and I would like to ask you some questions." The man was still disoriented, but he did manage to understand what Aki said. Before the man could say anything, he lost balance and almost fell, but Aki caught the man before he did. Aki laid the man on the ground and tried to ask the man some questions again. "Can you explain to me what everyone was doing and why you weren''t listening to us?" "..." "..." The man was unresponsive and wasn''t opening his eyes. "Excuse me, can you hear me." "..." After another moment of silence, Aki tried slapping him a little to wake the man up. Unfortunately, he still was unresponsive, so Aki checked if he had a pulse anymore. After checking the pulse, Aki looked at the corpse disappointingly. "Useless, I couldn''t even get anything out of him." It seemed like Aki was only angry that he couldn''t get any information out of the man, completely neglecting that the man was dead. Realizing that the man wasn''t of use to him anymore, Aki left the corpse and ran back to regroup with the 10 commandments. *** The Ruler was about to continue his story, but Ares was confused. "What does this have to do with the Key Of Insanity being broken?" "If you''d let me finish the story, then you''d find out." Ares wasn''t sure, but still, let him continue. ( If he is telling the truth, I do want to know what happened to everyone. ) "Well, anyway...." Chapter 14 - Destroyed Ares was uncertain if he should trust The Ruler, but there was no other option. ( Even if I did have all my power, it would still be tricky for me to get out of here without some difficulty. ) "Well, let me proceed with what I was saying..." *** There was currently a commotion within the 10 commandments. Nobody was listening to them. Everyone was In a trance-like state, almost seeming lifeless. ( Everyone is probably behaving like this because of the cloud, but how do I stop that. ) As the Ruler contemplated what to do, he saw Aki leave with someone in his arms. ( Where is he going?! GRHH, I don''t have time. I need to get rid of this quickly! ) "Regal! Come here!" The Ruler called Regal over, she is one of the 10 commandments, and she is among the most powerful and well respected. "Regal, do you know where Aki went?" " Sir, I don''t know where he went, but I saw the direction he went in. Do you want me to go get him?" "No, you don''t have to. I need you to go to the library and get me as many books about the Key Of Insanity as you can." Regal looked back at The Ruler, confused. "Sir, what do you mean?" "There''s no time to explain! Just do it now!" Regal heard how urgent The Ruler was, so she was more inclined to get to the library quicker. As The Ruler started thinking about his next move, he heard a roaring blast. Confused, The Ruler turned his head to see what made that noise and was surprised once again. He saw that the dark cloud disappeared and was replaced by fire and thick, black smoke. By this time, Aki had already come back and didn''t know what was happening. He ran up to The Ruler, wanting to get some insight into what happened. But before he could say anything, The Ruler wanted to ask Aki something first. "Where have you been?!" Aki didn''t know how to respond, so he changed the subject. " That''s not important right now. Shouldn''t you be worried about what just happened?" Then the Ruler completely stopped talking about it. Almost as if he forgot about it. Afterward, Aki saw The Ruler run to check on all the citizens. As Aki observed The Ruler, he Started Laughing. ( And they said he was the strongest in the land, What a joke. ) Regal had already come back, but without the books, because she wanted to see if The Ruler was alright, and that''s when she saw Aki Laughing but didn''t know what he was laughing at. ( He''s always been pretty strange. ) Regal disregarded Aki and walked over to The Ruler, and what she saw shocked her. Everyone was passed out on the ground. Regal started to become worried, wondering if they were alive or not. She proceeded to check everyone''s pulse, and thankful, when she did, she found out nobody was dead. *** "After we found out everyone was ok, we gave them the best healing potions available. Afterward, I went back to the front of the Palace, and that''s when I found the piece I just gave you." Ares stood in silence for a moment, processing everything The Ruler told him. " You still haven''t answered my question." The Ruler looked puzzled. "What do you mean?" "Where are the other pieces of The Key?" "..." "..." "Well, Ares, I don''t know what to tell you." Chapter 15 - "Its you!!" After Ares realized what The Ruler was referring to, he wanted to get angry, but he thought it would be pointless. ( What''s the point, even if I wanted to, I''m too weak to put up a fight. I''m probably just an ant to him now. ) As Ares was drowning in his sorrows, he thought about everything The Ruler said to him. ( Hold on a second. That doesn''t make anything sense. ) "Now that I think about it, why would you want me to help deal with the demon invaders? I would only be a liability." "That is something you don''t need to know." Ares was getting very perplexed by The Ruler''s logic. "Are you not using your brain? What was even the point of giving this piece of the Key and telling me that whole story if the other parts are destroyed!!" "Ares, as I said, you don''t need to know, ok. Now, it seems like you are bitter because you won''t get your initial power back, but to help, you will be training with him from now on." Looking around, Ares was confused. "What do you mean by him?" The Ruler grinned, then began clapping his hands. " You can come out now." As Ares was trying to figure out what was going on, he heard the voice of an old man behind him. "Ares, I''m so sorry I left you, but he gave me no choice sadly...but we were finally able to reunite." "Who was that?" He turned around to see who was speaking, but he was greeted with a surprise. "It''s you!!" When Ares turned around, he saw Reiki right behind him, which gave Ares a little shock. ( where did he just come from. ) "No need to be shocked by my presence. " Reiki said as he was smiling strangely. Ares took a good look at Reiki, then looked back at The Ruler. "You said I have to train with him?" "Is that a problem?" "No offense, but if I had to train with him, that would mean he was stronger than me." Reiki stayed very calm as he responded to Ares''s doubt. "Supreme Ruler, I''m hurt you haven''t spoken of me to Ares yet." "My apologies Ares, let me introduce you to the next in line to become God Of War, Reiki!" "..." "..." "What!!" Ares was visibly shocked. Reiki seemed amused by this reaction, "Is it really that hard to believe?" Ares looked back at Reiki again, observing him up and down. ( How Is this weird old man, the one who''s going to replace me?" ) Reiki noticed Ares looking at him up and down. "For some reason, I think I''m being judged." "It seems like you disagree with my decision, Ares. If you have a better suggestion, please tell me." Thinking about it some more, Ares felt annoyed because The Ruler knew he wouldn''t be able to think of any better options to become stronger. ( I mean, he has to be strong if he was chosen to be the next God Of War. ) "You don''t have to look so down. I''m sure we''ll have a great time." The Ruler smiled at the interaction they were having. "Looks like you two will get along just fine. Now Reiki, bring him to where he will be staying." "As you command, sir. Let''s go, Ares." "Wait, what? You didn''t even tell me all the details on the demon attacks." Ares felt like everything was ( first, I have to defeat the demon that invaded when there were thousands of gods currently stronger than me, then I found out most of my power is gone forever, and now I have to train with my successor ) "I''ll tell you all the information you need to know tomorrow, ok. But before you go, Ares can give me the piece back. It has no use for you." Ares thought The Ruler sounded suspicious and weird, but that''s how he usually acts, so Ares didn''t care and gave him the Key piece back. As Ares and Reiki were walking out, The Ruler was secretly thinking to himself.. ( Too bad for you, I can''t believe you really fell for that story, but my plan hasn''t even begun yet. ) Chapter 16 - "Lets talk." While everything was happening behind The Rulers door, Louis was tired of waiting. ( What could they be doing that''s keeping them in there?! Also, why won''t the girl let me leave!? ) Just as Louis was dying of boredom, Louis saw the door crack open with Ares coming out. "Yesss, Aress! Finally, you''re out! I don''t know why I had to wait here, but now we can finally leave!" As Louis said all this, he didn''t realize that Reiki was standing right behind him. " Oh, Louis, I''m glad you''re here." When Louis heard this, he turned his head and was surprised to see Reiki standing right there. "Reiki, what are you doing?" "Nothing, I just came to see this guy over here." Ares was unsure how to feel after Reiki said that. ( am I not even worth being called "God Of War" anymore?. ) Louis glanced over to where Reiki was pointing and saw Ares. "Actually, Louis, I saw guys talking. I didn''t know you guys were previously acquainted." "Oh no, I b?r?ly know that guy. I just met him today." Ares saw how they interacted with each other and got curious. ( it''s like that''s Louis''s grandpa or something. ) "Louis, how do you know the next in line to become God Of War?" "Well...When I was young, my parents went on a trip, but they never came back, and I was left on my own until he found me and took me in." The mood got kinda awkward after that, and Ares didn''t know what to say. "Uhmm...I''m sorry to hear that." "I don''t care, it was long ago, and I don''t even think about it anymore." Reiki looked over at Louis with confusion but stayed silent and moved on. Trying to ignore the awkward energy, Ares changed the subject. "Anyway...Reiki, you lied to me." "What do you mean?" "You told me Mystic would be here, but she was nowhere in sight!" Ares held this in for a while but couldn''t find the right time to bring it up. "Technically, I didn''t lie. I really thought Mystic would be here." Louis heard what they were talking about and wanted to jump into the conversation. "You guys are talking about Mystic? I heard she just got married to Zeus, lucky guy." "..." "..." "..." Silence filled the air. Ares was frozen. "What? Did I do something wrong?" Ares didn''t believe what Louis said...Or rather didn''t want to. "Reiki, what is he talking about?" "Please calm down, Ares. Why don''t we go somewhere more private? Your room Isn''t that very far from here. It''s only a few minutes away." Thinking about everything, Ares realized that he was being a little too loud, and Amanda was still right there listening to everything. ( If Amanda hears me talking about Mystic, she could go tell him. ) Ares didn''t want to provoke The Ruler while he was at a disadvantage in terms of power, so he agreed to head to his room and talk. As they were walking, it was dead silent, and Louis felt awkward. ( Did I say something wrong? Ares has been acting weird ever since I brought up Mystic. ) "Ares, welcome to your room!" Louis tried to bring the mood a little, but Ares didn''t care. "You said we could talk in the room, well then let''s talk." Chapter 17 - "Theres no way!!" "I understand you want to know what Louis meant by what he said, but it''s...hard to explain." "What!? How is it difficult to explain?!" Louis felt like he was the cause of what happened, then Reiki confirmed it. (It seems like Ares is unsettled because of me, but what could have set him off? I only talked about Mystic''s betrothal. Why would he be angry about that? ) "I know you still think we''re 300 years in the past, but things happen, and people change." "What do you mean do *Things happen*. SHE IS GETTING MARRIED TO ZEUS, THE GOD OF SKY!!" Reiki kept his composure and responded. "Ares, once again, please calm down, let me explain. When you got exiled, Mystic seemed very lonely for a while, and Zeus was there to comfort, so they eventually became a couple, and now they''re getting married." "That''s it." "That''s it," Reiki started with a straight face. Processing all of this made Ares want to lay down. His room was decently sized, and the bed was in the corner of the room. As Ares laid down, he felt sadness welling up in his face. "Could you two leave, please?" "Uhh, alright, Ares, we''ll see you tomorrow at the debriefing. Let''s go, Louis." "Oh, yeah, let''s go." Louis felt bad. Ares was sad because of something he did, and now they were getting kicked out. ( Even if it has been 300 years, how could she break the promise we made? ) Ares thought as he started reminiscing about the past. *** Outside of the room, Louis was thinking about what just happened with Ares. "Reiki, could you tell me why Ares was acting like that back there? I don''t understand what I did." Reiki''s face showed confliction, but in the end, he gave in and told Louis. "I don''t blame you for not knowing. It was 300 years ago when it happened." "When what happened?" Louis said. "When Ares and Mystic used to be a couple." "..." "...'''' Louis took a minute to process what Reiki said. "What!! Ares and Mystic used to date!" "Louis, please calm down, but yes, they did indeed date long ago." Louis was flabbergasted. ( There''s no way that guy dated Mystic. That doesn''t even make sense! ) After hearing that, Louis finally understood why Ares was considerably upset. "Makes sense why he was like that, but even still, you said it''s at least been 300 years since that happened, right? How could he think she would still be in love after all this time." "I''m not sure either. I was very young when they were dating, so the only people who would know are Mystic and Ares. Anyway, it doesn''t concern us, and we need to get going." "Yeah, you''re right. let''s go." As they were leaving, Ares dozed off. He had a long 48 hours, and as soon as he got on the bed, he felt the fatigue set in." He was dreaming about something he often does, the past. Move specifically, he was dreaming about memories with him and Mystic.