Journey of the Son of Ares

Aurelius turned his gaze from the corpse of the cursed beast to Cade, who entered the sight, threw her bag down, and dug a set of six vials out of it.

"Are you okay?" Aurelius asked Cade, who walked one fatigued step at a time towards him and the corpse with the set of vials tightly in his grasp.

She didn't answer, instead gesturing for Aurelius to get out of the way. He obeyed, understanding her intention, and proceeded to watch with a mix of disgust and curiosity as Cade dug out the cursed beast's heart.

It was a heart unlike anything Aurelius had ever seen. Simply a perfect black sphere, the size of a large man's fist.

'How does something like that function?' Aurelius asked in his mind, not willing to bother the exhausted Cade with such a question.

Cade materialized some kind of rehearsed chamber for the heart that had holes on the bottom and spikes on the roof, which started descending promptly. The spikes pressed down on the sphere with an amount of force Aurelius was unsure of, but at last, the sphere broke down like a mix of muscle tissue and finely crafted glass. The holes on the bottom then led the completely black blood that burst out of the heart into a large materialized cup, which Cade used to pour the blood into the vials, managing to collect 4 and a half vials worth of blood.

"Shit!" Cade spat out a curse.

"What is it?" Aurelius asked with a raised eyebrow as he leaned his head forward.

Cade turned to Aurelius. "Enhancers have an optimal amount that is to be consumed for maximum effect. Go below or beyond that amount, and you're wasting it. That is if you don't go far beyond it and take two vials worth. Of course, then the effect won't be smaller."

Some involuntary excitement appeared in Aurelius' mind, despite knowing the matter at hand shouldn't have excited him. "You can take two?"

Aurelius came to regret his words as he saw Cade's jaw tighten. He would have liked to go back in time, but he had to vanquish the thought in order to listen to the words that spilled from Cade's mouth.

"That's what my father did... right before he died." Cade breathed deeply. "But yes. You can take two and survive. It depends on natural talent. The Soldier of God could probably take two enhancers once in a while and live without too many side effects. As for others, some die from one vial, others from two. Some soldiers around the world can take two and survive with only some brain damage."

"What about three?" Aurelius asked immediately after, only to once again regret his words the second they had left his mouth.

Cade kept her composure, though, and generously satiated Aurelius' curiosity without complaint. "No. Take three and you're dead. Guaranteed."

Cade's brief response made it clear she didn't want to discuss the matter further, so Aurelius stopped himself from asking any more questions.

"Ah, sorry, you don't have to answer my questions if you don't want to."

Cade waved a hand and went to sit down with her back to a tree. "Don't worry about it. I understand your curiosity. Besides, you've done more than enough to earn the right to ask questions." Cade's gaze softened slightly, and she bowed her head. "Thank you. Without your help, I would have been in a very bad position."

Aurelius opened his mouth and waved his hands in front of him. "Oh, no, no. I wasn't much help at all. You did all the work while I was immobilized straight off the bat."

"It sounded like you broke a bone or something when that thing hit you. Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Aurelius said, stretching from side to side with his hands up. "My back is just a bit—" He groaned and fell down from a spike of pain.

"Hey, just take it easy. Try not to exert yourself in the near future. It'll probably heal before you get to Mircrest, so just be careful on your way there."

Cade looked down at her feet for a while before bringing her head up and smiling slightly. The smile didn't last, as Cade's expression turned into something Aurelius couldn't comprehend.

"Ah, well, anyway," Cade said, and she was about to follow up with something, but then she froze, and her eyes went wide. "How did you do it? How did you survive the beast's first hit? I didn't see you do any setup before the hit. Did you have reinforcement on?"

"Ah, about that." Aurelius scratched his head. "I just remember waking up at the base of the mountain and seeing you fight. I don't know exactly what I did."

Cade gasped. "Try motionless reinforcement."

"Wha—"

"Now," Cade said, snapping her fingers with unprecedented intensity in her eyes.

"Okay, okay," Aurelius said, not fully understanding Cade's intentions, but trusting her anyway.

He closed his eyes and tried to simulate the feeling of grasping his hands together and flexing in order to send the impulse up to his brain. Then some essence was freed to flow in his body.

Aurelius let out a small laugh, which he could hear as Cade dragged his foot forward on the ground. However, shortly after, the essence dispersed, leading to nowhere, exactly like before. He opened his eyes and dropped his shoulders with a sigh. Then he was greeted with the unusual sight of Cade pressed up against the tree behind her as if trying to escape inside the tree.

Cade went back to normal quickly after seeing Aurelius open his eyes with disappointment, though.

"Wait, you thought I unlocked motionless magic in just three days, didn't you?" Aurelius said, his disappointment turning into amusement.

Cade sighed and looked elsewhere. "I've heard crazy stories. Got a little irrational. I guess you managed to interlock your hands and reinforce right as the beast hit you. Really no explanation as to why you're alive other than that."

"Maybe it was instinct. Like a life or death awakening," Aurelius theorized with a glint in his eyes.

"Yeah, right." Cade snorted. "I think you just got the setup right in time."

"What would you have done if I had unlocked it?"

Cade looked back at Aurelius and answered casually. "I would've killed you... probably."

Aurelius wasn't exactly sure whether Cade was joking or not. He couldn't think about it for long, however, as he was shocked by Cade's next words.

"Well, I suppose you won't have to worry about that from now on, since I won't be there when you do unlock it, no matter how long it takes."

Aurelius furrowed his brows. "What?"

"We're separating today, so I won't be following your progress from now on," Cade explained with a flick of her wrist.

Aurelius stepped forward and looked down at Cade, who was sitting. "But we're both going to Mircrest, right? So why separate?"

"Haven't we been through this already? I can't protect you. You might have survived this time, but you've only been with me for three days. How much longer do you think it'll take for you to die?" Cade explained with something that sounded like spite to Aurelius' ears.

"I'll get stronger. You don't have to worry about me."

"Look, Aurelius, I've been alone for a long time, and that's for a very good reason," Cade said, looking up at Aurelius with a slight frown. "You may very well get strong enough to stand by my side, but I still don't work well with others. I was with those mercenaries because they were easy pawns to control and throw away. I was going to kill them anyway after I completed my mission here. You're different from them."

Aurelius' expression twisted with repulsion. "You were going to kill all of them?"

"Yes, exactly. They were scum who deserved to die."

"Were?" Aurelius' voice shook.

Cade sighed. "What do you think happened after I knocked you out?" Aurelius stepped back, and Cade continued talking. "That's right, I'm a ruthless murderer. You don't want to be long-time partners with someone like me."

Aurelius gulped. "Ah, I... well, Gabriel would have probably done the same. I may not agree with your actions, but I can't say you're a bad person because of them. Those mercenaries were bad people, after all."

Cade rubbed her eyes with a shake of her head and sighed again. "Look—"

"I promise I'll take care of myself," Aurelius interrupted. "Oh, and... and I'll help you as long as you teach me more. Think about it. You needed me to get those enhancers, right?" Aurelius walked forward with a look of determination before extending his hand. "I have people relying on me too, so I can't die either."

Cade gazed into Aurelius' eyes and hesitated a few times before slowly raising his right hand and grasping Aurelius' hand tightly. Aurelius pulled him up, and they proceeded to stand face-to-face silently for a while, both peering into the other's eyes intently.

Cade then opened his mouth. "I'll think about it. On our way to Mircrest."

Aurelius smiled at the word 'our'. "That's a promise?"

Cade nodded solemnly. "That it is."

***

In the south, where lay the heart of Mircrest, Acelot, there was a towering castle. The castle resembled a church with its high-roofed rooms, crystal lamps, and rich wall paintings. It used to belong to the royal family, but after the execution of kings, ownership of the castle transferred to the nation. Or so the population thought, except for a select few who knew exactly what inhabited the place.

Within the castle, in a large room with dark walls decorated with crimson patterns, a young man's legs lie crossed on an unnecessarily wide wooden table that could be described as a masterpiece of craftsmanship.

The man's skin was a light brown shade, and he rolled a rough bronze coin around in his fingers with his other hand in a fist supporting his cheek as he sat in a chair akin to a throne with his eyes barely staying open. But the coin suddenly came to a stop as the man twitched, as if waking up from a trance.

"What is it?" A vexed female voice resonated in the room, seemingly coming from nowhere in particular.

The man on the throne-like chair gave a faint smile before opening his silver eyes wider and tilting his head slightly, making his auburn hair shift out of the way of his sight. "I feel like something interesting is on its way."

The owner of the vexed voice suddenly emerged from the shadows. The woman wore a dark cloak and a simple, purely white mask, accented by straight and shiny purple hair that leaked from the sides of her mask.

"Something destructive?" she asked, suddenly curious about the matter, even though there was no other evidence for it than the man's obscure words.

The man's smile grew into a grin as he answered, "I don't know. Probably. And even if not naturally, I'll make it so. That's a promise."

"To me?"

The man chuckled. "No, no, not to you." He looked at the bronze coin in his hand, and his expression gradually grew unusually grave, and a glint of nostalgia appeared in his eyes. "To that boy in the dark, dirty alley."