Karnage: Leaving breadcrumbs for my loyal fans huehuehue....follow this link- http://royalroadl.com/fiction/6513

R2G Chapter 9- Awakened

In the middle of a forest.

Young Mars sat beside a river, in his reflection, what he saw was a youth of 15 years in age, long shoulder length black hair that gave a radiant golden glow, fierce blue eyes that resembled the ocean's most beautiful shade and most sacred parts. A handsome face that spoke of valiance and courage, despite the confused look plastered upon it.

The tattoo of a black and archaic eye tattooed beneath his right eye stood out, Mars looked at it for a bit and tried to figure out where it came from but as he had lost his memories it proved futile.

He wore no clothing on his chest, his neck was decorated with a golden necklace that tightly hugged his neck, a pendant of a golden sword hanging loosely as it twinkled constantly showing it's abnormal purity.

Two golden armbands that were decorated with sword carvings in an ancient language he didn't understood rested on both arms. A simple leather skirt on his waist, and a pair of leather sandals.

A silver ring that didn't seem special at all on his right middle finger, after fiddling around with it, he came to know when he focused on it, he could store and retrieve items which was a pleasant surprise.

He could see a few items in it but decided now wasn't the time to check them out, what he needed to find first was a safe-hold.

Compared to the people of Magnolia, Mars' sort of attire was something they would consider strange. However, Mars had no such people within view to compare it to.

This boy was Mars Romulus, Champion of the God of War.

***

'Where am I?....Better yet...Who am I?'

Mars immediately begun searching his body for any clues, after finding nothing of the sort. He decided to look at the reflection of his face for a bit longer, after thinking for a while he could not remember anything.

It was then Mars noticed a strange black symbol on the palm of his right hand from the corner of his eyes.

"Huh?....A horse?...A black horse with a horn?"

*Growl*

Mars' attention drifted as stomach growled signaling his hunger, realizing that worrying about his situation would be useless, Mars figured he should stabilize his position first before doing some thinking. He decided to find himself some food first and a temporary safe spot.

He didn't know why, but beginning to end he had felt a bit uneasy after waking up. He had felt as though there were predators lurking around and though he had no evidence of this, it was what his instincts told him. Having nothing else to rely on but these finely tuned instincts, he decided not to betray them.

***

Just as Mars had decided to search for food-

*Growl*

His stomach once more stated it's demands, Mars felt as though he were being eaten from the inside out. His body froze and it felt several times heavier under this extreme hunger.

The reason for his dilemma, Mars' body had been heavily nourished in the Realm of the Gods and now that he no longer had that sort of nourishment; he needed to start eating more to make up the difference as his physique had been altered.

Mars blanked out, and fell head first into the river, his body floating downstream.

...

"Father! Father! Look! It's a person!"

"Hmm? Aria? Where?"

"Over there in the river!"

"Angus! Quickly fetch that boy!"

"Yes lord!"

***

'I'm not in the river?'

This was the first thing Mars noticed as his consciousness returned, he felt a warm and cozy feeling beneath him like a bed. He also noticed that the smell of roasted meat and spice entered his nostrils, inciting yet another growl from his stomach.

He also noticed that his hands and legs were bound to the bed by metal shackles that produced an absorbing effect, this was the reason he had not opened his eyes to see what was around him. He did not want to alert the people that had brought him here and remained incredibly still.

Suddenly Mars felt as though there was someone right beside him, reaching for his face.

*Clink*

In an instant the shackles on his hands were directly shattered, his right hand already firmly reached around the other person's neck before the person could react. Mars exerted enough force so that the person could breathe but not speak. He didn't want to harm anyone until he got a clear understanding of his situation first.

"Ahhh! Father! Father! The strange boy is doing strange things to big sister Julis!"

The voice of a little girl screaming easily gained the attention of the people around the surrounding tent. Mars, who had opened his eyes couldn't see the little girl's features as she hid herself in a cloak and only her big blue eyes stared at Mars, a bit of fear looming in her eyes.

Mars could hear footsteps rapidly approaching the tent he was in from all directions. Finally his attention moved to what he held in his hand, what he saw before him was a struggling girl about 17 years old wearing a luxurious purple cloak that covered her hair and a white silky veil that covered her face.

Her blue eyes filled with fear as she looked at Mars, no matter how she struggled she couldn't break free of Mars' grip. As the woman struggled, her hair hidden underneath her cloak fell out revealing golden locks of hair that brought a sweet smell to the nose of Mars.

Mars resisted the urge to take a deep breathe of this woman's hair as he was not that sort of person to shame a girl in such a manner. It was then Mars noticed in her hands, she held a tray which had a bowl of food, a goblet of water and a knife and fork that rested on opposite sides of the tray.

'Food?...Could it be..the food was for me?'

"....My clothes..."

The young woman's fearful blue eyes shifted to a draw next to the bed Mars slept in. Mars used one hand to open the draw and noticed everything was there which surprised him. Thinking up to this point, Mars' grip on the woman considerably softened.

"...Sorry..."

"....*Cough* *Cough*...."

Mars gently released the young woman who cautiously jerked backward in fear, she released a few coughs and tried to stabilize her breathing. It was at that time a few silhouettes busted into the tent accompanied by a low and heavy voice.

"What's going on here!"

An extremely burly man about 40 years old stepped forward, his black rugged hair knotted in warrior braids and his beard was also the same. His figure was like a bear as he donned pure black metal armor, he moved forward and looked coldly at the awakened Mars not hiding his intent.

His gaze then shifted to the young woman who was coughing; a tender look of worry appeared in his eyes, before it changed to unbridled fury and once more rested on Mars.

Behind him, a few soldiers in metal armor followed behind armed with spears, a cold look in their eyes as their helmets covered their facial features. A few other silhouettes seemed to be approaching from behind in an unhurried manner.

"Little Miss Julis! What did he do to you!"

The bear like man asked worriedly toward the young coughing woman, he seemed to be a bit angry as he admonished her.

"I told you we should not have brought him here! No one knows who this kid is! Look how he treated his benefactor ! See little sister Julis, this is why I told you that you're too nice!"

"I'll do what I should have done a long time ago when I saw this weird kid!"

The burly man drew his double-bladed axe from his back and without warning immediately swung at Mars head! The young miss upon seeing this had a look of horror in her eyes, she wanted to tell him to stop but couldn't as she had yet to stop coughing. The little girl pulled down the cloak to cover her eyes as she didn't want to see such a horrible sight, a look of fear in her eyes.

Mars saw the incoming axe that arrived in front of him in the blink of an eye and his expression had not changed. One of his hands shot forward without warning and grabbed the knife from off of the table.

*Cling*

"...Eh?"

The burly man was shocked as he looked at his hands, which was not holding his axe. The axe flew across the room and embedded itself inside a shield which laid on the floor a few meters away.

The burly man then looked at the knife in Mars' hand which had a small chip and seemed to connect the dots only after a long time.

"Y-You..."

"..Clumsy.."

Mars used his other free hand to pick up the fork and took bites of the delicious roasted meat in front of him; his eyes locked onto the burly man filled with reproach. Mars' body subconsciously moved in a manner that protected the food as he glared at the burly man.

The hand that held the knife rested comfortably in his lap, while the other hand fed his mouth constantly. The young woman Julis upon seeing this, laughed joyously at this extremely funny sight.

The bear-like man glared at Mars who seemed to prioritize eating over his battle with him and instantly became enraged.

"You bastard! Greedy pig! Put down the food and fight me like a man!"

"*sneer*"

Mars only gave a provoking sneer in return, enraging the bear-like man even more!

"B-Bastard! I was careless! You caught me off guard!"

"..*sneer* Sneaky old man..."

"Y-You! Who's sneaky?! O-Old man?! I'm thirty years old!"

The burly man did not like Mars' dismissive attitude at all, he had become extremely enraged as Mars had insulted his pride as a warrior by not taking him seriously. What he also hated the most, was that Mars had called him "Sneaky" implying his first strike was a cheap attack.

Angus did not think that Mars was strong enough to compete with him and originally wanted to scare him into behaving as he was already ordered not to harm Mars, so he was naturally ashamed now that he noticed Mars was quite possibly more skilled than him.

Unable to bear this thought, Angus' eye immediately fell on his axe which had become lodged in a shield across the room.

The bear-like man ran across the room and brutishly yanked his axe from the shield as he stepped on it with one leg. Mars seeing this laughed inwardly, he himself was shocked that his body reacted this way.

When the barbaric man had swung the axe at his head, Mars could see the movements clear as day and they seemed incredibly slow. Mars could tell what flaws the barbaric man had, the errors in the way he handled his axe and he could even tell how much mastery the man had with his axe.

The burly man retrieved his axe and almost instantly he charged forward to attack Mars once more! His axe ruthlessly hacked towards Mars' head once more but this time the speed seemed twice as fast!

Mars once more lifted his hand, which left after images and sparks of light covering the entire room. No matter how the burly man aimed, his axe would be deflected off either to the left or the right!

What's more is during the clashes when the weapons collided, he could feel his weapon temporarily lose all of it's power behind it. The bed Mars sat in, had not shaken in the slightest and all of the power from his axe swing seemed to be transferring directly to the legs of the bed into the floor.

'....How is this possible? I'm a 2nd Rank Soul apprentice! Could this kid be even higher than me?...No, this has absolutely nothing to do with Soul Force. I...I can't feel any fluctuations coming from his body'

*Cling* *Cling*

The burly man's appearance became unsightly as he continued to swing and was not even able to harm the bed. Large droplets of sweat came pouring down his forehead, Mars on the other hand seemed extremely relaxed as he casually ate with his free hand.

"...Your axe technique...is improper.."

"W-What?! My axe technique was created from years of my father's blood, sweat and tears! What does a fledgling like you know!"

"....You can see why for yourself..."

Just as the burly man was about to step forward and swing his axe once more, Mars who had been cutting an apple he got from who knows where, in an almost fluid and natural manner flicked the dagger towards him.

The dagger flew like a gleam of light too quick to see at the burly man's left boot, piercing it and pinning it to the ground. As the burly man stepped forward, the sole of his boots ripped out much to his surprise.

His arms firmly holding the axe paused, he was shocked as he knew just how strong the boots he wore was.

Mars pointed at the sole of the boots with the fork in his hand.

"....Pick it up...."

The burly man hesitated for a bit, despite the shame of being lectured by someone half his age he couldn't resist the urge and picked it up. He didn't have to look hard and instantly noticed the left sole was tragically deformed than the right.

He immediately took off his left pair and compared, gradually a look of surprise and shock plastered his face as he noticed just how bad his balance was.

'The sole of the left side is completely battered, these are a new pair I bought last month! Come to think of it, it's always my left side that always gets destroyed...Could it be? I've been swinging my axe the wrong way?...No..this is definitely the proof.'

'Father said an axe is like one's arms, it's not supposed to weigh you down or make you imbalanced. When one can wield an axe as they would a quill, that is when an axe truly becomes an axe!'

The burly man looked strangely at Mars, he calmed the anger he felt inside and decided to ask a few questions. Just as he was about to, another voice interrupted-

"Well Angus, that should be enough right?..."

"...Yes, Lord"

Surprisingly the black-haired bear calmed down in face of this man and showed a respectful demeanor. A tinge of regret could be seen in the bear-like man's eyes as he seemed to have a few questions.

Shifting his attention to the new voice, Mars instantly understood that this person was the one in charge and who called the shots, most likely the person who had saved him.

A blonde-haired slender man that seemed to be in his thirties walked out, his facial features were handsome and he wore purple luxurious clothing similar to the young woman. A slight smile on his face as he looked at Mars, who stared back at him.

On the arm of the blonde-haired slender man, an extremely curvaceous and buxom woman who possessed a face similar to both sisters albeit older accompanied him. It was easy to guess this woman was the mother of the sisters, and wife of the slender man. She seemed to have a gentle disposition as she possessed a gracious smile.

The little girl who hid under the cloak immediately flew out and clung to the slender man's leg.

"Papa! Mama! The handsome big brother is strong!"

"Indeed he is Aria, Hehe. Hello young man, my name is Zephyr Ainstad and this is my wife Siggy Ainstad. You've already met my daughters Aria and Julis, who might you be?"

".....I do not know....I can't remember anything..."

"....You don't know? Could it be you've lost your memories?"

Zephyr frowned a bit as he recalled Mars strange appearance, he tilted his head in a seemingly thoughtful manner. Suddenly, Mars felt a terrible sharp pain in his head. The ripping pain was cold and sharp as though a steel dagger lodged itself in his head, however it only lasted a moment.He gripped his face with one hand as his pupils constricted.

A name came floating to his mind-

"No!..Wait!....I..am Mars! I am...Mars Romulus! Servant of the Sword Star!"

"....Sword Star?....Sword Star...Who exactly is this sword star? I've never heard this name before, could it perhaps be an alias?"

'This person must be quite powerful to raise a kid such as this. With power comes fame, how is it I've never heard of them. His clothes are certainly weird...'

'Wait!..This river is connected to the ocean...not to mention the amnesia, could it be this kid washed up from the sea? Father once said he had seen a ship at sea...Could it be this is what he spoke about? Could there really be civilizations outside of the Nephelheim area?'

'.....Unless they had some sort of unpredictable run in with a powerful beast, then it would certainly explain why this kid ended up here and his strange abilities. Not everyone has explored the entirety of Magnolia, this kid could very well be living proof of another civilization out there'

Zephyr seemed to be searching his brain as he tried to figure out Mars' origins, one hand stroking the bits of golden hair on his well shaped beard. Zephyr was certain that Mars had came from another civilization outside of Nephelheim, and was slightly still in shock.

No matter how much Mars thought about it, he did not know who the "Sword Star" was but knew he had to find him/her.

"....I don't know...I can't...."

Suddenly a hazy face came to mind, a dark-skinned beautiful woman with horns, who wore dark golden armor. Her body moved like a phantom as sword strokes covered the sky, her spear was imperceptibly fast, her axe ruthlessly powerful and unstoppable.

Her shield covered the heavens, her arrows chased the light of the sun and the peace of the world depended on her entire being.

This was the feeling Mars got from just a glance at this woman.

He could tell that this woman had taught him everything he knew, the way she handled weapons was extremely familiar to him. Mars believed that she had a connection with him, and was the only face he could remember.

'It's her I need to find!'

"...I need to find the sword star.."

Mars immediately stood up as the blanket fell to the floor, ignoring the looks thrown at him. It was then he noticed that his lower region felt rather loose, a bit cool and breezy.

"Fool! Wear some damn pants! Don't assault the little misses eyes with that abnormal thing! Quickly, Quickly put it away!"

Angus immediately cursed out as he pointed at Mars' manhood, a bit of shame in his eyes. Mars looked down and noticed he wasn't wearing any clothes. Mars quickly picked up the blanket and covered himself, strange enough he wasn't ashamed of his

body and his composure remained normal.

The young woman, Julis had covered her face with both hands; her thin veil showed a slight rosy color beneath them. The strange part was that her fingers did not block her eyes at all times, now and then they would part as she stole glances at Mars' body.

The little girl had separated herself from her father's leg and clung to her mother's dress instead. She then looked up at her Mother, trying to sound quiet and loudly yelled.

"Mother! Mother! Is the handsome big brother one of the people you warned me about!"

"Well, well. Hehe, let's not jump to any conclusions Aria. Besides.....I think your sister is the one we should be more worried about"

Siggy lovingly stroked her daughter's hair as she tried to smooth over the awkward atmosphere and threw a worried gaze at Julis.

"M-Mother what exactly do you mean by that? I-I was just curious is all! I-I've never seen one!"

The young woman Julis stormed out of the tent, leaving a smiling awkwardly Zephyr and Siggy.

"Well husband, I think we should give little Mars some privacy. Come on now, Aria!"

"Bye bye handsome big brother! Protect yourself from big sister well!"

Siggy held Aria in one hand as she led this troublesome little daughter of hers out the tent. Zephyr seeing this gave Mars and apologetic smile as he waved his hands as if saying "Sorry".