The silence of the night had done nothing to drown out Ares’ thoughts, only aiding in the wild imagination of what news San’O had brought him.

Just what exactly did San’O foresee, and what did it have to do with him? He wondered if he should head East soon, but first he had yet to explore the West as much as he wanted to. There were the lionfolk nearby, the Bitan, the Reptai. What else was there? He had only just scratched the surface and he wasn’t going to stop now, not unless there was an emergency that called for Ares to return to Rivea.

Seriously what should he do? He sighed and then he finally fell asleep, hoping that it’d all work out well in the end, and if it didn’t, well he’d just have to deal with it then.

The morning had come quickly, and Ares allowed the group some time to clean up in the make shift hot bath he had created and warmed up with his powers, whilst he walked around to keep watch. Once they had finished up he took a quick dip himself, using whatever soap had been left over, they made their way out towards where he had heard the Reptai would meet them.

It had taken two days, and even some evenings, to finally arrive at where the Reptai had asked Ares to meet them at.

They had arrived at the mountains and then began to skirt around towards where they had informed him of the path, but had quickly found themselves surrounded by Reptai.

The Reptai flooded out, with Zika leading them towards the small group of the Omni Nine.

Ares glanced to see the bound creature behind Zika, a Bitan that had been wrapped around in ropes.

“Greetings, Ares,” Zika said. “It is good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too, Zika. I see that you have brought a friend.”

“It is one we had met nearby not long before meeting you,” Zika said as she then hopped off her giant reptile and then hoisted the Bitan up. “It said it knew you.”

As she dropped the Bitan onto his feet, Ares nodded.

“It’s good to see you, Ezak,” Ares said. “Excuse me, it’s Ezak’A now?”

“No I am Ezak,” Ezak said. “I have given up the right to such a thing.”

“You’ve given up the right?”

Ezak nodded. “I wish to join you, Ares’O.”

Ares remained silent for a moment to the young Bitan, who looked at him nervously with hope.

“Alright, sure.”

Ares sighed. The name would have to change again, though that was probably the least of his worries. Ezak was like Emerli, a little newborn babe that needed to be protected. Still, Ezak had come all this way, and was probably quite terrified between all the Reptai. There was no need to distress him any further for the moment, and with this business of giving up his right…

“Thank you Zika, I am very glad you have brought this young man to me.”

“It is well that we did not kill him then,” Zika said.

“Quite well.” Ares chuckled.

“We have secured the path, though we are now less.”

“What happened?” Ares asked, wondering what had reduced their numbers.

“They have left.”

“They?”

“Zoti and his members.”

“Zoti… he was one of those that had led the others, is that right?”

“Indeed. Zoti, Zola and Rola have left. Our people have been reduced.”

“Well… damn. What about Zaka?”

“She has remained for now.”

The way she had said it was rather… ominous. Ares wondered just exactly what she had meant by it, but this didn’t seem the be the time nor the place.

“I’m sorry to hear such a thing. Well…” Ares wondered just what he could do for them. They had lost so much already.

“Let us speak in safety,” Zika said as she led Ares and the Omni Ten to the mountain pass.

The mountain pass was barely a pass, it was actually a steep tunnel. The walls around them provided them some security, though Ares did start to sweat a little and his breath became ragged for the hundred or so steps of the tunnel before he was finally out of the steep tunnel and then was surrounded by fresh air and a rocky path ahead that wound towards even more Reptai.

It took close to an hour to get to the area up ahead where there was a large gathering of Reptai. Three thousand Reptai remained with Zika and they all seemed to be gathered in this area, which was large enough to house them and then some.

There were three large buildings made up of wooden beams and furs that were loosely draped over them, almost like sea weed over rice. There was some smoke that escaped through the bottom of the buildings which carried some way until it disappeared into the air.

The smell was amazing though, and Ares wondered what kind of meat was cooked inside of it. Suddenly he imagined people, and threw the sight away from his mind.

“I’d love to see what that delicious smell is coming from,” Ares said casually to Zika. He wanted to satiate his curiousity.

Ares was led to the building by Zika herself as the others settled themselves off to one side.

Ares reeled back as the blast of the stench of meat and spices that had been opened up. The storm of spice and juice that had assaulted his nostrils was too much, there was a tanginess to it, there was a fire up at the base of his nostrils too. Ares could barely see through his watery eyes, but he could see that there were large creatures, like large goats or deers, that had been hung up. There was nothing humanoid, and with the relief, he stepped away for some air.

“Smells great,” he gasped for air and then wiped the tears out of his eyes.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, just really powerful,” he said as he gasped for air. “Means it’ll have some great flavour.” He nodded his head.

Then Zika returned Ares back to his group that had set up a small area for themselves, with Ezak standing off to one side making his own little camp with the terrain.

There was quite a pleasant smell in the air that surrounded them, like sweet lavender with cinnamon. Ares furrowed his brows and looked around to see where it was coming from. He couldn’t find where the smell had been coming from, but he shrugged his shoulders. It was as thought he blast of smell had heightened his smell for something sweet.

“Thank you for allowing us to stay, Zika,” Ares said. “We’ll try not to make a mess.”

“It is our honour, Eminence Flame,” Zika said. “We wish to speak with you over dinner.”

“As long as we’re not dinner, that’s fine by me.” Ares laughed shaking his head. “Excuse me. I love to make terrible jokes, there’s no offence in it.”

“As you said.” Zika then left, leaving a pair of Reptai nearby.

“Alright,” Ares said, “we’re going to remain here for a little while whilst I sort out the issue with the Reptai.”

“What issue?” Azzo asked as he lit up something to smoke.

“Well the Reptai and the Bitan were rather… well, they weren’t happy with one another, but the Reptai were more than happy to talk about it, the Bitan, less so. No offence.” Ares nodded to Ezak, who went back to his little camp, keeping a small collection of rocks nearby.

“What is the plan?” Azzo asked as he smoked, looking out to the air with a peculiar look in his eye.

“Talk to Zika, see what she wants. I’m hoping to have the Reptai join Rivea in some way.”

“Join Rivea?” Azzo asked.

“Join Rivea.”

Azzo looked out to Ares. “I’m the one smoking, but you are saying something as though you are.”

“What’s wrong with the Reptai joining us?”

“They are Reptai. Their way of lives are so different to our own.”

“Well… then maybe I’ll ask them to become mercenaries of some type for us.”

“What led you to want them to join us?” Kask asked.

“Anyone can join us, Kask. Doesn’t matter what you are, as long as you’re willing to be a Rivean.”

“Are they willing to be Rivean?” Azzo said.

“We’ll have to see,” Ares said. “Now get some rest.” Ares yawned.

He looked out to see that the sun was still up, though it was growing into evening.

“Well you guys can take a quick nap, I’ve been forcing you to move too much for the past two days. I’ll make another bath in the morning.” He nodded to his people who had been readying themselves for some sleep.

The group had began to fall asleep, letting Ares watch over them. Even Ezak had gone to sleep right away, so Ares sat down and looked around.

He sighed, taking in the scent of whatever Azzo was smoking as well as the lavender. Ares inhaled the scent and then looked up. Even he was feeling a little tired.

He heard a drop, followed by another. He looked out to see the Reptai guards had slumped over and then fallen.

“What the hell?” Ares stood up, stumbling forward before he gasped in some more air. He slapped his face twice and then looked around to see that the Reptai up top were also falling.

What was going on?