A few hours before night came, Ares had met up with Emerli and talked. He also directed the forces to mostly one side, having made it difficult to assault the area from near the watch tower’s side where he had fought. He realised perhaps he should have made it easier to assault that side due to the watch tower being nearer, but he thought against it for it would have been embarrassing to swap such a thing so publicly.

“How long will it take?” Ares asked, though Emerli did not reply. Instead she helped Ares move along through the shrubbery and such, sometimes grabbing onto thick branches and hopping forward, trying to not displace nature too much. She would pull aside certain brushes and then reveal a small trail they could follow, before backtracking and moving around in a bid to sow confusion to anyone that could follow them.

‘How is she more paranoid than me?’ Ares wondered as he watched her. Then he realised that this was a habit that was formed through paranoia and she probably wasn’t doing it with any intentionality in mind.

‘That’s my sister!’

Ares then slipped out of the shrubbery, notice that they were many miles away. “Thanks Emerli, I’ll come by in a few hours.”

Emerli stepped out with him and Ares turned to place his hands on her shoulders.

“You aren’t coming with me.”

Even without much light he could tell what kind of facial expressions she was making.

“I know… I know… but I can’t take you with me. Please… I need you here for when I get back. I already don’t like the fact you’re on your own here.” He leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I’ll be back soon, okay?” He said as he then waved and slipped away into the dark.

Ares continued out, stalking through the darkness as he approached the enemy. They were many miles away, but he could move quite quickly in his silent manner. Then he was gone.

He was surrounded by nothing but his thoughts. Right now, if he so wished, he could leave and never return.

Yet… he would not do such a thing. Why would he? He had Runar, Ozar, Ozri, Emerli, Lana, Rori, Torak…

His tears glistened in the night and he stopped where he was. Just for a moment he felt the utter joy of having so many people in his life, who no doubt were worrying about him and his stupid antics.

He did not deserve such people. He deserved none of them, and yet he was blessed with so many people. He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands. He would need to stop worrying them so much, the stress would be unfair.

And yet…

And yet if he didn’t do such things, wouldn’t they be dead due to all the enemies surrounding them?

No. He had to do these things. Even if they were dark and evil and would plague him for years to come, in order to protect those he loved…

Ares continued onwards after spending a few minutes to calm himself. With his resolve steeled, he approached the small lights near the fringes of the enemy. He watched them for some time, like a panther eyeing up it’s prey.

He stared at them.

If he wanted to, he could kill them. There were a couple hundred of them all relaxing, eating, hanging out as they threatened Rivea. His family, his people, his city, his country.

No. A hundred soldiers dead won’t do much. He needed to do more than that. He looked out into the distance and then back to those that were out there. Then he felt a presence nearby. He waited until Xan revealed himself.

Ares nodded and Xan returned the nod.

“Xan,” he said.

“Ares.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I was merely wondering as to what you were doing.”

“How did you know I was here?” Ares narrowed his eyes towards Xan. He thought he had been particularly stealthy.

“I heard the wind,” Xan said with all seriousness.

Ares nodded in response. He had no idea what that had meant, for it had been far too vague for him to really understand, but what he did understand was that Xan had some cool powers that he wanted.

Then he caught himself. He probably shouldn’t be too greedy, not yet anyway. That was how he got into this whole mess. He was greedy and he moved and expanded too rapidly without really integrating people and he didn’t look after their needs properly. This Kingly business was quite difficult.

“I’m just here to see if I can get some help from the enemy.”

“You are going to try to turn them against one another?” Xan asked.

“Yeah. Something like that.”

He nodded. “Very well. Do you need some help?”

Ares thought about it. Xan could be someone that could assist him well enough.

“How about you come with me, but…”

“But?”

“I want you to not speak. I just need your presence… it’s nothing against you or anything, I think it’d be…”

“What?”

“Fun.”

Xan blinked. He hadn’t expected that to be what Ares was going towards. Ares smiled.

“Fun?” Xan asked.

“Fun.” Ares nodded.

“Fun how?”

“Well…” Ares looked up. “You’ll see.”

Xan stared at Ares. There was a long silence between the pair.

“I’ll see?” Xan asked.

Ares nodded.

“…” Xan blinked again.

“…” Ares continued to smile.

Even now Ares could see Xan think within those eyes. The Storm Lord was someone that had lived for a while, and yet… apparently this was new to him. Ares wondered perhaps if his way of thinking was a little too… out there for this world.

Though. Isn’t that what this world needed? A fresh set of eyes?

Xan stared at Ares long and hard. “May I make a request?” Xan asked.

“What is it?”

“Not now. Later I would like to make a request of you.”

“Just a request? Not a firm yes to the request, but merely the ability to make a request?”

Xan nodded.

“Sure.”