Xan and Ares walked for some time, heading away from the group. Ares threw a look over to see the various guards, the Phoenix Guard, the Roaring Tridents and the Marching Blades, surrounding the three that remained chatting and eating. All he could think about was Lana, and how she was currently pregnant. He felt his stomach twist as he left, but he gathered the person that was most dangerous was probably Xan, and so slowly his knot left him.

They approached the Rivea nearby, and Ares felt far more comfortable. The water soothed his mind, for he could end up manipulating it if needed. Ares sat down near a rock as Xan looked out towards the rest of the mountain, and Ares quickly realised Xan was looking out to where he had gone the day before, missing the wedding.

“Did you have a fun time?” Ares asked with a chuckle.

“Fun enough,” Xan said. “The wound was given to you by the Silent.”

Ares raised his brows in surprise at the quick turn of the chat. “Right?”

Xan turned to face him with a steely look. “They had come again.”

Ares’ eyes flashed up with alarm, but then a hot rage began to bubble within him. “Oh yeah?” Ares clenched his fists together.

“I dealt with them for the moment, but I am certain that more will come for you sooner or later.”

“Why?”

“Their goal is to make sure the world has a certain level of balance,” Xan looked up to the sky. “They once came for me as well, but they soon found that I had no plans to upset such a fragile balance.”

“So I’m upsetting the status quo, is that it?”

Xan nodded his head, staring up into the sky.

Ares rubbed his face again and then shook his head. He wondered just how long these bastards would be after him. No, that didn’t matter. If they went after him, that would be fine. The only issue was that he had several others nearby that couldn’t protect themselves against such a foe, and…

Ares held his head into his hands. Just what could he do? Saykkera had saved him last time, and the wound that he had receiv-

The wound throbbed and pulsed, sending out a wave of pain through him. Ares grit his teeth and clenched his fists harder together. No, not right now. He couldn’t give in to such a wound. He transformed his hand into the flames and then began to burn away at his wound, trying to heal himself again.

“You cannot heal your wounds with the white flames,” Xan said. He stared at Ares, who continued to burn at the wound until it finally settled down. “You must lay under the Shadow of Death.”

“Are you telling me to die?” Ares raised a brow towards the Storm Lord.

Xan shook his head. “The Shadow of Death is not a state of being, though death would save you from your wound, it is a place.”

“A place? Where is it?”

“Far west,” Xan said.

“How far?”

“No. There is another way, to the east.”

Ares raised his brows. “What about the Shadow of Death?”

“It is too dangerous, and I am certain your Queen would not approve.”

Ares smiled and then chuckled. “Well… you’re not exactly wrong about that.” He shook his head, still chuckling to himself. “So what is this thing to the east?”

“A being, such as yourself.”

“A phoenix?”

“No.”

Ares furrowed his brows, a little confused. “A being like me?”

“A half-god.”

Ares’ eyes flashed open wide. “Oh! Like yourself?”

“In some manner.”

“I see, I see…” Ares rubbed his chin, which was prickly with a short beard. “So there’s some kind of god that can heal me?” Ares tapped his foot onto the ground. “How far east?”

“There is a small island east. Head east and then south from the most eastern human city. It would take you a few weeks to arrive if you were to travel on foot.”

“A few weeks, huh?” Ares wondered just when he could leave. He wasn’t sure he had much that he could convince Lana with, the faith in him had long eroded.

He needed a good reason to head out, and healing himself may not be good enough. Well… healing himself should be good enough, but perhaps he needed another reason so she couldn’t say no… or perhaps it needed to be the only reason, so she knew that he would come back right after.

Ares straightened up as he looked up. “I needed to go east anyway,” Ares said. He thought about the Bitan and what they had told him, about heading east for some reason or another. He wasn’t sure why the Bitan had told him as such, but he recalled the oracle had specifically wanted to tell him such a thing.

Why?

Why did they tell Ares to head east? What was east? Everyone told him to go east, and yet the only place he had really explored was the west. He really should head out to the east… though again, he needed a good reason.

“Thank you for the information Xan, I really appreciate what you did yesterday… how many were there?”

“Some five or so,” Xan said nonchalantly.

Ares winced and then rubbed the side of his neck. Xan was much more powerful than himself, if each Silent was about as strong as one another. Taking on three was hard enough, five would have been many time more difficult.

“Well, are you alright?”

“I was not stabbed by a blade intended to kill me, I am well.”

“Someone’s become a cheeky guy, huh?” Ares chuckled.

Xan did not react.

“Thanks for the information, Xan. This doesn’t count to anything I owe you, right?”

Xan did not react.

Ares just laughed and then stood up. “I’ll head to the east then…”

Xan nodded. “I will be leaving you.”

Ares turned to face him. “What?”

“I have other business.”

“You have business?”

Xan did not reply, instead he turned to leave.

“I’ll see you around, Xan.”

“You as well, Ares.”

When Xan left, Ares felt so alone. Xan was perhaps the only other person here who could understand the burden of having such great power, but at the same time…

Wait.

Ares looked out to where Xan had been not long ago.

Xan hadn’t told Ares about what he wanted in return for his aid…