Changing Hosts

Adonis was led to his assigned sleeping chambers to prepare for the banquet, his footsteps resounding through the empty wooden hallway. He’d never been to a formal banquet, he doubted the last banquet he’d partaken in fit in the formal category.

Questions such as what to wear, how to talk, how much to eat would ordinarily tug at his mind he found himself once again in a position where such petty thoughts did not matter. Was he really pursuing Ares for revengeful purposes like Celestria had told him, no matter what he told himself he knew she was right and he hated himself for that.

The room was the most extravagant room he’d ever seen, at least comparing it to the room he’d once shared with his sister. The long red bed was made of materials softer than the top quality silk.

The large window showed the beautiful sight of the elvish shipyard, docks made of pure ruby. The large vessels tied to the docks recounted their own stories in the strange runes on their sails like on the citadel gates.

Sitting on his bed he put his large war axe on his bed and then placed the two falcata blades he’d taken from where Ares had left them in the ground. Holding one up he looked over its simple beauty, it had runes as well but they looked much more sinister and ancient.

Putting it beside its twin he pulled the mask from his belt, he’d seen its effects on Ares, changing his skin into complete reflective silver. He looked in the inside where more engravings were to be read, he could guess those were the source of the magic.

Suddenly there was a noise from behind the door in the private bath chambers. Taking a falcata blade he walked toward the door, kicking it opened he discovered nothing but an empty bath chamber.

The large golden tub took up most of the space, golden exterior with a smooth marble interior, there was also some strange apparatus that was similar to the bath tub in design but much smaller and had an invisible foundation in the wall.

He heard the noise again; turning quickly to fend off the inevitable attack of his assailant he was relieved to discover it was only a fat orange cat. It stood on the counter, licking its right paw as it looked at Adonis in his eyes, its eyes having a very strange look for a cat to usually have.

As he began to turn the cat spoke in a high class voice, " Why does Adonis put his guard down, how did Adonis know for certain that I was not going to kill him?"

Before he could respond the cat jumped upon him, pushing him hard against the ground. Adonis grabbed at the cat, trying to throw it off himself but it pushed him hard against the ground. Somehow the cat had managed to pin him down, of all defeats he refused to be bested by a pampered talking house cat.

He was near the tub, reaching his arm out his fingers touched the tap and he unleashed a flurry of water. It jumped off of him, hissing at him it jumped on the counter as Adonis turned off the water.

Getting up Adonis was going to ask something when the cat spoke, " Using a fear against one is a wise tactical manoeuver, Adonis is smart. And yet why does Adonis act like he never seen a gibbering cat. I am Cyranos, I cannot tell Adonis anything regarding the prophecy so he should not bother asking, and if Adonis would be so kind as to clean my litter box I would be much obliged. I would take my hat off to Adonis if I had one, I would dance with a crow."

The speech of this cat was putting him off, he laughed at the mention of the litter box. Such a strange thing for a snobbish voice to say, however he did not know what a litter box was. Then he seen a diamond box with golden filigree, the interior filled with pure white sand as white as snow. However, buried in this and was not so pleasing to the eyes lumps of brown crap, reeking heavily of urine.

Walking out of the bath chambers he sat on his bed and looked over the swords again when he seen the large wardrobe and stood, intending to open it. As he swung the emerald doors open, inside hung the most exquisite armour Adonis had ever laid eyes upon.

Made of an unknown metal it reflected the sun showing off a barrage of different colours as he moved it, changing from a dark pink to a light green to a blood red. Upon it were strange ruins much like on the falcata blades Ares had owned. All this was topped off with a royal blue cloak, gauntlets and boots.

Placing his two new weapons in the scabbards they fit perfectly, all his armour on he looked himself over in the mirror and could hardly recognize himself. Now he would simply have to learn how to fight with dual weapons, as he examined himself Cyranos spoke from behind, " I selected the suit myself, it once belonged to the most royal, holy, greatest of all elves ever to live in this castle, now it is Adonis’."

Liking the feel of this new armour he asked, " How old are you exactly, a century?" Cyranos rolled his feline eyes to the side, " Does Adonis not know that asking a gibbering cat its age bears nothing but misfortune and bane. I will pretend Adonis did not ask me and maybe he’ll be safe from the wrath of the god of misfortune, Now I shall leave Adonis in peace, he has company."

He disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace he had ever been there. Adonis looked around alarmed, how could he disappear so quickly. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, making him jump in fright. It appeared the cat was unexpectedly correct, opening the door there the stood the astonishingly beautiful Celestria.

She wore the most beautiful red dress that hugged her body in all the perfect places, she wore no makeup but none was needed for she had a natural colour in her cheeks. Seeing him dressed in the armour she said, " I see Cyranos chose your clothes, he is quite newfangled don’t you find? That armour your wearing is as old as the earth itself, no exaggeration."

Adonis was confused, " What is he exactly? He said he was something like a gibbering cat? Is he lying?"

Celestria smiled, inviting him to put his arm in hers, as they walked together to the dining room she explained, " Cyranos was once an elf of high stature, despite his lineage he was always the jester of the elves he never took anything seriously. Or nearly anything, he did take tyranny very seriously. At the time the Royal Kingdom was a tyranny, they ruled all lands with fear."

" Cyranos hated it, but we were forbidden to interfere with human affairs. He disobeyed out orders, he along with Ares and others founded the Coronian Empire. A resistance force, and that armour your wearing was made in the first age by the dark emperor himself, you only have the torso piece which Cyranos had and the swords which Ares had, presumably was stolen by Krale and given back as a promotion gift. Anyway, he got punished for this and turned into a gibbering cat"

As Adonis was going to ask about the mask they arrived at the door, " Now listen mortal, the Queen will be present at tis feast of feasts so be courteous." Celestria knocked unusually upon the door and it opened with a graceful soundless swing.

The dining chamber was the largest room Adonis had ever witnessed with his mortal eyes, the ceiling went into a high arc made of the purest oak wood to be found. Upon chains of silver hung large diamond chandeliers.

As he approached the table his footsteps upon the marble stone floor echoed his footsteps through the grand hall even if he was stepping lightly, must have been the weight of the armour.

As much as he admired beautiful architecture the food itself is what drew his attention, the contents of the feast was something to marvel at on its own. For never in his life had he seen so much food in one place other than the feeding farm where they stocked the pig, horse, cow and dog feed.

Fruits and vegetables from every shape and colour filled the colour, some as diamonds of the night in the form of apples or gold in the form of a pear with spikes upon it. The wine also came in different colours, it had an ambiance to it that swirled in intricate hypnotizing patterns.

He picked up a luxurious fork, glad it was constructed of normal metal for he found his mother’s silver spoon set always gave a bad taste. However, as marvellous as the meal was he could not help but notice the lack of meat on the table, they were like the swamp elves in this, vegetarians.

An elf servant led him to his seat as Celestria went to take her own, sitting beside Mal he looked around to see who was at the meal. At the end of the table stood the most majestic chair; made of the same perfect material than his bed it had a pearl backing, but at the moment it was vacant.

On the left chair sat Celestria dressed in that beautiful dress that complimented her body so well, unlike the others she did not have any fancy fruits and vegetables, she had normal garden variety vegetables with a bit of light meat on the side.

On the right of the overly fancy extravagant chair sat Aldon in his sentry uniform with long sword on his belt, polished so perfectly you could see your reflection off his armour better than you could off a mirror.

Which was why seeing Dominic sitting beside him that much funnier, in his battler black armour, unpolished with his vicious looking scimitar. They both had the same build, but they were two opposites. Aldon looked royal and Dominic looked... like Dominic, there was no way of explaining it.

Besides Celestria sat Tyronis in his usual wizard’s attire, skipping all the elf nobles dressed in royal blue armour he came upon Kulos who sat at the other end of the table, he stuck out like a bad zit on a flawless elf face, so tall with the biggest chair and a giant club on his back.

Suddenly the doors blew open, Cyranos walked in and made an incredibly realistic song with a trumpet song as if introducing someone and spoke loudly, his voice seeming to emanate from everywhere and nowhere all at once, " The moment all have been wearing for, Queen Iliana" The Queen suddenly walked in the room, it was true that she bore a regal beauty like he’d never seen before.

Wearing a dress of intertwining golden vines and leaves over a delicate strapless blue silk dress. She sat gracefully on her chair, looking upon everywhere she seemed to add some light to the room the way no candle could ever compare to.

She said in a loud clear voice, " Greetings fellow elves, Dominic the dark elf, Kulos the orc, Tyronis the wizard and Adonis and his two friends." She took a breath, " We have awaited this moment for over a century, awaited for Adonis to commence his journey to fulfilling the prophecy."

" Every elf, even dark elf has know it might come any day and has thus already prepared, are the dark elves prepared?" Dominic, having no etiquette placed his foot on the table, "No, most are not believers of such things, it is regarded as superstition. But carry on, please, what a beautiful speech."

She sighed, " Besides that the seven halve prophecy is nearly complete. Already four of seven have been gathered, three more remain and if things stay in our favour that will not take too long."

That last statement sounded wrong, last time he’d counted there had only been three hybrids, " Your Royal Highness, not to be disrespectful but you are incorrect, it is only three of seven."

Suddenly Cyranos jumped on the table, landing hard leaving his paw prints engraved in the wood, " Adonis did not mean to be disrespectful and yet he was nonetheless. This only proves my point, humans are nothing but a bunch of incompetent low breed lard bags who can’t even outlive a parrot, I am the fourth."

Turning to the Queen, walking over plates of food he said, " Not inviting me to yet another feast? Did Illiana really think I would miss this, especially one of this grandeur and spunk, I feel genuine exclusion, do I not deserve respect Queen Illiana."

The Queen gazed at him with a stern look that could have scared a gargoyle, " For one so keen on receiving respect, you are not so good at giving respect back. It is not proper to stand on a table, secondly, it is not respectful to insult guests with racial comments, or maybe you didn’t learn from last time?"

Cyranos said mockingly, " Proper sposher, the ancient civilizations of elves revered their gibbering cats, one even ruled as King as I recall, I do no need to show such respect for a mortal such as Adonis, even if he is the chosen one it only makes him the chosen incompetent low breed lard bag that can’t even outlive a parrot."

The Queen nodded, " I knew King Carlos very well, he was falsely accused of crimes his brother committed. He was a noble and just King that respected all undo his power, unlike you, you on the other hand are nothing but a disrespectful cat."

Cyranos grinned widely, showing his feline teeth and jumped off the table, tail in the air he silently walked out of the open door. It was now quite evident that humans were very low class in the elf civilisation, maybe even as lowly placed as orcs if Cyranos was anything to go by.

Every bite could be heard, the tension left by Cyranos was too great. Suddenly this magnificent feast did not seem so good, and Mal having the natural talent of making a terrible situation worse did so as no one else could, " Yo Illiana, I can call ya that right? Well anyway, I be looking over the table during the entire feast. This food is kick ass awesome, don’t get me wrong, I love my fruits as much as the next guy, but where’s the meat? Celestria is the only one with meat? What gives?"

Aldan rose to his feet, uttering words of anger under his breath as he walked to Mal and yanked the chair from the table, pulling it so fast that Mal didn’t move until the chair was removed and he fell hard on his ass.

Grabbing him by the collar he threw him away from the table, Mal put his arms up in defence, fear in his face but Aldan simply kicked him in the side, " You shall not address the Queen in such a manner!"

He kicked him again when Kulos grew tired of the needless violence. Aldan turned just in time to see Kulos’ large hand approaching his throat but was too slow to dodge it. His neck was wrapped by his powerful hold as he was thrown, inches from the wall they all suddenly found themselves sitting down again.

They looked around startled, at the speed he was going Aldan would have broken his neck but yet now they were all back in their seats, weapons back in place without a single injury. The Queen said calmly, " No fighting in this place of peace, it is ok for him to address me in such a manner for he is not familiar with our customs, nor would he care if he was familiar with them. And Kulos, if you keep on behaving like such an orc no one will ever respect you."

Facing Mal she said, " To answer your question, we are indeed vegetarians. Unlike the swamp elves and all other elf clans we are not vegetarians by choice. We took refuge in these woods, and have lived here for many ages. You may have noticed that not many animals find gold a favourable source of food, henceforth they are non-existent in our forest Two centuries we have confused nothing but these fruits and vegetables, our bodies depend on these fruits for they contain a drug within them that we are now dependant on. If we stop we die a painful death."

" The withdrawal effects would be immense, and our bodies cannot consume meat or any other food out of this forest. Celestria never consumed of the forest, she always got her food elsewhere and can still live outside the forest, she orders food from out of the forest."

" The drug doesn’t effect humans and dark elves seem to be immune to drugs in general so you should all be ok, Cyranos can tolerate meat as well. I am certain you will receive much meat when you meet the dwarves."

Kulos who had calmed down to his usual passive self since the encounter with Aldan broke his silence, " What of the army? Do my orcs and Dominic’s outlaws have your leave to pass through the forest passage?"

Before she could answer Cyranos said from afar, " I believe if we permit orcs and a bunch of law breaking mortals to use our forest passage the peace will be broken, chaos will be born of it. Queen Illiana knows as well as I do that such impurities cannot be permitted to enter, the very fact Kulos the butcher was allowed shocks me. Does Butcher not ring a bell to anyone?"

As Kulos got to his feet a black portal formed over the table, everyone backed away from the table swiftly, weapons drawn as a ream creature jumped out, landing on the ceiling. It was as large as an alligator, with swirling blue skin that never ceased to shift it resembled a lizard but on a much larger scale.

The Royal Nobles at the table surrounded the Queen, defending her from any possible harm as the realm creature landed on the table, sending both ends up in the air as the impact of the heavy lizard split the table in half. They began to escort the Queen out when all the doors slammed shut.

As everyone was ready for combat another being walked out of the black portal, a realm noble walked out of the portal, his body composed of the same swirling dark mass as the lizard creature. The elves released the arrows upon him but they passed through them as though they were but air.

As the lizard cornered them the noble spoke in a unnatural way, " Magic has been blocked so save all your breaths. Weapons cannot harm us so save your strength. We can hurt you however, so if you cooperate you can save your life. Give us Adonis and we will return and never disturb you again."

No one responded, the lizard made a strange series of growling noises as though communicating with the noble, he turned and responded, " Who cares about the cat! And no I do not know how Adonis looks like or we would have him in our custody now! Escort the prisoners to a room."

The creature growled at them, the entire group was led to Adonis’ room where Cyranos slept on the plump pillow. Mal said out loud, " How in sphinx’s hell did you get here?" Cyranis grinned, " Cat door, now does Mal and the gang want to escape before they return? Or does Mal and the gang want to kill them? Both are possible."

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Ares stood in front of Krale As Jolene, at his side, bowed on one knee in respect. Lord Krale sat in his usual place, Ares was beginning to think Krale was rooted in that chair like a tree, but now was not a time for taunting. Lord Krale spoke impatiently, " What have you learnt that is so grave as to make you delay your mission to kill Adonis?"

Ares replied, trying to stay serious, " News of the rise of Angel Warrior hybrids, Tyro is the first of seven. They are making opposite of us hybrid demons, if they band with the other hybrids you will be defeated."

Lord Krale slammed his fist on the armchair, sending a ripple in the ground shaking the entire interior of the tent. He rose to his feet and pulled Ares into his grasp, lifting him by the throat, " Does thou doubt my incredible powers? The power that flows through your body as we speak. Enabling you to do incredible feats. Without me you would be powerless, there is no forgiveness for this, you’ve crossed the line. You are banned from the Coronian Empire."

Ares dropped to the ground, being a dismissal without words from Krale, Ares replied, " If that is what you wish Krale, it seems an odd practice to ban your most powerful assassin, but I guess you never were so bright, so easy to control."

Lord Krale growled and swung his fist; Ares dodged the first swing with ease, hitting him in the knee joints he fell to his knees. Ares said grinning, " See, you’ll be bowing down like this to me very soon." Krale quickly grabbed Ares and Tossed him out the entrance, head first in the dirt. He yelled from inside, " Kill the hybrid scum! Show him no mercy!"

The demons surrounded him, he raised his hands and yelled, " Terrak Nor!" He was engulfed in a sphere of water; upon its release it moved as a wave knocking the demons off their feet. Jumping over one demon he transformed into a crow and began to fly away, however Lord Krale caught him, knocking him out.

He said, " Monstarmos my mightiest warrior, bring him far from here and kill him. I never want to see him alive again, but before you do, let me finish something." Placing his hand over his head he said, " Nolsamos Nitruga"

A black force began to ebb out of Ares’ eyes, entering Krale’s body, his demon side and all the powers associated with it leaving his body, returning to his human state. He was no longer a hybrid, nor was he mortal however. He was neither living nor dead.

Ares no longer had weapons, Monstarmos took his armour off leaving him bare he grabbed Ares over his shoulder and left. Jolene had remained kneeling despite all of this action, too afraid to move, nevertheless to run away. She had felt for Ares, during training he had taught her to defeat her moral barriers, taught her sword tactics. She knew he would not feel for her, but she felt she was getting to him, now he was gone.

Lord Krale came from behind her, " Ares has abandoned us, he has forfeited his power and is no longer of the Coronian Empire. I have his demon here, and I wish you to continue where he left off." He paused a moment, " To ease your task, I shall give you a surprise."

He placed his palm over her and a dark shadow enveloped her, entering her eyes she shook violently and then stopped. Her senses increased, great power began to soar through her body like she had never felt before.

With that power came tremendous pain, she screamed in pure intense pain. Her insides felt like they were invaded by fire ants, black flames emerged from her mouth and ears. Then it went back in, the pain eased to a consistent throbbing. She opened her eyes, they were now as red as blood.

Her whole view of the world had changed completely, everything was refined. Every colour to its finest resolution, no detail escaped her gaze. Krale spoke from behind her, " I have infused you with a demon, you have all the powers Ares once mastered, including transformation. You’ve also inherited his oath to me, I shall send you training for a week to master your new powers, before you presume your mission. It shall be gruelling and difficult training, but when you come out of it you shall be the most formidable warrior to walk the plains, now leave my presence."

Jolene walked out, every step fuelled with new power. She was still half human and yet all her human feelings were pushed down deep down inside, she felt no remorse for her actions, that she had Ares to thank for, if not for his lessons her morals might still be an obstacle. Despite all, if she ever met Ares again she would kill him for his treachery.