Beasts Of Chaos

It was a sombre day, the rising moisture of water evaporating to the sky was at such an intense high that even his underclothing clung to his skin like sticky spider webs. He looked up as the clouds formed in dark patterns, on the verge of releasing their heavy loads of collected water.

The land was tranquil as it had been yesterday, turning from the cliff he faced the Greek camp once again. Set in the usual professional manner the camp was separate in four quadrants, one quadrant per Hipparchus. He stopped at a near tent, feeling the tanned leather brush against his bare fingers.

Greek military was superior, that was to be certain but he always wondered why they had such awkward armour. His black steel armour with the hanging leather straps at the bottom, nothing but a man skirt which he found to be quite obnoxious to walk in.

The feel of wind against his bare legs sent chills up his body, feeling the bushy Mohawk like apparatus on his helm he turned left to his quadrant of the military base. Ever since the destruction of Eradonia he had fought hard to place himself in the Greek military, refusing to revert to the farm life he had once lived.

Finally seeing the value of these new visitors from unknown lands the ban was removed and he had been enlisted into the army. He had learnt much from Eradonia, one thing he noted was everything had been ten times as hard in Eradonia, there had been so much power and chaos compared to this new land that was his home.

As he surveyed the training of his hipparchia a voice came from behind him, “ Adonis, why are you not at the meeting? We have important matters to discuss and are awaiting your arrival, make haste.” Turning around he watched with smug arrogance as Medrius walked into the large central tent.

The Greek army was formidable, but as of late a great number of strategic illiterates who believed more in meetings than direct contact with the soldiers were being recruited. Always one meeting or another, Adonis considered ignoring this summoning and training his guards, but he respected Caesar and his laws and followed Medrius within the tent.

Nothing was amazing to Adonis, who had witnessed all the magical marvels and surreal landscapes, found the interior of this tent quite dull. Although it was meant to be of elevated luxury, the tent itself was made of luscious silk embroidered with golden patterns born of an archaic civilisation preceding the Greek Empire.

The ground covered by a beautiful red Persian rug and the walls had four Greek banners hanging, two on each side. In the middle of the immense tent stood an oddly familiar table made of diamond, when Adonis had inquired on its origins they said they had found it from the island he claimed to come from.

Although all they found of the island was a giant pile of rubble, however the table had somehow survived and floated away. The memory of the table was not his own however, it was part of the small part within his mind that belonged to the vile Ares. When the remnant of Ares had fused with him, all his memories had come with it.

Although hidden deep inside he occasionally received memory flashes of insignificant meanings, this table had been Krale’s table, built of the purest source of diamond known to Eradonia. On each opposing sides of the table were two bronze chairs, at the end of the table was a large golden chair where the Senate representative sat.

Finding his assigned seat he smiled, wearing his facade of false interest he turned and faced the Senate representative. He looked them all over, wearing his Imperial toga,         “ These past few weeks have been a complete and utter waste of your time, my time and the Emperor’s time. And henceforth the hunt for Harlequin and his army of outlaws and thieves is terminated.”

Part of him was relieved to hear this, wanting nothing more than to return home to the comforts of his large house in the centre of Athens. But as of late there had been a part of him that hungered for pure and violent blood shedding, to kill anyone as long as it meant slashing a foe open with a sword.

Part of him had enlisted in the Greek army for that very reason, of course he reasoned to himself to ease his subconscious, he had joined to protect his new home, his new life. Not bothering with etiquette or discretion he objected, “Right, and as we do go back home to our warm Greek homes Harlequin will spread more havock in our Empire’s domain.”

“ Riots will form, and then we will be forced to enforce our power upon the revolting people, we will be forced to kill them. I have seen such riots when I was young, they never turn out good. Blood will be spilled, innocent blood I might add of innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, it...”

Slamming his fist hard on the ground, Medrius and the others sat straight in shock of witnessing such a burst of anger. Adonis simply chuckled at this demonstration of anger, having witnessed the anger of Ares himself as he killed Athena and fought off the other two gods.

“ Adonis, I will not suffer your insubordinations. I don’t know if this is how things worked in your supposed land of Eradonia, but here in Greece we go through a strict regime, we follow a hierarchy. I am your superior, we are not pursuing this band of outlaws any more and that is the end of it.”

Letting the issue go Adonis simply sat back calmly, the corner of his mouth curving up as Medrius kicked his leg under the table, now dismissed they left to gather their men Medrius pulled him by the shoulder.

This Greek military man had surprisingly common traits, black hair in a military cut with high cheek bones and dull brown eyes. However, he was the only friend Adonis had been able to keep, all the other soldiers avoided him as much as they could, not able to tolerate his dark pessimistic attitude.

“ Adonis my friend, you cannot address our superiors in such a manner even if you are correct in your tactical assessment. Its your call here Adonis, but your more valuable to us as a soldier than a prisoner in the capital prison in Athens.” Walking away he began bellowing orders, despite his common appearance he demanded much respect.

As he turned to his own men he thought back to his former life, a thing he liked to avoid as much as possible. There had been a time where he was optimistic even in the most dire situation, times where they were ravaged by plagues and lost their whole crops, and he simply laughed and said their luck would pick up.

However, with all the death he had witnessed and caused, it was unlikely that any good could come out of the world at all, one opinion Ares and himself had shared, they were all monsters. Beginning to assemble his soldiers he thought of where Ares was at that very moment, locked up in some sort of prison no doubt.

***

This prison may have been impregnable, dampening all magical abilities but the gods had forgotten to take one thing into consideration, the chains themselves. He had been stuck in this small chamber for over a dozen years but as time passed by he began to feel a strange power.

He had searched the entire chamber inch by inch, recognizing the power as that of the gods, he had checked the coffin but it was not the source. However, only last week he had discovered the source of the power at last. The chains came from the divine blacksmith Hephaestus himself.

The gods had not taken into consideration that combined with the powerful demigod that he now was, with a very unstable mind driven by a strong want to take over the world fuelled by thirst for revenge might not be such a good idea. Ares being a master at harnessing and using power to its fullest had went into a deep mode of meditation, finally accessing the divine power of the gods infused in his very bones.

He was now by all means a veritable god, he could not get out of this chamber, still being of physical coherence with godlike abilities. But using his demented, yet cunning wit, he had devised a plan to escape. It would require every manipulative skill he had in his body, but once again he would control the people to control the world into his best interest once again.

***

His house was a modest one at best, despite his high ranking military position he was only supplied with a medium size two story house. Of no spectacular design considering all the architecture was of the same design, made of beautiful white marble stone.

The interior was spacious, and with his daily salary of one hundred lepta coins a day he had easily found a way to fill all of this large interior. Tossing his helm skilfully on the picket sticking out of the wall he walked into his house.

Finding his way to his library he sat on a bench, pulling off his torso armour he looked at the mount on the opposite side of the room, the mirrored armour and mask that had permitted him to vanquish his sister and inject him with the Ares remnant.

By all rational means he should have disposed of this armour a long time ago, it was not but dark magic of a now non-existent world.  A reminder that he had once lived a life of power and adventure and was no stuck in a normal world of metal and brawn.

His train of thought was broken as the sound of a falling book caught his attention, pulling out a dagger he got to his feet, part of him hoping it was nothing. He had been forced to learn all he could on his new culture, every book in this library had taught him all he knew, each book was read and reread to the point of extreme wear.

As he turned to corner he caught a blurry motion in the corner of his eye, as fast as he now was he could not react in time as the intruder lifted him against the bookshelf on the wall. Dropping his dagger he looked at his intruder only to see an all to familiar face.

“ Hallo Adonis, your a hard man to track down, but nothing is too hard for good old Dominic. Quite a strange world you got us mixed in with, can we talk just like old times?” Dropping him Adonis rubbed his throat, Dominic looked exactly as he had in Eradonia, if not darker.

Unlike himself, Dominic had not integrated with society. It was more difficult for him considering the fact he was a dark elf in a human world, he had fit in Eradonia but in this world he could only find one place, the place of the hobo living in the badlands.

Of course, on this large continent the badlands seemed peaceful to the badlands of Nostramos... he had to stop comparing everything to Eradonia. Adonis asked as Dominic handed back his dagger, hilt facing him, “ Last time we talked you had betrayed us and the mission you claimed to live for.”

Dominic shrugged and turned away from him, kneeling down he grabbed fallen book and walked to the reading area, sitting at a table Adonis sat at the opposite end of the table,    “ What do you want from me Dominic? The prophecy is over, I’m just a normal Greek soldier now. Why after all these years do you come to me now?”

Opening the book regarding Greek history he began to read, saying as he read, “ I guess not like old times, I remember the gutsy young eighteen year old lad plunging into the stomach of a stone worm, but now your nothing but a soldier following orders, it doesn’t do you good.”

There had been a time when this sort of talk would render him impatient, but he was two people now, and Ares had been a master of useless talk and gloating. Smiling he asked,   “ Right, well we all screw up. I just screwed up big, but really Dominic, what do you want with me?”

Placing the book down he handed him the book, “ Interesting read, a bit boring but oh well. If you think I don’t like this world of Greece, you should see Kulos. Hiding in the mountains like a monster, they hunted him down with torches and pitchforks. At least with me I just have deformed ears, I get side glances every once in a while but...”

Taking a more stern face he insisted, “ What do you want with me Dominic? Tell me or kill me, small talk just doesn’t do you good.” They looked at each other quietly for a moment, then Dominic began laughing hysterically, to the point of crying.

Calming down he replied, “ Adonis, your killing me. I’m glad to see something improved about you, if you must know we are forming a new army, a new Eradonia. I know you like the Greek Empire, but they won’t accept us for who we are so we need to make our own.”

This was an interesting idea, one he had harboured in his head for quite some time but he always managed to dismiss such schemes. However, hearing it spoken out loud by one in a similar situation than himself sent the thoughts in his head into motion, and he could not stop them.

But there was still one thing he did not understand, “ That’s all well and good, but I ask again, why do you need me? I have no magic, I am not a supreme fighter, I am not even a prophesied hero anymore.”

Dominic got to his feet, “ We have an idea, but no manpower. You have your soldiers, five hundred to be exact, loyal to you. And if you can get more, well, that’s why we need you, believe it or not you are important once again.”

“ No prophecy, just smart tactics here and common sense. An idea won’t conquer the world, its acting on the idea that will. I am walking out of this house now, I will hang around the local bar for a week which should give you enough time to make a decision, after a week I am leaving with or without you.”

Not waiting for a response Dominic simply walked out, leaving Adonis to ponder the proposal that had just been dumped upon him. Part of him wanted this new life, the calm life of a Greek soldier, maybe even alert the authorities of a possible revolution.

However, he knew he had already made up his mind, he could not refuse such an offer because both himself and the remnant of Ares living within him realised their grave error, realised this was not a better world. The only thing to do when one couldn’t adapt was to change things oneself, with this in mind he went to bed.

***

He watched as the mysterious stranger walked out of the house, a man with deformed ears and sinister looking armour. Most would simply see plain armour, but he could see the intricate design of an open mouthed cobra, fangs with dripping venom.

This man had a strange aura around him, ever since five he’d had the ability to see people’s auras and the power that emanated from them, as they changed colours depending on their moods it was quite impossible to lie to him.

But where most had bright coloured auras that were nauseating on sight, this stranger emanated a black aura, the senate had been correct to post a high risk status upon Adonis, considering the visit of this mysterious stranger.

The streets were sparsely populated at this time of the evening, even if it had been the middle of the day when the streets was the most populated he would have been invisible to all. However, a dozen years ago he began to see more, a dark aura began to fill the air that had never been there before.

At first he hadn’t known what it was, but as time progressed even the air began to smell different, he began to feel new power with each breath he took. Learning to harness this power he found he could do feats that had been impossible not so long ago, searching the libraries in regards of the mythical power known as magic he memorised every incantation in every book.

Learning that there were ways to increase one’s power by inscribing the incantations directly on one’s bones, it was painful but he had experienced a life of pain ever since he was born. His parents had died in battle when he was three, he was then sent to his only known family, his great uncle who lived in Brittanic Empire.

His uncle, a deadly assassin in secret raised him with a strict regime, abused him in every way but sexually, by the time he was twelve he was a cold blooded killer that worked alongside his father, not even trusting his own father he killed him and fled the country.

Hired by the Senate to be their eyes and ears, and when it came down to it, do all the dirty work at the age of eighteen. That was when the powers began to come, the strange assassin with the British accent, the freak as he was called in his back.

He’d been informed that this would be his most important mission as to date, his pay would be tenfold that of his usual high income. To spy on this Greek soldier who’d arrived from an island of rubble from afar twelve years ago.

He did not see a connection between Adonis and the power however, to him nothing was connected or predestined, coincidences and circumstances ruled the real world. Seeing the importance in this visitor he began to follow this new menace, or possibly new ally. The one thing he believed in less than destiny was loyalty, he served what benefited him best, and this new presence in Athens perplexed him greatly.