Journey of the Son of Ares

"I got it! I did it!" Aurelius celebrated with his hands raised.

Cade, who was napping down below on a bed of leaves, opened her eyes. "What exactly did you do?"

Aurelius hopped to his feet and did a setup for enhancement before dropping from the boulder. "I got some essence to flow. I felt it."

Cade closed her eyes and lowered her head back onto his palms.

"Oh, come on, that's something, right?"

"Hmm, I managed that in a week, if I remember correctly."

"Exactly, I've only been at it for two days."

Cade opened one eye. "The 12-year-old me."

"Tch." Aurelius dropped his shoulders and turned away.

"I'm just messing with you," Cade said with a smile. "You're on a good path. Just keep working hard, and you'll be able to do it in battle in a year, maybe."

Aurelius turned to look back and smiled. "I'll do it in a couple of months."

Cade laid back down. "Keep dreaming, son."

Aurelius snorted before hopping back up onto the boulder and sitting down to continue his practice.

***

"Wakey wakey." Cade's pleasant voice assaulted Aurelius' ears as he felt a shoe push his side.

"Argh, I'm awake!" Aurelius grunted before doing a series of stretches on his back that made it look like he was having a convulsion.

"Well then, get your ass up," Cade said, gesturing a rising movement with her hands.

Aurelius sighed with his mouth almost wide enough to fit a tree trunk in it before saying with a wave of his hand, "Two more minutes."

"Tch." Cade kicked Aurelius. "No. Today's the day we'll kill a cursed beast. Act competent."

"Alright, alright." Aurelius yielded and slowly got to his feet. Cade turned with satisfaction, and Aurelius dusted off his clothes. "Act competent. Pfft."

Cade shook her head before walking over to her stuff.

Then something occurred to Aurelius. "About these enhancers, why do you want them?"

Cade crouched down and opened her bag. "You're seriously asking about that now?" she asked with clear disbelief in her voice.

"Well, my mind has been on this motionless magic thing, you know," Aurelius rationalized. "So, can you tell me? Are you an addict?"

"No, nothing like that," Cade said, turning to look Aurelius in the eyes. "Enhancers are a kind of booster for essence usage. They aren't like cigarettes or something." She tilted his head and gazed at the light-gray, pillowy clouds. "But some do get addicted. To the power, that is."

"They can help me get stronger?" Aurelius asked, optimism clouding his eyes.

Cade brought her gaze back to Aurelius, her eyes suddenly dark. "No, they can help you get a one-time feeling of superiority before leading you to a miserable death. That's what they did to my father, at least. I've never tried; never will."

Aurelius gulped, the hope in his eyes gone. "Ah, okay... Sorry."

"But to answer your question, I'm after them for money," Cade said, turning back to her bag and starting to dig through it. "Miracle drugs squeezed out of the heart of a cursed beast go for a lot, as you can probably imagine."

"Is there anything you need it for?"

"Naw, I was planning to use the money as a decoration or just burn it for fun," Cade said, her voice unnaturally low. She then zipped her bag up and threw it onto her shoulder before turning to Aurelius again. "Yes, I need it for something. I'm going to sell the enhancers we get here. There are people relying on me. That's why I can't die."

***

On the horizon, there were five mountains with sharp tips that obstructed the path of the clouds at various heights. The mountains were of dark gray stone; there was barely any greenery in sight.

Aurelius wiped some sweat off his forehead and stopped running. Cade only noticed after having gone far ahead and turned around with her hands raised on her sides.

Aurelius motioned for him to come back, and Cade let her hands fall before beginning to walk back.

"What is it? Are you tired?" Cade asked after entering talking range.

"I just figured it would be good to rest before we start battling," Aurelius explained.

"We won't fight for a while." Cade rubbed her forehead. "You know, we have to find the beast that lives here first."

"Find? But aren't cursed beasts known for being aggressive?"

"Cursed beasts just get that kind of reputation because they need to kill a lot to become cursed, but when they reach that state, they get what they want and settle down. Being a cursed beast is kind of like the ideal afterlife for a beast."

"Huh?" Aurelius' mouth was wide. "Are you saying a beast becomes a cursed beast? All I was taught about cursed beasts is that they are able to use essence with more versatility than beasts."

"Well, it's not like you'd have to know any of this if you don't plan on trying to kill one, so your teacher probably didn't think it was necessary to educate you about them," Cade said, scratching the side of her neck. "You don't really need to know more than that, either. Just be ready for anything. They're a really unpredictable bunch."

"Yeah." Aurelius nodded, and they started heading towards the mountains again.

They never talked as they ran since it wasn't very practical, which always irritated Aurelius, who was overflowing with curiosity, but now that they were walking, Aurelius couldn't really think of anything to ask. Eventually, he got a hold of a good question.

"Hey, Cade. Who is the strongest person you know?"

"Me," she answered simply.

"But outside of you."

"Nobody."

"Not even anyone you've heard of. Like in history?"

"Hmm." Cade paused. "Well, of course, there's the Soldier of God, but even you know about him."

Aurelius' eyes flew open with excitement. "Who is that?"

Cade looked at Aurelius with a look that seemed to communicate genuine concern. "Seriously?" She sighed before looking back at Aurelius and opening her mouth. Her eyes then widened, and nothing came out of her mouth.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." She waved a hand. "So, about the Soldier of God. His real name is Solomon. He was the hero of a nation in the West that's now a part of Lundkirk. Some say he was like a one-man army, but suddenly, he just disappeared and left his home to be taken."

"Lundkirk? Well, it's not like one man could do anything about an empire. But how do you know that if it's on the other side of the Great Ocean?"

"My father told me. I never liked history much, but I was always eager to listen to my father, and he had a lot of stories about him. A lot of people in Mircrest are immigrants from Solomon's nation, so he's respected over there."

Aurelius looked down with his lips slightly pursed before looking back at Cade. "Oh, but how did he get so strong? And what about the nickname?"

"You ever heard of mythical techniques?"

Aurelius shook his head.

"Thought so. Well, mythical techniques are—as you could probably tell from the name—myths, so it's not like I can blame your teacher for not telling you about them. But I do believe that they exist. Otherwise, people like Solomon wouldn't exist."

"So what about these techniques is so mythical? Are they just really strong?"

Cade squinted. "Well, kind of, but not really."

'Hmm, I see,' Aurelius thought with his hand on his chin.

Cade thought for a moment and then opened her mouth again. "Mythical techniques are like adaptations of normal techniques that break the laws of essence usage. From what I've heard, Solomon's technique was the creation of barriers. Beyond that, it's hard to separate fact from fiction since people like to come up with whatever when no proof is needed."

"But what about the nickname?" Aurelius asked with borderline unhealthy ardency.

"Huh? That?" Cade said, glancing at Aurelius before turning his gaze to the mountains. "It's because his parents were supposedly completely normal, so his extreme gifts were thought to have come straight from the man in the sky himself. I don't believe in that stuff, though. Nature works in odd ways. Talent isn't as simple as having the right parents."

"Oh." Aurelius' mouth was wide with awe as he stared at the mountain above. "Haha, that's right. You're right."

He had to go. To run. Pursue further.

He took his bag off and threw it into Cade's hands before performing a simple series of setups and launching into a sprint. Essence rushed into his legs as he ran like he had never before. There were no obstacles between him and the heights anymore.

'If Solomon was able to become known as one of the strongest without special parents, I can surely become one of them too,' Aurelius thought, pushing his lace further, his eyes beginning to water, his mouth beginning to dry, and his breathing becoming ragged as he rushed head first into the rocky landscape and ran up the sharp angles of the cliff face. Launching himself tens of meters with each step. 'I'll work harder than anyone and become the strongest. Just like Gabriel said.'

He was free of everything. No tether could touch him as he moved at such a pace. Sometimes his feet were on the verge of slipping, but he had no fear. His body was reinforced, and his senses were sharp enough to prevent any fall from becoming too steep.

Eventually, his pace started to slow, but by then, he no longer had any ground to cover. Just like that, he was on the mountaintop.

He felt a need to lean his hands on his knees and calm his breathing, however, he stood tall, embracing the burn in his lungs, and he breathed the cold, fresh air.

He looked down at a dot, which he assumed to be Cade. Aurelius wasn't sure what made him so sure, but in his mind, he could see Cade amused, smiling at the ridiculousness of his deeds.

At that moment, some black birds flew past at a pace high enough to make a whistling sound. They grabbed Aurelius' attention, and for a while, he watched as they flew away with the wind that made his clothes flutter like mad.

The sun was already starting to go down, painting the sky a bright orange color and tinting the fluffy and straight clouds alike with a rare shade of pink.

Bliss.

Aurelius chuckled for no particular reason. The chuckle then turned into full-fledged laughter. He then spread his arms, looked forward into the horizon, and roared an announcement so loud even trees and rocks could hear and perhaps even understand the intent behind his words, "The world is mine!!!"