The morning drifted on in gentle silence.
Warmth lingered like the remnants of a dream, sunlight slipping through gaps in the rocks around them. The ground beneath was cold, but the heat from their tangled bodies and lingering closeness made it bearable — almost comfortable.
In front of Ares now lay Nephis, barely clothed, her expression unreadable as her silver hair clung to her cheeks. Sunny sat nearby, arms crossed and brows drawn in frustration, clearly nursing both confusion, embrassement, and...well hidden fear...
Meanwhile, Cassie had shifted sometime during her sleep and was now resting quietly against his back, her slender arms wrapped loosely around his neck — her touch feather-light, as if anchoring herself to reality through him.
He didn't move, didn't speak. Not yet.
Sunny broke the silence, her voice slicing through the still air like a blade.
"So," she said flatly, her eyes narrowing. "Do you mind telling us what the hell that thing was? Whatever that... being was yesterday — it tore through us like we were nothing. Just standing near it felt like my mind was cracking open."
Her voice was calm — too calm. Beneath it lay fear. Residual panic, the kind that clings to your bones long after the danger is gone. She masked it well, but Ares saw right through her.
He offered her a faint, knowing smile, his eyes glittering with the echoes of something ancient, something dangerous. But instead of answering directly, he let the silence linger just a little longer.
Then he spoke, voice slow and measured, a gravity to every syllable.
"To answer you... I'll start with a question of my own."
His crimson gaze swept over Nephis and Sunny, eyes calm but sharp — like a blade resting in its sheath. Cassie, still behind him, stayed silent, her breath soft against his neck. He didn't need to ask her. He already knew her answer.
"Are you willing to walk with me," he began, voice low and steady, "through life and death?"
He let the question sink in, like ink in water. He wasn't smiling anymore.
"I know you want answers. But the truth you seek... it's not something you can simply receive. It's something you earn. Something you carry."
His voice dropped lower, heavier. "This knowledge — this power — comes at a cost. It's forbidden for a reason. Once you've seen it, once you've touched it... there's no going back. So I ask you again."
He turned toward them now, fully, his posture towering, no longer just a comrade, no longer just a survivor — but something more. Something sovereign.
"Will you walk beside me through war and peace? Through loss and victory? Through despair... and through death?"
He paused.
"This road will break you. There will be days when you'll beg the world to let you die. But if you walk it with me, if you truly swear to follow — then I will give you the strength to shatter your limits. I will make you greater."
Silence fell. A heavy, thunderous stillness.
Then — a squeeze around his neck. Cassie.
Her arms tightened just slightly, her voice soft, but unwavering.
"I would never leave you alone," she said. And though her tone was gentle, her words struck like a vow carved in stone.
Ares felt chills course his back —her words were laced with something dangerous and deep. He reached up and placed his hand gently on hers, his fingers curling around her wrist in quiet gratitude.
Nephis spoke next, her voice calm, but resolute.
"I accept," she said. "You saved me... body and soul. This is the least I can do."
There was steel in her words, the kind born of surviving hell and still choosing to rise again. She didn't flinch. She didn't hesitate.
All that was left was Sunny.
Her sharp dark eyes hadn't left Ares once. She stared into him, searching for a crack, for a hint of deception. But what she found instead... was terrifying sincerity.
After a long pause, she sighed, dragging a hand through her tangled hair with a groan.
"Fine. I accept," she muttered, her voice low. "We're already living in hell anyway. What's one more nightmare to add to the list?"
Ares smiled faintly, but there was no mockery in it this time. Just something close to pride.
Then, in one fluid motion, he rose.
Gently, he moved Cassie aside, her hands slipping away from his neck as she stared up at him. The light caught his figure just right — tall, powerful, otherworldly.
The air shifted.
Ares extended his hand forward.
"Then... accept your gift."
Without flinching, he raised his other hand and dragged his claws across his palm.
But no blood fell.
Instead, the crimson fluid condensed — three perfect spheres hovering just above the torn skin, glowing with a dark, malevolent light. They pulsed with a rhythm not of this world, slow and heavy, like the heartbeat of something immortal.
The droplets floated gently toward the three girls, coming to a stop just before them, hovering like spirits offering a pact.
Cassie, Nephis, and Sunny all reached out — without a word — and grasped them.
The moment their fingers touched the blood, it vanished into their skin.
And then the screaming began.
Cassie's back arched violently as black tears poured down her cheeks. The air around her trembled and warped, as if reality itself was shifting under her presence. Ares felt a pressure in his mind — something indescribable — as if simply looking at her strained his perception.
Nephis convulsed, flames erupting from the cracks tearing through her skin, wrapping her in fire that danced like a living thing. Her silver hair whipped wildly, caught in an invisible inferno, her very essence burning and rebuilding at once.
Sunny fell to her knees, shadows crawling beneath her like tendrils of ink. They wrapped around her, forming shapes, figures — things with teeth, with whispers — before embracing her like loyal servants kneeling before their queen.
Ares stood at the center of it all, wind swirling, his own body glowing faintly as if feeding off their transformation.
He, too, felt it — a shift deep in his bones, in his soul. His gift to them was not without price. Through the contract, he received a piece of them in return — talent, power, experience, instincts. All of it flowed into him, folding into his already monstrous potential.
And for them, their limits were shattered.
Their bodies changed.
Their strength exploded.
Their senses sharpened beyond mortal capacity.
Their spirits were rewritten — not as tools, not as pawns — but as lieutenants of a rising king.
This was no longer a mere bond.
This was the King's Blessing.
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With the King's blessing underway, the lore I'll be using from now on will be formed next chapter, there will also be an auxiliary chapter where I'll condense the lore in for yall to avoid confusion.
As you know, I'm even lower than a newbie writer, I'm just a kid writing my fantasies, whether they are done correctly or not, so I am a noob at alot of things but I'll see if I can become any better.
Anyway, leave yall comments and remarks and power stones to make this fic more popular.
And hope yall have a great day.