Journey of the Son of Ares

"That's the place," Cade said, pointing her thumb to a regular-looking shop nearby.

"Huh? You sold the enhancers there?" Aurelius asked.

"The place isn't how it looks."

"Hmm," Aurelius squinted, trying to look for anything interesting inside the shop. "You plan on doing more jobs for the owner?"

"I'm not sure," Cade answered with a shrug. "I made a deal with him that applied to the cuts in future profits, so it'd be a waste to not work with him anymore... But I guess that doesn't really matter anymore."

Aurelius looked back at Cade. "Why doesn't it matter?"

"I'm with you now. We work together, and if you aren't interested in those kinds of jobs, then it doesn't matter, if a little deal is wasted."

Aurelius heart melted at her words, and he launched at her with his arms spread, expecting a warm embrace. Instead, he got a firm hand pushing on his chest. "Calm down," Cade said, looking away. Then she looked back, but before Aurelius could see her face, the front of his straw hat was tilted down in front of his eyes. "Your hat is falling."

Aurelius adjusted his hat with a sheepish look before they began navigating the busy streets of the wealthy city. It was a nice change from all the dirty and dull places Aurelius had been to in Mircrest. However, there was a sinking feeling in his chest that he should be elsewhere, doing something more useful.

He and Cade finally found their way to a nice inn and got a room.

"Wow, this is nice," Aurelius said as he looked around the polished floors and tables, all made out of dark wood.

He walked further in and went to throw his bag onto one of the two beds in the room before he began heading back to the door. On his way, however, Cade stopped him.

"Where are you going so fast?" she asked. "We should stick together right now."

"Don't worry about the bounty. I'll keep this on." Aurelius gestured to his hat. "Nobody will notice."

Cade frowned. "But where are you going?"

"I saw some good-looking foods on our way here. I thought I could go check them out now," Aurelius answered before lowering his gaze. "And I want to just walk around. Clear my head a bit."

He hadn't gotten a single moment alone to really think about the situation with Balgair.

"Alright," Cade said with a nod before digging some coins out of his pocket and handing them to Aurelius. "Buy some for me, too."

***

Aurelius lifted the two children up by the back of their shirt and pointed them at each other face-to-face. "Now, now. Say sorry. And no more fighting."

"Sorry," both of the children said in sync with beaten tones.

Aurelius smiled and lowered the kids. The flame inside him had been nourished once again. "Say, why were you two fighting in the first place?"

"He stole my money!" one of the kids shouted and stomped forward with a reinvigorated fury.

"I didn't!" the other yelled back and reached his hands forward, trying to grab a hold of the other boy.

Aurelius just kept his hands separating the two, without really any push back. His arms just worked kind of like solid walls, separating the two kids.

Aurelius gave a small laugh, and the kids turned to him. Then he asked the accuser seriously, "Did you see him steal it?"

"No," the kid answered honestly with a shy tone before bursting out, "but I know it was him!"

Aurelius nodded. "Alright." Then he turned to the accused and gestured for him to leave. "You can go."

"What?! You're just letting him leave? But he stole three bronze coins from me."

Aurelius scratched the back of his head. These kinds of situations were really difficult. Then he dug some spare change from his pocket and handed it to the kid. "Here you go."

"Huh?" The kid looked at the coins in his hand in awe. "But... Why are you giving me this?"

"Well, you got wronged, so you deserve to be righted. Or something like that."

"Oh, like karma?" the boy asked. "My mom said only the Lord watches over karma. Are you the Lord, mister?"

Aurelius laughed. "Everybody can watch over karma. All of us can do some good. So, how about you go and buy something nice for your mom? I'm sure she deserves it," he said, patting the kid on the head.

The child then went running with the coins tightly in his grasp. Aurelius watched with a smile. That money had been nothing to him, but to the child, it meant the world. A thought occurred to him just then. Maybe he would one day be something like 'the Lord' the child spoke of.

That's right. He had all the tools for it already. All he needed in order to be able to do that was to just keep in touch.

***

Cade inhaled through his nose as she pushed the back of her head against the bed she lay on horizontally. Then a long stream of breath came out of her mouth, and her body went loose.

'He wants to be alone, huh?' Cade thought. 'It's probably because of Balgair. He seemed to take it so well, but it's clear he isn't really that calm on the inside. He hasn't really gotten colder. He hasn't really changed. He even went easy on those gang members. The only one he tried to attack lethally was their leader.'

Cade sprung up to her feet before walking to the large window at the opposite side of the entrance. She put a hand on the smooth windowsill before looking down at the bustling street below. The steer was fairly narrow, making the mass of people look even denser.

She looked up, her gaze slipping past the tile-roofed brick buildings on the opposite side of the street and going straight to the light gray sky, entirely covered by clouds. The clouds were getting darker by the minute. It would rain soon.

She sighed, and as she spaced out, memories of Aurelius' eyes came to mind. When they had met, his eyes had burst with vibrancy every second, as if everything he saw was the best thing ever. After the heist, they had stayed blank for a while. It was understandable, but eventually the vibrancy came back. It wasn't as strong, though. Cade wondered how long it would be before Aurelius' cold act would become reality. When would those eyes of his be permanently drained?

Cade imagined his eyes emitting only a navy hue for the rest of his life and shuddered at the thought. She didn't want that to happen. But what could she do? He was seeking out everything that was causing this to happen to him. He was engaging with the bad in the world more than he was engaging with the good. His corruption was inevitable.

Right then, rain fell. It started with a couple of droplets, but in just a few seconds, it became a torrent.

Cade hummed as she watched the streets clear, people hurrying out of the rain while holding various objects above their heads. She turned away, wondering when Aurelius would come back.

Then the muffled sounds of the torrent became real. All too real.

Reinforcement and double enhancement snapped on out of instinct before Cade could even turn around to the enormous hole surrounding the window of the room.

Then the slim figures of two people with unordinary cloaks and masks came into sight. Black and white. One half of their clothes and masks were black while the other was white, both their outfits mirroring each other.

Cade didn't have time to wonder about the peculiarity of their outfits, though, as both of them rushed at her in the same instant they had exploded into the room.

They were fast enough for Cade to instantly realize she had to get out into the open before engaging them. Fighting in the enclosed space while outnumbered would be her demise otherwise.

Cade dodged both of their attacks before creating enough space to slip by them and dive out of the window. She materialized a platform outside the window and used it to hop onto the tile roofs before looking back.

The pair was right behind her, both jumping onto the same roof in quick succession.

Cade touched her hair. It was already getting soaked, but more important than that, the right side of hers bangs had been clipped without her even noticing. She put her attention back to the pair that was trying to circle her.

They were obviously bounty hunters. Really, really good ones at that. But how had they found her and Aurelius? And why were they going for her?

"Rey!" she called out as loudly as she could, in case her partner could hear and come to even the odds.

She then looked to her sides, where the pair stood wordlessly, ready for battle.

The sound of the cold droplets hitting the tiles on the roof became muffled in Cade's mind once more as she settled into the situation.

It had been a while since she'd had a real battle.