Journey of the Son of Ares

"Found it!" Aurelius yelled with a wave of his hand as he took his duffel bag off the ground and dusted it off a bit.

Cade hadn't bothered to help in the search and walked over nonchalantly. "Let's go then. Or do you have some other treasures hidden here?"

"Oh, come on. Hiding my bag is the best option when on a temporary visit."

"Your bag is far more likely to be taken from here than off of you, so I wouldn't waste my time with such things."

"But what if I like forget it or something?"

Cade rubbed her temples and shook her head a little as she walked past Aurelius. "Ah, never mind. Let's just get moving."

***

"We can stop here for a while," Cade said, hopping onto an unusually large boulder with feather-like movements. "We'll continue moving again in an hour."

"What about food?" Aurelius asked after sitting with his back to a tree and setting his duffel bag beside himself.

"We'll hunt later," Cade said.

"You eat once a day? Now I know why you're so skinny."

"If you want to, you can go ahead. Nobody's stopping you."

Aurelius gave a thumbs up and stood up, about to get right to it.

However, Cade spoke again, and Aurelius stopped in his tracks. "I was just thinking this would be a good time to teach you, but another time will do."

Not even a second had gone by before Aurelius was back to sitting. "Uh, forget eating. Who likes food anyway?" Aurelius said with an exaggerated shrug.

Cade gave a slight raise of his eyebrows and began the lesson. "First up, could you make it clear what terms you use when it comes to essence?"

Aurelius nodded. "Okay, so there's close-range combat essence usage," Aurelius said, putting up one finger.

"Compression," Cade commented his own term for it.

"Long-range combat essence usage." Aurelius put up another finger.

"Lengthened compression."

"Enhancement."

"Hmm." Cade nodded.

"Reinforcement."

She nodded again.

Aurelius was starting to think there were no more differences.

"And then there's defensive essence usage."

If Cade had been drinking just now, all of it surely would have flown out as she burst out. "What?!"

Aurelius was pretty sure he saw some snot fly out of her nose.

"What's wrong?" Aurelius asked, his brows furrowed.

"Defensive!? What kind of pacifist was this Gabriel? What the..." Cade wrapped his head in his arms.

"Eh, what's the problem with defensive essence usage?" Aurelius asked, his voice coming out as a kind of whine.

Cade lifted her head and yelled, "Are you telling me you've only been using materialization for shields? It's not just for defensive things. You can make anything with materialization! That's the most important of all forms of essence."

"Huh?" Aurelius' face dropped. "Are you serious?" he asked, even his voice changing to a deeper tone.

"Well, it's widely disputed what's the most useful, but..." Cade sighed. "Why am I getting this worked up? It's not like I'm the one who got screwed over. Your teacher is a scumbag, though."

Aurelius would've defended Gabriel like he always did, but this time he was blind-sighted. Had he really been lied to about something so important? Why?

"Having you enter the world with such shitty guidance is a war crime," Cade remarked.

'Oh, It's...' Aurelius buried his face in his hands.

"It's not that."

"Huh?"

"I said it's not that." Aurelius raised his head. "He did it because he thought I wouldn't enter the real world. I was never supposed to be here."

"What do you mean? Enter the real world? You come from the fucking clouds or something?"

"No, not the clouds?" Aurelius cleared up the confusion.

Cade stared at him before wiping her eyes. "Right... so why did you leave if you weren't meant to?"

Aurelius shook his head before saying with some trouble, "My mother's fine. I left because I wanted to. I want to get stronger and gather some wealth."

"You—" Cade raised a hand and was about to say something, but Aurelius continued speaking.

"Listen, I had to. It's the only way I can give her the life she deserves," Aurelius said before his troubled expression changed into just a frown. "The life my father should have given her. She's 42 years old. She should be able to enjoy her remaining years to their fullest. But if I'm there, I won't be able to provide it for her. That's why I had to go. I want to earn enough wealth to give her everything she wants because that's what she deserves."

Cade slowly lowered his hand. "Ah, alright. I get it. But this Gabriel, how long did he teach you?"

"He taught me for a few months while I was 12."

Cade leaned closer with raised brows. "Hmm, really?"

"Yeah. What about it?" Aurelius asked defensively.

Cade leaned his head back and sighed. "No, nothing. Just... nothing. It's much easier to hurt yourself and others with materialization than with other forms of essence usage. Even the purely combat-oriented ones. So don't worry, you didn't get screwed."

"Oh, okay." Aurelius nodded slowly with his mouth open.

"Well, that aside." Cade flicked her wrist. "Maybe it's best if we just focus on motionless magic for now. So let's get to it."

***

"Think of the feeling the setup gives you and recreate it without it. Act like it's there, and if you're a slick enough actor, your body will believe your mind," Cade explained, as Aurelius breathed deeply with his eyes closed.

Cade had chosen the spot carefully. It was right next to a waterfall that was so aggressive it made it hard to hear your own thoughts.

She proceeded to give Aurelius some more guidance that he heard if he was lucky before going off into the distance to watch as the boy trained. Aurelius' whose chest rose and fell at regular intervals. Even his expression didn't flinch as the water crashed deafeningly right beside him while he tried to concentrate on what he was learning. A technique that was barely grasped by people in the highest echelons of militaries.

A glint of nostalgia appeared in Cade's eyes. What a cruel first session it was. She had been furious after her father subjected her to it. But Cade wasn't sure if Aurelius even could get angry. She could imagine him maybe throwing something akin to a tantrum. Fury? Not really.

Aurelius seemed like a child. A lonely child at that. Awkward and dumb. Though, dull in a perhaps amusing way. Even while he fought the mercenaries, he was nothing but a child with god's hands.

That said, he had talent and despite whatever his past looked like or his ambitions were, if he developed himself well, he would shed his childishness in no time... hopefully. Because the person who Cade watched in that moment going against Numen would have been a psychological slaughter that would make even her puke.

After she noticed no immediate change in Aurelius, she went away.

Only half a day later did she return. She had a pretty clear idea of what a child prodigy like him would look like after zero progress from hours and hours of work. But when she arrived at the waterfall, she stood a little dazed, seeing Aurelius claw into his scalp, his eyes dark.

"...struggle like this? I shouldn't—" he muttered under his breath.

"Hey!" Cade called out.

Aurelius turned, seeming about to yell at her. However, when he saw her, his expression turned into an eerily difficult one to read. "Oh, hey," he said, wiping his hands on his clothes. There was blood under his fingernails. "Sorry, hey. I was just taking a little break. I'll go back to train—"

"You've done good work. It'll be easier tomorrow. You should rest."

Aurelius nodded and came back to camp with her.

On the way there, Cade wondered just how wrong she was. She wondered if the Aurelius she knew was just an act. That would have been terrifying. But even more terrifying was the idea that it wasn't an act.

If clawing at his head was the true form of the seriousness Aurelius showed glimpses of, he was dangerous. How long would it be until the world perverted Aurelius' idealistic pursuits into something hideous?

Cade shook her head as she imagined it. What if Aurelius went through the same as her? What if he would sink deeper?

If Cade had told Aurelius the truth at that moment—if she had told him that she executed every single one of the mercenaries while he was unconscious—he would have likely looked at her as if she was a monster. But in fact, he had the potential to be so much worse.

Trained for a few months at 12 and self-taught afterward. Already, he was something the world might have never seen before.

The simple truth was nobody who acted like a maniac from frustration at failing something impossible should've had gifts like his. For the world's sake.