KING OF BEASTS (Hiatus)

“I am ever so ashamed of what my children have done. I thank you for showing such leniency when dealing with them.” Voshk bowed his head, his ears falling as he did.

“It’s alright. I understand that they probably hate humans or something. I don’t know how you think you can exist so peacefully with the humans when you have a few of your members that are eager to mess around with someone who isn’t even wholly human.” Ares laughed. “Perhaps they should hate me half as much?” He joked.

“It is as you say.” Voshk nodded. “Many of us here have had awful experiences with humans, many of us have lost family members to the humans in the years that have passed.”

“You still want to live in peace with the humans, after all they’ve done?” Ares asked.

“It is the only way to the future. To live in peace with one another so no more suffering enters the world.”

Ares looked over at Voshk and then looked down at his tea cup. Then he sipped on it. “You know Voshk, I really like you. I respect your ideals too, even though it’s impossible at this time.”

“Nothing is impossible.”

“There are things that are time sensitive. Your ideal, it can work, but it won’t work anytime soon. I agree with your sentiment entirely, and in fact, I hope to work towards it. However, in order to achieve such peace, we must forge it through war.”

“That is something we’ll have to disagree on.”

"Well then, I suppose I'll head to bed. If anyone tries to attack me as I try to sleep, I'm afraid I will kill them. I'm afraid I can't forgive someone if they ruin my sleep for such a reason." Ares warned. "I hope this doesn't fall under causing trouble."

"I ask of you, my family, to leave Ares be. I'd he kills you due to your own stupidity, then I shall mourn for you, but he will remain as long as he pleases." Voshk stated firmly.

"Thank you." He bowed his head. However, as he was about to leave, a hunter ran towards the group.

He exclaimed in their language, and the mood within the village grew cold and tense.

"What's going on?" Ares asked the elder, who rubbed his brow and bowed his head.

"Soldiers…"

"Oh?" Ares nodded his head. "Let's go greet them."

The elder looked up at him, and then bowed their head. They turned and led Ares and a few others towards the entrance of the village, the other villagers leaving to their homes.

"Hey, keep a few guys on lookout in case they try and surround the village." He whispered to Rori.

"Can't be too careful…" Rori replied and then barked out the orders. It looked like he held some sway and power over his people.

'Hmm…' He thought for a moment and then used his ring to hide the pair of swords he had obtained. No need to give the soldiers any reason to attack.

Ares looked ahead and saw that the soldiers stood in two rows of five, with their senior on the middle of the first rank. There were close to six of these placements. All were heavily armoured, with large shields ahead of them.

The leader was dressed similarly to the officers, which wore segmented armour and long red cloaks, where as the leader also had a red feather in his helmet, and wore armour that also covered his thighs.

'I wonder if he brought the full hundred…' His ears twitched, but he couldn't quite hear more passed the murmurings of the beastfolk.

"What do I owe the pleasure of welcoming soldiers at my village walls?" Asked Voshk.

The commander stepped forward, his palm resting against the hilt of his sword. "I have come to question you in relationship to several murders inflicted upon our troops." The commander stated, his voice was calm and low. "Would you perhaps know of anything?"

"You've brought your entire army to question me about such things?"

"I've brought the army to teach you a lesson, if you've anything to do with it." The commander stated.

"We do not know of such murders occurring. If that is all, it is quite late…"

"If I trusted the word of a beast man, I'd be a dead man." The commander then threw a look towards Ares. "What's a human doing standing beside a beast man?"

"Voshk has kindly allowed me to stay in his village. I was lost in the forest."

"Well you don't need to sleep so roughly. We have several positions open within the army. Are you any good with a weapon?"

"It is one of the only things I am good at."

"Then we'd be happy to have you."

"I'll keep that in mind."

The commander furrowed his brows. "You do not wish to join the imperial army?"

"I don't have any such wishes."

"The imperial army is a great honour. We protect the land from the savages."

The beastfolk couldn't help but snarl. The soldiers slammed their spears onto the ground, and the beastfolk grew silent.

Ares shifted his elbow to reveal his mithril sword. "I'm afraid you can't afford me."

"A mithril blade?" The commander's eyes grew wide. After a small while, the commander's eyes filled with a realisation. "You murdered my men, didn't you?"

"No, I did not."

The commander's face grew taut. "The wounds that they sustained were from a weapon, that much was obvious. However, it seemed more like the weapon cut through them as though they were made of water."

"I did not murder your men." Ares replied. "That isn't to say I didn't kill them. I definitely killed them. Murder implies it was unlawful."

The commander drew his sword, and the soldiers lifted their shields, their spears pushing passed the sides.

"By the right given to me by the emperor, I, Commander Darius, shall bring forth your charges. Harbouring an enemy of the imperial army is a grave crime, and I accuse you, beast men, of such a crime. I shall give you the option to surrender peacefully to bondage, or I shall bring about justice with your blood."

"You know. Marius also said he'd have to bring me to justice, but like him, you keep using the word wrong. You soldiers are pathetic. You talk about justice, but you know nothing of the concept. I, Ares, shall give you the option to surrender, and I shall offer it only once. If you so refuse-"

The commander let out a roar of a cry. "Execute them!"

There was a scream that echoed nearby.

"Rori, take your men into the village, now!" Ares then drew his mithril sword. "I'll handle these guys alone." Now was a good time to test just how powerful he was.

Ares stepped forward and then met the charge head on. However, the first thing he did was to get rid of their shields, and the men stumbled forward in confusion.

He met Darius in combat, the pair swiftly trading blows. Darius was far more skilled than Marius, that was for certain. "Who was Marius to you?" Ares asked as the pair continued to fight. As Ares stepped back, giving himself a chance to disarm the other soldiers, though only a handful at that time, leaving the soldiers still confused.

"He was my nephew."

"I can see where he got his ideals from, or rather, the lack of them."

Darius snarled and then met him in combat once more. Ares met each blow and as he parried one, he then swiftly cut Darius' arm off.

He kicked Darius down and then placed his sword to their neck. "Call off your men."

Darius snarled up at him and Ares gasped. He managed to send the javelins through to the other realm just in time, though Darius did kick his leg aside, causing Ares to roll off to one side.

"God damn it." Ares grumbled as he then flipped onto his feet, watching as Darius thrust forward with their blade. He cut Darius' other arm off and then stepped passed him to meet the other soldiers in combat, bringing the javelins from the sky down onto them repeatedly as he did. He managed to kill and incapacitate about thirty of the soldiers before they began to fall back, trying to regroup.

There was shouting and screaming from within the village, and so Ares rushed as best as he could.

He kicked Darius down, then turned to face the soldiers once more. He teleported the javelins around him, though it seemed that there was a range to the ring as a few on the outer edge of his range managed to keep their weapons, and he brought them down from the heavens upon them.

The soldiers, though well disciplined, eventually began to scatter. Good. This time he aimed the javelins to their legs, crippling them, and once he had gotten every able bodied man, he turned to Darius.

Then he grabbed onto the commander and dragged him along by their legs to the centre of the village.

He then finally tossed the man towards a group of soldiers, knocking over a couple.

He brought forth the javelins once more, aiming for their legs again. The soldiers, disoriented by this ridiculousness, were quickly brought down, though Ares could see a number of injured beast folk.

Rala and her son, Rash, had both been injured. Ares swiftly made his way to them.

"Are you two okay?" He dropped down to check on their wounds as the soldiers were founded up. He informed Rori of the other soldiers, and told him to take a few men to drag them in. His face darkened as he saw the heavy wound that Rash had taken, right through the stomach. He was bleeding profusely.

'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.'

He could feel the heavy rage build inside him. Then he reached over to see the wound, which Rala was pressing down.

"He's losing too much blood." Said a beastfolk he had seen around. A bear, like Rori, though much smaller, and we'll, prettier. She had long brown hair, brown eyes, and wore robes.

"If I stop the bleeding, will he be okay?"

"Yes."

"Sorry Rash. Bite this." He offered Rash his arm to bite on, distracting the boy long enough to place a hand onto their wound. The boy's eyes shot open and as he screamed, Ares placed his arm against their mouth. Rash bit into it, cutting off his scream as his eyes filled with tears.
Ares tried to cauterise the wound as quickly as he could, and after a few moments of turning his hands to flames onto the boy's wound, he pulled back to see that it was sealed.

Rash was quite pale, sweating as he slowly fell unconscious.

"What are you doing?" Exclaimed one of the wolf beastfolk that had tried to hurt him earlier.

Ares stood abruptly and turned, causing the wolf man to stumble back, half in surprise of the sudden movement, half in fright due to the look on Ares' eyes.

Ares marched over to Darius, whose arms had been covered in bandages to stop him from bleeding out. Ares undid them, causing Voshk to grab at his arm.

"If he bleeds anymore, he will die."

"I don't want him dead. I just want him to hurt." Ares whispered out, staring into Voshk's eyes as he began to cauterise Darius' arms, one at a time, and perhaps for too long.

The village echoed out his screams, and soon he grew silent as he passed out.