Side Story:
Boy In Captivity
Ares was a few hours away from Roa.
He was silently celebrating his departure. Now that he was free from nobility, he planned to head north.
"Say, Ares. What exactly made you want to head towards the Sword Sanctum?" Auber asked him. Both Ares and Auber were taking a bathroom break and had gotten out of their carriage.
The Sword Sanctum was an ancient settlement–now modernized with an entire village's worth of trainees. Being a somewhat elite training hall-esque place, it was the birthplace of many legendary swordsmen and women. The whole Sanctum was overseen by the Sword God himself, who only took on a select few of the most promising warriors of the Sanctum. Auber spoke of it to Ares many times, and the idea of someday visiting or taking residence there was implanted into his mind.
"You mentioned it a while ago. Now that I have nowhere to go, there's no better place for me than there." He replied, finishing up his business.
"Interesting. I advise you not to get on the bad side of the Sword God or his underlings. You're a prodigy, but as you stand right now, you would be struck down instantly," Auber warned.
"Right. Have you seen the Sword God in person?" Ares asked.
They were both too preoccupied in their conversation to notice the sky, which was steadily shifting colors. Without warning, the sky shone a brilliant white.
"...Master, what is that?" Ares pointed towards the sky.
"I'm… not sure. But it doesn't look safe. As far as I'm concerned, we should head back to the carriage." Auber explained in a wavering voice.
Ares looked back at the sky and realized that the light was much more brilliant than it was previously.
"Ares!" Auber called out to him. But before Ares could turn back to face him, he was engulfed in the light.
When Ares awoke, he was disoriented. An intense light made him open his eyes.
Was Fittoa always this… hot? Ares thought to himself, as he covered his eyes. He sat upright and found himself inside of a dull, rusty cage. He was dressed in rags, and the cage that held him was so small that Ares could just barely stand up in it. The room he was in had ten or so other cages with children and adults alike inside of them.
"...What?" He said, bewildered. Ares didn't know what had happened. He looked around for Auber, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Auber? Master Auber!" He called out. A man with two protruding front teeth came over and yelled something at him. Ares couldn't understand what he was saying–his words were all gibberish to him. Ares furrowed his eyebrows at the man. "What's your problem? Get me out of this cage right now!" He shouted, banging on the side of the cage. The man came over and kicked Ares through the bars of the cell.
"Eck!" He stumbled backward, falling on his back. The man squatted down and barked something at Ares. Unfazed, Ares got up and tried to punch the man.
He began to say, "Don't try that again-" when the man swiftly got out of the way of his punch and kicked Ares again–this time square in the gut. Ares staggered back, clutching his stomach.
"D-Do you know… who I am?! I'm…" He was about to yell out something he had said many times before. "I'm Ares Boreas Greyrat!" But now, from his actions, he had discarded that name. He wasn't anyone special anymore, and he would be treated like any other regular twelve-year-old.
Ares was taken aback at the realization. In his anger directed towards his father, he had taken for granted the privileges of nobility.
"I…can't go back now. It's too late for that." He muttered to himself and laid down. He sighed to himself. I guess it's better than being a noble…
"Where is this place anyway?" He sat up again but didn't find anything else new. But then, the man from before scowled at him, and tied a rope around the cage. He called for a few others, and they dragged him into another room.
He was now out in the open. He was facing a street, which was completely unfamiliar to him. The hell…? He thought, peering at the road. It did not seem reminiscent of Asura at all. But, he had to be in Asura, surely. Ares stubbornly refused to think about anything else. This is just a peasant town in the middle of nowhere!
A few people glanced at Ares. They went up to the man and spoke a few words. The man motioned to Ares and explained something. They looked at Ares curiously, as if examining him.
"Could you help me out of this cage? I don't know where this is, so I'd also appreciate a map or something." He told the people. They made a face and walked away. "Hey! Come back here!" He yelled, only to be kicked in the stomach by the same man.
Ares was being held captive. He knew that, at least. Over the next week or so, he was observing his environment. A few other cages with people in them were dragged out. One day, Ares noticed a girl, or more accurately a young woman. She had red hair similar to his own, but it was a rough, faded color. She was despondently sitting in a cage near him, silent.
"Hello? Do you understand me?" Ares had learned that the people that he saw both outside of the building and inside of it didn't speak the Human tongue, so he couldn't converse with them. As such, he was irritatingly left in the dark.
"...Yes," The girl replied, surprising Ares. He was inwardly relieved that he could finally converse with someone, but he had bigger things to talk about first.
"Do you know where this is?" He asked eagerly, his voice containing a hint of desperation.
"...This is the Demon Continent," The girl told him.
Ares widened his eyes, unable to believe her. "The D-Demon Continent, you say?" He repeated, hoping that he had just misheard the girl.
The girl nodded in response, seemingly annoyed at Ares's nativity. She was dumbfounded as to how someone like him didn't even know that much–even if he was a slave.
"T-then how did I get here?" He asked the girl.
She shrugged. "...If you don't know, I couldn't answer. Do you not remember anything?" the girl asked, leaning back in her cage and rubbing her temple softly.
"I…I just suddenly woke up here a week or so ago. I come from the Asura Kingdom." He explained.
The girl looked up at him. "That's… far. If you're from over there, surely you would have gotten purchased by now."
"...Purchased?"
"Is there something wrong with your head? We're in a slave market," she said, narrowing her eyes at Ares.
Slave market? Me? No way… Ares mentally spiraled. He had so many unanswered questions, and now he was just given even more. He brought both of his hands to his hair and slunk down in his cage.
"Don't be dramatic. This is just… the way it has to be." She looked at Ares with pity in her eyes.
Ares couldn't accept it. He knew that he had to be something akin to a slave, but he was consciously rejecting any thoughts that may have hinted at that conclusion. To have it confirmed so suddenly was shell-shocking.
He was so upset, so irritated that he had finally managed to break free from his father's grasp, just for this to happen. Ares was still grasping at straws about the specifics, but that just made it worse.
"What's your name, kiddo?" She asked him.
"...It's Ares." He responded. He wasn't looking at the girl any longer. "What about you?"
"I'm Athena. It sucks that we had to meet this way, but it's nice to have someone to talk to." She smiled and sat down.
"How are you… so positive?" Ares couldn't understand her attitude. Ares was ready to kill someone in his anger, yet this girl was handling this so breezily.
"I think I'm just…used to it. I've been in and out of places like this most of my life. Running away from my abusive captors just to be kept in a cage when someone else finds me. I would have gone insane if I hadn't been positive. It's just the way I have to see the world," she explained in a somber tone.
"..." Ares looked over at Athena. She had a small frame, which looked to be from malnourishment. She had bruises and scratches all over her arms and face, yet she still smiled. How did she manage to persevere for this long?
"You see, I'm waiting for someone. That person told me long ago that they'd come to save me. I have to hold out for them. I don't know what happened to you, kid, but I hope you end up somewhere good," she said, looking into Ares's eyes.
Ares stared at her. The only thing he was thinking was, What a strange girl.
Ares learned quite a bit about his new roommate, realizing that the two of them had a bit more in common than he previously thought. Naturally, since they had no one else to talk to, they began chatting each other up. Their conversations visibly annoyed some of the other slaves, but the two of them never paid any mind to them. They were just glad they could talk to each other.
"Say, Athena," Ares began.
"Hmm?"
"You said you've been in and out of markets like these most of your life, right?" Ares asked, glancing over at her.
"Mhm," Athena hummed in response.
"Could you tell me a little more about it, then?" Ares asked.
"What do you mean? Do you just want to hear my story, or what?" Athena retorted, chuckling to herself.
"Of course."
"Hah? Really?" Athena asked skeptically, to which Ares just nodded in response. Athena had reason to refuse, so she obliged Ares.
"Well, if I had to start somewhere…"
Athena began recounting her story, one that unfolded in such a way that Ares could've never predicted it.
Athena was once a noble girl, one adored by many and praised for her cuteness. It was the fate of any young girl born into a noble family. Ares had seen many girls like that back in the Capital City, so it was nothing new to him. Athena could hardly recall her parents, but remembered calling her mother the name 'Illda'. What a strange name, Ares thought to himself.
She lived a life of relative luxury, being attended by maids and accommodated for most of her wishes. However, one day at the age of five, she got lost playing outside. She wandered into the city streets, where she was picked up by who she believed to be a slave owner.
Shortly after the slave owner picked up Athena, they both fled the city. Athena lived with the slave owner for a long time after that, traveling to various places around the Central Continent. At first, Athena was worried, scared, and utterly afraid of her captor and the outside world. But as the years passed and she grew up, she began to love her travels. She and the slave owner, who had by then begun to consider Athena as her daughter, visited many renowned places.
She never did find out why her guardian ever took her away from her parents, but she found that she was happier with her than she had been before. She didn't know why, but she was attached to her guardian.
She traversed the feet of the Red Wrym Mountain Range, was led through the Shirone Kingdom, and eventually settled down in a small town in the King Dragon Kingdom. At that point, Athena was now ten years old. She spent her days reading legends and being trained with the sword by her guardian.
However, in some sick twist of fate, her guardian's home was robbed by a band of ruthless bandits. Athena's guardian, even while being advanced in the Sword God Style, couldn't defend against the bandits. They beat her guardian into the ground, just barely keeping her alive. They eventually decided to take Athena with them, tying her up.
The last words she could hear her guardian utter was, "Please live! I'll come find you, no matter what it takes!"
For the next six years of her life, Athena was taken and sold to several people. Only a few of them treated her like a person, and the others treated her terribly, abusing her and etching scars into her that she carried to this day. Each time, she escaped from their grasp, desperately hoping that her guardian would come back to her. She lived alone a few times, but always inevitably being caught by another slave owner or her old captors. She carried that unwavering faith for so long, that the mere prospect of letting go of it was terrifying to her.
She didn't think she could keep on living the way she had if she did.
Ares was left speechless when she finished her story. He admired her perseverance–one that the likes of which he had never seen before.
"I can't imagine I could ever pull through if I was in your place…" Ares commented, now looking up to his new roommate.
"Hehe. Well, you never know what life has in store for you. I hope you can remember that Ares," Athena said, smiling.
"Hey, could you tell me more about this guardian of yours?"
"Of course! Her name was O.."
The both of them spent the next two weeks conversing, relying on the other to take their minds off their hunger and boredom. Athena got to know Ares well, and he did the same conversely.
One morning, Ares awoke to see Athena's cage opened and empty.
He chuckled softly to himself. "Well, I guess she was right…"
Athena had said not to be surprised if he were to one day find her gone without a trace–and to not be surprised if he was bought as well.
Ares lay down in his cage and sighed at the thought of not having someone to talk to any longer.
I wish I could've talked to her a bit longer, though.
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this little insight into Ares before Lumina meets him in the main story. Thanks for reading!
