Becoming A War God: Rise Of Darius Holloway

Chapter 3: Possessing New Abilities

CHAPTER THREE (3):

The lifeboat scraped against the shore like a dying breath.

Lisa climbed out first, her dress torn, her hands raw from gripping the oars. She collapsed onto the sand, gasping for breath. Behind her, Harry stumbled out, looking pale and shaken—though not from the storm. From the performance he had been rehearsing since the moment they left Darius behind.

"We made it," Lisa whispered, staring at the gray sky. Then her eyes widened instantly as she remembered something. "The rescue team,  I need to call for rescue. They need to save Darius."

She mumbled, scrambling on to her feet, already reaching for her phone. Her fingers trembled as she unlocked it. Trying to make the emergency call. 

Before she could dial, a loud groan stopped her.

Harry had both hands pressed to his chest. His face had gone white. Not the pale of fear, but the pretense pale of a man who knew exactly how to break a woman's heart.

"Lisa," he wheezed, continuously  tapping his chest,"my chest. I think—I think something's wrong. I'm in pain."

Her phone slipped from her hand instantly and rushed toward him.

"Harry? Harry!" She dropped to her knees beside him, cupping his face. His eyes were half-closed, his breathing shallow.

"What is it? Is it your heart?"

"I don't know," he whispered. "It hurts. It hurts so much."

Lisa didn't think. She didn't pause. She scooped up her phone and dialed emergency services, her voice high and frantic. 

"Yes, I need an ambulance right now! My friend is having a heart attack! We're on the south shore, near the old pier!"

She totally forgot about calling for help to save Darius at the moment. She sat on the sand, picking up Harry's head and placing it on her thigh. 

“Hold on, Harry! I've called for the ambulance, they will be here very soon!" She mumbled, her voice laced with panic and concern. 

The ambulance arrived within minutes. Paramedics swarmed around Harry, strapping him to a stretcher, checking his pulse. Lisa climbed into the back without a second glance at the shore. Without a second thought about Darius. She had totally forgotten. 

Harry, on the other hand, hidden behind an oxygen mask, smiled viciously.

“I'm sorry, Darius! But Lisa belongs to me!"

~~~

Darius opened his eyes to silence.

He was lying on cold stones. Above him, a ceiling stretched so high it disappeared into darkness. Pillars lined the walls—massive things, carved from marble so white it seemed to glow. And between the pillars, were giant statues.

Hundreds of them.

Darius sat up slowly, waiting for the pain. But his lungs didn't burn. His limbs didn't ache. He touched his chest, and his fingers met dry skin. No water. No wounds.

"Where am I? What am I doing here?" His voice echoed once, then died. He stared at the unfamiliar place, his heart beating very fast. 

He stood. The floor was smooth, polished like glass. As he walked, his footsteps made no sound. The statues grew clearer with each step.

A man with a thunderbolt in his raised hand —Zeus.

A woman with a spear and a shield— Athena.

A jackal-headed figure—Anubis.

A one-eyed warrior holding a spear —Odin.

Darius walked faster, past gods he recognized and gods he didn't. 

Hindu. 

Egyptian. 

Norse. 

Greek. 

All of them frozen in stone, watching him with blank, empty eyes.

Then he felt it.

A pull. Not in his chest or his head. In his bones. Like someone had hooked a rope to his spine and was reeling him in. The force was so strong he couldn't ignore it. 

He followed the feeling to a statue at the far end of the hall. A warrior, taller than the others, clad in armor that seemed to ripple even in stillness. 

In one hand, a sword. In the other, a shield. His face was hard, unforgiving, carved with a scowl that had seen a thousand battles.

At the base, few words were written — MARS: GOD OF WAR.

“What is this? I haven't heard about this before!" Darius stated, staring at the statue bewildered. 

Darius reached out before he could stop himself. His fingers touched the statue's foot.

The stone shattered.

It collapsed into a cloud of golden dust that hung in the air for a single breath, then rushed toward Darius like a living thing. It poured into his mouth, his nose, his eyes. It filled his lungs, his veins, his marrow.

He tried to scream, but the dust swallowed the sound.

All of a sudden, a loud bang echoed in Darius' head, followed by a desolate voice that engulfed him in terror, sounding as if it had traveled through a long passage of History. 

It spoke into his ears, "Welcome Darius, I've been waiting for a day like this to come. I summoned you here because you're the only one that deem fit to carry on my legacy and power.  

I saw your weakness, always begging for a chance to be loved and useful. Now I'm giving you the chance the next God of War. I'm granting you powers and knowledge that no one on earth can never attain.

I'm passing my lifetime's knowledge onto you, and your descendants shall uncover the secret of the ring using the blood of the Hamiltons because I chose you! 

Inherit my knowledge, practice martial skills to fight and save the world from evil, practice medicine to help and save people.

Carry on my legacy, and I will be watching you.” 

Thereafter, a huge amount of information began flooding into Darius' head. At this moment, all he could feel was that his head was almost splitting apart. It took a  long while  before the transferring of the information stopped. When Darius opening his eyes aain, a streak of light was flowing in his vision. And his body has through some transformation, every muscle in his body had been remade. His skin hummed. His bones felt like iron. he became ten times stronger than before. 

And in his mind, every knowledge about the use of various  weapons and all kinds of combat techniques was bestowed on him. 

He knew them now. The angle of a fist. The weakness in a man's stance. Every fight ever fought, every war ever won, every death ever dealt—it was all there, sitting behind his eyes like a library he had always owned.

With his new abilities, he could join the army and fight for his country and also, a divine healer helping to cure difficult and unrecognized disease. 

He stood up slowly. His body didn't tremble anymore.

Where the statue had stood, a ring now lay on the stone floor. 

 He picked it up, and the moment he slipped it onto his finger, something speak in his head. 

“With this ring you can return to back to the world and get back here anytime you pleases! Your blood is all it takes to pass it down your generations as every information about the God of War had been stored in it." 

He smiled deeply at the power and blessing he had gotten from the Mars unexpectedly. 

At the thought of this, he walked to several statues across the space hoping he could something out of them but nothing of such happened. 

Only Mars had answered.

Darius looked at the ring. Then at the empty space where the war god had stood.

"I guess even gods know when a man has nothing left to lose," he muttered.

~~~

Darius woke up beside the water’s edge, gasping for breath as he spewed a little content out of his mouth. 

“What just happen? I thought I was drowning at the deep Sea—" 

Suddenly, a wave of informations began to occupy his head. To him, his head was getting bigger and bigger, and about to explode. 

He totally understand everything as he glanced at the ring on hand. He became surprised. Every thing he had dreamt about was nothing but real. He was really as the new God of War. 

He had the knowledge of Combat skills and techniques and also, every thing about medicine. How he can detect any sickness on a body by just glancing at the person. 

Realizing how powerful he had become with his new abilities, he knew everything was about change. His future has been sharpened for better things. 

He smirked viciously. Let the world know Darius Hamilton isn't useless after all.  With his newfound abilities, the aura oozing out of from him are deafening and commanding. 

He scanned the vicinity. There was no sign of a rescue team around the shore. Everywhere looks peaceful as if nothing has happened. 

He laughed. It was a hollow sound, empty of humor.

“Of course,” he thought. “Of course she didn't come back for me. I'm not that important.”

He didn't know how long he had been gone. Minutes? Hours? It didn't matter. Lisa had made her choice twice now. First on the ship, when she chose Harry over him. Then on the shore, when she chose to ignore him, fighting for his life at the deep Sea. 

She was never going to save him.

Now, It is time for him to make his choice. 

Darius turned his back to the ocean and started walking home. 

~~~

At the hospital, Lisa sat in a plastic chair beside Harry's bed. The monitors beeped a steady rhythm. The doctor had confirmed, it was just a panic attack, no heart condition, no emergency. Harry was seriously fine.

But Harry had asked her to stay. Just for a little while. Just until he felt better. And Lisa, seeing how Harry was behaving, couldn't bring herself to leave.

Hours passed. The sun set. The room grew dark.

Then, suddenly, Lisa's hand went to her mouth.

Darius.

"Oh my God," she whispered. Her face was drained of color. "Darius. I never—I forgot to—"

Lisa pulled out her phone with shaking hands. Dialed the rescue number. Her voice cracked as she spoke. "I need to report a missing person. My husband. He was left in the water. Please, you have to find him."

Harry watched from the bed, his expression soft and concerned. But inside, something cold uncoiled in his chest.

“Too late! There is nothing he can do to survive that Sea!” He mumbled to himself. 

When Lisa hung up, tears streaming down her face, Harry reached for her hand.

"This is my fault," he said, his voice heavy with false guilt. "If I hadn't felt sick—if I hadn't made you call the ambulance—Darius would be safe right now. I'm so sorry, Lisa. I'll never forgive myself if anything bad happens to Darius."

Lisa squeezed his hand. Her eyes were red, but her voice was steady.

"Don't say that, Harry. It wasn't your fault. You couldn't help being sick."

“Yes, you are right!” Harry thought, smiling inwardly. “I couldn't help it at all.”