2025-07-12 06:12:47Ares and Mira slipped out of the alleyways just as the first weak rays of dawn struggled through the city’s haze. Their footsteps echoed on the cracked pavement, but Ares heard more than that - a car idling a block away, voices carried on the morning wind, the restless shift of men waiting for orders.
Mira pulled her coat tighter around her. Her eyes, still rimmed red from the horrors they’d just escaped, darted to Ares’s profile. He looked like a statue carved out of the storm - unreadable, solid, dangerous.
“Where are we going now?” she asked softly. Her voice trembled more than she meant it to.
Ares didn’t look at her. “Somewhere safe. For now.”
She almost asked safe from what - but she already knew. The bodies they’d left behind would be found soon enough. The broadcast of that betrayal, the dirty secrets laid bare... the city would wake up hungry for blood and scandal.
Ares paused at the corner, scanning the empty street. His phone buzzed once. A name flashed: Kane.
He pressed it to his ear, still watching the shadows. “Talk.”
“They’re moving faster than we thought,” Kane’s deep voice rumbled through the line. “The old man knows you’re alive. They’re spinning it - they’re calling you a rogue mercenary, a threat to the family’s ‘good name’.”
Ares almost smiled at that good name. If only the world knew how rotten the Lancaster family’s roots really were.
“And the traitor?” Ares asked.
“Spooked. He’ll run tonight. We’ve got eyes on him. Orders?”
Ares let out a breath. Mira shifted beside him, trying to read his face.
“Don’t scare him yet,” Ares said. “Let him sweat. We’ll catch him when he thinks he’s free.”
“Understood, Commander.”
Ares ended the call. Mira’s hand slipped into his, hesitant. He almost pulled away - old habits - but her fingers tightened, and he let her hold on.
“Ares,” she said, her voice barely above the hum of the waking street. “I saw you back there. The way you moved. The way they obeyed you. Who... who are you really?”
For a heartbeat, he wanted to tell her everything - the deserts, the brotherhood, the medals gathering dust in a hidden box. The betrayals that left him raw inside. But the words stuck behind his teeth.
He turned to her instead, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. “I’m your husband. That’s all that should matter right now.”
She flinched, not from his touch, but from the walls between them. She hated those walls more than the enemies outside.
“Don’t shut me out, Ares. Not now. Not when everything’s falling apart.”
Before he could answer, an engine revved at the end of the block. Headlights flared through the fog. Mira tensed, instinctively stepping closer to him.
Ares’s eyes narrowed. The black sedan slowed, crawling toward them like a predator testing its prey.
Mira whispered, “Is it them?”
Ares didn’t answer. He felt her breath catch when he slipped his hand into his coat, fingers brushing cold steel. He counted the heads behind the windshield - three silhouettes, maybe four. Too bold for a polite visit.
When the car was close enough, the window slid down. A man leaned out, young, expensively dressed, sunglasses hiding dead eyes.
“Ares Lancaster,” he called, his grin all teeth and arrogance. “You’ve got some big balls showing your face after what you pulled.”
Ares didn’t move. Mira felt the shift though - the coiled patience in him, the violence he kept leashed just beneath the calm.
The man flicked a lighter open, toyed with it. “Mr. Armstrong wants a word. Get in. Don’t make this messy.”
Mira’s pulse hammered. She felt Ares’s hand brush hers - a silent stay back. Then he stepped forward.
He tilted his head, studying the young thug like a hawk studying a mouse. “You tell Armstrong if he wants me... he can crawl to me himself.”
The thug’s grin cracked. “Wrong answer.”
Ares moved before the grin died. One step, two - his hand clamped the thug’s wrist still holding the lighter. He twisted. Bones popped. The lighter fell. Mira heard a muffled scream.
In the same motion, Ares yanked the door open, slammed the man against it, pinning him like an insect. The driver shouted something, panic blooming. Mira froze - the world shrank to Ares’s voice, calm and quiet.
“Tell Armstrong the next time he sends children, I’ll bury them before dawn.”
He let the thug drop like trash. The car jerked forward, tires squealing as the driver panicked and sped away, nearly clipping a streetlight.
Mira stared at him, her breath visible in the cold. “How... how do you do that? You didn’t even flinch.”
Ares turned to her, his chest rising and falling once, steady and unfazed. He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he took her hand again - this time he held it firmly.
“We need to go,” he said. “They know we’re alive. Now they’ll know I’m done hiding.”
He led her down the side street, the city waking up around them. Somewhere far off, police sirens wailed. Ares didn’t look back.
They ducked into an old service tunnel behind an abandoned warehouse. Inside, the air smelled of rust and old oil. Mira’s shoes scraped on the concrete floor.
He stopped near a rusted metal door. With a coded knock, the door swung open. Kane stood there, broad shoulders filling the frame, a faint grin cutting through his scarred face.
“Commander,” Kane said. “We’re ready. All of them.”
Ares scanned the room beyond. Dim lights revealed shadows moving - men in worn jackets, boots, hard eyes that flicked to him and then dipped in respect. Old comrades. Brothers who’d vanished when he fell.
Mira stepped in beside him, her fingers tightening around his.
Ares turned to Kane. “Weapons?”
“Secured. Routes mapped. The traitor’s people think they’re hunting you. We’re hunting them instead.”
Ares almost smiled. Almost.
He looked at Mira, saw the fear warring with something fiercer - trust. Or something like it.
“Stay with Kane,” he told her. “You’ll be safe here.”
She lifted her chin, defiant despite the shiver in her voice. “I’m not hiding. Not anymore.”
Ares reached up, cupping her cheek. His thumb brushed the faint bruise near her jaw - a reminder of every slap, every humiliation they’d forced her to swallow.
“Then stay close,” he said. “Because tonight, Mira... we start burning this rot out for good.”
Her breath caught. Somewhere in the shadows, steel clinked against steel - men readying for war.
Outside, the city kept breathing, clueless that before the next dawn, it would tremble under the footsteps of the God of War reborn.
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ASH IN THE VEINS
The steel slab still stood at the western ridgeline when Ares returned at midday. The sun was higher now, carving the message deeper into the scorched metal with every flicker of heat. He didn’t touch it. Didn’t have to. The words were burned behind his eyes.We are not your past. We are your consequence.He stood there a moment longer, wind tugging at the collar of his coat, the dry scent of dust and burnt wire rising from the earth. Reyes approached from behind, silent, until the crunch of his boots gave him away.“They’re not just warning us,” he said. “They’re staging something. Making a show of memory.”Ares nodded slowly. “And calling it justice.”Reyes looked out toward the hills. “You think it’s just Vale?”“No.” Ares didn’t blink. “I think it’s what Vale left behind. A creed. A code. A wound still bleeding after all this time.”Reyes crossed his arms. “I’ve buried too many men to be haunted by ghosts.”Ares looked at him. “Then start digging again. Because this war... it didn
THOSE WHO REMEMBER
Because now, they had something worth defending.And for Ares Kai - the man who once lived only to destroy - that made him more dangerous than ever.The rooftop wind brushed over him, sharp with the chill of dusk but filled with the scent of food cooking in shared courtyards and the murmur of distant laughter. It was the kind of night that made a man forget, if only for a moment, how much blood had stained his past.But forgetting wasn’t an option.Mira stood at his side in silence. Her hand had long since slipped from his, but her presence hadn’t. She leaned against the railing, watching the city breathe. Her eyes were calm, but her voice, when it came, held a quiet weight.“Do you think they’ll come here? The ones watching?”He didn’t answer right away.Then, “Not yet. But they’ve taken notice.”She tilted her head. “Of you?”“No,” he said. “Of us.”Mira glanced back at the glowing blocks of Lin City - at the rebuilt shelters, the lights flickering in the old Assembly Hall, the hum
THE WEIGHT OF STILLNESS
Ares didn’t move.He sat by Elijah’s bedside long after the boy had turned back into sleep, his small hands tucked beneath his cheek, his breaths soft and untroubled. The notebook lay closed beside them - those sketches still etched into Ares’ mind.That last drawing... the three of them standing beneath a sun not yet drawn. No smoke. No sirens. No shadows clawing at the edge of their peace. Just presence.Ares leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees, his head buried in his hands. His back ached from old wounds. His fingers were calloused from war. But none of that compared to the pressure behind his ribs now - the unfamiliar weight of not having to fight.Outside, the windowpane rattled gently in the breeze. There was no storm tonight. No cries. No coded transmissions. Just wind brushing across the roof and the distant clatter of tools as the early workers began their shifts.Mira’s door was still ajar across the hall, warm light spilling through the gap. He could have gone to her
EMBERS AND ROOTS
Mira didn’t move for a long time.She sat cross-legged on the floor, her arms resting on her knees, eyes fixed on the sleeping boy and the man beside him. The only sound was the low hum of the generator outside and the steady breath of a child who finally, finally, had no reason to be afraid.Ares didn’t speak either. He leaned back against the wall, knees bent, one hand resting protectively near Elijah’s shoulder, the other slack on his thigh. Every now and then, his eyes flickered open - checking, listening - but the tension he used to wear like armor had softened into something else.Stillness.Not weakness. Not surrender.Just the absence of running.Mira eventually pushed herself up, bones stiff, and moved to sit beside Ares. He shifted slightly, making room, careful not to wake the boy.They didn’t touch - not yet. But their shoulders were close enough to share warmth.“You should sleep too,” she murmured.“I will,” Ares said. “Just... not yet.”She nodded.A long breath passed
THE PROMISE OF STAYING
The Assembly Hall was quiet the next morning.Not silent - there were distant boots on tile, quiet murmurs of volunteers laying cables and pinning up maps -but the kind of quiet that came after storms. The kind you earned. Ares stood near the north-facing window, watching as the mist lifted off the shattered rooftops of Lin City.Behind him, Elijah tugged at his sleeve.“Is this where they argue?” he asked.Ares smirked. “Sometimes. Mostly, they try to listen.”Elijah nodded solemnly, like that was harder.The boy wore a scarf too big for him and boots slightly too worn. His hair still stuck up in wild tufts from sleep, and he held The Little Prince under one arm like it was a secret weapon. Ares rested a steady hand on his son’s back as they stepped inside.Some of the council members were already seated. Kara gave a quick wave. The woman from the South End was bouncing her baby with one hand and flipping through ration figures with the other. Hawk stood by the coffee dispenser, pour
THE WEIGHT OF PEACE
The Assembly Hall was quiet the next morning.Not silent - there were distant boots on tile, quiet murmurs of volunteers laying cables and pinning up maps - but the kind of quiet that came after storms. The kind you earned. Ares stood near the north-facing window, watching as the mist lifted off the shattered rooftops of Lin City.Behind him, Elijah tugged at his sleeve.“Is this where they argue?” he asked.Ares smirked. “Sometimes. Mostly, they try to listen.”Elijah nodded solemnly, like that was harder.The boy wore a scarf too big for him and boots slightly too worn. His hair still stuck up in wild tufts from sleep, and he held The Little Prince under one arm like it was a secret weapon. Ares rested a steady hand on his son’s back as they stepped inside.Some of the council members were already seated. Kara gave a quick wave. The woman from the South End was bouncing her baby with one hand and flipping through ration figures with the other. Hawk stood by the coffee dispenser, pou
