"Can you please stop joking about that, Sol? I mean, pretending to die and even forgetting your siblings is very messed up. The joke you're telling isn't funny whatsoever".
"But I'm not joking with you! Ares, I know it sounds ridiculous, but I'm serious, on Mother's existence".
Hearing that last line, Ares had no choice but to believe him. After all, swearing on Mother's existence and lying is blasphemy, especially in this city, where Mother was born, but also where she perished.
The city's name is Plemuria, and it is considered one of the oldest cities, along with Lemuria, which is close by. However, Plemuria is more discrete to outsiders, since the Holy Scriptures only talk about Lemuria to hide the existence of Plemuria, Ares himself wasn't too sure why. Of course, this knowledge wouldn't have been known by Sol if not for Ares telling him the history and the importance of this town.
As devoted believers of Mother, they understand the importance of swearing the truth to Mother; if not, the consequences aren't known, but widely understood that they are dire. Of course, some people in this city aren't believers in Mother, but that's only because they are simply outsiders.
"Ok, ok, I guess I have no choice but to believe you, but are you sure you weren't hallucinating it? Maybe some illegal subst-"
"Why do people think it was illegal substances? I didn't take any of that, and I know I felt a hole on each side of my head. I also would've believed I was hallucinating if it wasn't for the excruciating pain warping me back to reality".
Before Ares could respond, Sol quickly spotted three familiar figures, talking to two men dressed in black uniforms.
"Ha, Ares, look over there."
Curious to see what Sol was pointing at, Ares's eyes first looked confused, before quickly turning into one of surprise.
"That's surprising, I never expected to see the Guil-"
"Cultists!"
Quickly turning his head toward Sol, surprised at what his best friend just said, before bursting into laughter.
Thinking nothing of it, Sol quickly grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the three "cult followers'" sight. While dragging him across, he couldn't help but mumble under his breath, "Begone evil, BEGONE!"
Catching Sol's mumbling, Ares couldn't help but break out into a smile, thinking that once Sol realizes who they are, he's going to feel so stupid. He's going to finally get his revenge on Sol, calling him dumb for so many years! While the two were escaping, a certain tall individual with glasses spotted the figures.
"He is really interesting. Evil? Cultist? How amusing."
"It's only normal that he isn't aware of August, but the one next to him knows something about us. He's definitely from one of the families."
"But sir, shouldn't we follow after him? We were looking for him anyway."
Met with silence, August couldn't do anything but sigh, wondering what was going through his captain's head. Looking at him, he was met with a cold gaze. Startled, he was about to say something until his commander's eyes quickly darted toward the direction of where Sol and Ares had left, with eyes filled with dread.
Knowing his captain must've seen something, August understood that something was about to happen, something terrible to one of them.
...
Heading back to Sol's family, Ares was dying out of curiosity to learn about Sol's encounter with the Guillhars. After all, they are a secret organization organized by the "Monarchs" to protect the empire and not many people know them. Of course the people that don't know about them are the peasants and the ordinary citizens. While the Guillhars protect this city, they don't exist all throughout Babur, the name of this holy empire. Different organizations exist to protect different part of the empire, protecting the citizens from the "monsters".
"Real talk, how did you encounter the Guil- the cultists?"
"Bro, you would not believe it, they strapped me in a dungeon, tied me up, and tortured me. They were saying some dumb things about me being cursed or whatever; they were lunatics. LUNATICS!"
Hearing Ares' footsteps slowly come to a pause, Sol couldn't help but witness his face covered in shock, but also with a deep look of panic.
"YOU WERE WHAT?"
"Yeah, I'm telling you, they did that-"
Before Sol could finish his lampooning, Ares grabbed Sol harshly, lifting his sleeves, shirt, searching for something. Confused and a little annoyed at what his buddy was doing, Sol quickly tried to push him off, but to no avail.
"Stop Ares! The hell are you doing? I'm fine, seriously, stop man!"
Finally coming to his senses, Ares looked at Sol, about to tell him something, but a small, adorable voice quickly reached both of their ears. In the distance, a small figure could be seen waving with a smile on her face, while also standing next to a taller figure.
Ares couldn't help but smile and quickly dragged Sol with him towards the two figures, quickly putting his thoughts to the back of his mind.
"Hey Sia, how have you been?"
"Better if you would visit more often." Puffing her cheeks, Sia couldn't help but complain. After all, it's been over two months since Ares last visited them.
"Yes, yes, of course, I've been caught up in some work, you know how my life is, right, cutie?"
...
After talking for some time, the two men started feeling sleepy and decided to stay the night, although it wasn't planned for Ares; Sol wanted to stay and see what was up with these two. The room that the two were staying in was crammed with a small bed, barely enough to fit one person, and a desk at the corner with a large window above.
Sleeping on the mattress on the floor, Sol couldn't help but sneer.
If they were my siblings, wouldn't they be with me instead of this crappy place?
Hearing snoring coming from the top, Sol decided to put his thoughts aside and catch a break as well, since it was a pretty rough day.
...
BOOM!
In the middle of the night, Sol quickly peeked at the clock, saw that it was midnight. Glancing at Ares, who was also awoken by the sudden sound, they quickly plunged out of the room to check what could've made that sound, only for a shiver to run down their spines at what they saw. In front of them stood a tall, treacherous figure, with a black kabuki mask covering the majority of his face, leaving his long raven hair exposed, along with a black bodysuit, stained red all over the place. However, what made the man extremely menacing was that in his hand was a white tachi, with blood pattering steadily onto the floor.