Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Capricious Infection ❯ Act 21: Tale of a Dove, Part 2 ( Chapter 21 )

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Capricious Infection

Act 21: Tale of a Dove, Part 2

By: Revamp

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“First, tell us about your enslavement of other races, preferably, this `dog' race,” Hearts demanded to know what the girl meant by her prior story. The fact that Dove referred to their appearances as reminiscent of an enslaved race was unnerving.

“It's not even what you think, “the girl said as she walked into an empty bar and sat down at one of the deserted tables, “humans tamed dogs. They were wild animals and we made them civilized. They are faithful to us because of that. Some of them even help us out by doing rescue work and stuff. Calm your tits. We're not some tyrannical race that's going to enslave you. Hell, even the people who have the power to do it are probably dead by now.”

If there were so many aliens fighting each other in hopes of being the dominant race on this planet, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that the few humans who dared to challenge them had been killed by now. It was well enough, since Dove didn't want any terrorism or communism on Earth again. If they were going to exist in the new world they were going to make, then she wanted to do it right this time and give equality to all races.

“We came from a planet that had been enslaved,” Boxcars noted. They had reason to be on edge about other races who wished to enslave seemingly weaker ones.

“Yes, pardon us for being paranoid but we are the last of our kind,” Hearts tilted her head downward. That was the second reason they were cautious about being involved with the wrong kind of company. At any moment, they could wind up being the very slaves they tried so hard not to be.

“Quite, and we're not too jolly about the possibility either,” Diamonds added.

Dove arched an eyebrow in curiosity of their situation. “Are you guys still slaves?”

“No, we were actually a very happy, highly intelligent race. The Arcanes are revered for their abilities,” Spades noted their key features. They had once been a race free from the dark grip of oppression, an independent group of people who made significant change throughout the cosmos.

“That is why many of us worked as oracles. A few of us even worked for the Divine Ones and prophesized wars and a time of ending. Among the elite were also the great scholars who made floating cities and intricate weaponry, the great machines that performed for the greater good of the galaxy,” Diamonds noted their high ranking roles under the Divine Ones, and of their own right. The Arcane had always been a race that put their intelligence to work making advancements both for the Divine Ones and for themselves as a race. They did not believe in harboring intelligence without putting it to use for something other than making assumptions on what fate they thought would befall certain aspects of the galaxy. It was much more complex than that.

“Why don't you actually talk?” Dove had been wondering that for a while. It was great to talking with psychics and all but she felt a little weird having part of the conversation take place in her mind. She could only imagine what it looked like to someone who wasn't involved in the conversation. No doubt these guys kept limitations on who could listen in.

“Our mouths were not created to accurately portray the many syllables of different languages. This form of communication is better and can be translated into any language with ease.” Instead of learning the languages and speaking them, the Arcane merely deciphered them and projected them onto the species of their choice with their powerful minds. Hearts explained it the best way could. Their elongated snouts and tongues made it hard to speak, and in some cases impossible. Telekinetic language was the most reasonable approach.

“So…You have a universal language?” Dove was a little confused as to how that exactly worked.

“Something like that. We send psychic waves into your brain and the neurotransmitters convert it into your own language. This ensures accurate and clear communication with little to no mind reading,” Hearts informed her of their special type of communication. The worst thing that could happen between them is that they have a language barrier on top of having species barriers. It was awkward enough to have species barriers.

That last part really freaked her out. Dove felt an unease wash over her body. Her muscles instinctively locked up. “You can…read my mind?”

Clubs snickered. The awkward look on the girl's facer was priceless. She looked scared out of her mind. “Sure we can. We have to in order to get knowledge of your language and slang. The only minds we can't read are those of the Divine Ones.”

“We don't choose to read everything, only the basic and simple information,” Hearts would have rather kept that a secret. Announcing things like that always caused a question of trust. When people found out that the Arcanes read their minds without their permission, they would develop a sense of paranoia against them, even though they were merely gathering necessary information.

“If you knew everything about everyone and everything, then you would be depressed, hopeless and bored,” Spades chose not to know every intricacy about those he wished to study. The interesting parts of life were the things held in mystery. At least, that was his analysis.

“That's true,” Dove felt a little better, knowing that they didn't totally invade her personal life. “I'd hate to be the keeper of all knowledge. If your race was so smart and advanced, how did you get enslaved?”

“They, like the Divine Ones, kept themselves from being found out. They possessed powers that jammed the psychic frequencies we emitted, so we could not read them. Since most of our race was more mentally strong than physically, they beat us with deception and strength. These Minonites as they referred to themselves came upon our planet on a giant ship called the Dradel. We had knowledge of the Dradel, it was the biggest warship ever created. Not only that, the technology was so advanced that not even we could decipher it. No race could emulate this new expertise,” Boxcars explained the situation to the best of his knowledge. It had been what seemed like eons since they had last known about the warship and its location, not to mention the alien race that was currently in possession of such a ship.

“That's wild stuff,” Dove commented. The fact that there were races out there that had more going for them than the humans did was astonishing. These were the races that were fighting on her planet's soil right now, battling to be the dominant race and take it over as they so chose.

It was frightening on many levels to know how truly helpless she was if she were to ever face off against them. Hell, if the Arcanes couldn't defeat them, there was no hope for her.

“Since they used the Dradel to take us out when we weren't looking…or rather, they stayed on Arcane and walked among us as friends for years before they took the Dradel and destroyed our facilities, killed our leaders and enslaved our people, slaughtering them, sacrificing them to this new technology, and a god of theirs. They said he was a Divine One but I have never heard of him,” to Boxcars' current knowledge, no Divine One had ever utilized their powers in such a way. All of the Divine Ones that he knew of strictly acted on their elemental function. None of them assisted races in conquering planets or enslaving people. Their only function was to act on the flow of each other or work in triads in order to achieve certain results that were predetermined by time itself. This didn't fall into any of those scenarios.

“Who is this Divine One?” Dove was interested. It might have something to do with the current situation.

“They call him Ares. He is the Divine One who regulates bloodshed and war. The Divine One of weapons, carnage and rebellion. From what I've gathered, he is a strange and mentally insane individual with a sick fascination for blood. Rumor has it that he possesses a great factory in which he collected the blood of the fallen and used them in a bio experiment to create live ships with real circulatory systems that do not regulate fuel.”

“What? Is that even possible?” This Ares guy must have been some real trip in order to make ships that were actually alive. Not only was the disturbing on many levels, but the guy had to be a genius to be able to make vessels that people could fly through the galaxy that were actually alive. It was far beyond the scope of human technology.

Hearts gave further explanation on the situation with Ares. “They say the Dradel had that technology. It comes from a place called the Death Factory, and their slogan is `where your darkest dreams come true and not a single soul gets through'. Some say that phrase has double meaning.” It sent chills up her spine to think on that vile place for a moment longer than she had to.

It unnerved Dove as well. “That's creepy as fuck.”

More like it was downright sick and twisted. Whoever this Ares guy was, he had a grim imagination of a mad scientist. To toy with people, tear them apart and dissect them in order to create another living vessel used for war was abominable. The mere thought of such a sick procedure existing made her shudder in revulsion.

How could someone like that be a Divine One?

“Those who work there are the galaxies best war heroes. They also never speak of the place,” Hearts revealed another disturbing fact about this Ares and his many war machines and the factory that they were created in.

“Supposedly, Ares founded it. Every part of it is described like some far left religion,” Clubs found that an extension of Ares' alleged insanity.

“Do you think the crew of the Dradel work for Ares?” Maybe they didn't work under him. Maybe they just bought a ship from him in order to fulfill their own purposes.

“They could be, or they could be high priests or something. I don't know much about Ares' disciples and followers. They're a cult…a huge cult but a cult.” In all honesty, Clubs was only working from assumptions. They could be completely unrelated, but that theory didn't set right with him for some reason.

“So…Ares is a corrupt war god?” That's what she got from it anyway. He sounded like someone she didn't ever want to meet up with. Dove hoped that he wasn't anywhere on Earth. They really wouldn't stand a chance against someone like that.

“We don't know if he's corrupt or if he actually is just like that,” Hearts told her. It was only a theory, but if he truly was like that, then there was no way to even help him improve. That was a worst case scenario.

“In this situation, we don't know much at all. We only know that we're the sole survivor of our race,” Spades stated the truth of the situation. There were many speculations as to who or what was tied with the Minonites but in truth, any amount of variables could be put into play.

Ares might not even be involved other than the fact that the Dradel belonged to him.

A disheartened expression crossed Hearts' face. “Our planet was completely taken over by the Minonites.”

“You weren't always the Cut Throat Crew…Were you?” Call it a hunch, but Dove had a feeling that this “gang” of wrong doers wasn't really all they seemed to be. From the short time she'd gotten to know them, she could tell that they weren't really criminals. They seemed more like a band of honest, sad people who stuck together by being driven on their tragedies and hopes for a new future.

“Actually…no…I was an oracle but when I found out that the crew from the Dradel was killing everyone and a war had broken out, I ran into our storage room and plotted to steal the other half of the blood ruby in order to create the Dimension Sword,” Diamonds told her of his last moments on Arcane before he had begun his descent into the membership of the Cut Throat Crew. When he thought about it, his actions were selfish but they kept the four of them alive.

“I was head of the royal guard,” Hearts admitted.

“I was the strongest of the Arcane race, a gladiator and the protector of the royal family,” Boxcars revealed his past as well. He might as well, since everyone else was handing out their past professions.

Clubs raised a finger into the air, “I was actually a scientist.”

“I was a knight. We all met in the chaos and found Diamonds. He created a Dimension Rip and we were catapulted into another world. We soon became rouges ourselves and established the Cut Throat Crew,” Spades told her how their group was form and a condensed form of how they all met each other. Since that moment, they had been inseparable as a team.

“We abandon our names and assumed different ones,” Hearts pointed out that the names they had were not their true names. Dove sort of thought something was up with them being named after the symbols on playing cards, but a part of her wondered what their real names were.

“We didn't want to disgrace our positions. We survived the way we knew how,” Boxcars would have rather left his champion gladiator name in the past, and he was sure that the others felt the same way.

“So, I'm guessing that you wouldn't tell me your real names even if I did ask.” It was worth a shot anyway.

“We swore ourselves into secrecy,” Hearts regretfully informed their newest member.

“Means no,” Clubs reiterated the response into layman's terms.

Dove blinked a little. Another thought had been really bugging her as of late. She couldn't stop thinking about Ares. He haunted her from the back of her mind. “You don't think…Ares is here…do you?”

Hearts looked thoughtful for a moment. “He could be. Ares is the Divine One who commands war, weapons, blood lust and rebellion. Everything about him is the love of a chaotic atmosphere.”

“The fact that this place is so desolate may be because of Ares,” Clubs noted. After all, there were no bodies around although the place had clearly been raided. That only meant that they were picked up by Ares' ship.

Diamonds looked as if something hit him and turned to his fellow, “I say, you're right old chap.”

“What do you mean?” This didn't sound good. That uneasy feeling came back to Dove.

“Wars that Lord Ares attends are picked clean of bodies and blood. You didn't happen to see a pack of strange ships around, have you?” That was his key feature, and Diamonds knew that if those ships were around it meant possible bad news for them.

How was she supposed to know? So many things were coming through the time rips that it was hard to keep track of everything and everyone. Most of the time, Dove was trying to survive or protect the children. “There's so much shit in the sky. How do I know what his ships look like?”

“You can't miss them. He has four battle ships that make the normal ships look like child's toys. They surround his Death Factory.” The ships were very definitive and Hearts would make sure to point them out to Dove if she ever saw them. No matter what flew in the sky, they would always stand out ad tower above their competition.

“It's like he has a floating city,” Boxcars noted, especially with that Death Factory looming around.

“His ships are formidable looking. I don't even think anything in the sky would try to come near their vicinity. His Death Factory is creepy enough without it being surrounded by four battle ships - the Duran II, Drumright, Darrenger and Dolca. You would know them if you saw them. They cast vast shadows of darkness,” Spades let her know that they would more than likely be found together, unless Ares instructed them to cover different parts of the planet in order to cover more ground that way.

“That isn't their most striking attribute, however. They are noticeably comprised of living matter. They are completely self-sufficient and they listen to him and him alone,” Diamonds pointed out a few of their other features. They would never catch one of his ships grounded or at any of the fuel stations if Earth happened to have any.

“Then…how does he operate them?” Dove was still having trouble thinking about how someone could control monstrous being comprised of living matter and circuitry. Living organisms have the ability to turn on anyone…so how did he master complete control of them and trust them not to turn on him?

“No one knows,” Spades was clueless as well.

Dove folded her arms across her bust and arched an eyebrow at the knight. “You guys don't know anything about him…do you?”

“It is rumored that even the other Divine Ones are mystified by him. He's a loner, very secretive. We know least about him.” Sad to say, but Hearts couldn't make sense of any of it either.

“What if he's here?”

“Then I want to know why he gave the Minonites the Dradel and why he brought war to Arcane.” If the rumors were true, and Ares was the sole reason Arcane met its destruction then Hearts wanted answers. She wasn't going to rest until she found them.

“We want to rewrite time so that doesn't happen. It may also reverse time here and not bring war to your planet.” If Spades was thinking along the right lines, it may save Earth's paradox from being invaded and ultimately meeting its demise.

“You guys are really pissing the gods off hardcore. Ares might kill you all in the process,” Dove finally realized the extent of what they were doing. She couldn't say that she didn't admire them for their efforts. However, if they get caught, then there was no doubt that they would have a huge punishment ahead of them. The fact that they were willing to push fourth despite that was truly a symbol of their strength as a culture.

Hearts frowned. “It isn't just Ares.”

“It's Miss Pregmacia as well. She doesn't want us to rewrite time because it throws off the order in which the paradoxes are destroyed and created,” Spades noted another part of the entirety of the situation. Soon, more gods than just Pregmacia would be after them if they succeeded in their plan.

“We're supposed to die?”

“We assume so. Out of all of the Divine Ones, Pregmacia is the one who's actively after us. She's hunting us and I've lost my time traveling weapon,” Diamonds sighed in dejection. Just thinking about what happened caused a wave of anxiety to assault his body. What were they going to do now? How would they obtain the Blood Ruby? Their adventure was going to be reset and they would have to go back from square one.

“We're screwed,” Clubs let them all know the undisputable fact at hand.

“You guys are looking for the Blood Ruby so you can time travel. That must mean that David's sword allows him to leap through time.” She knew that her brother's weapon was associated with time but Dove was unaware of what exactly the powers of the sword were.

“It's traveling with the Divine Ones,” Boxcars brought up another issue entirely. Everything was against their journey.

“An army of gods. This fucking sucks. You guys are trying to kill me,” Dove sighed and rubbed her temples. Boy did these guys have a lot of baggage. It was like acquiring the group of dramatic people in high school as friends…only way different.

“We do have special abilities-“ Spades tried to say but he was cut off.

“Okay, let's say Ares zapped down here right this second and said `war, now.' What would you do?” It was hypothetical, but Dove wanted to know if these guys even had a plan of action or if they just flew by the seats of their pants through everything.

“One on one?” Boxcars asked.

“Yep, no ships. No factory.”

“Die.” That was Club's best answer to her situation.

Dove narrowed her eyes and frowned, glaring down the shortest member of her group. “Oh yeah, I'm feeling the confidence. You guys suck ass.”

Honestly, what kind of formidable team were they? Did they not think anything out at all? They were supposed to be the advanced, smart ones…or so she thought.

“He's a war god.” It wasn't like they had some ace card to pull out of their sleeve. Not even Boxcars had that ability. He brought up Ares being a god for a reason.

“Act like winning the fight would rewrite time,” Dove had to give these guys some incentive or they wouldn't use their brains at all. Some more improved race they were.

“I can actually prove either a challenge or a crippling weakness for myself,” Spades noted. His powers were pretty double-edged sword when he thought about it.

“In what way?” Dove asked.

“I can control blood and cells within it…but I've heard that he can as well.” That was why it was either a challenge or a weakness. If Ares had other powers, that alone would not bring him down.

“Is this guy a mad scientist or a war god?” Honestly, how many freaky things could he do, anyway?

“He controls weird things. He's not your typical god,” Spades noted. As much as several of the Arcanes had strange powers, Ares held the same type of weird control over things others would not specialize in.

“Our psychic powers do not work on Divine Ones,” Hearts brought up that fact and reminded her that they had other disadvantages as well.

“What the hell was your plan?” Dove was irritated, but it only showed out of the apathetic quality of her voice. All they have done was point out their weaknesses. That wasn't what she wanted to know. She wanted to know if they at least stood a chance against this guy.

So far, it was just one depressing point after another. She felt overwhelmed.

“To get the Blood Ruby and go around Ares,” Spades knew they didn't stand a chance. That's why they pursued someone who was considerably weaker that they could defeat more effortlessly.

“You make this guy seem unbeatable. Surely he has an Achilles' Heel,” Ares had to have one weakness. It was unrealistic to be completely without fault and unbeatable.

Clubs was confused by her reference. “Who is Achilles?”

Dove explained that Achilles was a great war hero, on an island called Greece. He was invincible, or at least that's what everyone thought. He ended up dying from a wound on his heel. The moral of his story was that even gods had their weaknesses. Humans referred to the weak points as Achilles' Heels.

She bent down slightly. “You guys are supposed to be mind readers and know slang.”

“I didn't know who Achilles was, but I knew the terms and what it meant,” Clubs just wanted to know the meaning behind the phrase. After all, it was called that for a reason and he wasn't aware of many of the human's myths and fables.

Dove got out of the chair and left it sitting out in the open. “You guys have a lot of irons in the fire. First these Divine Ones and now this. Let's go check on the kids.” They had been in the bar for a long time, just chatting away like there was nothing that needed to be done. Dove felt a little guilty for not helping them out and she had no idea how to tackle the problems that her new team mates were facing. She didn't want to think about it right now.

When they walked outside, they noticed that all of the children had formed a human chain that extended into one building. Inside, they gathered all of the food that they could possibly find and placed it in several spots, grouping it by what it was. Without their help, they managed to set up effective ways of working, storing and sorting. Dove was impressed at how fast they picked up knowledge.

One of the boys, older and taller with blonde hair ran up to Dove with a bright smile on his dirty face. “We have lots of food.”

“We're putting the perishable items in the big refrigerators of the restaurant so they won't' spoil.” One of the teenage girls replied, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

“Good idea. As long as this town still has power, we can rely on that food source but make sure to eat it first, just in case,” Dove noted. The power could go out at any moment. If that happened, then the food would ruin and they would short themselves in horrible ways. It was better to eat it before going into anything that that would take longer to expire.

“Right,” the older girl saluted and went back to helping the other kids. In mid run, she stopped as a huge shadow passed over them and everything suddenly got dark. It was as if a storm was passing overhead but it was something much worse than any storm.

“Hey! Look at that!” A brown-haired boy pointed as the children all stared into the engines of something monstrous and mechanical above them. Dove and the Cut Throat Crew looked up. Their expressions were etched in shock and horror as they realized what exactly it was.

“What in the hell-“ Dove was cut off.

“Is…” Clubs continued her question.

“No,” Boxcars stared up with his muzzle agape.

“I can say we're screwed now?” Diamonds' voice trembled. This was bad.

“What is that?” Dove had a feeling that she knew, but she dreaded the answer.

“These are the war ships and that…is the Death Factory,” Spades spoke the words that sent terror and realization through her being.

Dove's visage hardened and her voice lowered. “Ares is here, then.”

All around them, the children were chattering in commotion. Some of them talked among themselves and some merely asked questions, wondering what was going on and what was happening. They were all questions that Dove couldn't clearly answer.

Boxcars took the initiation and turned to the children, living up to his promise. “Get inside! It doesn't matter where but make sure that you're out of sight!”

In a panic, everyone scrambled to rush into the building that they were closest to. Children dove through windows and hid under benches and tables inside of different buildings. Dove ran inside of the bar, along with the Cut Throat Crew and a few of the children.

Hearts peered out of a nearby window. “The war must have brought him here.”

Dove sat on one side of a large window in the front, and Spades on the other. She peered up at the sky, which was consumed by the ships. “Is this what you guys were talking about?”

“Yes, that's the Death Factory and his ships: Darrenger, Drumright, Duran II and Dolca,” Boxcars confirmed.

“Where's Duran One?” If there was a two then there should be a one, or at least that's what logic would dictate.

“No one's ever seen it,” Boxcars wasn't too sure it even really existed. If it did, then it was a prototype for Duran II.

“That's incredible! The factory has this rustic look, and it seems to be composed of metals…but these ships are just bizarre.” All she could do was stare in awe at the great, flying machines. His ships had odd, flesh like outer shells and no windows. Not to mention they all had strange shapes that didn't look aerodynamic in the least bit. One of them was a cluster of black triangles with vents across one side and another looked like a sea urchin with two rotating blades and a ring that looked like a tube going around it.

“They are worse than the Dradel,” Boxcars noted, taking in the full effect of the ships' presence.

“He made these…by himself?”

“So it has been said.”

“They have no windows…nothing. No doors, either or engines,” Dove noted. She tried to find them, but had no such luck. How did they see where they were going? How did the crew know what they were flying into? She had so many questions that she wanted to ask Ares if she ever had the displeasure of meeting him. From the way he was described she wasn't sure that she would like to.

“They say Ares is brilliant,” Clubs had heard a lot of things regarding his intelligence. Upon seeing the structures that the Dius was claimed to have made, he could see why. If Ares truly did construct these magnificent weapons by himself then there was no questioning his mental capacity.

“These are the living war ships,” Hearts pointed out the obvious.

“What do we do now?” Dove asked. It was clear that they had been found out. The only question was their next plan of action.

“I'm scared.” A small voice trembled from under one of the tables. Huddled beneath it was a small boy who was about six in age. His form shivered against the air and sounds of the machines.

“Tell me he's just passing over,” Dove prayed to herself. She didn't want a confrontation with Ares- not now or ever.

“I don't think he's landing. He drifts but I've never seen him…Hell, I'm not sure they know what he looks like,” Spades was more than sure that Ares would not come down from his floating quarters. For whatever reason, he didn't like walking on solid ground…or maybe he didn't like showing his face to people. Whatever the reason, no one has ever seen him.

“So, there's a chance he's just a really smart alien and not a Divine One.” If no one has ever seen him, and there were only rumors that he was a Divine One then perhaps he wasn't quite as strong as they thought he was.

“I guess, but I doubt it,” Clubs was certain he was a Divine One.

“If he is, he surely has god-like powers,” To Hearts that was scary enough.

“You never told me his title,” Dove looked to the other female of the group.

“He is Ares, the Warrior King.”

“Do you think he knows?” Clubs asked.

“I don't know,” Hearts shook her head.

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David looked skyward and took off his shades. His bright blue eyes went side in awe as he caught sight of the ships and factory in the distance. Not only were they the largest things in the sky, they were the slowest. “Holy shit. What is that?”

Lannad glanced in the direction of David's gaze as a gentle wind blew through their hair, chilling their bodies. “This is bad.”

Tony threw out his arms with a look of alarm. “You're kidding, right? We have to defend this place against that? I don't even know what that is!”

“That isn't the enemy,” Oz spoke up from behind them, which caused the humans to turn and face him in question.

“What is it?” David repeated his question. Obviously Oz knew the answer.

“That is piloted by a Dius.”

“There are more of you?” David couldn't believe what he was hearing. Could that be BerefHex, or were there more that he didn't know about? For a race that was on the brink of extinction, he was seeing more and more of them around.

“Only one. In truth, he was probably here before I was,” Oz noted.

Blue eyes glanced back at the ships. “One guy pilots all of that?”

If that was the truth, then he was damned impressed.

“He's probably the only one who could out engineer me.” By Dius terms, that was amazing considering the knowledge that Oz held. The Dius who piloted that ship was truly a being to behold.

“Is this that Unwine guy you all were talking about?” Maybe he would finally get the chance to meet the guy that Rezzi had been texting so much. At least, that's what David could pray for, anyway.

“No, although he is a comrade of Diablo and Tarvos.”

“If each of you signifies something…then what is he?” Lannad was almost afraid to ask.

Oz's features hardened and his voice took on a stoic edge. “He is war.”

“Makes sense,” Tony could see it from the ships and floating fortress that he had. “Whose side is he on? I hope it's ours.”

“I'm not sure what his motives are.”

“What?” Lannad wondered why his motives would be questionable. Didn't all of the Dius work together?

Oz informed them that his name was Ares and that he lived in the floating factory. He has never set foot upon the ground and but when he was present, there was always a reason. He mostly showed up when major wars broke out.

“Doesn't he have anything that he fights for?” There were sides in every war, or at least that's what David had always thought. If he were to ask any soldier, they would tell him their reason for fighting. So, what was up with this guy?

“I don't know much about him,” Oz wasn't trying to hide anything, he genuinely didn't know much about the Warrior King. He kept himself exiled from the other Dius.

“Don't you know about everyone?” Tony thought that he did. He said he knew about all of the remaining Dius, so why not this guy?

“He's detached from us.”

“What? Does he think he's better or something? With is dingy, floating factory and weird…whatevers that float in the air,” Tony complained and looked as unintelligible as he sounded.

Oz looked thoughtful for a moment. “I doubt he's here on behalf of Calypso. You can consider him an ally. He is helping us to an extent. If the war is going on, that gives my plans a further purpose.”

This was actually better than he thought it would be. Since Ares was there, it was like they had extra assistance.

Tony stopped shaking his fist at the ships and turned to Oz. “Oh…he's helping us?”

“For the time being.”

“What do you mean?” Lannad inquired.

“Ares is a very…sketchy character…with strong beliefs,” Oz was trying to think of the nice things he could say about the eccentric characteristics of the Warrior King. He was a fellow Divine One, and he didn't want the humans to have any set opinion of him. However, if he was asked on such things, he would have to answer them accordingly.

“What do you mean?” Of course, Tony would be the one to bring things more in depth.

“Ares harbors a sense of Social Darwinism.”

“Social Darwinism? Isn't that what the Nazi's believed in?” This guy suddenly didn't sound like someone Tony wanted to get to know. No way did he want to associate with Dius Hitler.

“Social Darwinism is just the survival of the fittest theory. That doesn't mean this guy is a Nazi. It makes sense when you think about it.” To David, having that belief seemed typical of someone who was constantly in war. Ares wasn't Dius Hitler; he just developed a belief based on his life style. That's what everyone did.

“We are technically following elements of Social Darwinism. It's not a bad thing, it just has negative connotations,” Oz helped explain the subject and backed David up on the matter.

“Religions and ideals are only as bad as the people who practice them. Who knows? Ares might be on to something. What doesn't apply to the world one lives in might apply to the one that's falling apart. If anyone knows about how religions can change, I do,” Lannad was sure of that, beyond the shadow of a doubt.

…To Be Continued