Not a Lie

'Can we trust this human?' The three voices asked Alexander mentally looking at the old man in the air in front of them.

'We can trust him he is my teacher in this world. He was supposed to be looking over me but probably lost me because of you guys.' Alexander quickly responded to the three-inquiring voices in his mind.

'Do not share everything with him and do not tell him our real name use our descendant's name Three-Headed Dark Hounds.' Aether spoke out to the still thinking Alexander.

"Did something happen to you and that is why you're answering me so slow?" The descending Colonel shouted to the young boy on the ground in front of him.

"No sir. I got lost in the darkness earlier than couldn't find you so I got scared. Then a Three-Headed dog creature came out of the woods and tried to attack me. Instead of killing me, it walked up to me kneeling in front of me then turning into a ray of light." Alexander replied to the Colonel pretending to still be frightened from the fake situation.

"It turned into a ray of light than where did it go?" The Colonel became wide-eyed staring at the boy in front of him urging him to quickly speak.

"It floated towards me creating this tattoo on my chest." Alexander pulled up his thin armor to reveal the tattoo now engrained onto his chest.

The Colonel flew down and began examining the tattoo thoroughly checking the rest of Alexander's body to make sure he didn't have any hidden injuries.

"When the creature offered itself to you did you hear it speak to you?" The Colonel slowly asked with a curious look on his face.

'Say no.' Aether calmly said within his mind.

'Of course, we aren't going to tell him. An old man once told me the best secrets are only known by the dead.'

"No sir. The creature seemed to be injured when it got close to me and began kneeling so I assumed based on what I learned it merged with me so it would not truly die." Alexander answered the inquiring Colonel that was still examining his chest.

"It seems you found yourself a soul partner by accident then as most likely ran into a Three-Headed Dark Hound. They also seemed to be of King or Queen rank as they had the basic intelligence to merge with a human before their death and your tattoo seems to be made of at least two colors. This is rather lucky as the Three-Headed Dark Hound is a direct descendent of the mythical creature Cerberus, so they have rather strong abilities especially a King or Queen ranked creature. If the creature would have been speaking this would have meant a higher intelligence which is only found in legendary and mythical creatures." The Colonel looked up at Alexander patting him on his shoulder congratulating him.

'A mythical creature? Are you guys that powerful?'

'What did you expect when you saw us controlling darkness and space earlier and that's just because you have yet to witness Ares's ability who is the muscle of us three.' Aether and Hades chimed into Alexander's thoughts.

"Well, this is all rather fortunate for you as you got a soul partner so young. This is good for your future development as you will be starting before most others your age. You also got one of the strongest darkness creatures you can have as your soul partner. This will be excellent for our future training as we can start having hard training sessions." The Colonel gave a menacing grin to the small boy whose shoulder he was grasping tighter than before.

'Is this old man trying to kill me?'

'If he tries to kill you, we can combine our power into a single attack and kill him with us, since you cannot wield our full power yet.' Ares spoke out for the first time by himself.

'Well, I can see I gave you the correct name. No guys it is just a figure of speech just because the training will get harder not actually kill me.' Alexander chuckled to himself internally.

'Are you sure because we can....'

'Yes, we are fine Ares.'

"Colonel should we start heading back it is starting to get dark outside."

"Yes, we should head back so we can let the Captain know what happened."

The Colonel flew into the air quickly flying off towards the encampment.

'Can we beat him back?' Alexander asked the others in his mind.

'Easily just use Ares's strength in your legs to run faster we can't use any of my space abilities in front of anyone as that will give away your lie of us being merely a descendent.' Aether responded to Alexander mentally excited to have their powers used to beat another warrior for the first time.

Alexander focused his soul on his tattoo making it glow a dim red for the first time as he could feel a sudden lightness in his body. As if he could tear a tree out of the ground just using his fingers. Then taking his first step forward Alexander's body bursting forward at an unimaginable speed flying straight through a tree.

'Focus your soul more to control the output of the strength you are using.' Aether suddenly said as Alexander's body was laying on the floor with an entire tree beside him.

Alexander closed his eyes focusing his power through his body. Slowly standing up he began running again feeling the power surge through his legs. Slowly increasing his speed flying through the forest like a small ghost appearing and disappearing from the shadows. Finally, catching up to the Colonel that seemed to have slowed down in the air. Alexander gave one firm step off with his feet passing the flying Colonel in the air arriving at the encampment first.

"Seems like you got the hang of your abilities. Let's head over to your house." The Colonel laughed as he descended to the ground beginning to walk in the direction of Alexander's home.

"Father we are back."

"How did it go don't tell me that old man beat you up again?" Captain Collins asked as Alexander walked into the small wooden home suddenly freezing as he watched as another figure walked in behind his son.

"Old Man you say huh Captain. Maybe we should have a little spar sometimes so you can show me how the youth do it nowadays." The Colonel said in a mocking tone to the Captain sitting behind his desk.

"No sir that is not what I meant. I meant old as in wise sir." The Captain stumbled with his words standing up from his desk wide-eyed at his son.

"Why didn't Alexander stop me from calling the Colonel an Old Man knowing he was with him." Captain Collins thought to himself still staring directly at his son.

'I did tell him "we" so why is he staring at me like that he is the one that said it.' Alexander pondered over the Captain's expression.

'Is this man your father? If so, he seems dumb we can tell the Old Man is stronger so, why would he provoke him?' Aether asked thinking about the situation happening before themselves.

'He is not my actual Father even in this life as I was left in this life as well as my last. But he has taken care of me like a Father ever since I was young, so I treat him like he is my actual Father.'

'Very well. He seems like a righteous man then.' Aether mentally nodded.

"Anyways Captain we went into the forest today near the mountains to test Alexander's archery skills, but the two of us got separated by an overlying darkness. I searched for a couple of hours then found him coming out of the forest with a different aura."

"What do you mean a different aura? What are you trying to say?" Captain Collins's face turned worried as he looked at Alexander searching up and down his body.

"Your son has gotten himself a soul partner."

"WHAT?"

"Not just any soul partner either he as at least a King or Queen ranked Three-Headed Dark Hound." The Colonel laughed after the words left his mouth.

"Alexander is this true? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am fine the creature was already seemed to be dying before they seemed to have merged with me."

"This is perfect. My son is a genius having a creature mere with him 2 years early. What are going to do now Colonel since Alexander will be able to use his abilities now."

"His training will become more intense and I will approve your request for Alexander to attend the Northern Post with you at the end of the week. That is all for now as we will see how his soul power develops over the next couple of days to see where his foundations lay." The Colonel stated before turning around and exiting the home.

"Son. Is that really all to the story? It seems like a stretch that a King or Queen creature would offer you their souls even if they were dying. The Colonel most likely has the same observation but did not ask as he did not want to pry into your soul partner too much after seeing you were okay."

"Well, Father. The mythical creature Cerberus offered their soul after they tested my virtues and found my soul to be from another world. Merging with me on the condition that I become the next guardian of Death."

"Son, you don't have to lie to me. Just tell me whatever the truth is and I will understand."

'Ah well, I tried. I did not lie at least.'

"Yes, Father what the Colonel told you was correct I expected to die in the forest today but thankfully the creature was heavily injured giving his soul to me to merge with."

"Very well then this is very exciting Alexander as you are probably one of very few in the world right now at your age who have merged with a soul partner and a living one at that." Captain Collins stated cheerfully walking over towards Alexander patting his shoulder.

"Father, what is the difference between having merged with a living or dead soul?"

"Well, usually at 8 years old is when the awakening ceremony is held where your soul is amplified calling out to all of the dead creature souls asking for one to accept you. This is very risky as you can get any soul beast that could end up being a regular chicken, but there are those few with strong soul cores for their age-calling higher-ranked creatures such as Kings and Queens much similar to yours. Then there is the living merging which is more like a contract rather than a full merger. Due to it being a contract the creature you are merging with is able to bestow you more abilities This rarely happens as usually living creatures do not usually choose to cut down their physical life to merge with an individual. So, this occurrence is very rare to happen even so at such a young age."

"So, since I merged with a living creature, I will be stronger than someone at a similar rank to me?"

"You could look at it like that, but it also comes down to how much work you put into increasing your soul power. So, tomorrow we will head into the city to test what rank you are currently. For tonight we shall celebrate this occasion."

Captain Collins and Alexander ate to their stomachs content falling to sleep on the kitchen table after both having rather long days.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Separate Dimension

"Where am I?" Alexander said aloud looking around at his new surroundings as he saw a large tree in the distance standing like a mountain.

"How did you get here and who are you?" A young voice asked watching a young boy suddenly appear in front of them.

Alexander turned around to see a beautiful young lady standing behind him seemingly the same age as himself, but she seemed to have an aura around her that exerted life.