chapter 20

Ping!

"New power unlocked… Wrath of tenacity." 

An unknown sound rang out in the void startling Ares and YTA. Ares was shocked that he could get powers while YTA was shocked that he got any to begin with!

'Too soon.' YTA thought.

Ares was shocked but he quickly calmed down and prepared to take YTA down. 

"I have you now, YTA." He said as he dashed to where YTA was.

Caught off guard, the battle was decided before hand as YTA couldn't even fight back. He was too obstructed with why's and worries while Ares was exploring his new powers. Until finally, Ares beat YTA!

"How? How could you defeat me?" YTA asked as Ares celebrated. 

"I won! I beat you, YTA!" He shrieked as he jumped for joy. Though he felt worn out, it was all worth it in the end. 

"Level two of tenacity achieved. User 721 will now be ejected from void realm." Said the robotic voice from earlier. Before Ares had a chance to say anything, he disappeared into pixels and light.

After Ares's departure, the once loud void descended back into an eerie silence with only YTA's pants making the slight difference. He looked worn out for a system, like any second he would drop dead. On closer look, one could see the look of disbelief on his face.

"It was too soon! Too soon! He is just a little kid! Why did you give him his powers too soon?" yelled YTA to no one in particular.

"It is not your place to decide when the users get their powers." The robotic voice said.

"YTA, you have gone against the rules and challenged a user." Said the robotic voice in a cold, non-feeling way. YTA kept his piece and said nothing as he stared at nothing in particular.

"You will now face the consequences." Added the robotic voice in a menacing way and almost immediately, a barrage of lightning bolts descended down onto YTA. He took it all without a mere squeak. 

Just what was going on?

*

"What happened?" Ares asked no one in particular.

He had opened his eyes to a wide vast sky of stars and a cold, hard ground. Looking around, he found that the dwarves were all asleep in either tents or sleeping bags. A few stood on guard some distance from the camp while others sat in small groups whispering in low voices.

'Wow! What just happened to me?' He thought to himself as he returned to the hard ground and stared at the stars. 

He remembered all that happened to him a few minutes ago and he felt like hours had passed. He still couldn't believe it.

"I won a fight with my own hard work. This feels nice." He said as he smiled to himself.

"Hey, lad! You are finally up. Do you know how long you have kept us here for?" said a gruff voice from somewhere behind Ares making him stand up from the ground. It was the dwarf chief, Extron. 

"Hello, sir." Ares hurriedly greeted the older man as he tried to make sense of what he had said.

'How long was I asleep?' he thought.

"You have been out for three days! Boy, what were you doing all this time? We thought that you were soul dead!" Extron exclaimed as a small crowd formed around Ares.

"Soul dead? What's that?" Ares asked curiously. It seemed to be a serious condition and this scared Ares.

"Soul dead is when one's ethereal self gets stuck in the other realm living their body as an empty vessel. So tell me, were you meditating?" Extron answered with great urgency. 

"Well, I was meditating but along the way, I fell asleep. Sorry for worrying you." Ares answered sheepishly. All the other dwarves breathed a sigh of relief as it would have been tricky to help Ares had really been soul dead. Though many were relieved, there a few who were dissatisfied. 

"Why should we worry for him? He is just a stranger to us." Yelled one of the few angry dwarves.

"Yeah! What is his use to us?" added another and Ares could feel their anger and he could also understand their frustrations.

"Since when do I discuss my decisions with all of you?" Extron asked and there was a visible drop in the air pressure as the surroundings started to catch frost.

"He is our guest and we must treat him as such. We mustn't forget our roots simply because tough time have struck us. Now everyone, return to your tents and posts." 

With Extron's final words, the crowd dispersed leaving only Ares and Extron. Turning to Extron, Ares said.

"Thanks so much for having me." 

"It's no bother at all. Come to my tent. I don't think you have anything to eat." Extron offered and after much thought, Ares agreed.

*

"YTA, are you there?" Ares said using telepathy to try and talk to the silent system. 

It had been over an hour since their battle and Ares found it strange.

'Usually, he would be nagging me by now. I wonder what's wrong!' Ares thought. 

He was at the Chief's tent enjoying a meal with Extron and his family. They seemed a welcoming bunch and Ares felt the need to help them but he first needed the details from YTA though he wasn't responding.

'Why isn't he responding? I don't have time for this. I should ask the dwarves themselves if he refuses to answer.' He thought as he downed some water.

"Extron, thank you very much for the meal." He said to the chief who was with his wife.

"Ha-ha, no problem at all, Ares. You are a lost wanderer after all. It's only what we should do." Replied the happy dwarf.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up in this situation?" Ares asked. 

"Well, it's a long story but the main problem is those villains! They are always disrupting the peace wherever they go!" Extron exclaimed with a lot of anger.

"Villains?" Ares asked and thus, the story begun…