Secrets

"Do you think that I will back away just because of these factors? I already made the impossible by surviving in a forest for two whole months, I won't get frightened because of an exam. Bring it on!" Ares arrogantly said.

Both guards lost the strength on their legs once being confronted by the enormous amount of confidence that the boy had. Actually, they weren't even expecting him to agree with those terms.

'I myself thought that it was too much for a fourteen-year-old boy to go through, but this bastard has a point... He may be able to go through our exam since he had the guts to survive in a forest by himself... Damn it!'

Giovani sighed while taking a chair and sitting down. He didn't know how to react. The last card that they had to play to make Ares regret what he was doing and go back to his village was worthless. Now, they could only count on fate to make Ares fail completely on that test and leave Stokil Fortress.

"Ok, if that's what you really want... I think I will talk to the Colonel and see what we can do about it," Giovani seemed to be two times as tired as before. He was really disappointed with himself.

His brother seemed to be way more carefree than him, though also frustrated by not achieving what he wanted.

'Well, no matter what we try, the only other way is to take Ares to Jasmine by force, but it wouldn't teach him a lesson at all. We need to do it by showing him that this place, and particularly the military academy, isn't a playground. He will suffer a lot if he goes there, and will see and make a lot of people suffer as well.'

Ares got angered upon seeing their reactions. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails got carved into his skin.

"What are you guys thinking!? Why do you want to stop me, huh? You don't have anything to do with my life! I don't even know who you are! I know that I am asking too much for you by staying here in your room and trying to enter the Guardians, but it doesn't mean that you can put your nose in my affairs!" He shouted, gesticulating furiously.

After his rage, he felt some of his muscles protesting in pain for the sudden movements that he made, but he maintained his countenance not to seem weak in front of them.

Donovan and Giovani glanced at each other. With just that glance, they knew that they couldn't say what they really wanted to.

"It's nothing. We just feel every day what it is to spend our life doing this kind of thing. We know the pain of selling your soul to a war that doesn't necessarily have something to do with you. That's why we are trying to open your eyes," Donovan lied. He was better at lying than his brother.

"Well, I don't give a damn to what you think about it! I will sacrifice myself doing what I want because I have my own reasons for this! You two never would understand how it is to see every inch of your soul getting reduced to ashes because you weren't strong enough!"

That was the first time that Ares really vented his frustrations with someone else about the day of the Phoenix's attack against Jasmine. However, it didn't make him feel better. Instead, it just made him realize that he was still too weak.

Both guards decided that it was better to go to the gates again and leave Ares alone. They, indeed, would never fully understand how Ares felt. That tragedy in Jasmine was well-known by everyone in the fortress, so they were aware of how much destruction and deaths it caused. However, for someone right in the middle of that chaos, the feeling was different.

Without saying bye, they left the break room and went to the gates together. Ares stayed in there and didn't move an inch until they closed the doors.

"What do you think, Gio?"

Giovani scratched his neck, sighing for the umpteenth time on that day.

"I don't have anything to think. I guess nobody can really stop this boy at this point. He really wants to jump into the rabbit hole and see where it will take him."

Both stayed silent for a while.

"Kavir would be disappointed if he knew that we failed...", Donovan commented. "He taught us a lot, but even so never asked anything. The only thing that he ever requested was to stop his son when the time came..."

Giovani clenched his fists. His eyes were filled with tears.

"He knew that it would happen. He made everything that he could to stop Ares from something that he predicted that would come true. Seeing all his efforts vanishing like this just makes me sad," he vented.

"Do you have any idea why he didn't want Ares to become a Beast Hunter?"

"Kavir was full of secrets and enigmas. There is a lot on the past of the Stormray family to discover. However, he wasn't afraid of what would happen to Ares if he became a Beast Hunter, but what Ares would be capable to do... Arthur thought the same thing, I am sure."

Donovan gulped upon hearing those words.

"Kavir always said that Ares inherited the worst part about his mother. Do you think that it is his short-tempered behavior?"

Giovani utterly denied it.

"Of course not. If he was just short-tempered, it would be a different matter. I don't know if you noticed, but when you look at Ares' eyes there is something more that is fueling his willpower and determination..."

"Ah, do you mean..."

"Yes, hatred. I never saw someone so young that had so much hatred within his eyes. I bet that, if an Ancient appeared in front of him right here and now, he would sacrifice one or two limbs if it meant to kill the beast. Maybe, that's one of the reasons why Kavir feared what Ares would be capable to do."

"Do you think that the Stormray family knew something about the Ancients that nobody else knew? Maybe that's why they didn't want Ares to become another... another person like THAT man."

Giovani nodded.

"Definitely. They knew."