In a garden filled with flowers, mainly camellias, the twins were listening to their older brother, Ares the God of War, or better put, the distasteful aspects of brutal warfare and slaughter.
Ares is a tall man, 12,8m (42 ft). His skin is bronze, even though the twins could see lighter shades where he is usually covered by his armor. He can change the color of his skin, every god can, and in fact, he does when he is with Aphrodite as she likes his skin being all bronze, but every other time, besides on his face, he prefers the difference in tan to be seen, as that is the proof of all the time a warrior spends under the sun training or on the battlefield.
His short curly hair is blood red, but they were told by a few servants that it is said that they used to be black and that they became red from being constantly bathed in the blood of his enemies. They couldn't ascertain if it was true as his eyebrow, eyelash, and visible hairs were of the same red color. They could try and see the color of his pubic hair, but neither of them wanted, and they doubted Aphrotide would let him keep them. They just chose to wait and ask their mother, maybe he just personally changed the color, he is a god, it is not that difficult, he would just need to will it to change.
A few scars were visible on his defined muscles and the sharp features of his face, but they, again, weren't certain if he just chose to keep them or not, after all, there are very few beings capable of leaving permanent scars on a God, usually not even other gods could. The majority of the time it was the weapon used that makes it possible.
In place of his eyes, he had black cavities filled with flames, flames that change color and intensity based on his mood.
He wore just a red cape closed by a golden button below his neck. With it, he wore only a red skirt. Below his left arm, he had a Corinthian helmet, at his waist, opposite of the helmet, a sheathed xiphos, a sword similar to the Roman gladius. His spear and golden round shield were left at the entrance of the garden.
It has been just a few days since they were born, and their mother, seeing their weak bodies, asked (or better put, ordered) Ares to train them.
"How the fuck can you be so weak, you are gods of War, even Athena had a stronger body when she was born!" said Ares with clear disgust on his face after a little test on their physical limits.
"You never won against Athena anyway" rebutted Callie with scorn
"Besides the War divinity wasn't ours, we just took it" interjected Callistus seeing his brother's flames becoming blood-red and threatening to jump out of his eyes' sockets
"What? The fuck you mean, wanker?" Callie grimaced at the choice of words of her older sibling
"How vulgar" she whispered, hoping it was Ares being over the top and that not every other family member would be this crude. After all, they only interacted with their mother, Eileithyia, and a few servants.
"Aphrodite cursed us when we were still forming our divinities" Callistus chose to ignore the vulgarity of Ares and preferred to explain what happened.
Gods are one of the few races whose offspring are always new souls. There are other races with this trait, like Titans, Asgardians, or even Magi. Magi are in fact, mortals born with new souls. What distinguishes the Gods from the majority is that they are directly born with divinities.
"Her curse influenced us and we took Love for ourselves"
"That doesn't explain anything" interrupted Ares
"Let him finish!" said Callie exasperated
"From Love, we got to know War and so we took it. With the process of acquiring War we gained Duality, our main divinity" concluded Callistus
"Isn't hate the opposite of love?" asked Ares, this time uncertain
"Of course not! Love and war are two aspects of the same dracma! that's why it is said 'In love and war all is fair' " interjected Callie as if it was the most obvious thing since The Start.
"Right! War and Love are made to be together!" exclaimed Ares enthusiast, as if he wasn't the one doubting their words just a few seconds before.
"That is what I always tell everyone, Aphrodite and I are made for each other! I don't know what father was thinking when he gave Aphrodite to Hephaestus to marry!" he continued gesticulating with his hands to further prove his point
"They didn't even have any child and I had five with her!"
"Mother was right, she is a whore" whispered Callie to her twin who simply nodded
"I thought you had children in the dozens, with as many different women" said Callistus
"And?" asked Ares, failing to comprehend why would it matter
"Nothing, let us continue with the training" Callie finally surrounded, understanding that her older sibling is not all that bright.
"Ok, well we assessed your physical capabilities and now we reinforce them" bought back on track, Ares assumed a serious expression. Even though he governed over the brutal aspect of War, he knew perfectly well how to train someone, after all, you can't cause all that much bloodshed if you are the weakest of the bunch.
"Here, put these on your limbs, even those flying around"
"They are flying in place!" refuted Callie
"Shut it! You galah!"
"I will tell mother you keep calling us...whatever those words mean!" threatened Callie after the umpteenth insult
"Crybaby" was all Ares answered with a mocking tone
"I am not a crybaby!"
"Yea yea, just put these on" he said giving them eight wristbands each
"But these are all wristbands" noticed Callie
"It's the same thing, just put these on! You don't need to whine about everything!" he rebuked her, causing Callie to pop a few veins on her forehead.
Callistus just smiled at their antics and took the wristbands fluctuating in front of him. They were made of a weightless black fabric, but when he put the first on, he could barely lift his arm. He wasn't surprised at the change of weight, that was to be expected, but he didn't expect the weight to increase to such an extent.
"How much do they weigh?" so he chose to ask
"I don't know" answered Ares uncaring, but seeing his sibling looking at him as if he were an idiot, he chose to explain
"They adjust themself to nearly your limit, without reaching it. Hephaestus made them"
"Shouldn't they be a little over our limit? You know, to surpass our limits" asked the ever curious, Callie
"Yea and then you cannot even move, dunce" commented Ares, causing his sister to thin her lips in anger
"How come Hephaestus gave you something?" interjected Callistus
"Hermes gave them to me"
"And how do they work?" continued Callistus
"How the fuck should I know? Do I look like Hephaestus?" sarcastically asked Ares leaning his face near his brother and gesticulating at his face as if to prove his point
"So you don't know...wanker" said Callistus, whispering the final word, but the three of them were all near enough that Ares and Callie heard anyway
"Galah!" said Callie, without wasting a moment smiling smugly at her older brother
"DUNCE!" this time the twins shouted it together, causing a giggle to escape from Callie.
Unfortunately, Ares didn't find it funny and, in a matter of mere seconds, he used his divine power to put all the wristbands on their limbs, wore his helmet, and punched his younger siblings in the stomach, sending them flying for a few kilometers (1km=0.621371 mile), before they could touch the ground, only to keep rolling another few kilometers trying to stop themself.
"They have a few runes that do their thing" muttered Ares, clearly wanting to prove that he wasn't all that stupid, even though no one was there to hear him.