"That is a rather sensitive topic." The chieftain chuckled to himself, relatively unphased by Ares' sudden declaration compared to the rest of the tribe.
"No kidding?" Ares gave a wry smile as he looked around and sheepishly waved at the incoming glares. "Still, I mean what I said and I said what I meant."
"Please pay the others no mind, we regularly suffer fools who believe their worth to be far more important than it truly is. It's not common knowledge we possess a Goddess's legacy treasure, only those who visit the country tend to know and, even then, they don't tell others because they want to try and keep this knowledge for themselves. Plenty have come to our clan in a bid to walk away with the treasure we guard but it has seldom gone as they would have liked."
Ares nodded in understanding. There was no hostility in the chieftain's voice which meant the treasure effectively guarded itself from prying eyes and thieving hands. The chieftain was very well aware he couldn't handle Ares but he didn't look poised for a fight anyway so Ares could make the simple deduction that the 'fools' in question attempted to take Thundraga's bow and were punished accordingly. "Makes sense, Thundraga wouldn't exactly leave something so important lying around without a lock and key, so to speak."
"And you still feel confident knowing this? You came to us with honesty first and foremost so I would rather not see you face the thunder Goddess' wrath."
"Won't happen, the bow is for me anyway." With a shrug, Ares gave the chieftain a non-chalant expression and remained silent which earned him a sigh in response.
"This bow was gifted to us for safekeeping so long ago now that we don't even know the rough generation gap between us and our forefathers who welcomed the Goddess. I see no reason for the Goddess to have predicted your existence and dedicated her bow to you?" A fair question; Ares practically a newborn compared to a Goddess like Thundraga and they had no direct correlation to one another, is what he was implying.
"It would be more accurate to say the person dwelling inside me is related to her, so technically it's not actually me she left it for, but I will be able to pick it up at least."
With a raised eyebrow, the chieftain thought the matter over. This was an oddly specific story so, to him, it was likely true as coming up with something so bizarre for no apparent reason seemed unnecessary. Ares didn't have to lie like this to be permitted to try and take the bow, everyone was granted permission unanimously and they would be judged impartially by the bow itself, so coming up with a fake backstory this unusual was pointless if it wasn't actually true. This, however, raised a separate issue. "Assuming you are correct, and the bow belongs to 'the person inside you', then I don't feel comfortable letting you circumvent the Goddess' wishes. We are passionate defenders of her legacy, we simply have not had a reason to personally get our hands dirty. This matter complicates that. Though we needn't interfere, that does not mean we cannot should there be a fault that needs rectifying." Simply put, 'we appreciate your honesty but all that means is that now we don't want to give you the bow'. Fortunately, Ares wasn't worried.
"Would your mind change if the person the bow was intended for speaks to you on my behalf? He's not trapped or anything... Well kinda. It's a bit complicated but the long story short is that I didn't lock him up inside me, a third party did. I'm not just using him to get the bow, we have a co-operative relationship. He can pop out and say hello, or take over my body with permission, so does that change your stance?"
The chieftain tapped his studded cane a few times and gave it some thought. There was still the possibility that Ares was lying, and could force the intended recipient of the bow to do his bidding, but again, why lie at this point? Ares had the tools to take the bow, supposedly, and he certainly had the strength to wipe out the village by force too. Being this diplomatic lent him credibility and, if nothing else, the chieftain was curious about how this mess came to be in the first place. Why was a man related to their Goddess stuck inside a random human in the lower domains? For the sake of his descendants he felt it was important to know this lore and etch it into the annals of their history. Their current traditions wouldn't exist had their ancestors not pursued truth so fervently, it would be disgraceful if he let an opportunity like this slip by and it turned out to be real... Though the rest of the tribe didn't seem to pleased and were more suspicious of Ares than they were trusting. Maybe if he'd approached the matter with more tact they wouldn't be so high-strung but Ares wasn't particularly patient knowing he could wield a Goddess' legacy treasure sooner rather than later. his desire for destruction, or more accurately the desire to multiple his destruction, with a bow of raging, tempestuous thunder was far too great to prance around the issue so he simply addressed it on the spot. "Then let me speak to the individual within you, please." Eventually the chieftain folded and agreed to speak to Dominus... Though whether that was a decision he would come to regret, after being pestered by him for half an hour, was a different story. Dominus was a chatterbox at the best of times and giving him someone who willingly lent an ear was nothing short of a mistake... Or at least Ares thought so, the chieftain proceeded to enjoy his talk with Dominus actually. His stories from the wider world, especially those about their Goddess Thundraga and her childishness at times, was heartwarming to him. The chieftain had children of his own who went off to explore the world and visited every now and then but he still remembered their cheekiness back when they were knee high; Dominus' tales gave the chieftain a clear picture of the kind of person Thundraga was. The interactions between Dominus and Thundraga were like that of a foster child being messed with by her drunken adoptive father, there was even a story of Dominus throwing her up into the air over and over again while she tried to swipe at him with her tail. It sounded innocent enough until you realised they were both at the level of deities and the carnage was anything but cute. Dominus chucked Thundraga off-world, through meteors and asteroids, and she descended like a shooting star with every swing of her appendage cleaving canyons into the ground.
Originally Ares planned on just having Dominus give the o.k to hand him the bow but he seemed to get along with the chieftain for some reason and their conversation went longer than initially expected. It only took thirty minutes for the chieftain to be certain there was no fibbing involved regarding right to the bow but it took nearly seven hours for the two remember there were other people around and waiting on them to finish speaking. By this point, the other tribesman had come around to Ares though it did take him cooking them some tasty meals to get them to calm down somewhat. They'd come to the conclusion that Ares was a vehicle for their Goddess' friend and, though it was technically correct, Ares felt no reason to set the record straight and clarify. The chieftain understood the situation perfectly and that was good enough in terms of brokering a friendly stance between the two parties. And it was in good time too as night was starting to fall. Ares had wanted to pick up the weapon today but, at this point it was better to stay the night and wait 'till tomorrow. Ares was planning on makin this place the base of his Akarala operations anyway. He was only going to ask after receiving the weapon, and proving his connection to Thundraga, but Dominus had solved that issue so asking for a small plot of land went smoothly. The tribe were confused when Ares summoned his family from seemingly nowhere but they brushed it off as Ares being a bigger 'vehicle' than they initially thought. If Dominus could pop out of him then maybe he was adept at using magic to carry people around with. The difference between Dominus, in Ares' soul, and his family, in the Blade, was considerable but, again, only the chief understood it. There were brief greetings between the two groups before everyone settled in the Roving Elliot, in the case of Ares and his partners, or a large borrowed tent in the case of Aejaz and his side of the family.
A small issue did arise, with a few of the tribesman being taken aback by Enyo's beauty but they were beaten back by their angry wives and Ares' warnings. Namely, he put up a defensive set of explosive runes that he demonstrated the effectiveness of and that alone was enough to quell any strange thoughts about sneaking up to the caravan when everyone was asleep. The chief also assured Ares they were good people who wouldn't do anything, they were just idiots who couldn't control themselves in the initial moment. Staring was the worst of it. It's not like Ares was surprised anyway, Enyo was going to attract people wherever she went, it was to be expected. The only reason Ares hadn't seen this in a while was because he hadn't gone to the Grecian lands with her where it also happened repeatedly. In that sense, Bellona got off easy. She wasn't sure how to feel about being glossed over so consistently whenever her sister was around but she also appreciated the calm of fading quietly into the background and having peace. Besides, even if Enyo didn't take all the heat Sandy was there too and she earned a few glances herself because she was no slouch in the looks department either. Funnily enough, Ares also got a few looks. There some single girls in the tribe who were swayed not by Ares' looks, necessarily, but by his position. Having multiple wives, and according to the chief Ares was an extremely important person on the level of the Gods, meant Ares was essentially a young chief in their eyes. They didn't understand what being a 'fundamental champion' meant, no matter how their chief tried to explain it to them, but they knew that Ares was a good husband prospect. This was where Enyo came in, assessed them all, and was displeased with every single potential candidate. She took on the role of shooing them away with stares and glares while the men of the tribe tried to find an opportunity on the rebound. They were jealous of Ares for being surrounded by pretty women, and Bellona who they didn't care for, but ultimately wound up grateful when they could swoop in and pick up those who were shunned by him. It was quite a strange atmosphere but it sort of worked out in the end with only Bellona feeling particularly insulted. She wanted to go and beat up those who had looked at her and promptly looked away but Ares soothed her with a hug, a kiss, and some hair stroking in bed. With a sharp grunt / exhale, she buried her head in Ares' chest, divided all his attention on herself for the night, and went to sleep content. As long as Ares wanted her then being the target of everyone else's scorn was tolerable... Though she would still use her magic to shrink the breasts of the tribesman's wives every night for a while until she got over it...
Night came and went and eventually Ares was able to separate himself from the clingy Bellona. Or, rather, when she realised how clingy she was being she being, and how much Sandy and Enyo were laughing at her cutesy behaviour, she let go of Ares with a red face. As if realising she was made of sterner stuff, however, Bellona then re-grabbed him and stuck her tongue out at the other two, one of whom dog whistled, that being Enyo, while Sandy applauded her courage with a nod. They all settled down and had breakfast before Ares exited the Elliot and met up with the chief.
"Are you sure about this?" The chief, already knowing the answer, asked anyway just in case Ares changed his mind. "Though the bow would undoubtedly accept Dominus, I can't say for certain whether it will permit you to grab it in his stead..."
"It will be fine... It should be fine... Legacy weapons usually check the soul of the one attempting to use it, to verify they meet the criteria for use, and Dominus is intertwined with mine so it ought to not be a problem... But, hey, what's the worst that could happen anyway? I get zapped a bit? You said the other people who tried to take the bow all lived right?"
"Most lived. Some did not make it and, regardless of whether they survived or not, it didn't look pleasant..."
"Pft, if we're talking about discomfort I've been through my fair share of that." If anything, Ares was understating how often he put himself through abject misery to become stronger. He'd long since lost count of the trials he'd put his body through and, to be honest, there was no need to keep counting. It was going to happen a lot, Ares was not taking the easy path through his cultivation journey that was for sure. Everything has a price and the better the reward the higher the price, there was no point in fretting over it anymore and Ares wasn't going to back down over something so trivial. Besides, "It's not really a problem even if I die." It was a massive setback but Ares wanted the bow one way or another! Anyway, that shouldn't come to pass regardless. The bow should submit to him without a hassle.
The chief led Ares for about five minutes through the village until the reached the dead centre of their encampment. Usually storing something important here would be a terrible decision but every member of the tribe was far too reverent to dare messing with the object within the large hut. Plus there were measures in place to defend against unwanted intrusion as Ares found out when two torches had their flames morph into magical entities resembling jaguars. The fiery beasts curled through the air before striding across the ground gallantly with a measured pace, keeping a sidelong glance locked onto Ares at all times while they prowled. They were rather majestic, and quite strong to boot, enough to scare away most cultivators who weren't near the upper stages of the transition realm. Ares, however, walked up to one and gave it head pats and scritches. The chief was here so obviously they wouldn't attack and Ares wasn't scared of their might as he was the bigger cat here anyway. The jaguar purred happily and its fires hummed to the same tune, flickering brightly before settling down. The two magical entities, once Ares and the chief left, took a small stroll to make sure there were no thieves lurking, curled up into a ball, and took a nap. They were asleep but still alert so anyone who underestimated them would get bitten to pieces and burned alive. Their real strength lay in their impressive speed and them galloping through the jungle would be the last thing most people saw.
Inside the hut, Ares' eyes had opened wide as he witnessed an anomalous warping of space. There was a whole lot of centrifugal force at play as random objects, like candles and baskets, were being spun around the room, forced to orbit a floating purple bow scattering sparks in every direction. There was an ominous chill up Ares' spine that threatened to zap him the longer he stared at the bow while the air crackled intermittently and purple, jagged streaks jolted from object object. Orderly chaos and measured bursts of pure, ferocious energy. It was quite hypnotic, almost soothing to watch as the bow floated above, untouched by the world below, wreaking polite havoc. It was a display of power but not a misuse of it. Ares could tell this bow could suck up the entire village, expand the range of its powers and turn this place into a deadly storm, but it was restraining itself in this fashion. It almost looked like the bow was meditating amidst its own zone of thunderous mastery. There was rhyme and reason to the objects whipping around, as if everything was being controlled perfectly to align with the bow's vision of which path each of its currents should take. A gigantic circuit, a puzzle pieced together rotation by rotation, until finally the bow dropped everything and floated back down towards the pedestal that it called home for the last few centuries.
"It does that every now and then but we have no idea why. Perhaps it's bored? Legacy treasures take after their owners and, based on what Dominus taught me, I can't see Thundraga as a child who would be content to sit idle this long..." The chief muttered to himself, as if having finally understood the bow's outbursts.
"It was pretty mesmerising, I can see why you would worship it. It definitely packs the distinct aura of a deity." Ares, who had come face to face with multiple Gods now could say that, with certainty, this was a Goddess' treasure. He didn't need verification and would have pinpointed it as such even without being guided here.
"Absolutely. In fact, it's a right of passage in our tribe that our young must undergo once they reach ten. They must come inside this hut and be lifted, and spun, by the bow's power. It is not harmful so long as you do not attempt to grab it and it is an experience quite unlike any other. Not that I need to tell you this as you'll be experiencing it yourself shortly." the chief gestured towards the bow and took a step back, there was no longer anything he needed to do here and was simply curious to see how it would all play out.
Ares took a deep sigh, rolled his shoulders, and braced for pain. There was no guarantee he would feel any, it might go smoother than he was anticipating, but it was better to expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised than go in unprepared! As if sensing his determination, the bow flared up again immediately and whisked Ares off the floor. He could have used Voidwalk to steady himself but the soothing sensation of being carried by harmless electricity massaging his back was indeed as otherworldly as the chief mentioned. Figuring he might as well go with the flow, Ares allowed the bow to drag him over to it while its powers rampaged around him. One wrong move and he would find himself zapped and toasty but the streaks of lightning and thunder bypassed him by mere inches thanks to his decision to remain unmoving. Slowly, bit by bit, he was brought nearer and near to the bow, allowing him to pick out more details. It was a decently intricate thing which must have aligned with Thundraga's somewhat rich tastes. She liked tea, spoke with condescension and a stiff upper lip to subordinates, and purchased unnecessarily expensive furniture regularly so the bow seemed to mimic the ornateness of her aesthetic preference. Ares reached out to the bow, to grab it and inspect it closer, but he was wasn't quite yet close enough and had to strain to lift his body forward.
Though the journey to the bow had been simple up until now it was evidently not going to be without challenge up until the very end as he now had to push through the last remaining barrier of space to reach his goal. In the absence of the pain he'd been expecting was a kind of lethargy and sense of nihility that was immediately familiar. Those who drowned in annihilation felt something similar, a desire to let go and be swept away by the waves of gold. In Ares' case, he was being lullabied into a brutal but silent storm, coaxed into being ripped to shreds strike by strike. Perhaps if he let his consciousness fade he would really perish here so he had to keep his mind alert. Naturally that became harder and harder the closer he was to the bow but he felt at ease the whole time. This nihility of destruction was his home turf, it wouldn't phase him. In some ways, he felt like he was meant to take this bow more than Dominus. He was a mere acquaintance, Ares practically lived and breathed the same magical theory Thundraga did. She might have even been a better deity to have by his side than Ignizz but he was actually available and she was too busy sulking over Dominus' disappearance. Either way, point being, Ares had no doubt in his mind he would acquire this bow, it was more like a woman who enjoyed the chase at this point and knew the end result but was struggling for the fun of it.
Ares believed he had this in the bag and, sure enough, his hand eventually reached the bow after another thirty or so seconds of dedicated effort. What he hadn't expected, though, was that it had one nasty final surprise in store for him... Or for Dominus, more specifically. Thundraga was like a tsundere to Dominus. Evidently she enjoyed his presence, and felt much grief over his death, but she would also 100% zap him as punishment for abandoning her if he dared return. The hidden shock she left in the bow was enough to paralyse Dominus, with the carried meaning of 'welcome back but also fuck you', but Dominus was a higher being with an impressive cultivation base. Using such a paralysis magic on Ares was the equivalent of using a tranquiliser for elephants on a baby. In other words, Ares saw a flash of white and then he toppled over like a fried fish, spasming on the floor as his consciousness left him entirely. The bow had disappeared, so whether or not it was in his possession or ran off during the flash was unknown, and Ares was out like a light. Bright with sparks like a light too as they jumped all over his body and made him jump off the floor occasionally. Thundraga's prank had been a tad bit too effective and struck the wrong person; Ares had paid for Dominus' sins! On the bright side, Ares wasn't dead... But it might take him a while to wake up, that was for sure...