Sniff Sniff
Smoke?
Barely coming to his senses, Sol was just laying flatly on his back. He was tired for some reason, so tired in fact, the only thing he managed to just barely move was just his eyelids, and those still felt so damn heavy!
But there was something wrong, very wrong. He wasn't greeted by his usual ceiling, but instead, it was just pitch black, so black he swore he started seeing shapes slowly forming out of no where. But his eyes were still functional, he could open, close, and even move them. What the hell is going on?
A while passed, well, that's what it felt like to Sol, but who knows, maybe just a second passed or maybe three years. It would be quite bad if it was the latter though. But still, even after all this time, regardless of whether it was a seconds. minutes, or several years, he felt like he was forgetting something. Something extremely important. Was it work related? He couldn't remember whatsoever!
The last thing he remembered was that he went to his sister's place with Ares to bring her a cake for... oh that's what he forgot. He forgot the cake
Wait, where the hell did the cake go, wasn't it in my hands? Wait did I forget to bring it from the shop? How could I!
Well, he will just blame Ares for the fun of it, might as well.
"Ares are you awa-"
He suddenly stopped, not because he knew Ares was most likely asleep but because he could feel his throat vibrating, but no sound was coming out. Instead, what he was met with was just silence.
"Ares!"
This time screaming even louder, nothing came out as well.
"ARES!"
Screaming at the top of his lung, hoping for sound to escape his throat, but to no avail. Nothing could be heard, nothing could be seen.
Am I stuck in a nightmare? What the hell is happening?
"Are you awake Sol?"
"Ares is that you? What the hell is happening?"
Still no sound came out.
What kind of cursed nightmare is this? What the hell is happening!
"Sir, he isn't corrupted, can you please release him from this seal? He's already been here for two days now."
Two days? What the hell is he talking about?
"You are blessed by mother, but he isn't, he's cursed. I know you can see that he hasn't succumbed to it yet, but you can't see that he's on the verge of corruption."
Blessed? Cursed? Corruption? What the hell are they talking about? Wait! That voice sounds so familiar, wasn't that the same guy from the cult? August or whatever? Why the hell is Ares talking to them, and so respectably for?
"I understand your feelings, but all we can do is just wait. He may seem fine at first, but if he succumbs to it, you know it's a fate worse than death."
...
A week later, a tall sturdy man with anxious eyes could be seen carrying a bouquet of flowers. He entered a seemingly ordinary gray-white house. It only had one story and wasn't as wide, but still a nice looking house regardless, even with few of the broken pieces and cracks on the side of the house.
After entering, he was greeted by a tall man wearing glasses, and unlike these past few days, he seemed to be in a bright mood with a smile on his tired face.
Seeing this, Ares eyes quickly shone brightly and he couldn't help but clutch the bouquet in his hands tightly, and quietly thanking Mother for listening to his prayers.
Chuckling, August quickly said to him, "Ares, it's a pleasure to see you again, please follow me, you can already tell, but we've got great news for you!"
Finally, the thing he was dreading on hasn't happened, he wouldn't know what to do if he lost his best friend that he's known literally since his whole life.
A moment later, the two men finally reached their destination, but they couldn't move forward basically a glass barrier was standing sturdy in front of them, isolating them from what they were witnessing. A giant black circle was inscribed on the ground, with a mix of pitch black, and pure white smoke, slowly rising from the outline of the circle, where the black and white smoke mix form a shape, and then disappear.
However, inside of that circle, a table could be seen, and on that table, an average height man was laying flat with his eyes closed, peacefully sleeping, as if he was in an eternal slumber. That man was Sol.
As time went on, the only thing that the two could do was stare at the sleeping man, until eventually, the circle stopped producing the smoke, and quietly dissolved into the floor, as if no extraordinary event just occurred.
Seeing this, Ares bolted to the door and eventually arrived right next to Sol's side.
Placing the bouquet of flowers right next to Sol, he patiently waited for Sol to finally open his eyes. He missed his friend very much, Sol doesn't know this but Ares has been waiting for Sol all this time, and it felt like an eternity to him!
A moment passed, Sol still didn't open his eyes, but Ares was fine with it, since he knew the procedure was done and Sol was safe. The only thing was that from now on, he was no longer going to have an ordinary life, he was unfortunately cursed and now in constant danger, of course Sol has no idea about any of this.
Suddenly, a burst of black energy suddenly exploded from Sol's body, throwing Ares directly to the glass wall, completely shattering it.
"Ares!" Seeing this, August quickly helped Ares up, but was also overwhelmed by the sudden explosion that was emanating from Sol.
Quickly helping Ares up, he quickly took out a small piece of white paper with a eye tatted on it, igniting it, leaving only a trail of white smoke. Both of them looking at Sol, couldn't help but be bewildered by what they saw. Sol's left side was completely covered in pitch black meanwhile, his right side was covered in pure white.
Before Ares could even say or process anything else, the strange thing quickly absorbed itself into Sol's body.
"Ares, we forgot the cake, this is on you!"
"Wait, where the hell are we? Did you punch the glass wall dammit? You are covered in injuries, why are you so stupid man? You have to take better care of your body!"
Even though he was wondering what the hell that thing on Sol's body was, he tossed it aside in his mind, and rushed toward Sol.
He couldn't help but tightly embrace Sol with tears streaming from his face.
"I'm so glad you are back bro!"