Ares reeled back from the shock of the recent incident—men appearing out of thin air, fighting, constricted by invisible hands. Turning into a— Ares instinctively reached for his crown jewels. "Still a man." It took a while before reason snatched him back to reality. He was currently standing in a white alabaster hall; gold lines ran across the ceiling, forming a living picture of three suns and seven moons surrounded by the cosmos.
Were they moving? Ares scrunched his eyes. The more he concentrated, the stiller it became; but if he gazed at something else, the image on the ceiling changed in a way he could feel was different but couldn't pin down. He was wearing a white robe with the same emblem he saw on the ceiling.
"Where am I?" he wondered as he started investigating the room. The bed he was sitting on felt like it was made of clouds. It was a bizarre feeling. "What is this material?" He curiously analyzed the structure of the fabric, but from every angle it looked as if it were made of mist rather than threads. "How weird. Have I lost my mind? I've heard people start to see things when they're hit in the head." He rubbed the back of his head, where a small bump still throbbed. "Ma hit me pretty hard."
"Shit, so this is what madness feels like?" Ares chuckled as he let himself fall on the bed made of clouds. "Not too bad. I can get used to this!"
Suddenly, the door opened. Ares saw the familiar old man—the one who had appeared in the night. Instead of hatred, he approached him with a smile. "My man, sorry about the balls. I thought… never mind. I hope you don't take this too seriously," he chuckled.
Arwen didn't know what to do with this. That bastard had humiliated him in front of the elite of the Academy. If he were not his brother's son, he would have killed this fool on the spot.
"Eredin, mind your manners in front of the Rector," Arwen said as an old woman appeared out of thin air. Arwen gave a slight bow out of respect. The woman returned a smile.
Why does he keep calling me Eredin? Ares frowned.
"Hey, Grandma! I remember you. Thanks for giving my crown jewels back. This perverted old man changed me into a girl." Ares had come to terms with the idea that he had lost his mind, so he didn't believe anything was real. Might as well make the best of the situation.
Arwen blew a fuse at him calling the Rector "Grandma." What gall. His eyes burned with fire; he wanted to remove this ridiculous disguise. He cast two spells simultaneously: a gravitational spell and another to cancel enchantments.
"Ouch! What the fuck?" Ares's knees rang with pain as they slammed on the floor. He looked up, irritated. "What are you doing, old man?"
Arwen stared at him in disbelief. Why was the enchantment not canceled? Looking at that stupid face made him remember the humiliation he had suffered. He tried again; a weave of green strings formed in his hands again and again, but nothing happened.
"It's not fair! I don't know how you're doing this!" Ares struggled, but the chains of gravity tightened the more he resisted. He was starting to get angry. "What's your problem? Dude, chill out." He turned his head to the Rector. "Grandma, please, can you help me get up?" Ares was puzzled; this psychosis was getting weirder and weirder.
"What?!" Arwen was baffled that he couldn't cancel the enchantment of a mere student. His hands flashed again with a powerful weave.
Ares, puzzled, dumbly stared at Arwen.
Whizz… another spell.…Whizz… "I refuse to believe that I can't overcome this."
"Stop embarrassing yourself. Whatever you're trying to do isn't working." He turned his head to the Rector. "Grandma, can you please ask him to stop and let me go? I don't know what he's doing, but I can't move."
Arwen couldn't believe the gall of his stupid nephew—first bea… humiliating him with underhanded tactics, and now calling the Rector "Grandma." But he noticed that the Rector had undone his restrictive spell, so he found it improper to cast again.
"Ha ha! Thank you, Grandma—you are the best." He hugged the Rector like he usually did with his mother and flipped Arwen off at the same time. "Take that, you bastard."
Arwen stood there, dumbfounded, ready to end his brother's lineage.
"Put me down," the Rector said, a small smile appearing on her face. She didn't dislike being called Grandma or being hugged with affection. Ares immediately complied, loosening his grip and setting her on the ground, a wide smile on his face. Apart from that old man, being mad isn't all that bad.
"Are you Eredin?" the Rector asked.
"Eredin? Who is that?" Ares asked. Arwen facepalmed. What kind of concoction had this stupid bastard taken?
The Rector waved her hand; a golden coin appeared from Ares's chest. Ares looked at the coin in disbelief. "Wow! Cool trick. Now I'm shitting out gold coins. How did you do that?" He looked up expectantly at the gold coin. "Can you teach me?"
"Teach?" The Rector frowned. "Sure—but what do you think it is?"
"A gold coin?"
"Nothing else?" she asked, carefully reading his expression
"What else can it be?"
Arwen slapped the back of Ares's head. "Your badge of entry, you dumb bastard." Arwen couldn't control himself.
"What is your problem, old man?" Ares growled.
"My problem…" Arwen raged, but kept himself in control as he got a look from the Rector.
"You wanna go, old man?" Ares had had enough; psychosis or not, there was only so much he could overlook.
"Who do you think he is?" the Rector asked.
"Who, this bastard? One of my inner demons or something," Ares replied, still mugging Arwen.
"Inner demon?" the Rector asked.
"Yeah, he's been bugging me ever since last night. I know it's my first psychosis, but enough is enough."
"Rector, enough is enough. I will teach this bastard some manners. He has been running his mouth for a while. He is mistreating your kindness and keeps babbling nonsense. Please accept my apology for my nephew's behavior."
Ares was about to open his mouth when Arwen knocked him out with a spell. "Once again, I apologize on his behalf. I will teach him some manners."
"Arwen, I think we are the ones who are mistaken…" Something had been bothering her for a while. She couldn't feel any magic from the boy. No matter what kind of mana he has, she should still be able to feel something—but she felt nothing. That was bizarre, and her suspicions were confirmed when she undid the gravitational magic. She felt another spell in his body. The Rector waved her hand, and a red tracking spell rose from Ares's body. She knew the weave; she had personally taught this particular spell. She felt a headache brewing. "Find the children first, and we will deal with him later, when the children are safe."
Arwen's face changed immediately as he disappeared with the floating red spell. The Rector moved over to Ares, examining him carefully. "Who are you?"
Back in the wheat field, two figures stood in the darkness, staring at where a beast should have been."We're fucked!!" Eredin lamented