Grass covered the land in all four directions, without a single flower, without any bushes or signs of life.
In the far off distance, Ares could see some vague mountains to the north and west, a blurry city to the east, and a river to the south.
‘Has my vision gone bad too? Where in Tartarus’ name…’
[Welcome, Hero, to the tutorial area.]
[Please pick a name]
“What?”
Letters suddenly apeared in front of Ares’ face. They were large and blue, and floating in the air like birds. Moreso, a mysterious female voice began reading the letters out loud:
[You have chosen the name “What?”]
[Please confirm]
“Get the hell out of my face!!”
Ares swung his arm at the words, but it passed through them like they were ghosts.
[You have chosen the name “What? Hell. Face!!”]
[Please confirm]
“My name is Ares. Remember my…”
[Name “What? Face!! Ares” Confirmed]
[Please choose your allegiance:]
[Option 1: The Alliance]
[Patron Saint: Jeremiah, the wise]
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[Holy animal: The armored griffin]
[Option 2: The Beast Union]
[Patron Saint: Groth, the vicious]
[Holy animal: The flame dragon]
Ares paused. All of this was beyond his comprehension. Zeus, the all father of the pantheon stripped him of his connection with New Olympus, making him as weak as an average mortal.
‘He then sent me here… This was supposed to be the godless land of man, where I’d be forced to live within grasp of my ambitions yet unable to ever attain them. But what is this?’
[Please choose you allegiance]
The message repeated itself.
“I refuse. I am Ares, the one true God of war. I will not submit to some other God’s faction or Saint.”
[Please choose your allegianc
e]
“Do you not hear me woman? What kind of disembodied phantasm are you?”
[Please choose your allegiance]
“To hell with your allegiance!”
Ares swung his fists, trying to blast the messages away. In the not so distant past, whether they were creations of a phantasm or a God, these words would have been blasted to bits. But now…
[Please choose your allegiance]
“You can shove your allegiance up your…”
[The tutorial will now begin.]
As if sick of talking to the stubborn player, the words and the woman’s voice suddenly dissapeared. Ares was left alone, in the middle of nowhere, on his own.
His lips curled down for a moment, but he regained his composure and started walking towards the blurry city in the distance.
Not even two steps in and he could feel a tremor underneath his feet. The land was shaking, so Ares turned around.
There was a giant army of hairy humanoids heading towards him. They were muscular and tall, riding panthers on the ground and dragons in the sky.
“Is this my punishment? Bah, bring it. This isn’t the first army that tried to crus me. There’s not even a God among them.”
Suddenly, the tremor inscreased and a huge ruckus could be heard from the opposite direction. Ares turned around towards the city he was originally heading to, only to see an equally large army of humans charging towards him.
They were all clad in thick, plate armor, riding armored horses on the ground, and armored griffins in the sky.
[The tutorial will now begin]
[Please choose a faction]
The God of war’s face turned slightly pale.
[The tutorial will now begin]
[Please choose a faction]
The two armies were quickly aproaching. Their flying creatures cast dark shadows on Ares; their hooves and claws trampled on the neat grass field he admired.
[Please choose a…]
“Enough! I am Ares. I revel in war. One army or twenty, it makes no difference.”
[Are you sure?]
The female voice, monotone until now, suddenly betrayed a hint of emotion.
Instead of answering, Ares ran towards the human army. Adrenaline coursed throughout his veins, and a mad bloodlust filled his mind.
He clenched his fists when they finally got closer and with all his strength…
SMASH…
A charging horse struck Ares, flinging him into the sky, towards the beast army’s ranks. For a split second, Ares could see the two armies crash into each other, countless humans and humanoids get cut or impaled, total and complete chaos.
He smiled. The God of war’s ragged body fell onto the ground, in the midst of the enemies’ ranks.
His ribs were broken, he staggered to his feet, but a mad smile never left his face.
“My turn...”