BXBX NOVEL Chapter 40: Who is Ikaris?
"Master," Ikaris closed the gap between them, rested her forehead in the crook of his neck and tightly wrapped her hands around his torso.
"Please, this is enough, for my sake, calm down," Ikaris pleaded with him while she listened to his irregular heartbeat, and in the next moment the winds died down, the mana dispersed, and the atmosphere returned to normal, leaving the entire camp silenced as the heroes, soldiers and captains stared at him in shock.
"W-what just happened?" Idria came running over after she felt the storm of mana calm down, what she found was Sol and Ikaris standing in the midst of a ring made from blood and guts while everyone stood attentively in the process of recovering from what had just happened.
The next thing she noticed was Kane's head at Grim's feet.
"This mission has yielded a failure," Sol commented, looking at Grim, and the general nodded, he had come to the same conclusion, with the soldiers as they currently were there was no way they would be able to face a horde of demons.
"I had already issued an order to retreat back to Argom and regroup after a briefing with Her majesty." Grim admitted resting his spear and sighing. "There are a lot of questions I need to ask you Vestic, I hope you can give me more than just a quick reply as you usually do," He stared down at Kane's head once more.
"I'm not obligated to answer anything, but I hope you understand that what happened here can't become public knowledge, it would demoralise your entire army to know that they were attacked by servants of the former god of dragons; Diablos, on a personal order," Sol warned him, and thean nodded again.
"Diablos?" Idria asked surprised, and Eris turned to her with a nod. "Former god?"
"Master Vestic!" Renia appeared at his side through her chaos magic, startling everyone again when a partially conscious Sara stepped from behind her before regaining her awareness and looking around.
"Did something else happen?" Renia asked, holding her blade firmly and looking around, but all she found were estranged stares as Sol was being held tightly by Ikaris and everyone else seemed both shocked and exhausted.
"Renia," Sol reached out and rested his hand on her head. "You said you couldn't help much, but you did end up saving a lot of lives last night, thank you," He smiled at her and his eyes slowly closed while he looked at the system window.
[Penalty for forced divinity; extreme fatigue].
"Did he just fall asleep?" Dina attempted to help Ikaris when she almost fell over with Sol but stopped in her tracks when Sara and Renia caught him.
"I suppose we can question him after he wakes," General Grim gestured to one of his soldiers who was keeping his distance while the main characters had the spotlight.
"Sir!"
"Preserve this head, even if he truly was a traitor, Kane was still a captain, he deserves some kind of burial I suppose,"
"You are believing his story, then?" Sir Morn asked, and general Grim nodded in approval.
"Sol appears to be many things, but a liar is not one of them, I am sure you remembered his threat upon arrival; anyone who dares touch Ikaris will be subject to his wrath," Grim pointed out.
"We have seen such wrath today," he looked at the clean cut on the neck, "it appears that he was the one responsible for saving us earlier as well, this cut is perfectly identical to the others I have inspected."
"Sol?" Han stared at him being carefully held and carried away by the three women. "He saved us, him?" He asked.
"I am not even surprised," Eris admitted with an exhausted sigh. "He has always stuck his nose where it doesn't belong, that is how he has always been, it's just a pity that he forgot,"
"How long have you known Him?" Arla looked to Eris curiously while everyone else aside from the other heroes slowly left to finalise their retreat.
"Sol was an orphan, I have known him all my life, since we came from that same orphanage, but while I was adopted he never was, I remember he used to beat up the bullies and stick up for the smaller kids all the time when nobody else would," She stuck her hands into the pockets of her bloodied medic vest and started walking.
"It was a surprise meeting him in college again, but he didn't even recognise me, it seemed he must have had a rough life, he got in on a scholarship but his attendance was so poor that he was probably going to get kicked out anyway, and he was probably mixed in with the wrong crowds too, but I never imagined I'd get to see that side of him again, protecting what he loves and cares for..." Eris admitted.
"That month he disappeared for changed him though, because I never expected that Sol would be this level of violent, just what kind of relationship do they have to make him this protective of her, what level of devotion do they have for each other that would make Sol threaten the gods themselves?"
"So he's had a hard life, and Ikaris did say that all they had was each other, he must have lost his mind when he thought he was going to lose her," Usami kept pace with Arla and Eris.
"We're here too though, they aren't alone anymore, right?" She asked, but everyone disagreed with that, especially Arla who had just witnessed Sol address the red-haired woman as Renia, the same name as the goddess of chaos, and she had called him 'Master'.
Sol and Ikaris were alien to this world, but now that she had heard Eris's take it was clear that something drastic happened in that one month of absence plus she heard that Ikaris and sol had known each other for a year by that point, so there was definitely something; something than only he and Ikaris were privy to.
"Eris," Arla called to her as soon as she took a seat, and following her the other heroes found seats as well. "What are the gods of your world like?"
"The gods?" Eris responded with a raised brown. "I have no idea,"
"What?"
"Well," Usami intervened. "Unlike Arkadia where there is proof of the gods, through the system, magic, and demigod beings... and a united pantheon, earth is far more divided." She explained.
"There are many pantheons,any versions of creation, many different gods, from every culture there is a different god, but these gods are all regarded as legends or myths, children stories and false doctrines, there's not much we can explain, there's just not been any solid evidence aside from teachings that are kept secret for reasons unknown." She finished and Arla stared at her.
"Why the sudden interest?"
"I was curious, is there any god by the name Ikaris?" Arla asked, and everyone stared at her strangely, but again it was Usami who responded.
"Not to my memory, I don't know," Usami answered. "There is only ever mention of a man called Icarus, who through legend gained an idiom 'fly too close to the sun and you will get burned', after he flew too high and fell to his death, but he is merely another myth, and Ikaris is not a name I had even heard until I met her with Sol the day we were summoned."
"I have know him for around two years too, but I have no idea who she is or where she comes from," Han admitted.
"I saw her for the first time too on the day we were summoned here, right after his return, are you suspecting her of being some kind of god?" Eris asked, and Arla shook her head immediately.
"O-of course not, no god would behave the way she does... But that other woman..." Arla went silent when two yellow windows appeared before her.
[The goddess of war warns you]
[The goddess of chaos is watching you closely]
"Hm." Arla nodded with the most stoic expression imaginable when she realised she was overstepping her bounds again. "Nevermind then, I was grasping at emptyness and fantasizing about nonesense again, but thank you for answering, I am rather curious about him, but it seems only he can answer my questions."