Chapter 6: Detour

The Primordial Goddess Nyx produced many children both with her consort and brother Erebus, and by herself. Of those children the most notable are Thanatos, God of Death, Hypnos, God of Sleep, Moros, God of Doom, and many more.

Among her many children are the Keres. They are depicted In mythology as Goddesses of Violent Death and female death spirits. They were drawn to bloody deaths on war torn battlefields and would circle around the fighting of man like scavengers in wait for one to be slain.

They were the sisters of the Moirae, Goddesses of Fate, and was said to make sure a persons life came an end when their sisters deemed it so. At present however, they have no such epithets. At present, they're only known as the children of Nyx.

Exiting the portal, Ares was confronted with not gardens of nymphs or frolicking animals, but three women wearing purple cloaks in a dimly lit, cellar- like room seated side by side at a long, black rectangular table.

All three were identical with heart shaped faces and thin but long, black hair that flowed pass their shoulders. Their skin was pale but not the ivory color of their mother or brothers. Having pale gray skin, they were not beautiful nor ugly, with sunken eyes that had black sclera's and purple pupils.

"Mother." The three said simultaneously, their voices cold and hollow. Walking towards the table and sitting down, Nyx gestured the three males to follow suit. Thanatos moved first sitting beside his mother followed by Ares and the reluctant Hypnos.

"Ares I would like you to meet my daughters." Ares raised an eyebrow. "Daughters?" Ares asked, confusion laced in his tone. Nyx had many children and mythology is altered depending on the perspective. Ares couldn't be sure as to who these women were. They could be the Moirae, the Erinyes, who are also known as Furies, or even the Keres.

Nyx continued, "Yes, daughters. They will be your companions as your divinities go hand in hand. Ares, although your divinity is in war you have yet to experience such an event. Same goes for my daughters. Though they are Goddesses of Viloent Death they have been working with Thanatos who, although he is a God of death, its the peaceful kind. Through each other you will grow. They will be your eyes and ears for when there is war. You will either be in the midst of battle or manipulating it's outcome. Regardless, both you and my daughters will receive benefits. As the God of War, you will gain your strength from the brutality of the warfare. And in showing your self in the midst of battle, if you choose to do so, will arouse the fighters belief in you and you will hear pleas in your name for glory. My daughters the same. They can feast to their hearts desire before sending the souls to Tartarus. They will grow stronger with each endeavor and in turn will provide you with assistance whenever need be." Nyx finished, her gaze on her daughters.

Ares was confused. Not that he didn't understand what was going on, he did. He knew now they were the Keres, Goddesses of Violent Death. Nyx even said so herself!

The thing he didn't understand was why Nyx was doing this. All he wanted to do was go to the Cyclops's and get his weapon made!

"Honestly Lady Nyx, I don't really want any companions. And plus, I'm going to be shadowing Thanatos when he goes on his hunts. I understand your logic on the whole thing but I want to experience things on my own first. Like you said, I might go to a human city and manipulate a war or, even change my appearance and participate. I'm young. Before I settle on my seat as a God on Mount Olympus, I want to live." Ares started softly before finishing with a prideful tone. There was silence. Seconds went by before Nyx began to speak, "Ares I thi-"

"Hey do you guys want to fight?" It was Ares who spoke, his question directed at the three sisters. For some reason he really wanted to fight the sisters. After fighting Thanatos for so long, he was excited to go out and face new opponents. He was honestly thinking about causing a ruckus in the forge and fighting a cyclops if he were home. However they are not on Olympus and the three sisters just happened to be the next best choice. "They do no-" Nyx was cut off again, this time by Thanatos, "I think they should. My sisters usually stay cooped next to my other sisters; it would be nice to see them exercise for once."

*CLAP*

"Then its settled!" Ares clapped his hands excitedly. A wide blood thirsty smile on his face. The daughters of Nyx have yet to say anything. Throughout the whole ordeal they were as unnoticeable as a fly on the wall. But, one of the daughters, unlike her two sisters who kept their cold exterior, slightly curled her small gray lips upwards at Ares' behavior.

Thanatos snapped his fingers and extended the room they were in to allow the four combatants to fight with no worries.

Ares was already up, jovially skipping to the center of the now makeshift room. Shaking her head Nyx gestured for the three girls to follow Ares as she knew it was futile to say otherwise. Acquiescing, the three girls moved to the center of the room opposite Ares. Thanatos then appeared in the middle of the four signalling them to start, "Begin." His raspy voice called out.

No one moved. Both Ares and the sisters were warily eyeing each other; Ares with his worn sword in his hand and the sisters bare handed. Testing the waters, Ares quickly moved from his place and appeared in front of the sisters, swinging his sword horizontal across their necks in an attempt to decapitate all three. Floating backwards, the sisters moved into a triangle formation with one sister behind two and simultaneously conjured a black mist that ate away at the area around them and sent it to Ares. Still recovering from his attempted decapitation Ares barely had time to dodge but successfully evaded the mist by stomping on the ground, and with the winds produced by his stomp, dispersed most of the mist that would have injured him considerably.

Ares however, was still not without injury. His legs and feet were caught in the mist and were slowly replacing the skin that was eaten away by the mist.

Looking at this Ares couldn't help but smile. He wanted more.

Ares again quickly appeared in front of the women but this time decided to isolate one of the sisters as he can tell they're more comfortable attacking together rather than individually. Successfully dividing the sisters, Ares engaged one in close quarters combat. Something he quickly found out is a weakness of theirs.

It was quick. While the two remaining sisters were trying to formulate a plan to retrieve their sister, Ares had already dealt with her. Performing a couple of sword swings and using his overbearing aura, the sole sister had passed out. The combination of Ares' aura and her exhaustion was too much for the inexperienced Keres.

Turning his attention from the passed out Keres and to the other two, Ares quickly dashed towards them in hopes of repeating the process. Appearing in front of them, Ares began to spin, swinging his sword in between them causing them to separate.

Targeting a sister that jumped out the way and to his left, he raised his free hand and a ball of divine energy left it, "Chaos Sphere". From the palm of Ares' hand a ball of black and red energy immediately shot towards his opponent. It might be a little excessive but Ares was sure Thanatos wouldn't let them die.

The chaos sphere struck the woman and sent her hurtling to the other end of the make shift arena, slamming into the wall, and leaving her stuck and unconscious and her body contorted, ichor dripping from a hole in her stomach.

About to turn his sword to the last remaining sister he heard something that shocked him greatly, "I yield… Master."

"M-Master?" Finally facing the last sister he was not only shocked by her words but also her appearance. What once was a sickly looking woman is now a crow with horns on its head with her previous eye color of black sclera's and purple pupils replaced by piercing red eyes with no visible pupil.

"Yes. My sisters and I have longed for someone such as yourself to come and provide us with the means to grow stronger. We've encountered many beings who could do such a thing but even our sisters, The Moirae, told us of how we will eventually come across you and everything will fall into place. You can call it, fate, if you will." (A/N: I'm sorry I just had too!) The crow said, who during her speech, flew onto Ares' shoulder.

Ares was conflicted. He wanted to grow by himself. He wanted to experience ancient civilizations and visit different pantheons but he also knew that during these journeys a companion will be ideal. Having a second par of eyes would be ideal for scouting or in case of any trouble he finds himself in. There's also the added benefit talking to her instead of himself when he's bored.

"Fine." Ares said turning to the crow, "But only you." The crow nodded solemnly and flew off, transforming back to her human form and collecting her sisters.

"By the way, I never got your names." Now that Ares thought about it Nyx only introduced them as her daughters and not individually. Even in his past life when looking up Greek myths he never came across their names. He only knew they were called the Keres.

"We have no names. We are only known as Keres." Ares looked at Nyx with a disapproving gaze. 'They're identical! At least give them some individuality!' He thought. "Well since you will be with me for the foreseeable future I'll give you a name. How about… Praeco? It's means herald of war."

Praeco, who had already finished moving her sisters to their mothers side, transformed back into her crow form and perched back on Ares' shoulder. Bowing her head slightly she replied, "I am grateful for such a name master. I hope I will live up to my names sake and in doing so exceed your expectations."

"We'll see Praeco." Ares said scratching the top of her head, a small smile on his face. Now that we're done with this detour, could you take me to Olympus?" Ares asked turning to Nyx. Not saying a word, Nyx opened a portal, and the four, plus a new companion, were finally on their way to Olympus.