Chapter 7

Breaking into a sprint towards his father, Ozymandias tilted his body as close to the ground as he could, his left hand trailing in the snow. Closing the gap, he threw the snow in his hand at his father's eyes before slashing at his torso with his dagger. Or that's what he would have done if his father hadn't just stomped him in the face as soon as he came within range, sending him flying back and breaking his nose.

Crashing into the snow, Ozymandias rolled for a few feet before coming to a stop, his nose broken and his dagger missing; probably dropped either when his dad had kicked him in the face or during his roll. Blinking away the tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes due to pain, he slowly climbed to his feet, his eyes never leaving his father who was simply watching him with those same cheerful eyes.

Grabbing his broken nose, Ozymandias snapped it back into place, wincing as he did so before snorting out a glob of blood and mucus, clearing his passageway. Picking up a spear with a dull head, he twirled it slowly in order to get used to its weight and length, his single black eye slowly taking on a purplish crimson hue as he did so while his right-hand dripped blood.

"Eliminating my range advantage by using a spear. Smart" Aldos commented before taking slow steps towards his son, sword in hand. "Despite what your mother would have you think, raw strength and speed isn't everything" he instructed as he came closer, his eyes looking at his son with the same glee that a child had when they found a new toy "Not knowing how to use it makes you nothing more than a slightly more troublesome child." Entering the range of the spear, he swung his sword to counter each thrust his son sent his way before twisting his upper body to avoid a particularly powerful thrust, before taking a half step forward and bringing the sword down on his son's shoulder, aiming to break the bones there with a single chop.

However, his son had grown more durable since their fight the previous day, resulting in the dislocation of the shoulder, much to his surprise. Kicking forward, he launched Ozymandias several meters backwards, watching as he used the force of the kick to enter a roll which allowed him to pop his shoulder back into place.

Coming to a complete stop, Ozymandias quickly got to his feet and retrieved a circular bronze colored shield that laid nearby, his spear knocked out of his hand during his impromptu flight. Tightening the straps of the shield to secure it to his left arm, he watched his father cautiously, trying to come up with a way to secure a victory. It was obvious that his father far outclassed him in all physical aspects, so a direct confrontation was out of the question.

"However, your mom isn't wrong" Aldos suddenly said, throwing the sword at his son, the blunt weapon cutting through the air as it sailed towards the boy. He wasn't going to be able to stop that. Ozymandias didn't know how, but he knew that the shield in his hand simply couldn't block the sword, and even if it could, the shock from the sword and shield colliding would break his forearm at least.

Making the split decision, he threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the sword which then proceeded to crash into one of the trees at the edge of the training ground, breaking through not only that tree but several others behind it. Before he could take a breath, his senses screamed at him to raise his shield as his father appeared in front of him, his fist cocked back and the same smile on his face. "Strength opens doors that knowledge can't" he swung his fist forward, slamming it into the adamantite shield.

Despite the material the shield was made of, it was unable to withstand the force of the blow and shattered the instant Aldos's fist connected with it. Grabbing one of the shield fragments in the air in a show of speed, Aldos placed it against his son's neck. "Only with strength, speed and knowledge combined can you truly say you have power" he finished, pressing the fragment closer to Ozymandias's neck, feeling a bit of resistance before a thin line of blood ran down his son's neck. "It's my win again"

"Think again father" Ozymandias said as his scared expression morphed into one of triumph, his mismatched eyes moving to his father's gut. Following his son's gaze with confused expression appeared on his face, Aldos burst into laughter as he stared at his son's blood covered dagger inches away from his gut. Ecstatic over his pseudo victory Ozymandias broke into laughter as well, the pain of his injuries suppressed by the joy he felt.

Pulling away the shied fragment, Aldos tossed it aside before sitting down on the ground, indicating for his son to sit next to him. Sheathing the dagger, Ozymandias sat on the floor next to his father who was on his back staring at the sky. The two sat in silence while Ozymandias pulled up his sleeve to reveal a long scar which was disappearing rapidly. Eyeing the disappearing scar, Aldos chuckled as he realized what his son had done.

"You concealed the dagger in your own arm to make me think you'd lost it" he said before bursting into laughter. "You're definitely your mother's son" he laughed from his position on the floor.

"Dad" Ozymandias called.

"Hmm?" Aldos responded, wiping the tears away from his eyes. "What is it?" he asked.

"Where did you learn how to fight?" he asked, touching his neck, only to notice that the wound had closed, leaving not even a scab behind. He had first noticed his improved healing during his fourth day of 'training' and his dad had told him that it was simply him growing up. He didn't understand it, but he wasn't going to question it.

"Life is an excellent teacher" Aldos replied calmly, a distant look in his eyes as he was mentally transported several years back. "I didn't know my father or mother" he started, causing his son to pay even more attention to him. Ozymandias knew next to nothing about his dad's past and by the time he worked up the courage to ask, Aldos was usually gone; off to places unknown.

"Growing up on the streets taught me how to observe the area and people around me" he continued, "How they thought, how they moved and how they reacted. I learnt to watch for the smallest twitch, the littlest tick that would give away the thoughts and actions of the person I was observing. Thoughts and actions that they hadn't even thought of themselves" Aldos explained while staring at the grey sky above. "Although you could say my eyes played a large part in that" he chuckled, his purple eyes glowing dimly.

Knowing that his parents eyes were special, Ozymandias simply nodded his head, wondering when his own eyes would turn special like theirs. It had been a while since his eyes started changing, but apart from making the world look more detailed, nothing had changed.

"Then the war came" he heard his father continue, causing him to snap out of his musings. Keeping silent Ozymandias listened with rapt attention kept silent as Aldos mentioned the war. From the stories his mom had told him about her glory days, he knew there was a war which ended a few years before he was born. Apart from that and the fact that his parents took part in it, he knew nothing else about it.

"I happily joined the army in hopes of either making my fortune or earning fame" Aldos gave a dry laugh which seemed to mock his past self's goals. "However, what I found on the battlefield wasn't fortune or fame."

"What did you find?" Ozymandias asked with barely restrained curiosity, enraptured by his father's recollection.

"I found death, chaos and the evil that lurks in all of us" his father answered, his voice containing traces of excitement and longing as he recalled those memories. "In the death that filled the battlegrounds, I found the purest of divinity, in the chaos that surrounded us, I found order and from understanding the evil I saw, I was finally able to find peace."

"What do you mean by that?" Ozymandias asked, unconsciously shifting back a few inches in fear and discomfort. He didn't know why, but something about his father always put him on edge. Sometimes it would be buried by the thrill of their training sessions or washed away by the stories his father told, but there were times when the discomfort would flare up. It made him feel like his father was a wild creature, waiting to tear him to pieces at the first opportune moment. Before he could dwell on this feeling, he heard his father continue.

"When I stepped onto the battlefield, things were archaic" Aldos began to explain, "Out there, laws, positions, lineages and race meant nothing when death was inches away. All that mattered there and will ever matter, is power."

"The first life I remembered taking belonged to a girl not much older than I was" he recounted, "She was covered from head to toe in armor that back then would probably have cost me more than what I could afford in ten lifetimes and wielded the hugest war hammer I'd ever seen" magic flowed out of Aldos's fingers, causing the space above them to distort and grow murky. When it cleared, a battlefield was revealed and a blood soaked, black-haired youth could be seen holding a broken wooden shaft in his right hand, panting heavily in exhaustion as he stepped over the dead bodies that surrounded him.

Standing in front of him was an individual whose body was covered with steel armor, the protruding bumps on the breastplate giving it away as female. Her clawed gauntlet covered hands gripped the war hammer tightly as her blue eyes nervously watched as the teen drew closer. Swallowing a mouthful of saliva in fear, she steeled her nerves and charged forward, swinging her war hammer at the teen's torso in an attempt to eliminate him in a single hit.

Avoiding the swing by moving backwards, Aldos watched as the hammer crashed into a female warrior who was trying to attack him from the side, the weapon smashing through her armor and blowing her torso to bits.

Unperturbed by the unintentional death she caused, the lass kept up her assault, the buildup of momentum making each swing faster than the previous, the accuracy and power growing and making it harder for Aldos to avoid, much less block.

The girl's assault on Aldos continued for a while, and soon a loud boom was heard as the weapon finally exceeded the speed of sound on the thirteenth swing. Faced with the relentless assault, Aldos soon found that the injuries he had sustained earlier were making it harder to dodge the attacks.

Making a fist with his right hand, he lashed out with an uppercut as the girl's hammer was raised above her head, rattling her brain and disorienting her and sending her to her knees.

The appendage smashed into her lower jaw faster than she could bring down the hammer, rattling her brain in her skull, stunning her and causing her to fall to her knees where she could only watch as Aldos picked up her warhammer. Giving it a few test swings, Aldos adjusted his footwork and stance accordingly and soon he was able to swing it without any issue.

"It's an interesting concept" he said in an emotionless tone, "Your hammer's weight and fighting style lets the speed and power of each swing increases exponentially" he summarized, resting the hammer on his shoulder, "Riding the momentum of each swing, a simple idea, but ingenious."

Finishing his analysis, he took a couple of steps back, waiting for the girl to recover so that he could resume the fight. Recovering from her daze, the armored lady slowly got up, never taking her eyes off the youth who was watching her with a bored expression on his face. "Here" he tossed the hammer next to her. "Pick it up" he commanded, his right hand glowing with a black light that blinded her.

The light died down to reveal a pitch-black replica of her war hammer. "I said pick it up," Aldos repeated again, a hint of impatience in his voice as he swung the hammer in his hand at an approaching soldier, caving in the man's chest and killing him instantly.

Picking up her hammer, the female took a deep breath and swung at swung at him with all the energy she could muster, hoping to crush him in one attack, only for her attack to be met with one of greater power that threw her off balance. Taking advantage of the opening, Aldos attacked with a flurry of swings identical to the ones he was dodging moments ago, forcing her to go on the defensive.

The fight dragged on for a few minutes, the odds only tipping more in his favor as anyone who interfered was crushed with a single swing and all attempts made by the girl to counter were broken through with ease as his competence with the copied fighting style steadily grew as each trick the girl used was seen through, analyzed, copied and improved as the fight dragged on.

Seeing that there was nothing more that he could gain from fighting her anymore, Aldos decided to bring the fight to an end. Stepping forward to press his body against his opponent, he slipped a leg between hers and with a small push, sent her falling to the ground. Standing over her, he used the hammer to break her shoulders, before raising the hammer over his head and bringing it down, sending her off to Valhalla.

"Did you ever feel bad about it?" a small voice questioned, causing Aldos to face his son who was currently hugging his knees, a guilty expression on his face. It was obvious that the incident with Grid still weighed heavily on his mind.

Killing had always been easy for him, nobody had been there to console him and he'd never needed consolation nor help in dealing with the aftermath. Now here he was, attempting to provide aid to someone who was in need of it.

Taking a deep breath, he began to carefully think of the best way to respond to his son while factoring his unique situation. However, he wasn't the best person to ask about things such as this and neither was Ordria, despite her being the more emotional one out of the two of them. "I never felt bad about it" he started, carefully choosing his words in order to not only reduce the guilt that was eating away at his son, but make sure that he wouldn't shy away from killing when the time came.

"You love your mom, right?" Aldos asked, deciding to take a different direction. Seeing his son nod, he continued on "And you want to keep her safe?" another nod. "Then you don't need to feel bad about what you did" he let out a sigh. Explaining was more difficult than he thought, so he was just going to half ass it and hope for the best. "Never feel regret about killing. You will need to do it often to keep the things you love and cherish safe. You must never feel regret over it, nor must you ever feel bad about the ones you killed. The day you do is the day you die." he finished firmly. Hopefully this would work. If it didn't, then he'd just hope life would sort him out. That or Ordria would get to him. Whichever came first.

Hearing his father's words, some of the guilt on Ozymandias's face vanished. Letting go of his knees, he laid down on the floor and mulled over his father's words. "I'd need to kill if those people from the Temple come back wouldn't I?" he half asked, half stated in a quiet voice.

"Most likely" came the reply.

"What would I need to stop them" he asked, his eyes staring into the sky above. Aldos knew that his son was under a lot of pressure and he probably wasn't helping matters, but he knew that he had to be honest and blunt. Lying to his son that he and Ordria would always be there to resolve issues would result in nothing but pain and misery.

"You would need power. More power than whatever the Temple could ever hope to achieve, more power than even the gods themselves" he answered with steel in his voice, his deep purple eyes dim as he spoke.

"Don't worry dad" Ozymandias saw his father's eyes dim and tried to console him. "I'll have more power than anything and I'll keep you and mom safe" he wrapped his arms around his dad, hugging him as he tried to console him.

"Awwww, the two favorite males are having such an adorable moment" Ordria squealed as she entered the training ground, a large basket hanging from her right hand while she held Synd by the scruff of her neck in her left hand.

"Last I checked, we were the only males in your life ástin mín" Aldos responded as Ozymandias broke the hug, "Or is there someone else I should know about" he asked in a joking manner, "Drowle perhaps?" he teased, his purple eyes shining with mischief.

"Not even in his wildest dreams" she snorted before sitting next to Aldos. Placing the basket on the floor, she brought out a small pot which-judging from the smell, contained the remainder of the rabbit stew from the previous night and placed it on the floor along with three bowls and spoons. As the scent of the food hit her nose, Synd slowly opened her eyes. As her eyes landed on Aldos, she suddenly got to her feet and spread her four wings, her spear manifesting in her right hand.

"You won't best me this time!!" she shouted, pointing her spear at him, her red and purple eyes staring at the man who had defeated her without even raising a finger.

"Synd that's enough" Ordria chastised as she placed her head on Aldos's lap, stretching out her body like a cat under the sun. "It was only natural that you lost to ástin mín" she explained before grabbing his hand and placing it on her short raven hair, indicating that she wanted him to stroke it.

"Fine" came Synd's response before placing the spear on her back and flying to Ozymandias's hair where she proceeded to sit, sending cold stares at Aldos every once in a while when she thought he wasn't looking.

"So how was today's training?" Ordria asked, holding back the urge to purr as Aldos stroked her head. Ozymandias immediately perked up and began to recount the fight against his dad, eager to let his mom know of his victory.

Letting his son do the talking, Aldos began to dish the stew out of the pot and into the three bowls. He handed one to Synd, who then flew off of his son's head and sat on the floor, increasing her size to hold the bowl properly. The second one was given to his son who still hadn't finished retelling the fight. The last bowl was for himself. Knowing his wife, she would most likely drink straight from the pot after heating it up.

"Mom, how did you meet dad?" he heard Ozymandias ask as he tore into a chunk of rabbit meat.

"Your dad hasn't told you?" she asked. Seeing him shake his head in the negative, Ordria grinned "Well then, let me tell you the story of the great and magnificent me" the space in front of them began to distort in the same manner as before when Aldos told his story.

"It all started when I left home at the tender age of thirteen" she began, the image of a young girl with crimson eyes and black hair covered in blood, riding into a crowd of heavily armed individuals on a giant wolf, a bloodthirsty grin on her face and a giant jagged sword in her right hand.