The Elo Stone

Four months later, Soban had become a huge part of the show in Caretaker's circus. He was sitting in his booth waiting for Caretaker's command. Sweat formed on his head as he anticipated the signal.

"And now for!" Caretaker began.

"Here we go," Soban said and stood up.

"The High Flying Kid!" Caretaker yelled.

The booth doors opened and Soban was miles in the sky. Soban looked down and saw the immense circus without its top. He leaned forward and fell out of the floating booth. He cascaded through the air and activated Erephos. Wind rushed around him and sped up his descent. A few hundred feet from the bottom he reversed the direction of the wind rapidly and a gust went through the stands.

"Here he is!" Caretaker yelled and brought out his beasts, lined them up then cracked his whip.

Soban floated down and created more wind that blew through the stands. Cheers came from everywhere and Caretaker pointed to curtains in the background.

"But what is this? Does the High Flying Kid have some challengers?" Caretaker said and cracked his whip once more.

All the beasts stared at the curtains and howled. The curtains opened and the Cousins of Nature stood in a fancy pose. They were wearing spectacular robes from the Shinto lands. With great speed, Dark Storm took off and swirled around Soban on a current of dark colored wind. He rose up to Soban and locked eyes with him. Together they flew up high into the air and traded attacks.

On the ground, the Sun Bringer and the Moon Seeker both began creating a small sun and moon. The light in the room intensified and the two celestial bodies floated around. Sun Bringer and Moon Seeker walked to the center where Caretaker was. The beasts were now bowing and Caretaker tipped his hat to the Shinto gods. They hovered off the ground and stood on their creations. Soban and Dark Storm rapidly flew into the stage and made a stream of protecting wind in front of every attendant.

"Let the fireworks begin!" Caretaker ordered.

The small sun and moon collided. Sun Bringer and Moon Seeker watched as burning meteors were scattered everywhere. It impacted the wind walls Soban and Moon Seeker made and each fragment was sent flying in the air. The pieces then vaporized into a magnificent flurry of colors. Soban continued to fly around with Dark Storm and flew into the colors as Sun Bringer and Moon Seeker began dancing with streams of colors following their every movement.

"Fantastic!" Caretaker said.

Soban knew that was the key for him to leave and leave the cousins to do their final act. He flew out of the tent and into the front of the circus. He saw a few people staring at the Juggler juggling things.

"Is that all you can do?" a kid asked him

The Juggler just stared at him and stopped his psychic Juggling. The painted mouth on his mask turned into a purple plain look. The juggling reversed its direction and a red smile appeared on the mask.

"You're boring," the kid said.

The kid turned, saw Soban and ran to him. The rest of the people around the Juggler did the same. Soban deactivated Erephos and greeted the people. He saw Anubis leaning up against a wall not wearing the headdress. With a wave he signaled Soban to come to him. Soban walked through the people and followed his brother into a room. Achilles was standing right in front of the door and when he moved away Soban saw Ares sitting in a chair.

"Ares!" Soban yelled with excitement.

Ares stood up and patted Soban on the head.

"You grew an inch, and I can tell that you are getting stronger," Ares said.

Soban heard a huge cheer coming from the main stage and knew the main show was happening.

"I have at least doubled in strength. That is all thanks to my sometimes friend, sometimes choke-me-in-the-middle-of-the-night friend Cerberus," Soban said.

"Cerberus is here with you guys? I heard that he died in battle," Ares said.

"He is alive. We have done many rank up competitions together but I have only beat him once. His power is beyond Achilles' now and it isn't slowing down," Soban said.

"Incredible! I hope you become stronger than him once you tap into the true power of the Hybrid," Ares said.

"True power?" Soban asked.

"Zeus has sent Hercules to the Land in Between, he's after the stone that limits the power of the original five high gods, the Elo stone. If he destroys it, only your true hybrid power will be able to match the five original strongest," Ares said.

"Does Hercules know where it is?" Soban asked.

"Yes, and he is gathering an army to defeat the guardian of it," Ares replied and got up from the chair.

"Who will get the power increase?" Anubis asked.

"Zeus, Hades, Hera, Poseidon and-"

"Hephaestus," Soban interrupted.

"No, me," Ares said with excitement.

"You were originally part of the top five?" Soban asked.

"I was, and when my power was taken away I didn't have any prime abilities to fall on so I was kicked out of the top five and replaced by Hephaestus. Although, now Hephaestus might even be stronger than Zeus, power up or not," Ares explained while pacing the room.

"So who guards the stone?" Anubis asked.

"A winged man that no one knows a thing about," Ares said.

"There is one thing we know," Achilles said.

"What?" Soban asked.

"Not a single person has ever harmed him, and even Zeus has fought him," Ares said.

"No way," Soban said.

Ares was silent for a few moments before saying anything else.

"While part of me is happy that I might get my spot back, I'm not happy about my orders after the stone is broken," Ares said.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Anubis said.

"I have to kill you, Soban the Hybrid," Ares said somberly.

"That's good, right? You don't have to really try to find me, only pretend to," Soban said.

"I'm afraid that that's not possible," Ares said.

"Why?" Soban asked.

"They are sending people to watch me hunt you, Hercules specifically," Ares said with sadness.

"Great," Achilles said sarcastically.

"Don't worry, seek out Shuno and have him teach you but only after you stop Hercules from breaking the stone. I want you to get there before him and steal it," Ares said sternly.

"I saw his mom, she told me to seek him as well. Also, I will steal the stone, you can count on it," Soban said.

"I was mainly talking to Achilles but if you want to join your tricks shall be good for this mission," Ares said proudly.

Ares felt a heavy presence walk into the room and his face turned sour. He turned quickly and saw the Juggler floating like normal. The Juggler moved forward and Ares stared at him in confusion. Soban took a few steps closer to the Juggler and smiled.

"Juggler, you're from the Land in Between, right? Do you know Shuno the Nature Lord?" Soban asked kindly.

Ares stepped behind Soban and looked at the Juggler's creepy mask with confusion. There was no response from the Juggler for at least fifteen seconds. The Juggler stared at Soban and slowly nodded. Ares stepped forward and looked down at the Juggler. A pressure grew as the Juggler floated up to be at eye level with Ares.

"What are you?" Ares said.

"A-" the Juggler started but didn't finish.

The Juggler raised his arm and held out his hand. Ares looked at it then back at the mask. The Juggler used his telekinetic ability to raise Ares' hand and placed it in his. Ares grew nervous and jerked his hand back but it didn't budge. The room was in disbelief. Ares pulled once more, this time much harder. The Juggler didn't move and his grip remained strong. Ares felt a wave of energy flood into him and he began getting weak at the knees.

"This is what Hercules was talking about," Ares struggled to say.

"You won't hurt him," a voice said inside Ares' head.

Ares yanked one last time and the Juggler let him go. He caught himself as he fell back. His hand was numb and he felt real fear for the first time in thousands of years.

"Soban, I will stall as much as I can!" Ares said happily, trying to lighten the mood.

Soban was focused on the Juggler and didn't catch what Ares said.

"Juggler, will you help me find him?" Soban asked.

The Juggler nodded slowly and floated away. Soban didn't know what he was supposed to do so he just waited and caught up with Ares.

After hours of talking, Caretaker walked into the room after his show finished. He was happily strutting around the room and removing his extra clothing and sat down. When he sat down his attitude instantly changed.

"I am greatly honored to have the God of War in my circus, but, why are you here?" Caretaker asked in a very serious tone.

Soban got a bit nervous, Caretaker only got serious during the hours following his show. No one even socialized with him during this time, not even the Juggler.

"We discussed with the Juggler that we will go after Shuno to get Soban training, specifically his hybrid power," Ares said.

"Is that so?" Caretaker said.

Caretaker whipped his top hat off and it spun around and landed on the table.

"And we are going to go and steal the Elo stone, a few of your circus members have volunteered to join, also the Juggler was there so I'm not sure people wanted to say no," Ares continued.

"The Juggler?" Caretaker asked.

"Yes," Ares said.

"Come, Juggler!" Caretaker yelled.

The Juggler instantly teleported into the room.

"Did you force anyone to do anything?" Caretaker said.

The Juggler didn't respond and Caretaker nodded his head.

"I see, no worries then," Caretaker said.

"What just happened?" Soban asked.

"We head out tomorrow!" Caretaker yelled and leapt from his seat.

"Good, here is a map to the location, be safe, Soban," Ares ordered then left the circus.

Caretaker bounced around the room, grabbed his top hat, and left.