Confused, Sol was wondering what the hell Ares was crying for, and wondered why he said that. Suddenly though, Sol remembered something important, really important. The masked man!
"Ares, did something happen to my sisters?! Please tell me they are fine, what happened to that damn freak!" Freaking out, Sol was suddenly really worried, he didn't understand why he forgot about that, but he remembered! He knew it wasn't a dream whatsoever, he needed to know if they were both fine and unharmed!
"You remember? How?"
Bewildered and a little insulted, he couldn't help but agitatedly reply, "what the hell do you mean "How"? Why would I forgot something so crucial!"
"Well we thought it would give you a better chance of survival, you should've forgotten...Anyway, don't worry, they are both fine and well. You, on the other hand had me so damn worried and scared! I told your sister's that you had some urgent work to do so you quickly left without saying goodbye. They were quite disappointed but they understood your life, so you don't need to worry about them. Just to let you know, you have been asleep for more than a week now."
"A week? How? Also, you never answered my question, where the hell are we?"
"At the Guilhar headquarter, it's a pleasure to see you alive and well again, but please don't run away again, I promise you we aren't cultist."
The one to speak was a old man with a tall man following right behind him. He couldn't help but chuckle at his last sentence, after all they are protectors, but they were labeled as cultist by Sol.
"Mr. Solkan, it was quite rude of me to never fully introduce myself, let's start again. My name is Adam and I am the Captain of the Guilhars. It's a pleasure to to meet you, please follow me, I will explain everything to you."
Looking at Ares, he saw him nod his head and eventually agreed to follow Adam, while Ares trailed behind him.
...
Entering a room, there was a long table with six chairs on each side. He grabbed the first chair, closest to the door while Ares sat right next to him.
'The door is right next to me, heh, if I ever need to escape, I always can!'
"Let me start by saying this to you Sol, you only have two choices. Either join us, or commit suicide."
!!!
Stunned by what he just heard, he quickly stood up in anger, about to scream his head off at the man, after all, they were quite literally forcing either death or doing something he absolutely didn't want to do. But before he could say anything, Ares, quickly pulled him back down and muttered to him that he shouldn't say anything and just listen for now.
"Ares understands the world much better than you do Solkan, so please pay close attention. You will either become a monster devoid of your humanity or a guardian that protects humanity from these monster. Ares can choose to either have a normal life, or join us as well, but he gets this option because he is blessed, unlike you who is cursed. Using your abilities without being able to control them, you are just asking to lose your humanity.
"What the hell are you talking about? Abilities? Losing my humanity?"
Hearing Sol's question, Adam patiently raised his arm out and slowly but surely, small bright flames started slowly forming all around his wrinkly forearm, slowly crawling to the center of his hand forming a giant golden flame.
Stunned by what he just witnessed, he didn't understand how this old man was able to do something extraordinary like that, it was just like magic!
'Wait, was it magic? He did say ability, is that what an ability is? Will I be able to do something similar?'
Before he could come up with more questions, coughing could be heard from Adam. Looking back at him, Sol saw that he was holding his chest with his left hand and he was looking at his right hand, which had a smudge of blood on it.
A deep sigh could be heard from him.
"I'm cursed just like you Solkan, but luckily Adam and Ares aren't. They don't have to suffer as much as we do, but it still doesn't necessarily mean they are safe. In this abandoned world, magic-like powers exist. They are called abilities and everyone has it, but only those that are cursed or blessed by Mother are able to use it. My abilities are related to the mind, so if I wanted to control someone, I can easily do so."
"And what exactly is this cursed or blessed thing you keep blabbering about?"
Instead of a response, chuckling could be heard from Adam and soon after he started slowly loosening a few buttons on his shirt, showing his chest.
Sol looked at the old man in shock. There was a giant scar that stretched from his shoulder, presumingly stretching all the way to the right side of his stomach, but in the middle of his chest, there was a severe laceration.
'How can have someone have a wound like that and still be alive?'
A chuckle could be heard from Adam.
"I recieved this wound on a mission a while back, but I am simply unable to heal after a certain amount of time, that is my curse. Being blessed, you won't have a flaw that you have to face, you are truly free to use your power, without drawbacks. On the other hand, people who are cursed need to be more careful. They have a flaw that will activate everytime that they use it. It can be severe, or nothing too bad at all, and it will never be the same as someone else.
"Why exactly did Mother give this curse to us? Why couldn't she just bless us all?"
"We don't know the answer to that. All we know is that when Mother fought those other gods, she started blessing and cursing others on Earth before perishing.."
"So everyone who is the descendant of the people from a thousand years, they are the ones that can have these abilities?"
"Almost. Everyone who is a descendant already has an ability, but its Mother's power that's still lingering till this day, that either blesses, or curses them. That's also why Mother is still able to grant some requests even though she is no longer with us, her powers listen to the voices of her devotees, granting them their wish, sometimes. She was truly frightening and amazing at her peak.
He clenched his fist that was hanging on top of his lab, stunned by what he just heard, with his eyes slightly shining, before slowly dimming remembering that although he get to use magic-like abilities, he has to live through constant danger throughout his whole life.
"Now, I will get back to saying what I saying earlier."
"Join us, or die."