#dancr

+1 Any Weapon starter for @dancr

Something was... wrong. The whole situation was ominous. Strange illnesses and reports of foreign magic in a land where he didn’t know magic to begin with had him on edge. There was nothing clear cut about it, not like open fights in a ring or on a battlefield. These tasks called for more than brute strength, and he had to admit he was out of his depth about some of it.

This mission had seemed like his calling, though. Mages were easy enough targets once he got close. Their weakness was his strength, and while the reverse was true, if he just had the element of surprise, he could take a pack of them on.

The problem was they didn’t actually seem to be mages.

He waited in a grove of trees, Olivia at his side. He turned to her, speaking lowly. “Hey, who gave those ‘mages’ lances and swords? I think I even see an axe in there. I’ve never met a magic user aside from Robin who was equally as skilled with a blade as with a tome. What do you think we should do?”

He squinted at the weapons they were carrying. The oddly shaped edges of the weapons seemed to be offwhite, a couple of them even twitching. 

When Ares had asked the lovely Olivia to teach him the basics of offensive magic, hiking up a mountain was not what he’d expected. It was the Pegasus Moon in Fodlán and as such, the winged horses were roosting in the mountainous peaks surrounding the monastery. White pegasi were fairly commonplace in most regions but a flock of sable pegasi had also found their way to the monastery grounds. They were bound to be a glorious sight.

He hadn’t known the superstitions surrounding the beasts feathers though. Did it even count as irrational superstition or was there some truth to the matter? Olivia had told him she believed they could act as a conduit for magic, to amplify ones power. It would be a good place to start, certainly, if it were indeed true.

Ares turned around, realising Olivia was no longer in step with him. He pauses and takes a few steps down, extending an arm for her. He was much taller and his legs carried him faster and further.

“Sorry, I’ll slow down,” he said, watching her face, “we should see them together. Thank you for inviting me along.”

It was still up here, amongst the trees and peaks of the mountain. A chill was carried in the late winter breeze and Ares notices Olivia’s exposed shoulders. His hand reached to his collarbone, unclasping his cape and freeing it from over his jacket. He held it out in his hands for her to take, cheeks slightly pink; whether from embarrassment or the swift winds he would not say.

“Here, take this. You should keep warm.”