God Rising: Battle Of Atela

"Such a fool" They all sneered. 

"And it"s a little human girl. She thought she could waltz into a battlefield meant for beastboys like us. How pathetic! She should go back to earth and help her mummy in the kitchen." 

"Well, I thought it was cool and amazing that she had that much courage to fight."

The boys turned back to meet see timid Darren who they cautioned to not talk to them or contribute a peep to their discussions.

They grimaced at his words and surrounded him. His little brother, Vincent, glared with the evil glints in his eyes before walking away from his pack. He had no business with what they would do or say to his sibling. He would have loved to watch, and also join in, but his sister was around somewhere. He couldn"t risk getting in trouble with his father.

The older boys grabbed Darren"s collar and derided him, "Shut up you sissy! Who gave you permission to talk to us, huh?" 

"Darren is a sissy!!! Darren is a sissy!!! He belongs in the kitchen! Cooking soup!!!" They sang, and it soon brought tears to the eyes of the smaller wolfboy.

"He"s crying again. I wonder what his tears taste like?" 

"Ew!" One of the boys elbowed his friend after he asked a ridiculous question "It"ll poison you and you"ll end up having hips and bosom milk like your mother."

"That sucks. I guess touching him is also infrectious?" They shoved him, and he fell on his back. 

"I guess your sister isn"t around to save you this time. Bye" They stuck their tongue out and made prodding faces at the feeble kid. 

He actually hoped his sister would come save him, but she failed to do so again. He got back on his feet, wiped the dirt from his white tunic, and the tears running down his cheek, then continued to tail them but made sure they didn"t notice.

Whenever he was alone, he"d hope for strength from someone or something, but he overheard his grandfather say he wasn"t destined to have such. That was the likely explanation.

Because of his imperfections, the other kids had a reason to pick on him, and his brother would join them. Sometimes he would watch and look out for his sister or father. The bullying continued for a long time, and he had a wrong seed planted in his mind for days that eventually ended up being years. 

They said he"d never be strong, and from the looks of it, he didn"t have the potential. He was different. He would have been mistaken for a human if not for the ears that stuck out of his head.

He had support and positive motions from his sister, mother and father, but it couldn"t change the fact he was weak, and had no magical aura. No spells worked, transferring powers failed to prevail as well. 

The society labeled him as the beastman with no powers, and soon each and every clan got to know about the heir of the wolf clan that was weak.

When his sister died, he lost protection. Without Her around to report the bullying to her father, Vincent and his gang used chance to pummel the kid into a b.l.o.o.d.y. Sometimes his father would be too busy to notice, and whenever he noticed it, Darren would say it was part of training. The older kids told him that keeping quiet about things would make him grow stronger and have an S cla.s.s endurance skill, so he did as they said and became a punching bag to all the males in the school. 

He wasn"t getting better. In fact, things got worse. He slipped into a phase of depression and abhor for the people around him and the entire world. The lowest rank user in the magic training camp was stronger than him. That was something that was opened to all. The girls could also take him on in a fight, and chances he would lose were high.

He burned through most of his pre-teen years as a punching bag, and the instructors never took him seriously and trained the kids with potential instead of him. 

Some girls clung to him because of his pleasant looks, and some liked him because of the excellent traits. But that didn"t stop them from having eyes on the teen wolves with muscles. Darren felt out of place everywhere he went, and he eventually gave up.

Marcellus hardly addressed questions and brought up topics about his son"s misfortune. Whenever Darren questioned Marcellus would evade and give him money to make him happy or answer his questions with a question of his own. The Prince had a feeling his father was hiding something, but finding the secrets would be hard. 

A few more years pa.s.sed, and he clocked nineteen, a year away from his planned wedding age. He was still powerless. He had no knowledge of the many skills that he could learn, and he avoided school whenever he heard Vincent and his friends would be there. He stayed away from the practice arena because he didn"t want to face humiliation for being what he is, a beastman with no powers.

But now, he has a chance to prove everyone that said he"d never have powers wrong. A chance to win the demiG.o.d games and emerge the new leader of Atela. Even if it meant putting up with a rude human, he"ll pay that sacrifice as long as he"ll accomplish his goal. 

***

"We made it!" A positive feeling overwhelmed Artemis as they moved towards the red gate of the Feline area. Darren was absentminded the entire time until Artemis jabbed his eye with her nail. She knew Zircon would scold her for doing that, but she missed it so badly and had interest in doing it repeatedly. Even if it made him cry.

He placed a hand over the eye that hurt, then dashed the other to Artemis. He didn"t react the way Artemis wanted him to, and it made her heart sink. She was looking forward to his tears.

"Who are you?" A feline guard questioned as he picked the rat foot stuck in between his front teeth. 

"I"m Darren Livingston of the Wolf clan."

"Who?"

Artemis and Darren"s eyes widened in disbelief. He was not so famous after all. Shock rooted Darren to his place, and he barely moved a muscle in his face, but the unexpected snap of the guard"s fingers brought him back to awareness.

"Look Kid..." His voice was rusty, and he was impolite to the DemiG.o.d"s son. He slumped against his seat and threw a roasted fish into his mouth. The cheapest money could buy. "Tell me who you are or get out of my sight. How can you be a Livingston? Look at your form! I don"t sense any Aura from you...but the…" He squinted his eyes as he scanned Artemis hooded self from head to toe.

Before he could pose a question, Darren broke the silence and identified himself as another name he was supposed to know "I"m Darren Livingston. First son of Marcellus Livingston." He took in a deep breath and added his last statement, "I"m the beastman with no powers."

"Oh, no wonder" His interest in the both of them faded, and he turned his attention to his supper that was rounding him. 

"Can we go in?" The cat glared at Darren after his words. "I thought Vincent Livingston was the DemiG.o.d"s blood son and not an abnormal like you."

Artemis turned to look at Darren, wondering why he couldn"t address the tone the cat was talking to him with. Then again, it wasn"t much of her business. She thought best to not meddle.

"You can go in. Since you"re prominent, and also not prominent. Your father would pay the cost of any damage from your visit. Is that clear?" 

"Yes." 

He opened up a smaller gate for the both of them, and they went in with the horses. Artemis eyes moved from the largest buildings to smallest in grid patterns, admiring the neatness and the domain"s greeneries.

The felines were small compared to the others of the fay tribe, and they were all dressed in the pretties of attires. She noticed some sitting by shops, and some kids fiddling with blue fire from their hands. She couldn"t wait to do so as well.

Meanwhile, as the polished heels of his black shoe struck the roads, Darren was sinking into the suffocating misery he"d tried so much to escape. 

He paid little to no attention to the events unfolding around him. The people whispered about his presence, but he rendered the crowd he"d gathered useless and kept his eyes on what he came for.

"Hey!" Artemis pulled his arm back and his glazed eyes met with hers.

"Are you even watching where you"re going?" 

He turned and pointed forward. She tilted her head to the side, and could see the l.u.s.trous fountain of ancient flow, where the opal was hidden. Her face radiated, and she dashed towards it "I can"t believe we found it." She noticed the movements of the book in her satchel, then she brought it out after guessing Zircon had something to say.

"Task completed." A large mark sign appeared and shuffled to a new statement "The opal of healing is close by." 

Artemis looked into the fountain for anything standing out of place, and once she did, she stretched a hand to get what seemed like the gem.

"Stop!!!" Artemis turned back to see Darren who had ten guards behind him. She overlooked them and moved her hand further into the wellspring. 

She got it, and tried pulling it a shot, however it cut her hand off at the water level, and the pearl returned to its fixed spot with her hand connected to it.