1 Chapter One

Olympus always had good weather so it was no surprise that the sun was beaming and sweat was gleaming down my body as I ran. Each step pounding on the ground as music blasted in my ears, blocking the sound of the outside world from me.

My chest burned as I sucked in each breath. I made a turn and began growing closer to my house and farther away from the outer city. My house was the farthest from the other gods who had places here.

Olympus had the inner town which is where the majority of Demigods and other high level beings lived or visited. Then not too far from there were the neighborhoods that held mansions for gods like my father, Zeus, and any other gods he permitted to stay there.

The inner town was actually big and had the most expensive attractions. You wouldn't find a hair out of place if you went there. There was even a certain way you had to be dressed. If you looked unimportant you were treated like scum.

Farther off, closer to the main entrance of Olympus was the outer city where many low level beings, unpopular gods and goddesses, and a few humans stayed. In fact, the outer city was where anyone could stay or visit.

It had its own attractions, stores and clubs alike. It honestly wasn't that bad and so not many people had complaints, but even if they did I doubt my father would be too happy to hear them.

There was an order to how things worked on Olympus and I no longer felt like I fit that order, so I had moved to a neighborhood a bit farther from the outer city. Although calling it a neighborhood was a bit of a stretch.

In fact, beside me, two Demigods, and one other god living with a human, there was no one else around. There were only four houses and they were spaced out with brick fencing around it. It was secluded and no one pried into anyone's business. Together we were like the main outcast of Olympus.

Although I never talked much to any of them we all knew why we chose to live so far from the others. The stares we would get no matter where we went, the whispers of even low level beings insulting us, lies wrapping around the truth and crushing it, and gods who judged us at any moment. It all made hell to live near so we stayed out far.

I let out a much needed breath as I finally reached the gate of my house. I quickly made my way pass the gate, up the steps, and inside my house. The moment I locked the door I could hear the sound of pattering coming my way and I turned just in time to have my dogs jump on me.

I let them knock me down as they nudged me and slobbered me with kisses all over. There were a total of 6 and they were all Hell-Pits. They were one of the most aggressive but sweet dogs out there but since most people didn't know how to manage them they always ended up being put down. The same would have happened for these 6 if I didn't buy them and they weren't cheap either.

"Alright, alright, enough!" I laughed as I pushed them off me before getting up.

I figured I smelled so I quickly made it to my bedroom and tossed my clothes in the basket before turning on the shower. Instead of waiting for it to warm up I jumped right in and let the cold water hit my body. The cold water helping to get rid of some of the tiredness from exercising.

Once the water was warm I focused on washing up and letting the water cleanse my shoulder length hair. I spent more time than needed in the shower before getting out and grabbing my towel.

I used my magic to dry my hair before using my towel to dry my body. I decided on some grey sweats and faded white shirt. I didn't feel like getting dressed up but that was nothing new. In fact, it was my new normal. Why get dressed up when I had no one to see?

As I was heading downstairs I felt a chill run through my body but shrugged it off.

I'll turn up the heat, I thought as I made my way towards the den. I let out a hustle to alert the dogs before I made way to serving up their dog food. I made sure to leave a little extra for Zee, she was pregnant and needed the extra fuel.

Once I made sure they were all situated I stepped out into the hallway to make my way to the kitchen but paused when I thought I saw someone dash into the living room. I turned and decided to see if it was one of my kids playing a trick on me, but when I entered the living room it was empty and cold.

"Yes, Ares, your kids who don't like you are playing tricks on you." I grumbled to myself as I turned up the heat and left the living room, focusing on going to the kitchen.

I haven't seen my kids since the divorce was final about a month ago. Although I received the occasional text from them but it was usually about things they misplaced. I didn't really fault them on it seeing as they had always been more attached to Aphrodite then me. It didn't help that most people, almost all of Olympus, blamed me for the divorce.

"I heard he was too hot headed."

"Too absorbed with work from his dad."

"Neglected his kids."

"Yelled at sweet Aphrodite too much."

"Bad in bed."

"He's just too unlovable."

"Heard he cheated."

"I heard his siblings didn't even like him."

"If his own family couldn't love him, why would she try?"

It wasn't like any of that was true. I didn't recall ever being a bad person nor parent but then again Aphrodite did leave me for someone else. It was kind of like a slap in the face and sometimes I wondered what I did wrong. Although lately it was more of an "all the time" thing that made it hard for me to sleep. If I could fix what was wrong maybe things would go back to the way they were.

Not likely, I sighed as I finished making the sandwich and put away the things I took out. I figured after finishing off my food that I would just take a nap and so once I was done I made my way back to my room.

I wasted no time jumping on the bed and letting my face sink into the silk pillow as my eyes closed.

When I opened my eyes I was freezing cold and standing in the middle of a forest. I could feel the cold damp ground beneath my toes as a light chilling wind blew. I wrapped my arms around myself as I looked around me in confusion. I could swear these trees looked familiar but I couldn't tell where I'd seen them from.

"Ares."

I spinned around as I felt my heart rate speed up, but I saw no one there. I glanced around kind of franticly but did my best to remain calm.

"Ares."

I turned again but stopped midway when I saw a man standing in between the trees. He was very much naked and in great shape. I couldn't make out much else from how far apart we were but I could feel his eyes staring at me.

"H-Hello?" I hesitate to call out.

When he didn't respond I decided to take cautious steps towards him. Each step I could feel twigs, mud, and even rocks but I couldn't feel the pain from stepping on them. The only thing I could feel was coldness as I closed the distance between me and the man.

The closer I got I could make out ink black hair that seemed to lightly flow down to his waist. It was weird to see such long hair on such a masculine build that rivaled mines.

A strong wind blew and I clenched my eyes shut, stopping me in my journey. Once it stopped blowing so hard I opened my eyes to see he was gone. He was less than a few feet from me and now he's gone. No matter how hard I looked into the trees or looked past them I couldn't seem to find him.

The urge to find him seemed to build up.

"Ares!"

A hand gripped my arm, turning me around, and it felt like fire was coming from his hand as I was met with piercing red eyes. It felt like my entire body started to grow warmer with his grip on my as his eyes seemed to pierce my soul. It was like the coldness was gone and all that was left was him.

"Wake up!"

I was confused, "W-wha-"

"Wake up, Ares!"

"Hurry!"

I felt a headache traveling throughout every part of my body as his grip grew tighter and he shouted even louder. It was like having a fire rip throughout my head and I clenched my eyes shut to try and lessen the pain.

"Wake up!"

"Shut-"

"-UP!" I shot up from my bed and felt sweat drip down my neck.

It was only after I took a few moments to calm down and my heart stopped racing that I could hear my dogs outside my door barking. I got up and the moment my foot touched the floor I was brought to attention to how cold the floor and my entire room was. Then there was me, I felt like I was burning up.

I opened the door and my dogs were pushing in with whimpers. I squatted down to pet them and it was then that I noticed the burn mark on my arm, the same shape and size as the hand that grabbed me in my dream.

The urge to find that man began to fill me as I calmed my dogs down.