After entering the temple, Aries slithered along the walls and around pillars. As he did, he studied the temple, finding it strange. The building was primarily dark gray with white and silver decor, and occasional gold accents.
More than the color scheme, the temple itself wasn't built in a Western style. In fact, it more resembled the eastern architecture which he saw in books than anything built in the West.
What nailed it in the coffin that this place was strange, though, wasn't the colours or even the architecture; it was the statue at the end of the temple, which depicted a beautiful woman in provocative eastern attire, and what seemed to be a silk shawl resting on her inner arm, holding up a crescent moon.
He knew who the statue was depicting; he had read about her. She was the Lady of the Moon, a deity worshiped in the east, mainly in the kingdom of Lowen, meaning this was a Moon temple, a place to worship the Lady.
If that was the case, what was it doing here, in the land of the sun, which was on the opposite side of the continent?
He didn't get time to think about it, as something else caught his attention. Slithering up to the front, making sure to stay hidden behind a pillar, he got a better look at the altar before the statue, where an owl was perched.
The rat, which he had seen before, walked up to the owl and squeaked. In response, the owl shifted its wings, and a flash of light burst out for a moment. Once the light faded, three children around, Aries's age appeared. The rat squeaked again, before biting the three children and dragging them away.
'I recognise them…'
Even though he would have done something anyway, now that he knew that he likely knew them, he had more of an incentive to act.
Rushing forward, he expanded his body to its max size, which was slightly larger than a large anaconda. Before either of the creatures had a chance to react, Aries struck the rat and plunged his fangs into the rat's neck, and coiled around it. While injecting his venom into it, Aries tensed his body, squeezing the rat. After a few moments, the rat's body made an uncomfortable cracking sound and stopped moving before it even had the chance to struggle.
Tossing the rat aside, Aries locked eyes with the owl, his golden eyes meeting its red. At first, they stood still. Then…
The owl silently rushed forward, the flaps of its wings making not even the slightest noise. Seeing this, Aries also moved forward, lunging forward at the perfect moment, clamping down on the bird.
Or so he thought…
Instead of the feeling of his fangs sinking into flesh as he expected, he caught nothing, causing his venom to drip into empty air. In the next moment, he felt the sensation of claws digging into his back.
'What? I could have sworn I caught it.'
Instead of contemplating how the owl avoided him, however, he reacted the moment he felt the sensation and whipped his tail toward the owl. Just as before, the bird easily avoided his attack.
Hissing, Aries made an onslaught of attacks, some slow, some fast, some light, some heavy. But despite his efforts, none of his attacks landed. At the same time, each attack he missed was met with a strike from the slippery bird.
Lunging forward with all his might, Aries prepared to clamp down on it. Like all the other times, the bird easily dodged and prepared to attack.
What it didn't expect, however, was for Aries to twist his body in such a way that only serpents could do it, and through that, struck the bird from the air. The owl hit the ground with a loud thud, cracking the ground and causing a plume of dust to rise up.
Before the owl had time to react, Aries rushed forward and coiled around it. Aries tensed his body and raised his head before the bird. It struggled to escape, but that only made Aries tense more, trapping it further.
Then, a light began to shine in Aries's throat. Seeing this, the owl clawed and pecked at Aries, trying to get him to let go, but he persisted. Wisps of smoke escaped from his nostrils as he locked on to the owl. Opening his maw, a blinding light shone through, and the owl struggled even more, making Aries crush it more. Eventually, cracking sounds could be heard from the body of the owl.
Then, a pillar of light escaped from Aries's mouth like a spear from heaven, smiting the Owl. Like divine judgement, a shockwave blew through the expanse of the temple.
Soon after the attack struck, Aries felt something that made him forcefully stop the attack.
'What? How?'
It had escaped once again, only this time, it was nowhere to be found. Then, it struck him like a jolt of electricity.
'It can teleport…'
He thought with a dark expression.
***
Aries carried the three children to the edge of the slums before turning back to his normal self, redoing his disguise, and bringing them to a nearby clinic.
After doing this, he headed for the town square. This didn't take long, as with only a few minutes of walking, he saw the statue, signifying that he was in the town square. Strangely enough, however, there were barely any people here.
The town square is arguably one of the busiest places in Lios, as it is where most pass through to go about their day, yet still, it was nearly empty, save for a few people. What made it stranger was that it was in the evening, when everyone would be going home.
'What is happening? Is it related to the mutant rats? If so, then how?'
He contemplated for a while, but nothing came to him. Instead, he remembered something.
'Ah. I almost forgot.'
He had sent the children from Emmet's house to the town square and said he would meet them, so that was what he did. He walked and searched around the town square for a few minutes before finding them gathered at the entrance of an alleyway.
Walking up to them, he wondered why they were gathered in such a place. None of the children noticed him as they were all looking into the alley, so Aries decided to make himself known.
"What's going on here?"
The children jumped in fright, then turned around to see who had approached them. Seeing that it was Aries, the purple-haired girl sighed in relief, then she answered:
"We came to the square like you asked, but when we got here, we ran into a man and…"
She stepped to the side.
"See for yourself."
Confused, Aries walked forward and stopped in the alley, in front of a ginger-haired man with blue eyes.
As Aries laid his eyes on the man, he froze.
The man looked extremely sickly, with pale skin, dark eye bags, and sunken skin, but more than that, the man had gray fur covering half of his body. The side of the man with the fur looked shrunken and animalistic. He looked as if he were about to become a beast.
What shocked Aries, however, was not his appearance but who held that appearance. He knew the man.
"Why… Why are you like this?"
This man was Arthur… Arthur Lorel. Alice's father and the man who was housing him.