Amid the strange sensation of floating up from the depths of deep water, the clamor of birds chirping drifted into his consciousness. Then, as a sharp, biting chill grazed his skin—
"Achoo!"
Ares sneezed, sat up, and looked around to find himself in what appeared to be an aged wooden room.
"Where am I?"
It was a place he had never seen before.
(Why is it so cold?)
Shivering from the biting chill he was experiencing for the first time in his life, he rubbed his arms with both hands, bewildered.
As a high god possessing true divinity, Ares's physical form boasted an immense resistance to environmental conditions like heat and cold. In fact, his body was not even designed to feel cold in the first place. And yet, what was this intolerable chill currently wracking his entire frame?
Just as he forced his sluggish body to its feet—
"Lord Ares, have you awakened?!"
A man with slicked-back black hair and a small mustache burst into the room, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Huh? Um..."
Who was this? Given that the man knew his name, Ares assumed he had to be an acquaintance, but...
"You are... Lord Ares, correct?"
The sharp-featured young man with slicked-back black hair asked with clear hesitation.
"I am, but who are you?"
"It is I, Ket!"
"What?"
A thoroughly dumbfounded sound slipped past Ares's lips. And understandably so. No matter how one looked at him, he bore zero resemblance to Ket. He looked far too young, his hairstyle was entirely different, and he had never had such a mustache. Above all, the man before him looked like nothing other than a member of the Human Race from Lemuria, the very world Ares governed.
And yet, his mannerisms, tone, and deferential attitude toward Ares were undeniably those of Ket himself—
"Are you truly... Ket?"
Ares pressed, trying to wrap his head around the unbelievable claim.
"Yes. It seems we have found ourselves in quite a predicament."
With that, Ket began to recount a story that strained all credulity.
Under any normal circumstances, it would have been dismissed with a laugh.
They were currently in the Neutral Academic City Babel, a domain within Lemuria governed by humans. Ares and Ket had supposedly become a pair of human siblings named Ariel and Schikke, enrolled as students at Ouboro Academy.
Indeed, Ares could sense no divine power radiating from his body—not even the faintest glimmer of strength. The idea that their souls had been shoved into human vessels was entirely plausible.
"At least my appearance hasn't changed much. That is some small consolation, I suppose..."
Ares muttered to himself as he peered into a free-standing mirror leaning against the wall. Reflected in the glass was a girl with wavy golden hair and porcelain-white skin. It was undeniably Ares. The facial features, the frame, even the hair ornament were his own. The sole difference was that his silvery-white hair had turned a bright gold.
"Ket, what about that form of yours?"
"Though the hair color differs, this is how I appeared in my youth."
"If that is the case, are you saying the spell went awry and cast our souls into human bodies?"
It was an extraordinary occurrence. Yet, given the staggering complexity of the ritual, perhaps such a side effect was not entirely out of the question.
"While it is quite bizarre that our appearances mirror our original selves so closely, Ariel and Schikke are undeniably established existences here in Babel. We must assume the ritual went wild and deposited our souls into bodies that happened to resemble us. That seems the most logical conclusion."
"What about contacting the Heavenly Realm?"
Ket shook its head firmly.
"I attempted to reach Ares Palace just in case, but to no avail. We must proceed under the assumption that all communication with the Heavenly Realm is impossible."
"Is that another drawback of taking human form?"
"Yes. The vast majority of my power has vanished. Rather than our souls merely being sealed inside human vessels, it feels more as though..."
Ket trailed off, and a sudden shiver ran down Ares's spine.
"Are you saying our very existences, souls included, have become human?"
It was a suspicion Ares had harbored ever since opening his eyes. The sheer clumsiness of this body, as though weighed down by an invisible burden, and the total absence of divine power within him—it was an experience entirely foreign to his existence. If they were merely trapped within human shells, their souls would still belong to gods, allowing them to at least establish contact with Ares Palace. Furthermore, they should still have been able to channel a fraction of the divine power originating from their souls. The only conceivable explanation for this state of affairs was that they had fused with the souls native to these vessels, becoming bona fide humans.
Yet that raised another glaring contradiction.
"If that is true, then why are the people around us here in Babel accepting our presence so naturally?"
"That is precisely it! That is what eludes me as well! However, if I were to offer an explanation free of contradiction, I can only surmise that the phenomenon of our bodies and souls fusing has exerted some degree of influence over the very fabric of reality itself."
"An influence over the fabric of reality itself?! Preposterous! Are you suggesting that a monumental miracle like the alteration of reality occurred purely by accident?!"
Altering reality was a miracle considered impossible even for gods. For such a thing to happen as a stroke of sheer bad luck from a spell running amok was beyond a bad joke.
"There is no other way to explain this madness."
Ket nodded heavily with a grim, brooding expression.
(I must remain calm!)
Panicking now would accomplish nothing. This was the assessment of the ever-resourceful Ket; it carried considerable weight.
"Ket, what do you believe our next move should be?"
"At present, we are completely human in both body and soul. While we ought to contact the Heavenly Realm immediately, that is almost certainly an impossible feat."
Even under ordinary circumstances, a massive jamming barrier was active by Lord Deus's decree of total non-interference with Lemuria. Communication was virtually impossible without the access codes engraved onto their divine souls. And Ket had already confirmed that the access code no longer functioned.
"I agree. I would like to search for Ramiel without delay, but..."
"We are currently mere mortals. If these bodies die, nine times out of ten, we will perish alongside them. I strongly advise against reckless action. For the time being, I believe we should adapt to the lives we have been handed while discreetly gathering intelligence on Ramiel."
"I... suppose you are right..."
Why did every single thing he did have to backfire so terribly?
His burning hatred for that fly-headed monster had driven him to dispatch a subordinate, only for all contact to be cut off. And when he tried to rescue her, the ritual went wild, stripping him of his divine power and reducing him to a mere human.
"At any rate, brooding over it will change nothing. Let us have a meal. In these mortal bodies, we will soon be unable to move if we do not take in sustenance."
"We must eat, you say...? What a truly inconvenient vessel..."
Had he inhabited the body of a god, he could have moved freely without ever needing food.
Inwardly lamenting the cruel fate that continued to thrust one impossible dilemma after another upon him, Ares dragged his heavy, mortal body to his feet.