"You intend to leave?"Ikaris asked, disturbed. "Where are you going?" She questioned seriously.
"I do not know yet, but I came to that conclusion as soon as you told me I still had my magic, for someone like myself, this city, this country, this world was nothing more than a prison I could not get out of, I spent my entire life wanting to do things and go to different places, but I was orphaned as a child, and I suffered as a ward of the state, I was always hungry, always in need," Sol answered her while waving down a taxi for them. "Later on in my life, I got involved with the wrong people, I made stupid decisions and eventually, I ended up at your steps, an early and embarrassing death, I never want to see ramen again," He held a deadpan as they got into the taxi.
"Where will you go then, my lord?" Ikaris asked, and Sol smiled to himself as he thought about it.
"Take us to Q University," He directed the driver and then looked at her again. "It doesn't matter, honestly, I just plan to have a good time and stay out of any limelight..."
"Limelight?"
"I don't want to be the centre of attention this time around, I want to fade into the background and live an easy and fun life, an unassuming life," He answered, and she nodded, seemingly agreeing with him. "Sorry if you expected me to have some grand dream or goal, but I pretty much lost all interest in grand lifestyles after living ten years of constant unending war, I crave the simple things now, a simple life, maybe settling down with someone and watching our kids grow in the countryside away from people, or something like that, because it's clear to me now that the things people take for granted the most are the things that can make them happy,"
"How very specific," Ikaris commented, to which he nodded again and then went quiet.
They kept that silence until they reached the campus grounds of Q University.
"My lord," Ikaris took Sol's hand, but he stood before her with a stern expression and a shake of his head.
"Don't call me that in the presence of others, It can never be revealed that we have a master-slave relationship," Sol covered her mouth, regretting his actions immediately because of the amount of curious eyes that fell on them. He had grown used to her presence as the goddess, he had long grown immune to the effects of her beauty, so he had underestimated just how she would catch the attention of others, and because of his absence for ten years he had made the next mistake of buying brand clothes from the store, even though he had dressed her moderately, she still looked as stunning as she always did, and he was just as brilliantly dressed as well, not to mention his physical appearance was that of a seasoned warrior, he was at the very peak of fitness, and it showed with every action he made.
"I shall call you by your given name then, while we are in the view of other humans," Ikaris blushed while he was in the middle of regretting his decision to bring her, even though he knew that leaving her behind was a far worse idea.
"Don't address them as humans, they are people, just like you and I are people-"
"I am not human, therefore I will not compare or call myself 'people', I am a goddess, and you are my lord, there lies a line I will never cross, I am not like any other, I am superior, and you are my master, the absolute peak of superiority," She stared at him defiantly reminding him that even if she was his slave, she still had her dignity as a goddess, and he still held his title as the one who conquered her, in a sense.
"Fine, as long as you don't call me anything weird in front of anyone here, I just need to withdraw from the semester and drop out, then we can leave and you can be as eccentric as you please-"
"Excuse me," A random approached them, it took a few seconds of staring at her, but Sol eventually remembered that this person usually sat next to him whenever he did make an appearance in class. "Sol Vestic, right?" She asked, causing him to take a step backwards in shock.
She was average in appearance like most people in their area, with brown eyes and hair, and fairly tanned skin with barely visible freckles.
"You recognize me?" He almost gasped, he was unrecognisable even to himself, and yet this woman had identified him at a single glance. Even Ikaris was taken aback by her acute perception.
"Only a witch could recognize you so easily," Ikaris pulled Sol to her height and whispered in his ear.
"Stop it, she is not a witch," Sol scoffed and looked at the young woman again.
"So it is you!" She exclaimed, adjusting her loose glasses.
"How long has it been... Um?" He gestured to her and she pouted and stared him down.
"Eris, my name is Eris, and you have not been to classes in just under a month, with your attendance I'm shocked you even show up at all, but wow, I see you took my advice and started taking care of yourself!" She grinned at him and then took a more serious tone as she looked at Ikaris. "Sorry, I won't take any more of your time, it looked like you two were in the middle of something intimate," She stated, staring at the way Ikaris never let go of Sol's arm.
"Is that Sol?" Another random voice boomed behind them
"Let's go-" Sol started pulling Ikaris to walk with him, but the guy who had called to him raced over and slapped Sol's shoulder despite obviously being ignored.
"Hey man, are you ignoring me?" The guy grabbed Sol's arm but then reclined his head.
"Sol, it seems you were probably more popular than you let on," Ikaris chuckled pushing the man's shoulder and standing between Sol and him. "He's not interested in whatever lowly greeting you want from him, we're busy, beat it." Ikaris placed her hands akimbo and stared up at the man who was even taller than the new Sol.
"Ikaris, I warned you about acting up, Han, I don't have the time, we're in a rush-" Sol took her hand and attempted to walk away, but the man insistently grabbed onto Sol's arm again.
"Hold it there, friend, I'm not done talking to you yet," Han shook his head. "Where's the stuff you were supposed to bring today, you showed up empty-handed?" Han asked, and Sol felt all his patience dry up like a well.
Sol wanted to react, but there was a small crowd forming, and it seemed people were recognising him easily, his peace was on the cusp of being burdened. "Sol, we should leave!" Ikaris suddenly grabbed his arm again and attempted to run off but on her first step, a bright light appeared under her feet and spread several hundred metres in every direction. "No!" Ikaris snapped, turning and grabbing onto Sol's arm. "I need more power, we're being summoned!"