Suddenly, the clouds parted, and Ripley witnessed a great figure descending towards him on shimmering angelic wings. The being had the shape of a heavily muscled, olive-skinned man, proportioned like some marble sculpture carved by the ancients. His body was covered by nothing but a crimson loin-wrapping adorned with leather strips. Besides that, he wore pieces of gold polished armor: a matching set of vambraces and greaves and a crested gladiator's helmet. His hands confidently gripped a spear that was as long as he was tall and an oval shield bearing the engraved insignia of a serpent coiled into a ring, the Greek key's design complementing its symmetry.
The skittish kid's jaw went slack in seeing such an impossible being appearing out of nowhere before his very eyes. His fragile mind nearly broke under pressure from all the turbulent emotions that this unearthly man's figure brought him, not all of them displeasing. But he was not given much time to gawk before the divinity met his gaze, those penetrating golden orbs rousing him back to attention.
"Well, well," he said, letting out a sonorous chuckle, "I never thought I'd be summoned back to this plane. So, pray tell me, you sickly whelp, has your species rediscovered its need for carnage?"
He strode over towards him while he spoke, wings tucked behind his back like a luminous drape. from up this close, Ripley could swear he felt the unmeasurable power this man held coming off of him in invisible waves. It was there suppressed and intermingling with a kind of grace that nested somewhere off behind his mature brow, among the jet black curling hairs that framed his face in a neat, full beard.
"G-Guys. Guys! Y-You seriously need to take a look at this!"
"Aw, man. Shut it, Shrimpley," groaned Tanner, moving away from the brazier, "How do you expect us to get a good high going over here if ya--Oh, fuck..."
The others then spun around with him to check out the commotion, and they were similarly stunned with awe at the 7 foot tall, scantily clad Adonis who was looming over their friend. They saw him stake his spear in the ground before using his now freed up hand to pick Ripley up off the ground by his collar like a baby kitten. He then made his way over to the others while the scrawny boy tossed and flailed in his grip to no avail.
"Ah, I see you've made me an offering of some choice intoxicants," said the divinity, catching whiff of what was burning on the stand. "How very considerate of you. Now then, my prospective warriors, emerge from yon hovel, so that I may witness you pledge your undying faith unto me."
A moment passed where not a single one of them dared to make a move. "Now!" He followed up in a voice so loud and forceful that it caused the air around them to quake. They all hurried to step outside, instinctually lining up for him in formation.
"Uh, e-excuse me...sir?" Tanner struggled to put on an act of politeness, something he hadn't bothered to do since was ten-years-old getting scolded by his father. "Can I ask you what you want from us, I'm confused? Who the hell even are you?"
In response, the giant let out a hearty laugh, so sudden it made him flinch. "Don't tell me you striplings summoned me back to this detestable plane without so much as knowing my name? Could it be that your race has forgotten all about great Ares, god of war and muse of battle lust?"
"But that's impossible," Ripley chimed in. "Ares is supposed to be a myth; an imaginary concept that people thought up ages ago to explain what they saw in the wor--Woah!"
He let him fall back down to the ground. "Do I look imaginary to you, pleasure boy? With all the fury in heaven, I swear, speak out of turn from your masters again, and I will kill you. And don't even think twice about moving from that spot!"
Ripley gave his agreement by recoiling in a whimper. He would have pissed himself three times over by now were it not for the fear that doing so might make him angrier.
"Um, yeah, hi. So, great god Ares," Drew, being easily the most practiced out of all of them at getting on somebody's good side, figured it was for the best that he try and take control of the conversation, though even he was afraid their new friend would figure out he was having some trouble keeping himself all composed. "You said something before about us being your "warriors" or whatever, but I think there's been some kinda mistake. See, we had no clue that your brazier thingy was a way to contact you, and none of us were planning on joining, uh, whatever it is you're a part of. Lemme apologize for that, on behalf of all of us here."
"A mistake? Oh, no, no, no. YOU don't understand," The god persisted with an imperious sneer. "Whether you were aware of my coming or not is of no significance. The fact of the matter is that I'm here, and your whole population once more is in dire need of my patronage. Like it or not, men of all backgrounds and persuasions will soon fly banners to my glory as they fight one another to the death in an endless war, all to see who among them shall hold the right to pass on his legacy."
"Okay, okay, no." That's insane!" Drew barked at him, uncaring of who he was at this point. Ares' words had struck so much of a personal nerve with him that he was seething. "Everybody, EVE-RY-BODY, has a God-given right to refuse you! Know how I know that? Cause I ain't gonna pledge my life to you no matter what kinda power you think you have, see? And neither is nobody else. Understand me?"
He leaned into him and whispered darkly, "I may do whatever I--" but then abruptly stopped himself, reconsidering.
Then, he took a step back to look over each of them as a group. "Well, it has been quite some time, hasn't it? Clearly, you've all simply forgotten what it's like to revel in the bliss of a true god's favor. Well, I can promise you, the highs that one can ride with such invested power--the ability to reshape the world as the masculine will made incarnate--is unlike anything that a mere mortal could be made to comprehend! Perhaps, a demonstration is in order, just to show the worthiness of what I intend, hmm? Are there any among you who feel they'd accept?"
He then held out his ginormous hand in offering, never before affording them so much time to stop and process this all for themselves. But despite how considerate this gesture might have seemed, he was only awaiting them moment for one of them to impulsively act foolish enough to let him begin...