To start with his explanation of her identity, Arius asked, “Have you ever heard the name ‘Balduino’ spoken in hushed whispers?”

“No. Is he a bad god?”

With his gaze cast up to the stars, Arius looked as if he had to consider his response to that. “Yes and no, though I suppose that I am more inclined to say no.”

That was not a cryptic answer at all.

“I only met him briefly in battle for myself,” Arius continued. “Balduino was known as the Righteous One before he became God Supreme, if those titles mean anything to you.”

Those titles definitely meant something to her. Balduino must have been an incredible god to have earned such an honorable reputation as the Righteous One. Even more so, the title of God Supreme surprised her.

“Do you mean to say that there was a previous God Supreme before Suvier?”

“Exactly, and you are his daughter.”

“Me?” Val pointed in towards herself. Her eyes felt like they could bug out of her head. “There was a previous God Supreme?” That much was unbelievable enough, never mind the second part. “And I am his daughter?”

“Yes.” Arius confirmed her disbelief with a calm nod of his head.

Val simply blinked. Though she tried to let that sink in, the new information jostled around in her head. “How is that possible?”

“I mean, somebody has to end up being the kids to these powerful gods. Take me for instance. I am the son of Suvier, the current God Supreme. We both just got unlucky.”

It perplexed Val why coming from a strong lineage would be a bad thing, especially when their power depended on the concentration of their divine blood. Both of them had received the best pf luck that the Weaver could have bestowed upon them.

For now, she focused on the major historical events that she had somehow never heard about before. “Why did the change in God Supreme happen? Did my father do something wrong?”

“No, I think that mine did something wrong. Suvier decided to usurp your father just because he became more powerful, from my understanding. Admittedly, he implemented some good changes like curbing the supernatural disasters that the nature gods cause. Tavras is not allowed to commit acts of wrath on the majority of the world anymore, for instance. That is obviously a good thing. You better not side with the Sea Itself on that one.”

“No, I don’t!” she exclaimed. “Actually, we fought about that because I dared to criticize him.” When she remembered how she had apologized to Tavras for that, Val rolled her eyes around.

“You probably heard that the standard of living increased because of Suvier’s great development policies, right?”

“Yes,” Val said with a fervent nod. Everyone had the God Supreme to thank for the world as they knew it.

“Suvier’s rise was marked by the taking of Mother Earth and the death of the Harvester. Agricultural yields plummeted and starvation became prevalent throughout the world. Once Suvier let new nature gods ascend who could bless the fields again, the food shortages resolved. With less people, there were then labor shortages. Wages rose more compared to the prices of other things. Just like that, everyone had a better quality of life! Those left alive did, anyway.”

Val stared at Arius with her mouth dropped open. None of this did she learn about in school. “That sounds positively awful.” Her brow furrowed together, still in disbelief. The God Supreme that they had always hailed could not be evil. All of this must be the byproduct of Arius’s compromised memories.

Even if the mortal school system had been filled with the propaganda of an oppressive God Supreme, surely Arius would suffer the same deficits in knowledge. He would have been the single person most steeped within the propaganda as the God Supreme’s son. How would Arius have come to learn this information aside from Evalaite’s tampering?

To question this, she said, “Where did you hear about all of this from?”

“I am close with Ludovico, the god of life and medicine.”

“I know who Ludovico is,” she said with eyes glazed over in annoyance.

Snickers came from Arius, one hand over his mouth as if to stifle himself. “I was just making sure. In my defense, you didn’t know that I was a god of love.”

Val looked to the side with a smirk. “I can’t help it that I was not one of your fangirls in the mortal world.”

The dumb look on Arius’s face was hilarious. “Please tell me that is not actually a thing.”

As it turned out, he was so detached from the mortal world that Val had to double over with laughter. “I am so sorry to inform you of this, but it is. Have you ever read fanfiction about yourself?”

Pulling out her phone, she confirmed that they received no cell service out here. That was too bad. If she had access to the Internet, she totally would have looked up some cringey smut starring one god of war. It would have scarred him for the rest of his immortal life. That only would have been appropriate in the middle of this serious conversation.

“Uh, knowing that this exists makes me uncomfortable.”

“Don’t worry. It’s illegal. You have to know how to get past firewalls to see it.”

Now that she thought about it, Val had seen a lot of crazy conspiracy theories in the dark web. There were definitely figures for a massive reduction in world population in recent history, linked back to the God Supreme. Val had always thought that things like that had belonged on the underbelly of the Internet for a reason.

In actuality, those conspiracy theories might have held some weight. Her entire worldview was getting checked tonight.

“Anyway, Ludo is more of a father figure to me than Suvier ever was,” Arius continued. “Never tell anyone that I said that though! I would not want to get Ludo in trouble. He trusted me enough to inform me about the truth of the world.”

Again, Val did not know if she could simply accept that. “How do you know that Evalaite did not put that information in your head?”

“Did she rewrite my entire life?” he asked in return. “I doubt it. Everything that I know is consistent with the fact that Suvier did more than his fair share of injustices in the world.”

After drawing in a deep breath and letting it go, Arius asked a divergent question. “Do you feel like you were sheltered from the world?”

“Yes, absolutely. This is the first time that someone is willing to speak directly to my face. Even if your memories are corrupted, I appreciate you trying to tell me all of this regardless.”

“Except my memories are not mistaken,” Arius insisted. “When I was a kid, I was raised even more sheltered than you. I grew up in the Forest of Liroh with my mother. Aside from her, I did not meet another human being until I was eleven years old. How was she supposed to tell me that my father was this evil dictator that ruined her life along with those of many other people? She decided not to tell me anything about him. Instead, she told me legends about Balduino the Righteous One who ought to retake his place as God Supreme.”

For a long moment, Val stared off into the darkness with parted lips. “My father was basically a childhood hero to you.” That was not too far off from the way that she had regarded Suvier, up until now.

“Yeah, they were,” Arius said with a smile. “Don’t forget about Balduino’s dragon, Brixatorrixom!”

Her eyes lighting up, Val realized that must be why she was positively aligned with dragons.

“Anyway, the lack of information about my identity or the state of the world led me to making some bad decisions. I walked right into Suvier’s arms and became who I am today.”

Then, Arius stopped telling his story all together. “Wait. Why am I telling you my childhood sob story? I’m rambling. What is my point?”

“No,” Val said quickly. She rolled over so that she could face Arius and lay closer to him. Her hand reached part way across the grass. “Y-You can talk to me.”

To mirror her as well, Arius also shifted onto his side. A slight tremble was evident in his fingertips, but he also laid his hand across the grass, a few inches from her own. “I guess what I am trying to say is that I understand how frustrated you must feel. This is why I want to tell you everything the way it is.”

“And what I am telling you is real,” he continued. “I do know the truth. I know who I am, regardless of any fake memories that I might have. My name is Arius. My name is Arius,” he muttered a second time, more softly.

“So what if Evalaite made me hate my father? My mom went insane. Suvier killed her. That is how Mother Earth died from this world. It is fact that everyone knows. I am not the only one who watched it happen.”

“Urru called me Tongueless!” Arius cried. “He would not have called me that if not—” Cutting himself off, he vented his frustration. “Ugh. There are just these things that I know are true! The world around me is verification of that.”

“Evalaite’s edits to my memory mean nothing. I would hate my father regardless of her influence, but she will never achieve her goals. I would never kill my own father because I am not a monster!”

That was a lot that he had just gotten off of his chest, right there.

“Arius,” Val cooed. He was spiraling—really bad.

“Fuck, I’m sorry. This is a bad look. We just met today, and I cannot even keep myself together for one whole day.”

Some emotions had been stirred within her. Poor Arius, she really did feel bad for him. Soulmate or not, Val doubted that she could do anything to make him feel better. Some things took time. His reduced mental state seemed way beyond her realm of control, yet she had caused him this harm in part.

A break-up was bad enough, but Val had to go pile on the nature of his false memories too. His reinstatement of himself seemed to be the product of him grasping at the shreds of his psyche. She did not even want to imagine how his head must spin, having to second guess his entire recollection of his experience.

Maybe Val should have consulted a psychologist before dropping the revelation of his altered memory on him. She definitely had not told him in the most eloquent way possible.

Likewise, a therapist might be able to help him sort through the nature of the psychological attack and the intimate violation. Despite the wonderful idea, it might come across as rude to suggest therapy to him. Arius did not seem to have an outlook that would be particularly receptive to a well-intended recommendation.

Better than therapy, she could use Past Insight to affirm whether or not his core memories had actually happened in the past. “Arius, remember how I told you that I can see the past?”

“Yes.”

“Another time, you are going to tell me some of your important memories. I will check to see if they actually happened. That way you can know for sure what is real.”

Arius shoved his face down into the grass, making his voice come out muffled. “I would like that a lot.”

Her lips turned downward, observing him in this miserable condition.

Earlier tonight, he had obviously tried his best to put on a cheerful facade and make good company. Arius had attempted to be someone desirable in personality, probably to make Val like him more. Regardless if his ability worked, he at least seemed to think that they were soulmates. The effort that he put in to impress her also made her sympathize with him a bit more.

Val reached across those last inches in between them. Her hand placed over top of his which was remarkably warm, even against her skin already heated by his powers. She was holding hands with Arius the Ravager, god of war and love.