Arius had just walked the wrong way in his own apartment. He had started living here a handful of days ago, yet this did not make any sense. He thought that he had memorized the layout already.

The moment of disorientation overtook him, freezing him there in the face of his own vulnerability. Such a simple mistake took an eon to process through his mind.

He was the Ravager, favorite son of Suvier and right hand to the God Supreme. He was always perfect—at least he had to be. Truly, he used to be, yet he could not be further from his own self.

“Damn it. Gods damn it! Suvier, damn you,” he added on for good measure.

The walls of Suvier in his apartment would be able to hear him rave, and for that, Arius was glad. Suvier did not deserve neither Arius’s allegiances nor his status as his father. The most defiance that he could muster was a lame curse, not even to the man’s face.

In a dramatic motion, he thrust himself to the floor with the side of his fist striking across the tile. The ceramic split and sent a spiderweb of cracks throughout the neighboring tiles.

Yet again, he lost control of himself and sought to break things, but this time, it did not matter. The flooring was a mere object.

While it did not matter if he broke objects, it did matter if he broke people. An intangible thing such as his relationship with Val could not be mended. If he broke her, then she would not heal.

Broken people could never be fixed—not his mother whose heart he had shattered, not Urru who he had led onto death, not himself upon which he had brought all of this. He was a hopeless, broken person, but out of those shards, Arius clung to what he knew.

He was supposed to be Arius the Ravager, favorite son of Suvier and right hand to the God Supreme. Though a flicker of doubt passed through him, he reaffirmed this to himself just as he had said over a century ago to his father.

My name is Arius. Of that much, he was certain.

It did not matter what memories Evalaite had changed. The basic fundamentals of his identity must stay the same. Otherwise, Arius would feel hopelessly loss in trying to sort through the doubts that constantly assailed him. For the time being, he would cling to everything that he thought he knew regardless of its truth in reality.

The lucidity of madness seized him once again. It could not be more obvious what he needed to do. Arius just needed to stick to his plans, because he was the one and only god of war. The plans that he devised were always perfect.

What had he been planning to do again anyway?

It was a weird thing, not being able to recall what he had just been doing. The fractured pieces of the kitchen floor dominated his vision in the place where his fist had stayed.

In his other hand, Arius safely held his phone to serve as a reminder that he must text Val.

Just before, he had been thinking to text an apology but berated that option now. What kind of mental state did Arius think that he was in, to be going about new plans? An apology would come out all wrong, bemoaning himself when it was the offense against Val that had to be resolved.

For his actions that were beyond use of an apology, he ought to speak to her in person at the very least. Until then, Arius should stick to the old plan which was three orders of business today.

One: set up Val with proper documentation to stay on the Summit. That mission had gone over smoothly enough, cleared from his checklist.

Two: get Val new living arrangements separate from the Sea Itself—preferably an easily defensible location. This had been the sticking point where Arius had failed, but he could move onto the last objective regardless.

Three: arrange a meeting time for the dual purpose of strengthening her Mind Shield and getting to know her better. Their training sessions would be the perfect reason to see each other—more natural than any cringey, forced date.

Hence, Arius would simply address his shortcomings to the second mission and focus on fulfilling the third. Absorbed into his own bad thoughts as he was, he made an effort to keep the correspondence impersonal.

Arius: I think that there might have been some ineffective communication between us. You will better understand what I mean next time, hopefully.

That took care of acknowledging failure and keeping dialogue open for future negotiations on the first point.

The second order of business is your Mind Shield.

As for that second point, he did not quite feel that the secondary purpose of their training sessions mattered anymore; Arius did not exactly deserve a date with Val. Instead of their budding relationship, he tried to focus on the official need that Val had to keep her identity hidden.

Do remember that you have to associate with me for that reason whether you like it or not.

Would you like to begin at noon tomorrow?

Those messages, he sent. Arius did not care to read over them, as he set his phone face down on the floor. The screen on its dimmest setting had been too bright for his eyes similar to the ceiling lights overhead.

Arius stumbled over to turn off all the lights. In the dark refuge of his apartment, he would try to sleep until this passed. He felt along the wall with one hand to head to his bedroom.

When he woke up tomorrow, he would have a kind text from Val. Everything would sort itself out from there because they were soulmates. Arius continually reassured himself of this fact with respect to Val.

The thought of her was incredibly soothing, like the memory of Keep the Peace which he craved right about now. When Arius curled into himself in bed and kept one arm draped over his face, he focused on their connection as soulmates.

Fate could hate him as it might because it had given him this one good thing, supposedly. Val should love him regardless.