Val tore open the door and stepped into the hallway before she could hesitate.

Noticing her at once, Tavras snapped while still leaning against a wall. “What are you doing here?”

“Can I sneak through while there are no more dishes flying around? You guys are being loud. I just want to go for a walk with Foofy.” With both hands, Val pointed awkwardly to the door.

“Go.” He gave permission shortly, changing his gaze to look down at his feet.

Val also diverted her eyes from him as she hurried to the door.

As bad as she felt leaving him alone with Evalaite, she reminded herself that he was probably fine. In her own attempt to use Keep the Peace on him previously, Val had felt just how alien his mind was from a normal human. His existence felt fluid yet constant as a stream of water and as vast as the ocean expanse, so Val wanted to doubt that Evalaite could succeed in editing his memories. This was Tavras’s deranged ex, and he could deal with her on his own.

Still, Val hesitated with her hand at the door. Turning back, she asked, “You don’t need any help, do you?”

“No. Get out of here.”

At his curt parting words, she did so. Val got out of the apartment, beckoning Foofy to follow, who had not wanted to leave her room. He scampered across the kitchen with his eyes set on Val and nothing else. With both of them outside in the dark, she shut the door hastily.

In contrast, she walked around the side of the apartment with dread. When she turned the corner, Arius was there, standing with his attention turned up to the stars.

“Arius.”

He turned, letting her see those reddened eyes. More than just his dull irises, some redness had seeped into the whites of his eyes. Despite the coloration as though he had been crying, Arius’s eyes were not puffy nor his cheeks tear stained. He was simply having a bad night which left his appearance haggard.

Misery loved company. That was the reason why Val supposed that he had come.

Without a word, he extended his hand out to her. Once again, he offered for her to leave with him. The gentle breeze blew at the strands of his long, red hair against the night.

This time, Val wanted to accept. Against all sense of wandering off with a strange god on her own, she could not stand to hang around the apartment with Tavras. Supposedly, Arius wanted to help her anyway. Nothing bad should happen if she went away with him for a bit of the night.

Swallowing tightly, Val stepped closer to Arius and felt a physical heat blow off of him. In her rush to get out of the house, she had not grabbed a cloak for herself just as she lacked ownership of a doggy jacket for Foofy. Lucky for them, it seemed like Arius could substitute as a means of moderating their body temperatures. The act of standing near him felt as though she had placed herself in front of a furnace. Given the cold night, she greatly appreciated it, as did Foofy.

With his thin coat, Foofy’s breed was not well-suited for the cold. Accordingly, Foofy had crept close to Arius to enjoy the heat that he gave off, while also emitting low growls at the stranger. He had placed himself between the two of them.

Stepping past Foofy, Val took Arius’s hand. Her fingers curled around to lock with his.

Just as well, Arius curled his fingers around hers tighter. “Pick up Foofy,” he said. “We’re leaving.”

How could Val have been so distracted by Arius’s presence as to not have picked him up right away? If Arius were an insensitive god, he might have just flown away—him and her—and left Foofy outside in the cold.

Fortunately, Foofy had not gained any weight when he had become a divine beast. Val could still lift up that eighty pounds of Doberman and tuck him under one arm. Preparing Keep the Peace, she was ready to keep him calm for Arius’s next move.

They rose into the sky together at an astonishing rate. Their surroundings became a blur in Val’s peripheral and the stars as specs of lights in her vision. All at once, Arius had lanced them high into the sky.

Looking down, she saw the beam of his ability at their feet. The lights of New Gate passed beneath them with trails in her vision. In no time, they passed over Suvier’s walls and into the wilderness of the Summit beyond.

“Wow,” she breathed. “This is amazing.” A part of her had always wanted to fly with her divine blood, since she had tried making that as her first ability as a child. Now, she was flying with Arius.

“Don’t look down. Look up,” he said.

Val looked up.

Though the small town of New Gate had not suffered from as much night pollution as Brillion City, the sky out here in the country glimmered with countless stars. The clouds of their galaxy streaked across the sky to paint the night with a greater beauty.

“Foofy, are you appreciating this?” Val asked down to him.

Under her arms, Foofy kept his head straight out to the dark silhouette of the horizon. His tongue hung out of his mouth, enjoying their flight as much as any car ride with the help of Keep the Peace.

“He certainly looks like he is,” Arius laughed. “I hope that Foofy will like me now from now on.”

Why would Arius care if Foofy liked him or not? He must just like dogs and wanted them to like him in return. That made Val smile because he had something right, at least.

The glamorous moment lasted hardly some minutes before Arius changed the direction of their flight path. The energy shifted around to hurtle them towards the ground at a dizzying speed. In preparation to crash into the ground, she closed her eyes.

Without any effort on her part, plush grass sank underneath her feet. Upon opening her eyes, Val watched Arius tap down onto the ground a bit ahead of her. Likewise, she set Foofy down onto his paws.

This area looked like it was located farther out than the river where she had gone with Tavras. This field consisted of a slope that led into the mountains.

Foofy trotted off to sniff the new scenery, leaving Val to stand here with Arius.

The heat from him had largely disappeared, and Val missed the constant warmth from him. “Why did you get cold all of a sudden?”

“I am still plenty warm, just I cannot extend my Heat Wave to you anymore. The flash point of the grass is lower than the buildings back in the city. You don’t want me to start a fire, do you?”

“No,” she said hastily. “I’m sorry.”

A forced, empty laugh came from him in reply. “No worries. You just asked a question, and I answered it.” Slivers of moonlight caught in his long hair as he wandered away. The red tones contrasted with the dark of night all around them.

To try to generate a conversation, Val went for a harmless, mindless subject. She felt rather dumb as she blurted out, “Why do gods like you and Tavras have such long hair?”

“I don’t know. Gingers get a bad rap. My hair might not be that natural reddish orange color, but short hair would definitely not be the look.”

“Right.” She had to agree with him there. Tavras likely had the same dilemma when his hair turned shades of aquamarine or turquoise. At least when both men wore their hair long, the sheeny quality looked beautiful.

Arius lay down on his back with a huff. His eyes closed against the stars and moon above. “Use your ability on me.”

At his request phrased like an order, Val moved to sit a fair ways beside him. Never mind her first guess of Arius just wanting someone to commiserate with him in his gloom. Actually, he probably just wanted her for Keep the Peace to feel better since she had given him a taste of it earlier tonight.

She let the tranquil energy expel from her. His Mind Shield was already down, ready to receive her. The connection to Arius’s mind was made seamlessly.

His chest sunk with a long sigh. “Thank you. It’s nice to feel calm for a change.”

Sitting there with him, Val had her hands propped behind herself so that she could lean back. Without anything to say, she called to Foofy. “Come!” Val just wanted her best friend by her right now.

As if knowing that she wanted to pet him to comfort her, Foofy sat right at her side, between her and the lounging god. His distrustful gaze was cast down upon Arius. When his body started to shake with shivers, he crawled forward with his doggy elbows until he had curled up along Arius’s side. With the other god’s arm laying over him, his shivers stopped.

Instead, Val had been left alone shaking in the cold. “You stole my dog.”

“I would argue that your dog is stealing my body heat. You are welcome to cuddle up with me, too, if you’re cold.”

“No way!” Val was left shocked that Arius would feel so inclined to joke around about that.

So soon after the termination of his relationship, he was already acting flirty with another woman—a young directionless demigoddess of all women. Maybe Arius was also trying to rebound with literally anybody with a pulse. Val indeed had a pulse, and it was beating abnormally quickly.

This was ridiculous. Why was she out here? Perhaps Val should have thought over her choice more thoroughly before flying off with a strange god.