Profile
Ares is a far cry from the person he used to be. He grew up in one of Canaan's smallest districts named the Holy Land, dreaming of a life he once thought unobtainable. From the time he was 15, he began making plans to escape the district, along with the cult that lies within it. The cult, called the Church of the Life, believes that the soul represents the folly of man, dictating the each of their members have their soul removed from birth. Following the death of his parents, inheriting a large amount of their wealth, and hopping from gig to gig for years, he packed everything he could into a suitcase at the age of 18 to try to make his new life in Canaan proper.
A hopeful dental student with years of academic prowess, he enrolled in the local college and spent a few years there. During this time, Church of the Life made his life hell, making many attempts to get him to return to the district. After the years in college and some realizations about himself and aspirations, he drops out and goes back to working shitty jobs in the city. He also begins transitioning to his true male self, changes his name and number, and moves apartments to try to throw the cult off his trail for awhile.
Ares finds himself visiting a local bar, The Pomegranate Tree, very often, making friends with the owner, Alec Eliades. Ares confesses to wanting to start his own band, but having no idea where to start. Alec supports Ares's dream, encouraging Ares to form his band, later named Broken Teeth, and becomes Ares's bassist. Alec also employs Ares at The Pomegranate Tree, giving the both of them that source of income along with tips they receive at their shows.
Ares and Alec begin a complicated, nonexclusive romantic relationship, with the both of them having what Alec assumes are various hookups. Though he does meet up with several people, mainly a man named Zacchaeus who wants information about his past regarding the cult he grew up in. Ares is happy to provide any information that stains the cult's already infamous name, with the request that Zacchaeus takes him to pieces after. However, Ares's adventures lead him down a much darker path.
After one of their shows, Ares is attacked by a Soul Hunter named Eurydice and is given an ultimatum: join their order or lose his soul. Ares laughs at this, revealing that he hasn't had a soul since he was born. Eurydice thinks quickly, though, instantly turning her threat at Alec, the very person whom had taken Ares in when he had nothing. At a loss, all alone in an alley in Canaan, Ares agrees to join and thus begins his life of being a bartender-musician by day and a Soul Hunter in the dead of night.
During Ares's initiation, he meets a monstrous creature only referred to as Zero. It is obvious that this being is very powerful, though he is never allowed to see the full extent of its power, as it never makes it past initiation and is never seen again. In his terror of realizing that even this unhumanly strong being couldn't even make it as a Soul Hunter, Ares throws himself into training, becoming scarily proficient in soul magic and becoming infamously known as the Soul Thief. He uses his dentistry background to extract a tooth from each person he takes a soul from. He keeps these teeth on a wire around his neck.
Following his initiation and wanting to further solidify himself as a terrifying Soul Hunter, Ares cuts the corners of his mouth all the way to his ears in order to shave all of his teeth into points. As if he were not deadly enough as the Soul Thief, his ability to easily rend skin from muscle using only his teeth made him into a vicious Hunter.
Somehow, Eurydice is let in on Ares being a part of the band Broken Teeth, possibly by Orpheus, the guitarist and Eurydice's betrothed, though the latter is unknown to Ares at first. She becomes much more amicable toward Ares, becoming close friends with him and protecting him from the violent members of the Soul Hunters. Eurydice eventually reveals herself as Orpheus's fiancée. The order of the Soul Hunters becomes something of a family to him, and to his horror, the act of stealing souls becomes more and more of a game.
One night, Eurydice, frantic, demands that Ares introduce her to Alec. When Ares asks about Orpheus, whom he had not heard about in quite some time, Eurydice explains that Orpheus was wrongfully sentenced to soullessness by the Council and his body was put to death.
Ares brings Eurydice to Alec, and she explains to both of them that she is the Castle Artist by day, trapped within the Castle with multitudes of artistic projects. This proximity to the Castle allowed her to find Orpheus's soul and wrestle it within herself with the intent of eventually finding a vessel to house Orpheus's soul so that they might be reunited and married.
Ares, enraged by the wrongful death of Orpheus, agrees to ally with Eurydice outside of the Soul Hunters to destroy the Castle from the inside out, while Alec works on a project called the Dark Library with its creator, Jumper the Dark Librarian. Alec explains that Jumper is becoming housebound, and she needs someone to retrieve forbidden texts within the Castle Library so that she could upload them to the Dark Library. Ares accepts this role easily, knowing that his status as the Soul Thief makes him a force to be reckoned with.
Ares no longer prays for forgiveness.
