Arius Harper

**Arius Harper** was a Plebeian combat Centurion at Blackcliff Academy. He was the father of Avitas Harper and Elias Veturius

## Personality

Arius was not a typical Mask, for he was kind and good-natured. He was apparently bad at following orders.

## Physical Description

Arius has deep brown skin and black hair that falls in waves down his shoulders. It is held back by a dozen thin braids, wrapped in the way of the northern Gens. He has light green eyes. He is almost as tall as Elias, and has imposingly broad shoulders. There is a kindness in his face that immediately makes others feel at ease. He has big and gentle hands.

## Biography

 This page may contain spoilers! Do not proceed unless you wish to be spoiled.

Arius lived in Jeilum with his wife and son Avitas Harper. Sometime after Avitas born, Arius began an affair with Keris Veturia. They had Elias Veturius. Arius was repeatedly reprimanded for showing kindness and mercy to students at Blackcliff. He was murdered by a group of Masks the day after they graduated, they were in the same class as Keris. It was vicious death, more than a dozen of them beat him to death. They were all Illustrians and their fathers covered it all up.

### *A Torch Against The Night*

Avitas tells Helene that he is Elias' half-brother. He says that his mother told him that Arius never fit the mold that Blackcliff tried to force him into. Avitas thought his mother was lying for many years because he himself had never been like the person his mother described, so he believed it couldn't be true. Upon learning that Elias was his half-brother, Avitas began thinking that perhaps he just didn't inherit his father's better traits because they went to a different son.

### *A Sky Beyond The Storm*

From Avitas, Elias learns that Arius loved the snow and never got used to the warm Serran summers. His smile made you feel like the sun had just come out and his laugh carried through a village. According to Renatia, Arius was told to become a Centurion at Blackcliff or be discharged.

Arius' spirit meets Elias. Upon greeting him, Arius tells Elias he is "tall like his grandfather and has his cheekbones. He has Arius' hair and face and a bit of his skin. And his mother's eyes." The two men walk the halls of Blackcliff together while Arius tells his story. He and his wife Renatia married too young like most Martials. Their marriage was arranged, which is common with the northern Gens. They had an understanding with each other. When Renatia fell in love with another, Arius told her to follow her heart. When Arius fell in love with Keris, Renatia told him to do the same. He tells Elias that Keris was not always as she was now. He met her when she was a Skull, she was nineteen. They fell in love. Arius reveals that the Illustrians who killed him, Keris' fellow Skulls, made her watch as they killed him. They told her that as a Plebeian, he was not worthy of her. Keris tried to stop them, but there were too many. It destroyed her and she gave in to her pain. Elias recalls to Arius how Mauth demanded he give up his emotions. Arius tells Elias that he must not forget all the terrible things he's done, because that is part of also remembering all the good things. Elias asks his father how he can possibly go on when he's wrought such devastation. Aruis reminds him of what Quin Veturius told him after the Second Trial, that he'd be trailing ghosts. Arius adds that now he will trail suffering, too. He tells Elias that he does not have to be like Keris or the Nightbringer. He can choose to let the good he's done define him instead of the bad. They hug for a long time. Arius tells Elias that he lives in his blood and soul. He then asks him who he is. Elias recalls Cain's final words to him, "Always victorious." Elias returns to the land of the living.

When Elias helps Avitas pass on, Avitas tells him that he going to be with their father.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *A Sky Beyond The Storm*: page 457